[georgehm]

I am super curious to know what kind of software magic they did to bring the NDL system as the primary navigation system after their own system failed to function prior to landing .. From what I understood listening in to the broadcast, NDL was only a demonstration project and folks somehow managed to bring it up on demand and use 2 of the sensors on it (?) iirc .. Like how !? Was NDL set up in the same orientation as their original system ? If not, they updated their guidance system on the fly too !?? Simply amazing

[tempaway11722]

Yes it sounds like they had to do some MacGyver level stuff at the last minute. As I understand it NDL (Navigation Doppler Lidar) was a NASA project bundled aboard the craft as a non-mission-critical demo but when the main naviagation failed they had to send a patch to the craft (about two hours before landing) to activate NDL and use it as the main navigation. Hoping more details come out about this.

[witx]

I doubt they had the time to pull MacGyver stuff. This scenario was most likely already predicted and tested and it was a matter of changing configurations.