Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to Re: Aerospace R&D costs a lot more than you think

Space rated computers cost a bundle
Larry J — (archived)

Electronics certified for aircraft use are outrageously expensive. I know, I'm a pilot who drools over some of the cool avionics out there but don't know if I can ever afford any of it.

Electronics certified for space use goes beyond outrageous to insanely expensive. In addition to the normal concerns about size, weight, electrical consumption, and overall reliability, space computers have to deal with higher background radiation and Single Event Upsets (SEUs).

You might be able to adapt the computers from the Shuttle to other missions, so you wouldn't need to spend millions for R&D on the hardware. However, developing the new flight software would cost a bundle. There is no shrinkwrap software for landing on the moon or flying a Mars or NEO mission.

Here's an interesting article about the computers used for the early Shuttle flights. The point about the software costing $1000 a line stands out.

Here's another link describing the Shuttle's General Purpose Computers.

Here's an article about 2nd generation Shuttle computers.

The computers developed for the ISS might be a better choice but I don't think they're as robust at mission-critical real time processing as the flight control computers on the Shuttle.

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