The effect of faults on plasma particle detector data reduction

Missions in NASA´s Solar-Terrestrial Probe Line feature challenges such as multiple spacecraft and high data production rates. An important class of scientific instruments that have for years strained against limits on communications are the particle detectors used to measure space plasma density, temperature, and flow. The Plasma Moment Application (PMA) software is being developed for the NASA Remote Exploration and Experimentation (REE) Program´s series of Flight Processor Testbeds. REE seeks to enable instrument science teams to move data analyses such as PMA on board the spacecraft thereby reducing communication downlink requirements. Here we describe the PMA for the first time and examine its behavior under single bit faults in its static state. We find that ~90% of the faults lead to tolerable behavior, while the remainder cause either program failure or nonsensical results. These results help guide the development of fault tolerant, non-hardened flight/science processors