The British defence firm BAE has announced a partnership with chip fabrication company GlobalFoundries to develop the next generation of spacebound electronics, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. Citing increasing demand for high-performance, low-latency processors with hardened radiation-hardened defenses, the duo will combine their expertise to provide modern electronics that are lightweight, performant, and ready for use in space.
Electronics used in space-based systems must be sturdy. They need to withstand the rigors of takeoff and potentially landing, as well as the bombardment of radiation they receive outside Earth’s protective atmosphere and magnetosphere. With that in mind, many of the electronics used in modern designs are antiquated and lack the performance, featherlight structure, and energy efficiency of modern chips. Indeed, they’re often built on 45nm silicon wafers, which are over 15 years old and no longer cutting-edge.
BAE and GlobalFoundries are looking to change that.
“We’re seeing a growing demand for higher processing capabilities, lower power consumption, and smaller form factors driving the development of new radiation-hardened processors,” said Andrew Kelly, director of space systems and advanced microelectronics at BAE Systems.
The new partnership will enable space companies to design and fabricate processors based on 12nm process technology without sacrificing shielding. That’s an enormous leap in efficiency and performance, or a combination of both, and could lead to next-generation satellite and spacecraft computing systems that are much faster, much lighter, and use far less power.
It’s a radiation-hardened version of GlobalFoundries’ 12LP FinFET process. It will be paired with BAE’s pre-hardened circuit blocks, helping customers design application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) processors for their specific scientific instruments and spacecraft computing systems.
This will speed up the development process, giving space companies access to much more modern electronic hardware and opening up all kinds of tantalizing possibilities.