NASA has chosen Texas Tech University computer scientists to help develop software that will aid in the design and building of an abort system for a new Crew Exploration Vehicle. NASA engineers will work with Texas Tech scientists as they develop a prototype software system called Onboard Abort Executive. The decision making software is geared towards assisting the crew and flight controllers in making the safest decisions for an abort procedure in the event of an in flight failure.
Texas tech is no stranger to providing assistance to NASA. University scientists have already worked with engineers from the Johnson Space Center"s Guidance, Navigation and Control group to apply software changes and modifications to the abort software that NASA had developed for its Shuttle cockpit avionics upgrade project.