December 05, 2014
Space vehicles, whether manned or unmanned, have traditionally relied on custom embedded computing systems. Since standard systems were not designed with space applications in mind, they did not address the critical issues of space flight, such as outgassing, "tin whiskers," redundancy, and ruggedness. Designers and engineers, however, recognize the benefits of using well-established, standardized, open-architecture platforms to create a diverse ecosystem offering more choices, lower costs, and reduced risk. The availability of space-centric standardized platforms brings the advantages of a competitive environment, lower development costs, and higher reliability.