[simontheowl]

I think another thing that is often overlooked is that a project like this requires a ton of very diverse hardware in the form of hundreds or maybe thousands of sensors, valves, PLCs etc. A rocket launch site reminds me a lot of an industrial process facility. National instruments sells all of that hardware with LabView as a complete solution. Their PXI systems, which are used extensively in the process industry, are quite expensive up-front but the seamless integration of the hardware with Labview drivers, Teststand etc makes it so much more cost-efficient down the line.