Reliable Solid State Data Storage Device for Spacecraft T&C Subsystems

Abstract

Fairchild Space Company, a division of Fairchild Industries, has developed an advanced data recorder based exclusively on the use of Solid State circuitry for the recorder memory. This paper describes the recorder, its development, the engineering considerations for long-term mission life, methods for minimizing size, weight and power, and the flexibility of the recorder to accommodate a number of different mission requirements. Unlike the more traditional mass storage devices for spacecraft, which use rotating memory, the Solid State Recorder (SSR) uses a true random access memory. This feature has resulted in a multi-mode storage device, which can greatly reduce the complexity of spacecraft data systems. Today's spacecraft have large numbers of sensors and high rate instruments which are making the data flow problem much more difficult to handle. Bottle necks also referred to as "data fusion" have become a serious problem for systems engineers, for which the SSR may represent an effective solution. The paper concludes with a discussion of some system applications which illustrate the broad range of possible SSR applications, and the development status.