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| EMJ Provides Embedded Components for Spartan 201 Spacecraft EMJ Embedded Systems will have more than eyes focused heavenward when Space Shuttle Discovery, Mission STS-95, blasts off on October 29 (1998), carrying as payload the Goddard Spaceflight Center’s Spartan 201 Spacecraft. This historic nine-day mission will not only carry John Glenn back into space, but will also shuttle an in-flight recorder aboard the Goddard spacecraft. And that recorder is built with EMJ-supplied embedded components. The Spartan 201-05, is a Solar Physics Spacecraft that is manually deployed from the Space Shuttle while it orbits the earth. It is designed to perform remote sensing of the hot outer layers of the sun’s atmosphere or corona. The objective of the observations is to investigate the mechanisms causing the heating of the solar corona and the acceleration of the solar wind, which originates in the corona. These experiments are important on many levels, and are undertaken in order to generate a better model and understanding of the sun. Among other things, this may someday help in predicting changes in "solar weather" that can disrupt radio communications and disable satellites. The SP201-05 mission is also coordinated with the ongoing NASA/ESA SOHO mission. The Mini Gigabyte Backup (MGB) Data Recorder, designed for the mission by Judd Johnson of Electricon and Greg Card of NCAR/HAO, and housed on the spacecraft, performs much as a black box on an commercial jetliner. Its non-interactive recording mechanisms, contained in a small rugged enclosure, continuously gather scientific information and also record general health of the spacecraft. Back on earth, a screen and keyboard are attached to the MGB to download the data via its Ethernet port. EMJ Embedded Systems supplied the products that run the MGB Data Recorder. These include a JUMPtec 386 single board computer in PC/104 form factor; Adtron Corporation 1A1-0402, 16 bit PC/104 bus ATA Adapters; and Calluna Technology Ltd. callunacard 520 MB, Type III, ATA PC Cards. Judd Johnson states, "Initially, EMJ supplied the parts we needed to make a prototype. From that stage the EMJ Embedded staff has always been there to advise us on embedded products that will work for us. They always get back to me right away, they run interference for me with the manufacturers, and they make things happen. We have had very good success with EMJ Embedded Systems." HOW THE EMBEDDED PRODUCTS ARE USED IN THE DATA RECORDER Each hard drive board is made of two components, a PC/104 bus PC Card solidstate reader and a PC Card hard drive. The solidstate reader is an Adtron PC/104 bus 16 bit ATA Adapter. The module allows one of the ATA PC Card (PCMCIA) hard disks to be used as the system hard disk. It also allows the JUMPtec single board computer that controls the system to boot from the ATA hard disk without the need for additional device drivers or BIOS extensions. The system BIOS accesses the card/drive combination as standard hard drives. The hard drives are Calluna Technology Ltd. Callunacard 520MB ATA Hard drives in Type III PC Card form factor. The hard drives are retained in the PCMCIA sockets by an aluminum clamp/heat sink that is attached to the MGB housing. The data recorder is controlled by a JUMPtec 386SX 33MHz PC/104 single board controller. This board ships standard with 2MB of RAM, .9MB Flash, 2 serial ports, 1 parallel port, floppy and harddisk controllers, keyboard controller and LCD interface, plus Ethernet port. ABOUT EMJ Embedded Systems EMJ Embedded Systems, a division of EMJ America Inc., distributes a full line of single board computers, CompactPCI solutions, Flash solutions, PC Card disk drives, PC Card readers, PC/104 add-on cards, PC/104 peripherals, displays, software and enclosures. EMJ is a publicly traded company with revenues of $150 million and can be found on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol EMJ. ABOUT ELECTRICON CORPORATION Electricon is a small Colorado company that provides engineering/ design and fabrication services to NASA’s solar physics and special payloads divisions at the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Electricon’s most recent work has been centered around the development of low cost, medium density data storage systems for both short and long duration space missions. Contact Electricon at 303-442-3443.  |
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