Radiation-Tolerant To The Max

Maxwell Technologies’ Space Electronics subsidiary has introduced a new line of radiation-tolerant fiber channel chip sets that allow satellite manufacturers to reduce launch costs by replacing copper wire circuitry with lighter fiber optic circuits.

Tom Horgan, Maxwell’s CEO, said that the Space Electronics chip sets are the only space-qualified products of their kind currently available to support fiber optics for hundreds of new satellites that industry sources expect to be launched over the next few years.

“Commercial satellite systems to meet the rapidly growing demand for telecommunications services, internet bandwidth and other applications represent a multi-billion dollar industry,” Horgan said.

“Space Electronics’ proprietary radiation tolerance technology gives it a unique position as a supplier of microelectronics that withstand the harsh space environment and are immune to cosmic ray-induced failures that are a major problem for unprotected components. Fiber optic circuitry is of particular interest because each pound of payload weight reduction lowers launching costs by as much as $10,000,” he added.

Space Electronics already has received its first purchase order for the new components, an award valued at more than $1 million, from Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space (LMMS), to deliver space qualified fiber channel chip sets to upgrade a heritage LMMS satellite program.

Space Electronics provides radiation-hardened microelectronics for space flight, ruggedized integrated circuits for high-reliability environments and multi-display video systems for embedded applications.