Satellite Demonstration of a Radiation Tolerant Computer System Deployed from the International Space Station

The overall goal of this project is to conduct a satellite mission to demonstrate a novel radiation tolerant computer technology. A 3U small satellite will be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) using the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (NRCSD), which will provide 12 months of operation of the computer technology in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The successful operation of the computer in a full stand-alone mission will increase its technical readiness level (TRL) to TRL-9. This computer technology has been in development for nearly a decade at Montana State University (MSU), with the majority of funding coming from NASA EPSCoR. The computer technology is currently in-orbit on the ISS as an internal experiment through funding from the 2014 NASA EPSCoR ISS Flight Opportunity program. This internal demonstration has allowed our team to verify the operation of the computer in a controlled environment and reach TRL-7. In this proposal, we seek funding to support a different, more advanced experiment in which the computer technology will be integrated into a satellite, deployed from the ISS, and operated for 12 months in LEO. This next critical demonstration is necessary to take the computer technology to its final level of TRL-9. The proposed satellite has been selected by the NASA CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) program for a flight in summer of 2018. As such, we do not require any launch services support from the EPSCoR program. Our team has also been able to design and prototype the satellite through the NASA Undergraduate Student Instrument Program (USIP). These prior NASA programs have enabled our technology to be ready for flight within 12 months of project funding. The funding request in this proposal is for flight unit qualification, integration, and safety coordination (achieving TRL-8) to demonstrate the computer in LEO using the ISS-based NRCSD (achieving TRL-9). The computer to be demonstrated achieves radiation tolerance through a novel architecture that can detect, avoid, and repair faults caused by high energy ionizing radiation by exploiting the re-programmability of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). This fault mitigation approach has been shown to deliver higher reliability, increased computation and power efficiency, and an order of magnitude cost reduction compared to existing radiation-hardened computer systems. The success of our team’s initial EPSCoR project has led to four competitively awarded follow-on projects from NASA that has allowed this computer technology to be matured to the point where a satellite demonstration using the ISS-based NRCSD is feasible within the criteria of the 2017 EPSCoR ISS Flight Opportunity call. Testing of this technology in a stand-alone mission will expose the system to a high-energy radiation environment that cannot be duplicated on earth (>GeV/amu). A satellite demonstration will also provide prolonged exposure to the infrequent high energy radiation strikes (2-3 faults per day) in order to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the reliability of the computer system. A stand-alone mission is also required in order to advance the technology from controlled experiments into a fully operational situation so that TRL-9 can be achieved. The ISS-based NRCSD is an ideal launch opportunity due to the reduced launch environment requirements, the logistical support provided by NanoRacks, and the existing relationship between MSU and NanoRacks created through our ongoing internal EPSCoR experiment. Figure 1 shows the mission concept for the proposed experiment.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.