What are the new low power electronics on DS1?
Deep Space 1 includes tests of two microelectronics technologies and a mechanical/electronic experiment intended to contribute to the achievement of NASA’s vision of spacecraft in the future, as articulated through the New Millennium Program. To reduce the power consumption of electronics, one experiment uses devices with very low voltage and low capacitance. This low-power electronics experiment contains a ring oscillator, multiplier, and discrete transistors to test 0.9-volt logic and 0.25-m gate lengths (achieved with 248-nm lithography). Provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, this experiment will validate the performance of these devices throughout the life of the mission, with particular interest in the effects of radiation.
