A Rational Approach to High-Reliability, High-Performance, Low-Cost Spaceborne Data Management Systems

There is a trend in modern space systems to contain as much of the data processing function in the spaceborne component as possible. This relieves much of the operational burden of the ground support systems, but places inordinate requirements on the spaceborne systems. Future systems will need orders of magnitude improvements in processing power, reliability/availability and function while requiring equal decreases in cost, weight and power consumption. These considerations will shape the technologies and architectures of spaceborne data processing systems for the foreseeable future.