RCS: Chips for satellites

2021: Start of production of chips that reduce the cost of producing satellites by 3 times

On November 29, 2021, Russian Space Systems (RKS) announced chips developed by the holding, which, according to the developers, help accelerate the production of satellites and reduce costs for them.

According to Andrei Buyankin, head of the RKS department for the development of on-board ultrahigh-frequency devices, the minimum production cycle of new monolithic integrated ultrahigh-frequency circuits of its own development is now 3-5 months versus 5 years that were required earlier to complete the entire chain. He also noted the financial benefit: the manufacture of new chips will reduce the company's production costs by 2-3 times.

In Russia, the production of chips has started, reducing the cost of producing satellites by 3 times

The new product family includes monolithic integrated microwave circuits for on-board radio lines of spacecraft.

In addition, microwave filters for on-board receiving systems have been developed. These devices from 2 × 3 mm in size provide high noise immunity of the signal from radiation and reliable protection against unwanted interventions.

Another direction is core chips, combining various components: attenuators, low-noise and buffer amplifiers, electric keys, etc. Such solutions can be used, for example, as part of new generation active phased antenna arrays (AFAP).

The Russian Space Systems holding noted that all developed microcircuits are made with an emphasis on unification and can be used in creating radio transmission equipment for spacecraft of a wide range of tasks and parameters - from scientific microsatellites and orbiters for satellite telephony, digital television, providing broadband Internet access to multifunctional space stations. Investments in this project are not disclosed.^[1]

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