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Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
              linux.conf.au 2011



                 Luke Weston
          http://www.lunarnumbat.org
                 July 9, 2011




                         Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Introduction


      What is Lunar Numbat?


Lunar Numbat is an open-source space technology collaboration which
was formed by a group of people from across Australia and New Zealand
in 2009, with the intention of developing innovative, low-cost, open-source
hardware and software solutions for space technology.

Lunar Numbat hopes to encourage Australian and international innovation
in space science and increase the accessibility of space development.

The project was initiated in 2009 by Marco Ostini, and a review of Lunar
Numbat work was presented at linux.conf.au by Jon Oxer in 2010.
Since then, however, some significant milestones have been accomplished.




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Introduction


      What We Do

The focus of our research and development at present is in three main
areas: rocket engine throttle control avionics, radar altimeters, and media
compression.

Linux, open hardware, open software development, open documentation,
open standards, and community-driven collaboration all have an important
role in meeting Lunar Numbat’s challenging goal of delivering flexible,
useful space technologies at a relatively low cost.

Lunar Numbat is collaborating with the Australian Space Research
Institute (ASRI), and with White Label Space, a team competing for the
Google Lunar X-Prize.




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Introduction


           AUSROC 2.0 / 2.5




Figure: The AUSROC-2 launch vehicle on the launch rail, being loaded with
liquid oxygen prior to launch.
                                                   Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Introduction


      Australian Space Research


We’re now completing the development and testing of the CAN-interfaced
propellant valve throttle controllers we have developed for AUSROC 2.5, a
powerful liquid-fuelled sounding rocket developed as part of ASRI’s
AUSROC program.

7.5 meters tall
Liquid-fuelled: kerosene and liquid oxygen
Peak velocity = 1100 ms−1 (Mach 3.3)
Apogee at about 33 kilometers (110,000 feet)
Thrust = 35 kN; Isp = 240 seconds.




                                               Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Introduction


AUSROC 2.5




Figure: Simulated velocity profile for AUSROC 2.5 flight.


                                         Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Figure: A static test firing of the AUSROC 2 rocket engine.


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Introduction


      ASRI activities



We are providing ASRI with innovative, low-cost open source solutions to
meet the needs of Australia’s own in-house space launch vehicle research
and development.

In the process, we’re making a positive contribution back to Australian
space research, which is greatly in need of Australia’s support.




                                                Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Figure: One of ASRI’s solid fuelled Zuni rockets being launched.



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Engine Throttle Controllers


      Engine throttle controllers


We are designing and implementing electronic controllers for the valves
admitting fuel and oxidiser to the liquid-fuelled rocket engine on AUSROC
2.5.

This electronic control over the propellant valves allows the flight
computer to throttle down, stop and restart the rocket engine, as well as
to adjust the fuel-oxidiser ratio on-the-fly.

These throttle controllers embody a combination of open electronic
hardware, open-source embedded software, and some open mechanical
design.




                                                Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Engine Throttle Controllers


           Open Software and Open Hardware
Free is good - GNU and TAPR licenses
    TAPR Open Hardware License - http://www.tapr.org/ohl.html




Figure: The CAN interface component of our protoype engine control hardware.
                                                   Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Engine Throttle Controllers


           Mechanical Assembly
     A pair of stainless steel ball valves, rated for cryogenic oxygen service, are
     used for the fuel and oxidiser.

     A pair of powerful DC brush motors and reduction gearheads move the
     valves, with a pair of position sensors to measure the absolute valve
     positions.




Figure: The liquid oxygen valve assembly for AUSROC 2.5, including the ball
valve, reduction gearhead and motor.
                                                        Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Figure: The overall assembly of the AUSROC 2.5 valve fairing.




                                            Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Engine Throttle Controllers


           Throttle Controller Electronics




Figure: The first generation valve control electronics for the kerosene valve of
AUSROC 2.5.


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Engine Throttle Controllers


      CAN Interface

CAN-Do! is a general purpose CAN interface module designed for use on
satellites and spacecraft.

Designed by a group within the AMSAT community, led by Bdale Garbee.

