Integrity RTOS Chosen for Orion Spacecraft

Green Hills Software, Santa Barbara, Calif., said its Platform for Avionics, including Integrity-178B real-time operating system, has been chosen for safety-critical electronics of the NASA Orion crew exploration vehicle. Integrity-178B, certified to Level A safety criticality, will be the operating system for Orion avionics including the Flight Control Module, Spacecraft C31 Communication Adapter and Backup Emergency Controller. Integrity also is used for systems on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing 787 flight controls. NASA in 2006 selected Lockheed Martin over a Northrop Grumman/Boeing team as the prime contractor to build Orion, which will be capable of transporting four crewmembers for lunar missions and later supporting crew transfers for Mars missions. The spacecraft also will be capable of transporting six crewmembers to and from the International Space Station. Crewed flights are scheduled to begin in 2015. “The Lockheed Martin Orion team is working to build the state-of-the-art crew exploration vehicle, which focuses first and foremost on crew safety and spacecraft reliability,” stated Gary Shubert, Lockheed Martin Orion Flight Software manager. “Green Hills software was determined to be the most technically mature and offered a more economical commercial off-the-shelf solution.”