Thursday, November 17th 2022
Hundreds of Renesas' Intersil-Brand Radiation-Hardened ICs Lift Off Onboard Artemis 1 Mission to the Moon
Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced that hundreds of its radiation-hardened (rad-hard) integrated circuits (ICs), including over 50 different part numbers, are onboard the Artemis 1 launch that blasted off on November 16. Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs are part of the battery management systems, RS-25 engine control electronics and the launch abort system on the Space Launch System that propelled the mission into space, the most powerful rocket ever built. On the Orion Capsule that will circle the moon, Renesas provided critical components for controller boards, the main flight computer, the docking camera system, the power distribution system and display and panel electronics. The Intersil-brand ICs perform multiple functions, including power management and precision signal processing.
Artemis is the ambitious NASA program that will take humankind back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Artemis 1 is sending the test-mannequin populated Orion capsule to orbit the moon and deploy cubesats and other space experiments on a 42-day mission to test all the critical systems. Artemis 2 (2024) will have a crew that will orbit the moon paving the way for Artemis 3 (2025), which will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. The plan is for Artemis to continue to build a space station in lunar orbit and a base on the lunar South Pole. This infrastructure will allow for the awe-inspiring goal of a crewed mission to Mars in the 2040s.
"We leverage decades of experience as a deeply trusted space supplier to design and manufacture our Intersil brand rad-hard ICs to withstand the harshest of environments," said Chris Stephens, Vice President, and General Manager of the HiRel Business Division at Renesas. "These devices play a key role in enabling this seminal moment which is capturing the imagination of a new and diverse group of engineers, scientists, and explorers."
The Renesas Intersil brand has a long history in the space industry spanning more than six decades, beginning with the founding of Radiation Inc. in 1950. Since then, virtually every satellite, shuttle launch and deep-space exploration mission has included Intersil-branded products. Renesas leverages this experience to deliver efficient, thermally optimized and highly reliable SMD, MIL-STD-883 and MIL-PRF 38535 Class-V/Q Intersil-branded products for the defense, high-reliability (Hi-Rel), and rad-hard space markets. Renesas Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs support subsystems for mission critical applications in data communications transfer, power supplies and power conditioning, general protection circuitry, and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C).
Deep space is a challenging environment for spaceflight and asteroid exploration systems, particularly due to the intense radiation environment encountered in nearly all mission profiles. Design, layout, certain process technologies, and manufacturing steps like burn-in and total dose testing of ICs ensures predictable performance and prevents system failure while in flight and on long duration robotic and crewed missions to other planets.
Renesas' Intersil-Brand Spaceflight IC Capabilities Include:
Source:
Renesas
Artemis is the ambitious NASA program that will take humankind back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Artemis 1 is sending the test-mannequin populated Orion capsule to orbit the moon and deploy cubesats and other space experiments on a 42-day mission to test all the critical systems. Artemis 2 (2024) will have a crew that will orbit the moon paving the way for Artemis 3 (2025), which will land the first woman and the first person of color on the moon. The plan is for Artemis to continue to build a space station in lunar orbit and a base on the lunar South Pole. This infrastructure will allow for the awe-inspiring goal of a crewed mission to Mars in the 2040s.
The Renesas Intersil brand has a long history in the space industry spanning more than six decades, beginning with the founding of Radiation Inc. in 1950. Since then, virtually every satellite, shuttle launch and deep-space exploration mission has included Intersil-branded products. Renesas leverages this experience to deliver efficient, thermally optimized and highly reliable SMD, MIL-STD-883 and MIL-PRF 38535 Class-V/Q Intersil-branded products for the defense, high-reliability (Hi-Rel), and rad-hard space markets. Renesas Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs support subsystems for mission critical applications in data communications transfer, power supplies and power conditioning, general protection circuitry, and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C).
Deep space is a challenging environment for spaceflight and asteroid exploration systems, particularly due to the intense radiation environment encountered in nearly all mission profiles. Design, layout, certain process technologies, and manufacturing steps like burn-in and total dose testing of ICs ensures predictable performance and prevents system failure while in flight and on long duration robotic and crewed missions to other planets.