Based around the Atmel T89C51CC01 (8051 core).

Already basically space-rated; tested for thermal and ionising radiation
tolerance.

Open source!

An excellent starting point for White Label Space, perhaps!


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Engine Throttle Controllers


          CAN Interface




Figure: An example of the CAN-do! hardware.
http://can-do.moraco.info/Default.htm



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Engine Throttle Controllers


      White Label Space
Such systems will possibly be evolved further and applied on the White
Label Space lunar lander. The ability to throttle the descent engine is
essential for a controlled lunar landing.

What is White Label Space?
One of the teams in the Google Lunar X-Prize.
The only team with any significant Australian involvement.
Significant international partners in space technology, including people
from ESA and the Swiss Propulsion Laboratory and people from Tohuko
University with experience on the Hayabusa mission.




                                                Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Engine Throttle Controllers


      Google Lunar X-Prize




US$20 million prize for the first non-government mission to land a
spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, travel over 500 meters on the
lunar surface, and transmit images and data back to Earth.




                                               Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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C-band Radar Altimeter


      C-band Radar Altimeter

We’re also in the early stages of developing a radar altimeter for White
Label Space. We’re working to develop a relatively simple, low-cost radar
altimeter, with the altitude range and resolution required to support the
landing of an unmanned probe on the lunar surface.

For a successful landing on the moon, a lander needs to know its altitude
above the lunar surface precisely, and the only means to do this is by
radar.

This unique use case requires a radar altimeter with large altitude range
and high resolution, and no radar hardware suitable for this application is
available off the shelf.




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C-band Radar Altimeter


      C-band Radar Altimeter

The radar system we are in the early stages of developing will operate in
the C-band, at about 4.3 GHz, and will probably be based around an
ARM microcontroller controlling the microwave heterodyne system.

The microwave component of this system will be constructed using high
electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on a Teflon or similar PCB
substrate with good microwave performance, using microstrip technology.

This radar altimeter designed and built by Matjaˇ Vidmar and completely
                                                z
open-sourced onto the Web is very similar to the kind of radar system we
are aiming to implement - although our system will have a greater range
and RF power output.




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C-band Radar Altimeter


           C-band Radar Altimeter




Figure: A microwave radar altimeter designed and built by Matjaˇ Vidmar for
                                                               z
use on a small aircraft.
See http://lea.hamradio.si/∼s53mv/avnr/adesign.html


                                                    Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Video and Image Compression


      HD Video and Still Compression
We’re developing systems for rapid, on-the-fly compression of
high-definition video and still images, suitable for the transmission of
high-definition images from spacecraft where very limited amounts of
communications bandwidth are available.

This will be important, for example, on lunar rovers participating in the
Google Lunar X-Prize, since video and image transmission is a key
requirement of the GLXP.

In particular, we’re investigating JPEG2000 and MJPEG2000
(Motion JPEG)-based systems. A proof-of-concept - “JPEG2000
Decimator” - has been experimented with so far.

This video and image processing will require moderately powerful
embedded computers running Linux, and/or FPGAs, which will operate
successfully for the mission duration required in the thermal and
radiological environment of the lunar surface.
                                                 Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Video and Image Compression


Questions?




                              Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Video and Image Compression


          Thanks!

Many thanks to:
  - Marco Ostini
  - Lana Brindley
  - Rob Brittain
  - Stuart Young
  - Joanna Cheng
  - Andy Gelme
  - Roy Duncan
  - Mark Blair
  - Jon Oxer
  - Lee Begg



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Other Considerations


      Radiation Hardening
It is true that you can’t just take any system using modern
microcontrollers and VLSIs that you’ve designed for use inside the
atmosphere, launch it into space and expect that it will work reliably on
an ongoing basis.

However, it is practical to build electronic systems using standard
off-the-shelf components which can survive and operate in space, without
spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “real” radiation-hardened
embedded CPUs such as the IBM RAD6000 or RAD750.

When we look at the amateur satellite community, for example, we find a
good deal of experience and prior art designing electronics systems for use
on satellites, which operate reliably in space for an extended period of
time, which are designed and implemented at relatively low costs, using
relatively simple electronics.


