PIXLISE, Mars Perseverance Rover
Cloud backend for NASA’s PIXL science instrument on the Perseverance rover. Reduced processing time from 30 hours to 10 minutes. Runner-up for NASA Software of the Year 2023.
Capability · Legacy Modernisation
Most rewrites fail, usually for operating-model reasons rather than technical ones. We bring NASA-grade engineering discipline to modernising the systems your business already runs on, strangler-fig migration, phased delivery, milestone reviews, knowledge transfer back to your team.
How we modernise
We deliver in discrete, milestone-bound phases. You review and approve at every stage. The system stays running the whole time.
We review your existing architecture, interview key stakeholders, and identify the real constraints, not just the technical ones. You get an honest assessment of what needs to change and what doesn’t.
A detailed proposal covering target architecture, migration strategy, phased milestones, risk mitigation, team requirements, and cost structure. No vague estimates, specific deliverables with specific timelines.
We deliver in discrete phases, each with its own milestone and acceptance criteria. You review and approve at every stage. No surprises, no scope creep, no multi-year death marches.
Documentation, training sessions, and paired programming with your team throughout. When we leave, your team can maintain and extend everything we built.
What we modernise
We work the modernisation options the way Gartner frames them, the 7 Rs, from rehost and replatform through refactor to a ground-up rebuild where the system earns it. Strangler-fig replacement of monoliths with cloud-native services, zero-downtime cutover strategies. See our cloud migration and platform build work.
Multiple disconnected systems collapsed into a coherent platform. Auth, data, deployment, observability standardised. Teams onboard faster, ops gets quieter.
ETL processes that take hours rebuilt to run in minutes. Spreadsheet-driven workflows replaced with services. Reporting that doesn’t need a babysitter.
From manual deploys to fully automated pipelines. Infrastructure as code. Rollback that actually works. Releases that don’t require a war room.
Old codebases brought to current language versions, frameworks, and patterns. Test coverage added. Dependencies updated. Documentation written for what’s actually there.
Cloud bills cut by right-sizing, right-scheduling, and eliminating idle compute. Pixlise: $3,500/mo → $900/mo (74% TCO reduction).
Recent outcomes
Cloud backend for NASA’s PIXL science instrument on the Perseverance rover. Reduced processing time from 30 hours to 10 minutes. Runner-up for NASA Software of the Year 2023.
Rebuilt compliance operations from Excel-based workflows to a modern services platform with case management. Faster processing, higher accuracy, flexible use cases, in four months.
Led a team of 14 specialists over 18 months to build a production-ready platform processing years of data from hundreds of thousands of channels. Fragmented academic research became reproducible, large-scale science.
More platform work: MMIT data operations, Consilient federated compliance, or browse every case study.
Further reading
Five criteria, seven red flags, six questions to ask in the pitch, and the engagement models that actually align incentives. A buyer’s guide written by one.
Read the guide Action planWeek-by-week action plan for the first 90 days of a modernisation initiative, stakeholder mapping, the six quick-win tests and scoring rubric, communication templates, and the pitfalls that kill these projects.
Read the playbook Concept to Cloud podcastThe podcast episode companion to the roadmap. Real stories from modernisation initiatives that shipped, the ones that stalled, and what the difference actually was.
Listen to the episode Concept to Cloud podcastModernisation is a people problem before it is a code problem. What to communicate, when, and how the teams whose work is being replaced actually stay motivated.
Listen to the episodeQuestions buyers ask first
For enterprise buyers
Buying-committee FAQ, procurement-friendly engagement shape, what we don’t do, audience-tier proof.
Visit /for-enterpriseBuy a starting point
A 1, 2 week senior-engineer read of your system, with a phased modernisation plan and milestone-based pricing for the work that follows.
See package detailHe reads every brief. A few lines is enough to tell whether a Technical Assessment is the right next step or something else.
Talk to our team