Reliable Multicore Processors for NASA Space Missions

Abstract

The current trend in commercial processors of moving to many cores (30 to100 and beyond) on a single die poses both an opportunity and a challenge for space based processing. 1 2 The opportunity is to leverage this trend for space application and thus provide an order of magnitude increase in onboard processing capability. The challenge is to provide the requisite reliability in an extremely challenging environment. In this paper, we will discuss the requirements for reliable space based multicore computing and approaches being explored to deliver this capability within NASA's extremely tight power, mass, and cost constraints.