The Collaborative Information Portal proves that it is possible—yes, even at a huge government agency like NASA—to develop a large complex enterprise software system on time that successfully meets strict requirements for functionality, reliability, and robustness. The Mars rovers have far exceeded expectations, a testament of how well the hardware and the software, both on Mars and on Earth, were designed and built, and of the skills of the builders.
Unlike smaller programs, beauty for a large application is not necessarily found only in elegant algorithms. For CIP, beauty is in its implementation of a service-oriented architecture and in the numerous simple but well-chosen components—the nails that master software builders know just where to pound in.