RTEMS Application: SDO Launch

[Alan Cudmore]

Hi everyone,
While I am stuck in a Blizzard near Washington DC, some of my  
colleagues in Florida are preparing to launch the SDO spacecraft. The  
SDO satellite has a main RAD750 Computer running vxWorks, but it also  
has 5 Rad-Hard Coldfire CPUs running RTEMS. The coldfire/RTEMS  
computers run many of the I/O functions and one of the instruments.

A great overview is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/02/09/science/space/09solar_graphic.html

And more info:

Launch is ‘Go’ for SDO!

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is set to lift off from launch  
complex 41 at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., aboard an Atlas V rocket on  
Wednesday, February 10, at 10:26 a.m. EST. The Heliophysics Science  
Division at Goddard anticipates this first of its kind eye on the sun  
will reveal the sun’s inner workings in unprecedented detail.

SDO will provide better quality, more comprehensive science data  
faster than any NASA spacecraft currently studying the sun and its  
processes. SDO will unlock the secrets of how our nearest star  
sustains life on Earth, affects the planets of our solar system and  
beyond.

The sun’s dynamic processes affect everyone and everything on Earth.  
SDO will explore activity on the sun that can disable satellites,  
cause power grid failures, and disrupt GPS communications. SDO also  
will provide a better understanding of the role the sun plays in  
Earth’s atmospheric chemistry and climate.

SDO is the crown jewel in a fleet of NASA missions to study our sun.  
The mission is the cornerstone of a NASA science program called Living  
With a Star.  This program will provide new understanding and  
information concerning the sun and solar system that directly affect  
Earth.

Watch this exciting event as it happens. Live broadcast coverage of  
the SDO launch will be carried live on NASA TV beginning on Wednesday,  
February 10, at 7:15 a.m. EST and will conclude after spacecraft  
separation, which occurs one hour and 48 minutes after launch.

Follow the SDO launch on Twitter. Tweet-up events will take place on  
February 9 and 10 at the Kennedy Space Center with approximately 50  
classrooms around the world, and 30 other independent sites. There  
will also be a virtual tweet-up in Second Life.

To follow SDO on Twitter, visit:  http://twitter.com/NASA_SDO

For more information about the SDO tweet-up, visit: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/sdoisgo/

For more information about SDO, visit:  http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov
  
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