Beth Schmid
Headquarters, Washington, DC                      July 16, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1760)

RELEASE:  97-154

SOFTWARE USED ON MARS PATHFINDER WINS 
NASA'S SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR AWARD 

     Frederick D. Gregory, NASA's Associate Administrator for 
Safety and Mission Assurance, and Dr. Daniel R. Mulville, NASA 
Chief Engineer and Chair of the agency's Inventions and 
Contributions Board, have selected a software program used on the 
Mars Pathfinder mission as the winner of the 1997 NASA Software of 
the Year Award.

     Dr. Abhinandan Jain, Dr. Guillermo Rodriguez, and Dr. Guy K. 
Man of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed 
the software called DARTS:  Dynamics Algorithms for Real-Time 
Simulation.  The DARTS software can be used to generate real-time 
simulations to test and verify flight software and hardware for a 
variety of spacecraft missions.  NASA engineers calculate 
phenomenal improvements in simulation speed and fidelity -- of up 
to ten million times -- which is the result of the use of a brand 
new form of mathematics, known as Spatial Operator Algebra.  The 
team received an award for development of the new algebra three 
years ago.  In addition to Mars Pathfinder, this software has been 
used on the Cassini, Galileo, Stardust, New Millennium and Neptune 
Orbiter missions.

     The winning software has saved over $10 million to date on 
NASA missions.  NASA will present the award at the Technology 2007 
Conference to be held in Boston, MA, on September 23, 1997.  
Information about this software is available on the Web at URL:

               www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codei/swy97win.html

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