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A European Space Agency Mars orbiter's radar instrument has been running on Windows 98 since 2003... it's only now getting an upgrade.

With the recent upgrade to a more modern software, the team expects to be able to improve the Mars Express orbiter's MARSIS radar instrument’s ability to send and receive signals, improve its on-board data processing and increase the amount and quality of science data sent to Earth.

They plan on using the upgraded instrument to explore the Martian southern polar region, where signs of liquid water had been detected at lower resolution.

And you thought your computer's software was outdated and running slow...

https://gizmodo.com/mars-express-spacec ... 1849114156

Suresh

Good thing there's no internet access on Mars

It's not running on Win 98, but rather the software was developed using a toolset on Win 98. Upgrading here simply means retooling for a modern OS. Can you imagine how wasteful and impractical it would have been had the spacecraft been equipped with the necessary computer hardware to actually run Win 98? Not to mention the number of blue screen of death you would have had to deal with over 19 years
Incidentally, it is really annoying to try to read anything on sites like Gizmondo and its ilk with all the ads and pop ups. Not to mention that the title was incredibly misleading.

Space agencies are extremely cautious about upgrading software, since there is always a possibility of introducing new bugs that are worse than the original deficiencies. The software for the Space Shuttle had bugs, but it was decided to live with them rather than introduce possibly fatal errors in an upgrade. It was impossible to fly and land the Shuttle without computer assistance.

I did land the shuttle with the seat of my pants once using the Microsoft Space Simulator
https://youtu.be/yG_0m2sPI18