(Original title: SpaceX: We've launched 32,000 Linux computers into space for Starlink internet SpaceX engineers also reveal machine learning is not used on the Dragon and Falcon spacecraft.)

NetEase Technology News, June 9, according to foreign media reports, a few days ago, SpaceX software engineers revealed that SpaceX launches 60 "Star Chain" Internet satellites into space every month, each satellite carries 4,000 simplified Linux computers. This also means that SpaceX has sent 32,000 Linux computers to space.

Last week, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, launched 60 Internet satellites into space through the reusable Falcon 9 rocket, bringing the total number of satellites to about 480, close to 800 needed to cover the United States.

The company plans to conduct public testing of satellite Internet services before the end of the summer in the northern hemisphere, and has been approved to deploy 1 million end users in the United States.

SpaceX recently submitted an application to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), hoping to launch 30,000 second-generation satellites, more than 12,000 already approved. Assuming that each batch of launched second-generation satellites carries the same number of Linux computers, this will mean SpaceX plans to release at least 2 million Linux computers into space in the next few years.

Matt Monson, the head of StarX software at SpaceX, said: "StarChain currently has more than 30,000 Linux nodes (and more than 6000 microcontrollers) in space."

"Because we share a lot of Linux platform infrastructure with the Falcon Rocket and Dragon spacecraft, they also benefit from more than 180 years of total test time on the orbital system."

Monson revealed that the Linux computer is running the PREEMPT_RT patch set. The patch set was developed by an engineer at Red Hat and aims to make Linux a real-time operating system.

Monson said that SpaceX does not use a third-party Linux system, but develops custom drivers that can interact with its own hardware to form a distributed computer system.

It is reported that the manned dragon spacecraft also runs a Linux system, and the flight control software is written in C++. Monson also mentioned that there is also a cross-development between the control interface used by NASA astronauts Bainken and Hurley on the Dragon spacecraft and the "Starchain" satellite.

Dexter, director of cybersecurity at SpaceX, said that any student who wants to work at SpaceX should focus on Linux.

"Get a computer science degree (or other similar degree)," Dexter said. "Take time to make sure you really understand how things work-engineers who perform well at SpaceX will very carefully understand how code works, how networks work, how Linux works, how hardware works, etc."

As the "StarChain" satellite Internet service enters the operational phase from the testing phase in the next few months, security will become a key issue facing SpaceX. Company engineer Moran introduced the security measures from satellite to gateway to the end user.

Moran said: "The system we designed uses end-to-end encryption of user data. Every piece of hardware (satellite, gateway, user terminal) in our system is designed to only run our signature verification software, so even an attacker Intrusion, they can not obtain permanent permission." (Chenchen)

Source: NetEase Technology Report, translated by Google Translate