In the last 11 years, a lot has changed in this field. That's to be expected in a technology that is driven by Moore's Law, where complexity doubles every 18 months or so. So we have a factor of 7 or so, but actually the rate of change is increasing.Where we are today is machines built with multiple cores on one chip, each core being a complete computer. The same communication schemes discussed in this book are used, with the same trade-off's, shared memory or communication channel....

Pronounced RISK-Five, RISC-V is the latest implementation of the MIPS architecture, in an open source configuration. The project kicked off in 2010 at the University of California, Berkeley.It had been announced in 2018. Multiple companies now offer RISC-V chips, and the architecture is compatible with several FPGA's. The RISC-V architecture is making inroads on the popular ARM embedded architecture.There have been numerous space missions using the MIPS architecture. One of...

I am assuming a basic knowledge of computer architecture, but most of what you need to know is also included. The details of computer math are presented in an appendix. I have collected together a representative list of reference books and interesting titles in the bibliography. In a quickly evolving field such as embedded computers, new and relevant material is emerging all the time. This book represents a current snapshot of the field. The plan is to update the material at reasonable int...

This book traces the history and technology of several Irons works in pre-colonial Maryland, starting with the Colony of Maryland. The collected information is the result of a long chain of research by tireless researchers in dingy colonial era archives, and in dismal swamps.It tell the story of Richard Snowden, coming to the Colony of Maryland as an endentured servant, and eventually building a mansion for himself and all of his daughters.

This book documents the development of missile and spacecraft guidance computers from the earliest efforts to the current Space Station and satellite onboard systems. This book developed from the author's presentation at the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in 2009 for the Workshop on Flight Software. The second and third editions were expanded with new material and references. The fourth edition updated the material to the state of the art in 2014, with discussions of...

The book discusses the topic of the search for Extraterrestrial life, that is, life not on Earth. The search is taking place in the planets and moons of our solar system, and on Exoplanets, elsewhere in our galaxy. The problem is, we only have 1, albeit vastly diversified, example of life. We can conjecture that life only has a chance in certain thermal ranges (the Goldilocks zone), so that's where we look. Unfortunately, strange life was observed at deep ocean thermal vents, with chemical...

This book is an introduction to Cubesats, those popular and relatively inexpensive modular spacecraft that are upending the aerospace world. They have been built and deployed by colleges and Universities around the world, as well as high schools and elementary schools, even individuals. This is because Cubesats are modular, standard, and relatively low cost. The expensive part is the launch, but that is addressed by launch fixtures compatible with essentially every launch vehicle on the pl...

This book discusses the next generation of robot explorers for the surface of the Earth, our Moon and Mars. Up to this point, surface exploration has used one or two car-sized vehicles, operating on their own, or perhaps just a drone. Mars exploration has involved one or two rovers covering a small area around a landing site.A paradigm ship in spacecraft architecture has been the Cubesat approach, a standardized, open source design. Cubesats have become more capable. The standardiz...

The book covers the topic of Embedded Computers for Spacecraft. We need to define and explore some terms, starting with “embedded computer.” We'll look at its cpu, memory, and I/O. The Space environment is harsh, and hard on computer components. We'll review these effects, and see what additional requirements they place upon the system.Just as embedded computers are special cases of computers in general, then space flight embedded computers are a special case of embedded. They are ...

This book covers the topic of Crewed Space Stations, from the earliest dreams to the current International Space Station, with some information on the planning of its replacement. Generally, we distinguish between a space capsule and a space station by the fact that the space station is permanently in orbit, and can be resupplied and new crews delivered, as veterans are returned to the ground. The orbital space station provides living accommodations for the crew, as well as experiment spac...

This book is an update to an earlier book on x86 computer architecture, hardware and software. The x86 describes not only a line of microprocessor chips dating back to 1978, but also an instruction set architecture (ISA) that the chips implement. The chip families are built by Intel and other manufacturers, and execute the same instructions, but in different ways. The results are the same, arithmetically and logically, but may differ in their timing.Why the focus on the Intel x86? ...

A port is a point of departure or arrival. This book covers the topic of Spaceports. Like an airport or a train station, these are hubs that people and cargo come to for a transportation system. Some launch sites allow for vertical launch, and some allow for horizontal take off and landing. These are indistinguishable from airports, although the runways are usually longer. Spaceports are the gateway to orbit for people and supplies. They are key to continued exploration of the solar system...