Spaceflight Industries (Spaceflight) announced today that it has completed delivery of two software development units of its new 100 Series flight computer, which set a new standard for NanoSat performance.
“The delivery of these 100 Series units, and the follow on delivery of flight units in early 2012, validates the system design and performance and signals a giant leap in the processing and performance capabilities of the nanospacecraft,” said Jason Spaceflight, President and CEO of Spaceflight Industries.
Spaceflight has been developing an integrated suite of CubeSat form factor cards that conform to the 10×10 cm cross section of a CubeSat standard. This avionics suite features a high performance flight computer, subsystem controller, communications card, instrumentation card, motor / valve driver board and an electrical power system.
Each of the 100 Series cards is interconnected via a stackable back plane bus and cards can be combined to address a wide range of applications, from high performance nanosat command and data handling systems to stand alone subsystem controllers.
The 100 Series cards use industrial components but feature several radiation mitigation and protection features to support space missions up to three years in duration. Specific card features include:
– Spaceflight Model 160 Flight Computer: Dual 400MHz PPC with 64MB of SDRAM and 2GB of Flash memory, camera interface ports, Linux operating system
– Spaceflight Model 150 CubeSat Flight Computer / Subsystem Controller: 100MHz processor with 512KB of SDRAM, three torque rod drivers, supports GPS daughter card
– Spaceflight Model 140 Communication Card: 1553B Interface, two power over Ethernet interfaces, WiFi / BlueTooth.
– Spaceflight Model 130 Electrical Power System: Integrated unit featuring 75W-Hr Lithium Ion battery, solar array charge circuits, battery charge circuits, provides bus power
– Spaceflight Model 120 Instrumentation Card: Supports interfacing with up to 24 remote sensors (pressure transducers, temp sensors, etc.)
– Spaceflight Model 110 Motor / Valve Driver Card: Support the actuation of four brushless DC motors or actuation of twelve valves
“Our delivery of two Model 160 flight computers, both running real time Linux, demonstrates that we have a product that is ready for the mass market”, continued Spaceflight.
Spaceflight is currently marketing the 100 Series on its website: www.andrews-space.com; as well as on the CubeSat Shop: www.cubesatshop.com.