Just curious. Is Fortran used in SpaceX?
I was wondering the same thing myself the other day. Sorry I don’t have an answer!
Me too. I asked on the Fortran-lang Twitter: https://twitter.com/fortranlang/status/1478452085444255751.
Searching their open positions for Fortran gives no hits, unlike searching for “python”, “java”, “c++”, “matlab”, or “javascript”
Though I’d be surprised if they were hiring for new Fortran development, I would be surprised if Fortran was not used somewhere in the stack. I think we could only find out about this from SpaceX employees who work with such software and if they chose to share such information.
A number of codes for propellant calculations use(d) Fortran. Here are two I could locate from NASA and one other:
- Chemical Equilibrium with Applications (CEA): https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/research-and-engineering/ceaweb/
- Rocket Combustor Interactive Design Computer Methodology: Program For Analyzing Designs Of Liquid-Propellant Rockets - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
- GitHub - jfchessa/TP-Props: Fortran 90 routines for calculating thermophysical properties of cryogenic rocket fuels
Elon Musk has recommended the book Ignition!: An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants - John D. Clark before in an interview.:
“There is a good book on rocket stuff called ‘Ignition!’ by John Clark that’s a really fun one,”
I remember that Fortran appears in at least one anecdote in the book.
I’d be surprised if these codes were not still in use today. Unfortunately, as Milan has said we’ll have to wait for a SpaceX employee willing to share the information to be sure.
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That is perhaps for Tesla. But SpaceX may be in a similar situation.
Python, Java, and Javascript for… designing rockets and spacecrafts… O tempora o mores… this world is completely crazy and beyond repair.
A few years ago, I was able to confirm through contacts at NASA that SpaceX was using NASA’s FUN3D code. Google turns up the following:
These are the requirements for FUN3D :
Here is the full manual:
They use lots of languages. The GUI of the dragon capsule and possibly mission control is react and JS. Simulation and automation uses lots of python and thus fortran under the hood. Guidance is C++ (no, not ADA).
There are other languages and every team is free to pick what they judge best.