Mars probe running Windows 98-era software receives update after two decades

The Mars Express space probe
(Image credit: European Space Agency)

Patch management for the latest versions of Windows might the concern of most of us located here on Earth, but meanwhile, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express spacecraft has received the first major update to its software in 19 years.

The probe first began orbiting Mars in 2003. Its current mission: to discover of signs of liquid water on Mars, including a suspected 20 x 30km lake of salty water buried under 1.5 km of ice in the red planet’s southern polar region.

The updates to the software, originally developed in Windows 98, were conducted by engineers from the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Italy, and were fully funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

What does this mean?

The agency said the upgrade will enable the spacecraft to view Mars and its moon Phobos with better levels of detail.

The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on Mars Express sends low-frequency radio waves down towards the planet using its 40-metre long antenna.

Most of these waves are reflected from the planet’s surface, but significant amounts travel through the crust and are reflected at boundaries between layers of different materials below the surface, including ice, soil, rock, and water.

By examining the reflected signals, scientists can map the structure below the surface of Mars to a depth of a few kilometres and study properties such as the thickness and composition of its polar ice caps and the properties of volcanic and sedimentary rock layers.

“Previously, to study the most important features on Mars, and to study its moon Phobos at all, we relied on a complex technique that stored a lot of high-resolution data and filled up the instrument’s on-board memory very quickly,” said Andrea Cicchetti, the MARSIS deputy principal investigator and operation manager at INAF.

He added: “By discarding data that we don’t need, the new software allows us to switch MARSIS on for five times as long and explore a much larger area with each pass.”

Correction (July 02):
This article has been updated to reflect the fact the Mars Express probe does not itself run on Windows 98, but rather software developed using Windows 98, and to clarify its purpose.

Will McCurdy has been writing about technology for over five years. He has a wide range of specialities including cybersecurity, fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence, retail technology, and venture capital investment. He has previously written for AltFi, FStech, Retail Systems, and National Technology News and is an experienced podcast and webinar host, as well as an avid long-form feature writer.

Read more
A man getting angry with his laptop.
Windows 10 update installation failures aren’t rare – but an update that won’t stop installing itself is a new one on me
A man getting angry with his laptop.
Windows 11 bug deletes Copilot from the OS – is this the first glitch ever some users will be happy to encounter?
Polish space agency says it was hit by a cyberattack
Copilot on a laptop
Microsoft quietly updates Copilot to cut down on unauthorized Windows activations
A person holding a credit card in one hand while typing on a laptop keyboard with the other.
European Space Agency hack sees official store hijacked to steal customer details
Angry businessman destroying his desk and laptop with a baseball bat
New patch for Windows 11 24H2 reportedly plays havoc with File Explorer, and some folks are claiming it's broken their PC
Latest in Software & Services
woman listening to computer
AWS vs Azure: choosing the right platform to maximize your company's investment
A person at a desktop computer working on spreadsheet tables.
Trello vs Jira: which project management solution is best for you?
Autonomous finance
Quickbooks vs Quicken: what are the main strengths and weaknesses for your business
finance
Quickbooks vs Xero: which is the best for your business?
Group of people meeting
Zoom vs Google Meet: which is the best video conferencing tool for your business?
Fingers typing on a computer keyboard.
Microsoft 365 Personal vs Microsoft 365 Family: are there any real differences?
Latest in News
Citroen 2CV
The retro EV resurgence is in full swing, as Citroen confirms the iconic 2CV will return with batteries
Hugging Snap
This AI app claims it can see what I'm looking at – which it mostly can
Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max REVIEW
The latest batch of leaked iPhone 17 dummy units appear to show where glass meets metal on the new designs
Hornet swings their weapon in mid air
Hollow Knight: Silksong could potentially launch this year and I reckon it could be a great game for an Xbox handheld
ransomware avast
Ransomware attacks are costing Government offices a month of downtime on average
Cassian looking at someone off-camera from a TIE fighter cockpit in Andor season 2
Star Wars: Andor creator is taking a stance against AI by canceling plans to release its scripts, and I completely get why