FPGAs used in space missions

1. MARS Missions
Spirit and Discovery missions utilize XQVR1000 and XQR4062XLs
from Xilinx. The XQR4062XLs were used during the descent and
landing of the rovers on the surface of Mars, while XQVR1000s were
used to control all of the brushed DC and stepper motors for the
wheels, steering, antennas, camera, and other instruments on the
rovers themselves.

2. OSIRIS-REx
The mechanism controller board (MCB) of the two OSIRIS
optical cameras also has two FPGAs to implement the
digital control circuits. Data gathering, packaging,
transmission and command decoding are performed within
the FPGAs (Actel RH1280). In this case, FPGAs have made
significant advances, allowing the reduction of mass and
making the design simpler. In fact. the motor controller
FPGA makes an a dco controller optimized for this
instrument with different and very specific functionalities.

3. Rossetta Mission
Rosettais a roboticspace probebuilt and launched by
theEuropean Space Agency. Along withPhilae, its lander
module,Rosettais
performing
a
detailed
study
ofcomet67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko(67P).
The GIADA instrument of the Rosetta mission is a grain impact
analyzer and dust accumulator experiment. It uses one FPGA to
control the data obtained from the proximity electronics. This makes
possible the use of an Intel 8086 processor, because there are tasks
done by the FPGA, leaving the processor free to do other operations.
All the FPGAs used in GIADA are Actel, RH1280. The use of Actel
RH1280 allows significant reduction of power consumption and also
makes the design simpler, because one chip implements the same

4. Other Missions
Other future projects include:
1. The SOPHI experiment which willl be onboard the solar orbiter
mission. It is a polarimetric helyospheric image magnetograph for
studying the sun.
2. The SODA experiment which will be onboard the Solar Orbiter
mission also. It is an instrument devoted to study cosmic dust.
3. BELA is a Laser Altimeter going onboard the Bepi-Colombo mission.
In all these missions FPGAs will play a relevant role making the
system electronics simple and of high reliability at the same time.

Conclusion

Design for space environment is complicated due to the very high

requirements. Factors such as weight, power and size must be taken
into account. Among all of these, the most important requirement is
reliability and one of the most important problems is the effect of
radiation.

In the past, devices were more primitive. Therefore, FPGAs were

used as glue logic. To use them, designers utilized schematic as a
popular design technique. Nowadays, configurable devices can be
employed as many complex systems on just one chip.

Codesign techniques could be applied to split the different tasks in

such a way that algorithm and scheduling tasks are implemented in
the processor while low level controlling tasks are developed using
the device logic gates.

FPGAs play a relevant role in space missions, and it is reasonable to