SpaceCube

SpaceCube is a family of high-performance reconfigurable systems designed for spaceflight applications requiring on-board processing. The SpaceCube was developed by engineers at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.[1] The SpaceCube 1.0 system is based on Xilinx's Virtex-4 commercial FPGAs. The debut mission of the SpaceCube 1.0, Hubble Servicing Mission 4, was the first time Xilinx's Virtex-4 FPGAs flew in space.[2]

For free-flying cube satellites, see CubeSat.

The Hubble Space Telescope being lifted out of the payload bay of Atlantis before being released back into space.

SpaceCube aboard MISSE-7

Missions

• Hubble Servicing Mission 4: The SpaceCube was the brains of the Relative Navigation Sensors autonomous docking experiment that was intended to run in parallel with the astronaut controlled docking of the Hubble Space Telescope.[3] RNS met its stated goals.[4]
• MISSE-7: The SpaceCube was attached to the outside of the ISS during an EVA on Space Shuttle Mission STS-129 (Nov 2009). It provides an on-orbit test platform for demonstrating innovative radiation hardened by software techniques. It is mounted on the NRL's MISSE7 experiment which is attach to an ExPRESS Logistics Carrier.[5][6]

Family overview

• SpaceCube 1.0: Based on Xilinx's Virtex-4 commercial FPGAs.
• SpaceCube 1.5: Intermediate version of SpaceCube 2.0. Based on Xilinx's Virtex-5 commercial FPGAs. Scheduled to fly on sounding rocket flight in the fall of 2010.[7]
• SpaceCube 2.0: Currently under development with over $1 million in funding.[7] The SpaceCube 2.0 system is based around Xilinx's new radiation-hardened Virtex-5 FPGA.[7][8]

Awards

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center SpaceCube team earned an honorable mention for the 2009 "IRAD Innovator of the Year" award.[9]

On-board science data processing achievements

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) results:
  • 6 to 1 loss-less data volume reduction on SAR Nadir Altimetry dataset.[10]
  • 165x data volume reduction on SAR mapping dataset.[10]

References

1. Office of the Chief Technologist (2006). "NASA Goddard Space Flight Center FY 2006 Internal Research and Development Program" (PDF). NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
2. "Xilinx December 2008 Newsletter". Xilinx. 2008.
3. Office of the Chief Technologist (2008). "SpaceCube to Debut in Flight Demonstration: Hybrid Computer to Fly on Hubble Servicing Mission". NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
4. Flight Results of the HST SM4 Relative Navigation Sensor System
5. ISS Program Scientist's Office (2009). "Materials International Space Station Experiment - 7 (MISSE-7)". NASA. Archived from the original on 2008-12-10.
6. Astronauts Install SpaceCube on International Space Station
7. Office of the Chief Technologist (2009). "Goddard Tech Trends Spring 2009" (PDF). Goddard Space Flight Center.
8. "Rad-Hard Virtex-5". Defense Update.
9. "Goddard 2009 IRAD Innovator of the Year award". Goddard Space Flight Center. 2009.
10. "SpaceCube On-Board SAR Data Processing Results". Goddard Space Flight Center. 2010.

External links

• PowerPC405 MIPS Study
• Goddard Space Flight Center technologies site
• SpaceCube on Facebook
• A pose and position measurement system for the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission
• Relative Navigation
• Summer 2008 Goddard Tech Trends
• MAPLD 2009 RNS SpaceCube
• MAPLD 2009 SpaceCube Activities
• RHBD Xilinx Virtex-5
• Heavy ion SEE test of Xilinx Virtex4 XC4VFX60 FPGA
• SpaceCube Virtex-4 FPGA qualification methodology
• Spring 2009 Goddard News Tech Transfer
• Xilinx XCell Journal Customer Innovation Issue

Media

• SpaceCube Photo Gallery on Flickr
• MISSE-7 SpaceCube development team
• SpaceCube in Atlantis Shuttle bay(The SpaceCube is mounted on the MISSE-7 ExPA on ELC-2 on the bottom right.)
• SpaceCube mounted to MISSE7's ExPA(The SpaceCube is the smaller box with several connectors on top)
• Naval Research Lab's MISSE-7 Press Release