Genesis receives its commands and sequences from Earth
and translates them into spacecraft actions. The flight
software is capable of running multiple concurrent sequences,
as well as executing immediate commands as they are received.
The software used during the collection mission interpreted
data from the ion and electron monitors to deploy the
proper collectors depending on the type of solar wind.
The flight software is also responsible for a number
of autonomous functions, such as attitude control and
fault protection, which involve frequent internal checks
to determine whether a problem has occurred. If the
software senses a problem, it will automatically perform
a number of preset actions to resolve the problem or
put the spacecraft in a safe mode for the ground to
respond.
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