• DLR is developing distributed and heterogeneous on-board computers for future space missions.
• Combination of radiation-resistant and commercially available processors that monitor each other and redistribute tasks in the event of an error.
• Successful experiment with Earth observation data on an ESA test satellite.
• Focus: space travel, earth observation, technology

COLOGNE, Germany (DLR PR) — Reliable and powerful computers play a central role in space travel: computer systems in satellites, for example, enable demanding earth observation missions. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is developing a new computer architecture that is intended to give the so-called on-board computers (OBC) more power and also enable them to repair themselves. Distributed heterogeneous OBCs are being developed in the ScOSA (Scalable On-Board Computing for Space Avionics) flight experiment project. You have different computing nodes connected as a network.