TTTech Aerospace was selected by Northrop Grumman to provide the TTEthernet-based network and computing platform for the Gateway’s habitation and logistics outpost (HALO). HALO will serve as the astronauts’ temporary living quarters on their way to the moon. The Gateway is part of NASA’s Artemis program that plans to land the first woman and first person of color on the moon and extend space exploration to Mars. The first products produced by TTTech Aerospace and its space products design and manufacturing partner RUAG Space are scheduled for delivery to Northrop Grumman in the coming weeks.
Northrop Grumman and TTTech Aerospace have worked together for several years in a NASA-funded R&D program that prototyped data networks for the Gateway. These data networks were based on TTEthernet, a scalable, standards-based technology that delivers deterministic real-time communication, guaranteeing the submission of critical messages as well as standard communication data on a joint network. TTEthernet has been established as the International Avionics System Interoperability Standards (IASIS) by NASA and its space agency partners and serves as the primary data network for the entire Gateway, as well as connecting to new modules as they are delivered.
TTTech Aerospace and RUAG Space provide modular TTEthernet network and computing platform
“TTTech Aerospace is very excited to work with Northrop Grumman and to support the Gateway and NASA’s Artemis program. The space sector has a visionary mission and is an extremely challenging field. Reliability and fault-tolerance are key when it comes to safety-critical missions with humans on board. TTTech Aerospace and its space products design and manufacturing partner RUAG Space have already supplied space products for a variety of international programs. Together, our expert teams work with Northrop Grumman to implement the TTEthernet data network in HALO,” says Bob Richards, Vice President Space, TTTech North America.
“Bringing humans to the moon is a highly exciting mission, and space electronics is key to enable that. An astronaut many thousands of kilometers away from earth needs to rely on solutions providing maximum safety and security. Together with TTTech we can provide exactly this – the most reliable data network platform for outer space”, says Anders Linder, Senior Vice President Electronics at RUAG Space. For its entire electronics portfolio RUAG Space offers a direct technical interface to U.S. clients in its office in Denver, Colorado.
The space hardware for the HALO program will be designed and produced in Vienna, Austria. The modular product platform provides a fault-tolerant, safety-critical data network backbone and computing platform that supports the three configurable Ethernet traffic classes: best effort traffic, rate-constrained traffic and time-triggered traffic. The network and computing platform consists of complete box level products integrating TTEthernet network switches, end systems, embedded software, computing modules, network configuration tools, as well as integration support.