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Other Considerations


      Radiation Hardening

There’s nothing “magical” about the environment of space. We know
what the conditions of temperature and ionising radiation experienced by
a spacecraft will be, and we can design space systems to ensure reliability
for the mission profile required.

When Apollo astronauts travelled to the Moon, for example, the ionising
radiation doses they received were recorded on their personal dosimeters.

As transistor integration density becomes higher and higher on modern
VLSI chips, the transistors themselves are fabricated smaller and smaller,
and therefore, the gate capacitance of the transistors becomes smaller and
smaller.




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Other Considerations


      Radiation Hardening
Since C = Q , the smaller gate capacitance means that the voltage spike
             V
that results when a charged particle (such as an electron or proton)
carrying a certain quantum of charge hits the transistor’s gate is much
larger. This is why VLSI devices are more susceptible to radiation-induced
soft errors than older devices with lower integration density.

Radiation-hardening was actually less of a challenge in the Apollo era than
it was today. The higher the transistor density on an IC, the more
susceptible to radiation effects it is. The magnetic-core memory and
primative integrated circuits used on Apollo were not susceptible to
radiation effects, whereas modern microprocessors and memory devices
are.

The simple RTL logic gate ICs used to build the Apollo Guidance
Computers contained a whopping 6 transistors on each chip. For
comparison, today, an ARM7 chip contains about 600,000.

                                                 Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Other Considerations


Smaller-Scale Integration




          Figure: Six transistors on a single chip!
                                             Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Other Considerations


      Radiation Hardening


FPGAs can be configured with soft cores designed to be radiation
tolerant; eg. redundancy to tolerate cosmic-ray bit flips.

The Cibola satellite developed several years ago at Los Alamos will
validate the space use of commercial, off-the-shelf Xilinx FPGAs.

The Cibola team has been actively testing Xilinx FPGAs since 1999, to
evaluate the use of off-the-shelf FPGAs in the space radiation
environment.




                                                Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space
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Lunar Numbat: Space Exploration with Open Software and Open Hardware