Renesas' Intersil-Brand Spaceflight IC Capabilities Include:
- >400 space-qualified radiation-hardened products available
- Consistent design and manufacturing in Renesas' MIL-PRF-38535-qualified facility located in Palm Bay, Florida
- Renesas' Intersil brand is one of only ~15 RHA Defense Logistics Agency (Land and Maritime) QML suppliers
- Fully Class V (space level) compliant products
- Products are on individual DLA SMD drawings
39 Comments on Hundreds of Renesas' Intersil-Brand Radiation-Hardened ICs Lift Off Onboard Artemis 1 Mission to the Moon
Edit: Let me pop the definition of racism here: "prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group". So then, excluding white males from the candidate group for a job is racist. End of.So you're saying that whoever the candidates will be, the difference in their qualifications will be minimal. But you don't know that, do you?
And still, none of this has got anything to do with space exploration (or with me being a white male).Potentially denying perfectly capable individuals of opportunities that they deserve based on their race and sex is not something I'd call balancing. In fact, it is the exact same thing that the "sinners" you were talking about did. Whatever idea you hide it behind, doesn't matter. The act is the same.
The turn on the "space pony" should not be given by race, but by merit. It is a job that some people fight their whole lives to get, not a damn kindergarten toy.Right, then. What about Hungarians living in the UK? We haven't been to space, yet. Maybe it should be my turn now!
Now you'll say "what if the person that comes out on top of the list is a white male?" Well for this position, given the historical lack of representation we'll assign more weight to being in the demographic we're targeting so we'll pick the second best (which is actually the best because he got an extra hipotethical half point in the demographic criteria).
And here I guess we'll agree to disagree, you can see this as the same thing you're saying/semantics, I see it as a light finger on the scales to create and inspire more opportunity to historical disadvantaged demographics to eventually achieve equality. Just like legacy admissions (not just to university but using the term in general) are a criteria, a disadvantaged demographic can also be a criteria, in this case the one that bumps it over the finish line.
And I find this last point really important because imo saying "best qualified candidate gets disqualified for the second based on demographic" is a huge simplification when we're talking about expert positions where there's a stupid ammount of considerations that are taken. It's not like the "second best" is any dummy that fits the required demographic. In reality it will be someone that is for all intents on par with your supposed "best candidate" (and bunch of other top choices for that matter), and gets the deciding "coin flip" vote because it fits the wanted demographic.That's not the kind of firsts I'm talking about, I'm talking about first <insert specific demographic>, not first best in the field. We'll eventually run out of realistic first <insert specific demographic>.I think that's an entirely different discussion (one where I don't believe in wired that way, there's a huge ammount of conditioning that goes on throughout our entire lifes). I completely agree with you that society balances itself in equality of opportunity and not outcome, but that opportunity has to first exist and gender/racial discrimination have been historical undeniable factors that are yet to be completely eliminated.
To be clear, when I'm looking at candidates, I care about 2 things: If they can do the job and if they will jive with the rest of the team. Race says nothing about those two attributes.
Actually, such practice is banned by the UK's Equality Act of 2010. I'm shocked that in America, it isn't only allowed, but celebrated.That's exactly what I meant. I don't want to get political for obvious reasons, but if you take the map of the world and point your finger on each and every single country one by one, can you confidently say that the people living there don't consider themselves superior to you or that they care about your rights as a human being and an equal?
If you, <insert specific demographic group or groups> give up being the first, then some other <insert specific demographic> will gladly take advantage. Firsts will always exist. Things like politics, religion, lack of education, propaganda, group identity and greed are making sure of it. Even if you're a highly educated and enlightened individual, some others are definitely not. It's human nature. That's why the first has to be a promoter of quality education, freedom of speech, fair treatment for all, protection of individual rights and equality of opportunity among others, and not encourage preferential treatment of specific demographic groups, as that's what led to the biggest problems of the 20th Century. We should have learned this much by now.Giving preferential treatment for a demographic group during a job interview and selection process doesn't eliminate discrimination. It promotes it. It's exactly what the western world was doing a couple of decades ago, and it's what people like Martin Luther King Jr fought against, and now we're doing it again under the flag of inclusion. Do you see the contradiction? Choosing to drink whiskey instead of vodka does not constitute a fight against alcoholism.