2014-2017 - LaMeres

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Researchers at Montana State University are in the final stages of development of an experiment that will travel to the International Space Station to demonstrate a new type of computer technology that can withstand the harmful effects of radiation.  The payload is known as RTcMISS (pronounced Artemis), which stands for “Radiation Tolerant computer Mission on the International Space Station”.  The computer uses a novel approach to mitigating radiation-induced faults using spare processors that are continually reconfigured in real-time.  This approach allows processors that are faulted by radiation to be repaired without halting the computer.  This increases performance and improves reliability by giving the system backup processors it can rely on.  The NASA EPSCoR program gave this program its initial start in 2010 through a research initiation grant and is now providing an opportunity to reach its highest level of maturation by going to the International Space Station.

 

As part of the outreach component of this project, the MSU team worked with 2nd graders at Morning Star Elementary School to design the mission patch for RTcMISS.  The logo was used to create patches that were given to all of the 2nd graders in addition to stickers that will travel to the ISS on a NanoRacks LLC memorabilia capsule.  One the stickers return to Earth, they will be given to the 2nd graders as a token of appreciation and as a constant reminder of the exciting work that engineers and scientists get to do.