  • 1. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space linux.conf.au 2011 Luke Weston http://www.lunarnumbat.org July 9, 2011 Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 1 / 29
  • 2. Introduction What is Lunar Numbat? Lunar Numbat is an open-source space technology collaboration which was formed by a group of people from across Australia and New Zealand in 2009, with the intention of developing innovative, low-cost, open-source hardware and software solutions for space technology. Lunar Numbat hopes to encourage Australian and international innovation in space science and increase the accessibility of space development. The project was initiated in 2009 by Marco Ostini, and a review of Lunar Numbat work was presented at linux.conf.au by Jon Oxer in 2010. Since then, however, some significant milestones have been accomplished. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 2 / 29
  • 3. Introduction What We Do The focus of our research and development at present is in three main areas: rocket engine throttle control avionics, radar altimeters, and media compression. Linux, open hardware, open software development, open documentation, open standards, and community-driven collaboration all have an important role in meeting Lunar Numbat’s challenging goal of delivering flexible, useful space technologies at a relatively low cost. Lunar Numbat is collaborating with the Australian Space Research Institute (ASRI), and with White Label Space, a team competing for the Google Lunar X-Prize. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 3 / 29
  • 4. Introduction AUSROC 2.0 / 2.5 Figure: The AUSROC-2 launch vehicle on the launch rail, being loaded with liquid oxygen prior to launch. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 4 / 29
  • 5. Introduction Australian Space Research We’re now completing the development and testing of the CAN-interfaced propellant valve throttle controllers we have developed for AUSROC 2.5, a powerful liquid-fuelled sounding rocket developed as part of ASRI’s AUSROC program. 7.5 meters tall Liquid-fuelled: kerosene and liquid oxygen Peak velocity = 1100 ms−1 (Mach 3.3) Apogee at about 33 kilometers (110,000 feet) Thrust = 35 kN; Isp = 240 seconds. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 5 / 29
  • 6. Introduction AUSROC 2.5 Figure: Simulated velocity profile for AUSROC 2.5 flight. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 6 / 29
  • 7. Figure: A static test firing of the AUSROC 2 rocket engine. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 7 / 29
  • 8. Introduction ASRI activities We are providing ASRI with innovative, low-cost open source solutions to meet the needs of Australia’s own in-house space launch vehicle research and development. In the process, we’re making a positive contribution back to Australian space research, which is greatly in need of Australia’s support. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 8 / 29
  • 9. Figure: One of ASRI’s solid fuelled Zuni rockets being launched. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 9 / 29
  • 10. Engine Throttle Controllers Engine throttle controllers We are designing and implementing electronic controllers for the valves admitting fuel and oxidiser to the liquid-fuelled rocket engine on AUSROC 2.5. This electronic control over the propellant valves allows the flight computer to throttle down, stop and restart the rocket engine, as well as to adjust the fuel-oxidiser ratio on-the-fly. These throttle controllers embody a combination of open electronic hardware, open-source embedded software, and some open mechanical design. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 10 / 29
  • 11. Engine Throttle Controllers Open Software and Open Hardware Free is good - GNU and TAPR licenses TAPR Open Hardware License - http://www.tapr.org/ohl.html Figure: The CAN interface component of our protoype engine control hardware. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 11 / 29
  • 12. Engine Throttle Controllers Mechanical Assembly A pair of stainless steel ball valves, rated for cryogenic oxygen service, are used for the fuel and oxidiser. A pair of powerful DC brush motors and reduction gearheads move the valves, with a pair of position sensors to measure the absolute valve positions. Figure: The liquid oxygen valve assembly for AUSROC 2.5, including the ball valve, reduction gearhead and motor. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 12 / 29
  • 13. Figure: The overall assembly of the AUSROC 2.5 valve fairing. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 13 / 29
  • 14. Engine Throttle Controllers Throttle Controller Electronics Figure: The first generation valve control electronics for the kerosene valve of AUSROC 2.5. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 14 / 29
  • 15. Engine Throttle Controllers CAN Interface CAN-Do! is a general purpose CAN interface module designed for use on satellites and spacecraft. Designed by a group within the AMSAT community, led by Bdale Garbee. Based around the Atmel T89C51CC01 (8051 core). Already basically space-rated; tested for thermal and ionising radiation tolerance. Open source! An excellent starting point for White Label Space, perhaps! Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 15 / 29
  • 16. Engine Throttle Controllers CAN Interface Figure: An example of the CAN-do! hardware. http://can-do.moraco.info/Default.htm Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 16 / 29
  • 17. Engine Throttle Controllers White Label Space Such systems will possibly be evolved further and applied on the White Label Space lunar lander. The ability to throttle the descent engine is essential for a controlled lunar landing. What is White Label Space? One of the teams in the Google Lunar X-Prize. The only team with any significant Australian involvement. Significant international partners in space technology, including people from ESA and the Swiss Propulsion Laboratory and people from Tohuko University with experience on the Hayabusa mission. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 17 / 29
  • 18. Engine Throttle Controllers Google Lunar X-Prize US$20 million prize for the first non-government mission to land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, travel over 500 meters on the lunar surface, and transmit images and data back to Earth. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 18 / 29
