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Completed TRL 3 (started at 3, targeting 3)
RACES will expand high-speed interface options for Goddard-developed electronic card families by developing a 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet interface card rated for use in space, and then incorporating advanced networking IP into the SpaceCube architecture for networking. This design will be achieved by integrating a newly released radiation-hardened (rad-hard) PHY transceiver into an existing IO card in a 1U (10cm x 10cm) cubesat form factor.
RACES will not only be essential for Lunar Gateway (and Lunar experiments), but it will also be beneficial for other future instruments, since many rapidly integrated instrument prototypes commonly use Ethernet in testing and development but must switch to another interface for flight. RACES would allow developers to use a consistent interface throughout the project lifecycle while increasing throughput by 5-100× over traditional solutions such as RS-422 or SpaceWire.
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