Navy SPAWAR funds Space Micro for nanomaterial Space parts R&D

Partnered with UCSD Nanomaterials Lab

SAN DIEGO, CA – July 27, 2011 – Space Micro Inc, an innovator of radiation hardened electronics for space applications, announced today that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) contract from the U.S. Navy SPAWAR Systems Center. The contract is evaluate the use of nanomaterials to develop and manufacture space qualified components. Space Micro has teamed with UCSD Nanomaterials Laboratory as their research partner.

The electronics on spacecraft must be able to withstand the space environment to assure mission success. However, the aerospace industry orders relatively low quantities of “space qualified” electrical components, often at irregular intervals. This makes it a difficult business case for companies to keep a manufacturing line open just for space components. This leads space programs to rely on a very small number of suppliers, sometimes even a single source, which is highly undesirable.

The products resulting from this R&D would meet the needs of many military and commercial space programs and significantly reduce the long lead times commonly experienced in low volume space parts. Space Micro will build upon and leverage their existing heritage space electronics hardware used for TacSat2 imaging, and the ORS-1 image processing system, the IPC5000TM.
David J. Strobel, CEO at Space Micro, said “this new SBIR will further develop our existing suite of miniaturized, affordable, low SWAP electronics and insert into next generation missile programs.” Mr. Carl Edwards, Division Manager, Advanced Materials at Space Micro will be the Principal Investigator.

About Space Micro Inc.

Space Micro Inc specializes in payload and communications equipment for satellites, and is a pioneer and leader in technologies that enable Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) electronic devices to be deployed in space. Radiation in space is damaging to electronics. Space Micro has developed patented technologies to mitigate radiation effects on state-of-art commercial electronics. Space Micro offers space-qualified radiation hardened microelectronics, from radiation hardened by design (RHBD) technologies to space rated single board computers (RH SBC). Space Micro offers the world’s fastest space radiation hardened line of radiation hardened computers. These space computers include the Proton200k™ DSP-based RH SBC, Proton300k™ SRAM-based reconfigurable space computer (RH RCC), and Proton400k-L™ multi-core PowerPC-based RH SBC.  In addition to satellite computers, Space Micro offers satellite communications equipment such as Space-Ground Link System (µSGLS™ / RH SGLS / RH SGLS-USB / µSTDN™ / RH STDN transponders), Ka Band transmitter (µKa™ Wide Band Radiation Hardened Transmitter), X/UHF/VHF-Band transponders and power amplifiers (RH PA) and custom boxes.  Other Space Micro developments include ProtonX-Box™ Avionics Suite, TTMR™ (Time Triple Modular Redundancy), H-CORE™ circuitry for Single Events Functional Interrupt (SEFI) mitigation, SEMS™ Space Weather Box and Divert Attitude Control System (RH DACS).  Space Micro is an employee-owned company based in San Diego, CA, USA

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