Boeing chooses Aitech to provide space-grade computers for Boeing NASA CST manned spacecraft

CHATSWORTH, Calif., 4 June 2015. Spacecraft designers at the Boeing Co. Defense, Space & Security segment needed radiation-tolerant space-grade computers for the Crew Space Transportation (CST) system. They found their solution from Aitech Defense Systems Inc. in Chatsworth, Calif.

Boeing awarded a contract to Aitech to provide space-grade embedded computing products and services to support the Commercial Crew Transportation System (CCTS) and Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft, part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Aitech officials say.

Aitech will design and build the crew interface system computer and displays that control and maneuver the capsule. The subsystem, consisting of a display computer, pilot and copilot displays, and keypads, helps the space crew control of the craft using the pilots' rotational and translational hand controllers.

Boeing's CST-100 is being developed as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, which aims to resume U.S.-based flights to space by 2017. The CST-100 will transport as many as seven passengers or a mix of crew and cargo to the ISS and other low-Earth-orbit destinations.

Related: Radiation-tolerant 3U CompactPCI single-board computer introduced by Aitech for space applications

Under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) phase of the program, Boeing will build three CST-100s at its Kennedy Space Center facility in Florida. The spacecraft will undergo a pad-abort test, an unmanned flight test and, ultimately, the first crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017.

For more information contact Aitech online at http://rugged.com/space-products, or Boeing at www.boeing.com.