How clever software (eventually) saved NASA's first Artemis mission Capstone.

Rocket Lab recently successfully launched its first mission to the Moon, which just happened to be the first mission NASA has launched in the Artemis Program, which will bring people back to the surface of the Moon soon. Shortly after spacecraft separation a bad command nearly caused the end of the mission, but clever software watchdogs likely saved the spacecraft.

Let's use this as an opportunity to understand satellite software testing and design that can prevent this kind of problem from occurring, or at the very least prevent it from ending the mission.

Images and video used from NASA, Rocket Lab, and ESA.

[rorypenstock]

Very interesting video. I didn't even know this had happened.

[isitsaturdayalready]

Maybe I'm missing something, but you didn't really explain what happened, right? It sounded to me like you're mostly guessing what likely happened. Sure, I agree that watchdog reset is what most likely happened, but you're just guessing, aren't you? Or do you have a source? I also don't think having a watchdog running isn't particularly "clever software design". It's a common hardware feature that's available on cheap microcontrollers. Or am I getting your message wrong?