Aitech Provides Critical Communication System to Sidus Space for LizzieSat™ Satellite

Chatsworth, Calif.  21 May 2024.  Aitech Systems, a leading provider of rugged boards and system level solutions for military, aerospace and space applications, has successfully provided a complete system of command and data handling (C&DH) flight computers and peripherals to Sidus Space for the LizzieSat™ satellite, that has successfully launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 Rideshare mission on March 4th. This space-rated system developed by Aitech includes two S-A1760, a radiation-characterized AI GPGPU, and two S-A6640, a SFF ethernet switch.

Sidus Space is a multi-faceted Space and Data-as-a-Service satellite company focused on mission-critical hardware manufacturing, multi-disciplinary engineering services, satellite design, production, launch planning, mission operations, and in-orbit support. The Sidus team successfully completed the Launch and Early Operations Phase (LEOP) on March 14th after establishing two-way communications with LizzieSat. The primary mission of LizzieSat involves simultaneous data collection through multiple sensors to support various industries, including agriculture, maritime, and oil and gas. These sensors and receivers include hyperspectral, multispectral, AIS, and optical.

“We are excited as we move on to the final phase of satellite operations with LS-1 and begin operating our customer payloads,” stated Sidus Space Chief Executive Officer, Carol Craig. “I am beyond proud of the entire Sidus team who has worked tirelessly to systematically move through the critical initial stage of operations for the first satellite in our constellation and look forward to launching additional satellites later this year.”

The combination of Aitech’s S-A6640 and S-A1760 enables a unique C&DH system that is easily adaptable to different high-speed data protocols to meet the need for rapid data conversion from one protocol to another in orbit.

Ralph Grundler, Director of Space Business Development, of Aitech, said, “Aitech is proud to provide rugged space system solutions to Sidus Space which are essential for the C&DH flight computers that are vital components of LizzieSat. We continuously design and manufacture affordable and reliable systems to enable space exploration across all orbits.”

Aitech’s radiation-tolerant S-A6640 is the space industry’s first standalone SFF ethernet switch designed and tested for NEO and LEO missions. The S-A6640 operates as the main connectivity hub for any small satellite or human rated mission for interconnecting all electronic components on board while significantly lowering the risk of communication-related failures in orbit.

Designed for short duration spaceflight, NEO and LEO satellite applications, the S-A1760 is the smallest, most powerful space-rated rugged GPGPU SFF system. Aitech’s S-A1760 uses NVIDIA® Jetson™ TX2i SoM with 256 CUDA cores, reaching 1 TFLOPS at a remarkable level of efficiency for local processing power next to the sensors. The S-A1760 is ideal for video and signal processing in distributed systems.