Bits and Bytes in Microgravity: Insights into the Hardware and Software of Sounding Rockets

Abstract

This talk will show you how many interfaces have to communicate in order to fly experiments on a sounding rocket. We will give you insights into the procedures and the complexity of a research campaign and the actual flight of the rocket itself. In particular, we look at the hardware and software used in the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and the Service Module (SM) within the rocket. The Mobile Rocket Base (MORABA), a department of DLR's Space Operations and Astronaut Training, allows scientists to conduct experiments under microgravity conditions for up to 15 minutes with almost no interference. However, the sounding rockets used in the campaigns also enable research under the influence of extreme acceleration forces as well as research in the fields of hypersonic and atmospheric physics. We like to give an overview of the basic procedures and the complexity of such a research campaign. In addition, we provide an insight into our work, which involves a lot of in-house development for hardware and software. This includes circuit board design, FPGA programming as well as hardware related programming of DSP processors in assembler and C/C++. Additionally, software and hardware for wired and wireless transmission of telemetry and telecommand are developed, as well as software for operating and monitoring the service module and other components before and during flight. On a sketched flight through the atmosphere we will provide many facts and figures about all systems and components. The focus will be on the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and the Service Module (SM) within the sounding rocket.