Re-configurable spacecraft software: demands and solution

This paper outlines a software infrastructure for next generation re-configurable spacecraft. A new approach to software architecture is required to support a long-term operation of the spacecraft, which changes missions and hardware configurations often. Traditional spacecraft software development technology takes for granted the stability of the operational environment including hardware, configuration, and mission. Re-configurable spacecraft does not, by definition, remain static in mission or organization. The proposed approach to system software for re-configurable spacecraft focuses on the use of a virtual machine, executed on all participating node control processors. Each node control processor runs an instance of the virtual machine with the same instruction set, memory topology, input-output access, and mechanisms for guaranteed performance. In addition to enabling the basic re-configurable spacecraft mission, a properly implemented virtual machine itself adds new capability to the platform. This paper explores the advantages of a virtual machine based software system for the re-configurable spacecraft.