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.

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