  • 19. C-band Radar Altimeter C-band Radar Altimeter We’re also in the early stages of developing a radar altimeter for White Label Space. We’re working to develop a relatively simple, low-cost radar altimeter, with the altitude range and resolution required to support the landing of an unmanned probe on the lunar surface. For a successful landing on the moon, a lander needs to know its altitude above the lunar surface precisely, and the only means to do this is by radar. This unique use case requires a radar altimeter with large altitude range and high resolution, and no radar hardware suitable for this application is available off the shelf. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 19 / 29
  • 20. C-band Radar Altimeter C-band Radar Altimeter The radar system we are in the early stages of developing will operate in the C-band, at about 4.3 GHz, and will probably be based around an ARM microcontroller controlling the microwave heterodyne system. The microwave component of this system will be constructed using high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) on a Teflon or similar PCB substrate with good microwave performance, using microstrip technology. This radar altimeter designed and built by Matjaˇ Vidmar and completely z open-sourced onto the Web is very similar to the kind of radar system we are aiming to implement - although our system will have a greater range and RF power output. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 20 / 29
  • 21. C-band Radar Altimeter C-band Radar Altimeter Figure: A microwave radar altimeter designed and built by Matjaˇ Vidmar for z use on a small aircraft. See http://lea.hamradio.si/∼s53mv/avnr/adesign.html Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 21 / 29
  • 22. Video and Image Compression HD Video and Still Compression We’re developing systems for rapid, on-the-fly compression of high-definition video and still images, suitable for the transmission of high-definition images from spacecraft where very limited amounts of communications bandwidth are available. This will be important, for example, on lunar rovers participating in the Google Lunar X-Prize, since video and image transmission is a key requirement of the GLXP. In particular, we’re investigating JPEG2000 and MJPEG2000 (Motion JPEG)-based systems. A proof-of-concept - “JPEG2000 Decimator” - has been experimented with so far. This video and image processing will require moderately powerful embedded computers running Linux, and/or FPGAs, which will operate successfully for the mission duration required in the thermal and radiological environment of the lunar surface. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 22 / 29
  • 23. Video and Image Compression Questions? Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 23 / 29
  • 24. Video and Image Compression Thanks! Many thanks to: - Marco Ostini - Lana Brindley - Rob Brittain - Stuart Young - Joanna Cheng - Andy Gelme - Roy Duncan - Mark Blair - Jon Oxer - Lee Begg Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 24 / 29
  • 25. Other Considerations Radiation Hardening It is true that you can’t just take any system using modern microcontrollers and VLSIs that you’ve designed for use inside the atmosphere, launch it into space and expect that it will work reliably on an ongoing basis. However, it is practical to build electronic systems using standard off-the-shelf components which can survive and operate in space, without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on “real” radiation-hardened embedded CPUs such as the IBM RAD6000 or RAD750. When we look at the amateur satellite community, for example, we find a good deal of experience and prior art designing electronics systems for use on satellites, which operate reliably in space for an extended period of time, which are designed and implemented at relatively low costs, using relatively simple electronics. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 25 / 29
  • 26. Other Considerations Radiation Hardening There’s nothing “magical” about the environment of space. We know what the conditions of temperature and ionising radiation experienced by a spacecraft will be, and we can design space systems to ensure reliability for the mission profile required. When Apollo astronauts travelled to the Moon, for example, the ionising radiation doses they received were recorded on their personal dosimeters. As transistor integration density becomes higher and higher on modern VLSI chips, the transistors themselves are fabricated smaller and smaller, and therefore, the gate capacitance of the transistors becomes smaller and smaller. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 26 / 29
  • 27. Other Considerations Radiation Hardening Since C = Q , the smaller gate capacitance means that the voltage spike V that results when a charged particle (such as an electron or proton) carrying a certain quantum of charge hits the transistor’s gate is much larger. This is why VLSI devices are more susceptible to radiation-induced soft errors than older devices with lower integration density. Radiation-hardening was actually less of a challenge in the Apollo era than it was today. The higher the transistor density on an IC, the more susceptible to radiation effects it is. The magnetic-core memory and primative integrated circuits used on Apollo were not susceptible to radiation effects, whereas modern microprocessors and memory devices are. The simple RTL logic gate ICs used to build the Apollo Guidance Computers contained a whopping 6 transistors on each chip. For comparison, today, an ARM7 chip contains about 600,000. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 27 / 29
  • 28. Other Considerations Smaller-Scale Integration Figure: Six transistors on a single chip! Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 28 / 29
  • 29. Other Considerations Radiation Hardening FPGAs can be configured with soft cores designed to be radiation tolerant; eg. redundancy to tolerate cosmic-ray bit flips. The Cibola satellite developed several years ago at Los Alamos will validate the space use of commercial, off-the-shelf Xilinx FPGAs. The Cibola team has been actively testing Xilinx FPGAs since 1999, to evaluate the use of off-the-shelf FPGAs in the space radiation environment. Lunar Numbat: Open Source Goes To Space 29 / 29