Compiled by James Rash, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland
Introduction.
The following table presents space-related applications of Forth microprocessors and the Forth programming language, including
spacecraft flight system controllers
on-board payload experiment controllers
ground support systems (e.g., communications controllers and data processing systems)
hardware or software used to build or test either flight or ground systems.
Developers are requested to supply table updates and corrections, as well as information regarding relevant projects not already included, as appropriate. Please send information, comments, and suggestions to the author of this web page. Authorization for release of the information is the responsibility of the contributor.
A "+" marked in the left column indicate that the item is new or updated since the last version.
Please notify the author concerning any non functional URLs, links, or contact information in the table.
Further information on Forth, including the ANSI standard (ANS Forth):
Notice: Nothing appearing in these pages is to be construed as an endorsement by NASA. The information may be changed or withdrawn at any time without notice. The author has obtained the information from sources believed to be reliable, and has attempted to ensure accuracy, but makes no guarantees or representations of any kind. Copying, using, and distributing the table is authorized, provided it is kept intact, properly attributed, and accompanied by this Notice.
DEVELOPER MISSION DESCRIPTION FURTHER INFORMATION
(note: remove blanks from email addresses given below)
IMAGE (launched March 2000)
Controller for the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) instrument, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor
Jianxin Chen -- jchen@
baja.uric.arizona.edu
+Baja Technology L.L.C.
ROSETTA (awaiting launch as of April 2003)
Controller for the Ion and Electron Sensor instrument, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor
Jianxin Chen -- jchen@
baja.uric.arizona.edu
+Baja Technology L.L.C.
Deep Impact (in development as of April 2003)
Controller for the Avionics & Control (AOC) system, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor
Jianxin Chen -- jchen@
baja.uric.arizona.edu
Ball Aerospace (click on "Aerospace" link)
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE)
Star Scanner instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Advanced X-Ray Astronomical Facility (AXAF)
Software to control the Science Instrument selection and focus mechanisms, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Advanced X-Ray Astronomical Facility (AXAF)
Software to operate precision CCD Aspect Camera, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Earth Observing System (EOS)
Scanning mirror controller for the Thermal Imaging Radiometer (TIR), using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Midcourse Sensor Experiment (MSX) - SDIO
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Military aircraft
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Miniature Seeker Technology Integration (MSTI)
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) III
CCD Controller Software, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
Randal Vanvalkenburg at NASA/Langley: r.l.vanvalkenburg@ larc.nasa.gov
Ball Aerospace
Shuttle
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS)
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Ball Aerospace
X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE)
Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Advance Composition Explorer (ACE)
Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) instrument controller hardware (RTX2010) and software in Forth
Walter Cook at wrc@ thor.srl.caltech.edu
California Institute of Technology (Caltech)
Advance Composition Explorer (ACE)
Solar IsotopeSpectrometer (SIS) instrument controller hardware (RTX2010) and software in Forth
Walter Cook at wrc@ thor.srl.caltech.edu
USAF Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS)
Position encoder implemented with SwiftX
cross compiler on Harris RTX-2010 Forth microprocessor
Elizabeth Rather -- erather@ forth.com
Innovatia Laboratories
NASA & USAF tropospheric research balloons
Telemetry system using Innovatia MC1 microcontroller running Forth-83
Dennis L. Feucht at dfeucht@ toolcity.net
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)
USAF DMSP
Magnetometer instrument control
JHU/APL
USAF DMSP
Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI), 5 missions over 15 years using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
JHU/APL
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite
ULEIS (Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer), using embedded Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
JHU/APL
CASSINI spacecraft
Magnetospheric Imager (MIMI) using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
JHU/APL
HILAT
Magnetometer instrument control
JHU/APL
Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT)
Instrument control, on-line data analysis, telemetry
JHU/APL
MAGSAT
Attitude Control Processor
JHU/APL
"Polar Bear" (Polar Beacon & Auroral Research Satellite)
Magnetometer instrument control
JHU/APL
US Navy LONARS High precision navigation receiver using Loran-C
Real time data processing & sensor control software
JHU/APL
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR)
Command & Telemetry Processor,
Multi-Spectral Imaging System,
Infrared Spectrograph and Magnetometer,
X-ray/Gamma-ray Spectrometer, and
Laser Rangefinder, all using the Harris RTX 2010RH Forth microprocessor
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite
Solar wind data processing unit, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor
