Jules Verne

It has been fun to read about the Jules Verne spacecraft developed by the ESA. It's a cargo ferrying spacecraft designed to dock with the ISS autonomously.

After just finishing a book on unit testing, it's fascinating to read about some of the design that went into the atonomous docking software, not only in terms of software, but also the human processes that monitor the atonomous software and intervene if there are problems. Sounds like a wonderfully interesting application of software, testing, processes, etc.

To quote one part of the article:

Cameras on the station's exterior captured several views of Jules Verne during Saturday's demonstrations. The 40,000-pound spacecraft appeared as a gleaming star above the Earth's limb.

"For the flight control team, the sight of the ATV thrusters firing was particularly exciting and brought the whole thing to life," Chesson said. "It was fantastic to be reunited with Jules Verne and to see it performing so perfectly, which is very promising for the days to come."

I enjoy imagining what it would be like to be a part of the flight control team. These people, whether they're designing rovers that get catapulted millions of miles to Mars, or cargo ferrying autonomous docking spacecraft... what an emotionally charged moment to see this thing you've created, alive and well and acting with a little bit of its own will.

I think in that moment, we share a little bit more in common with our Heavenly Father, and we can imagine His joy when he sees His creation acting out His good intention.