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China's space programme
ChinaScience

From Mars to the moon: the computer system behind China’s space missions

  • Chinese researchers developed the Kylin operating system to replace the Western products the country relied on
  • Sending it into space meant combining security, reliability and performance, engineers say

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The Kylin system helps run China’s space programme. Photo: Xinhua
Stephen Chen
Whether it is China’s rover on Mars, its space station orbiting the Earth or its moon probe bringing back lunar samples, one little-known system is behind them all.
The core of the Kylin computer operating system has been guarded as a national secret and its use in the country’s space programme has only just been officially confirmed.

Its main codes were written by Chinese military researchers, according to developer China Electronics Corporation (CEC), but it also includes elements of Unix-like software FreeBSD, parts from Linux, and a user interface similar to Windows.

It is a hybrid, like the mythical qilin dragon beast it is named after.

Speaking to state media on the weekend, members of the Kylin development team revealed the role the operating system played in these missions, coordinating communication between artificial intelligence software, human controllers on the ground and all the hardware on board the spacecraft.

03:08

China joins elite club of countries that have reached Mars

China joins elite club of countries that have reached Mars

Until about a decade ago, China, like most other countries, relied on Linux and Windows to drive its space programmes, according to a paper published in domestic journal Space Industry Management last year.

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