McDonnell Douglas
Shuttle - Electrophoresis Operations in Space (1986)
Pharmaceutical purification process control software
Robert Wood at rwood@ mdc.com
McGill University
International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) (Shuttle mission STS-42)
Space Adaptation Syndrom Experiment management and data acquisition for four out of seven life science experiments
Luc Lefebvre at lefebvre@ medcor.mcgill.ca
NASA/GSFC
Compatibility Test Van (CTV)
Dual channel PCM simulator system software
NASA/GSFC
Compatibility Test Van (CTV): Landsat, HST, GRO, COBE, UARS, etc., Wallops, Data Evaluation Lab
Programmable Data Formatter III system software
NASA/GSFC
CRAF/CASSINI
MASSACQ Flight Instrument Test/Calibration System
NASA/GSFC
Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY)
Command and data acquisition system written in Forth
Mark Yarbrough at yarbrough@ mlml.calstate.edu
NASA/GSFC
Massively Parallel Processor (MPP)
Image processing software
NASA/GSFC
NCC Mission Operations Support Area (MOSA)
ITR (Intelligent Transmitter/Receiver) -- Interface board for MOSA (formerly Mini-NOCC) Front End
Thomas Sardella at Tom.Sardella@ nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC
Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet (SSBUV) ozone calibration instrument with 8 successful Shuttle bay flights
Small Payload Accommodation Module (SPAM) interface controller software written in Forth
Bob Caffrey at Robert.T.Caffrey@ nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC
Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet (SSBUV)
Instrument Interface Electronics Module (IIEM) software written in Forth
John T. (Tom) Riley at Tom.Riley@ nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC
Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounder Experiment (SOLSE)
A "Hitchhiker Junior", to fly summer '97 -- instrument controller written in Forth
(ditto)
NASA/GSFC
Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment (LORE)
A small independent instrument within SOLSE -- instrument controller written in Forth
(ditto)
NASA/GSFC
Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) on Space Shuttle Astro-2 mission
Dedicated Experiment Processor (DEP) written in Forth
Peter Chen at chen@ uit.gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC
Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) (Lewis Research Center/TRW)
Goddard Electronics Module (GEM) data acquisition processor using Harris RTX-2010
Jay T. Miller at jay.t.miller.1@ gsfc.nasa.gov
NASA/GSFC
ACE (JHU/APL)
Spacecraft Loads & Acoustic Monitor (SLAM) simultaneous data acquisition and downlink subsystem using Harris RTX-2010
(ditto)
NASA/GSFC
Wideband Transport Frame Formatter (WTFF)
Virtual channel processor & system controller for the Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) Testbed using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor
Jose Bentancort at Jose@ tsi-telsys.com
NASA/JSC
Shuttle, IML-1
Krug Life Sciences Microgravity Vestibular Investigations
NASA/JPL
Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-B)
Command & control software
NASA
TOPEX
Portion of Ground Support Equipment software
+NSI
Globalstar, Thuraya, Iridium, ICO, Astrolink, various NASA missions including SWAS (Sub millimeter wave astronomy satellite), Space Shuttle Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Rosetta (comet probe)
Microwave nearfield antenna
testing of spacecraft antennas
www.nearfield.com
Dan Slater <dslater@ ix.netcom.com>
Orbital Sciences Corporation
ORBCOMM Experimental Package OXP-1 on Pegasus
Flight & experiment software
Orbital Sciences Corporation
ORBCOMM Experimental Package OXP-1 on Pegasus
Flight & experiment software
Orbital Sciences Corporation (formerly Fairchild Space & Defense)
USAF Multimission Modular Spacecraft (MMS)
Multiplex Data Bus Monitor/Recorder test equipment using Harris RTX2000 microprocessor and firmware written in Forth
Mark A. Mowen at markmowen@ fsd.com
Orbital Sciences Corporation
ORBCOMM-X
Telemetry, flight control support
Orbital Sciences Corporation
USAF APEX
Data management and power control software
Orbital Sciences Corporation
SeaStar
Sea WiFs data management and power control software
Orbital Sciences Corporation/Hercules
Pegasus
Telemetry & flight control
Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT-DL (Germany))
AMSAT OSCAR 10, OSCAR 13, OSCAR 21, and (in development) Phase 3-D amateur radio satellites
Integrated Housekeeping Unit (including navigation, attitude control, telemetry and telecommand tracking, payload control, power management, health & safety, and propulsion control) and Ground Support Equipment, all using the Forth-like language IPS (Interpreter for Process Structures). OSCAR 21 used the Harris RTX2000 microprocessor.
Swedish Space Corp./JHU/APL
Magnetometer experiment control
Lawrence Zanetti at zanetti@ jhuapl.edu
University of California
Galileo
Magnetic Field Experiment instrument control
University of Wisconsin
Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE)
Instrument control
US Navy
SPINSAT
Portion of ground support equipment software
USSR
Baikonur Cosmodrome
Telemetry data analysis & retrieval workstations
Vertex Communications Corporation
Satellite earthstation antenna systems
7210 Monopulse Antenna Control System on Motorola 68030 platform
sales@ vcsd.com
Last revised: 14 April 2003
--- Contact information regarding this web site --- Name Phone Code
Responsible NASA official
Julie Loftis
301-286-5049
588
Curator & technical contact
James Rash (james.l.rash @ nasa.gov)
301-286-5246
588
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http://forth.gsfc.nasa.gov/
For reference purposes, this page WAS located at URL:
http://forth.gsfc.nasa.gov/