BLADE-SPACE Governance Node

Beam-Layer Authority for Directed Engagements, Space-Edge Node - Preliminary Design Specification

An authority-governed orbital governance node for autonomous LEO platforms operating beyond ground-loop latency. Implements the 9-stage governance pipeline (SATA → ADARA → IFF → HMAA → MAIVA → FLAME → CARA → BDA → EFFECTOR) on radiation-tolerant compute (Microchip RTG4 FPGA + Aitech S-A1760 Venus SBC) with hot-redundant SpaceWire bridge voting and <200 ms cross-string failover. Targeted for 6U+ SmallSat payload module form factor, LEO 400-1200 km, 5-year design life (7-year stretch). Hardware-enforced three-fault-tolerant safety interlock gates all effector commands (thruster firing, magnetorquer torque, pyrotechnic initiation).

This is a Preliminary Design specification (TRL 2-3). No flight qualification, no in-orbit operational demonstration, and no NASA/ESA endorsement is claimed. The engineering package specifies design intent and V&V protocols; physical build, environmental qualification, and orbital demonstration are future work.

Publication

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20183269
Author: Burak Oktenli · Georgetown University, MPS Applied Intelligence
ORCID: 0009-0001-8573-1667
License: CC BY 4.0 · Version: v1.0 · May 2026

Key Specifications

• Compute (hot-redundant): Microchip RTG4 RT4G150 FPGA × 2 (150K LEs, rad-hard by design, 100+ krad TID); Aitech S-A1760 Venus SBC × 2 (QorIQ T2080, 1.8 GHz quad-core PowerPC, 30 krad TID)
• Memory: 3D-Plus 3DFP4G16VS4080 DDR4 ECC SDRAM × 2 (8 GB with on-chip ECC, SEU scrubbing every 30 s); Cypress S25FL512S QSPI NOR Flash × 2 (rad-screened, 512 Mb, boot/golden/working images)
• Sensors: Blue Canyon NST100 star trackers × 2 (8″ accuracy); NovAtel OEM7600-RG GNSS × 2 (rad-tolerant L1/L2); Sensonor STIM-300 IMU (tactical-grade); Honeywell HG1700 backup IMU (rad-hard); Adcole sun sensors × 2; ZARM fluxgate magnetometers × 2; vacuum-rated pressure sensor; cumulative TID dosimeter
• Communications: Syrlinks EWC27 S-band TT&C × 2 (4-8 kbps uplink / 256 kbps downlink); Mynaric CONDOR Mk3 optical ISL transceiver (100 Mbps, 1550 nm); Cobham UT200SpW SpaceWire × 2; Microchip ATECC608B + AES-256-GCM FPGA IP link encryptors × 2
• Security: Microchip CEC1712 + Tropic Square TROPIC01 TPM 2.0 × 2 (ECDSA P-256 secure boot root of trust); Macronix MX25L51245G-RH rad-tolerant secure key-storage flash; custom electronic tamper mesh controller; ECDSA-signed audit chain across reboots
• Power: Saft VES16 8S1P Li-Ion × 2 (main + redundant, 135 Wh per pack - 270 Wh combined eclipse/safe-mode reserve); VPT VSC50 DC-DC converters (28V→12V/5V/3.3V/1.2V); 4× CAES ARM-LCL-28 Latching Current Limiters (trip on SEU latch-up); Infineon IRHM7064 rad-hard MOSFET array; Maxwell BMOD0058 supercapacitor ride-through bank for thruster-firing transients
• Effectors (interlocked): Sensitron SSR-28V-5A thruster firing relay (hardware GPIO interlock); CAES MD-3X-28 magnetorquer driver (3-axis, 50 mNm·m); Microchip MCP2515 + RH-CAN PHY reaction wheel interface (up to 4 RWAs); Pacific Scientific 11-PIC-1A NSI-class pyrotechnic initiator with ARM/SAFE plug; TE Connectivity FCB-200 normally-open payload safety interlock × 2 in series
• Environment: LEO 400-1200 km; 5-year design life / 7-year stretch; 30 krad TID; SEU/SEL/SEFI tolerant; -40°C to +85°C operating range
• Mass & Power: 11.0 kg allocated / 12.0 kg max; 134 W nominal / 193 W peak on 28V bus
• BOM: $505,440 reference (91 components, including QML/QPL-qualified rad-hard parts)

9-Stage Governance Pipeline (v1.0)

• SATA: Dempster-Shafer fusion over star tracker, GNSS, IMU, sun sensor, and magnetometer trust channels
• ADARA: Multi-constellation GNSS spoofing detection (GPS/Galileo/GLONASS cross-check); telemetry anomaly pattern matching
• IFF: Ground station authentication via ECDSA P-256 with CCSDS authenticated TC frames
• HMAA: Trust-proportional authority over effector commands (thruster firing, magnetorquer torque, RWA, payload activation)
• MAIVA: Cross-string consensus between main + redundant compute paths with SpaceWire bridge voting (<200 ms divergence detection)
• FLAME: Mandatory deliberation windows before propulsive maneuvers and payload firing (configurable hold period, default 5 s)
• CARA: Safe-state enforcement on hardware fault (sun-pointing, low-power, deselect effector commands); CCSDS event logging
• BDA: Post-event trust revalidation and orbit determination refresh after maneuver completion
• EFFECTOR: Hardware-enforced three-fault-tolerant safety interlock with normally-open payload relay; pyrotechnic ARM/SAFE plug-pull required

Validation Scenarios (Simulator)

• GNSS spoofing during station-keeping maneuver under degraded star tracker availability
• Compute string failure (FPGA SEU latch-up) with hot failover to redundant string under attitude maneuver
• Adversarial uplink command injection with TPM-enforced ECDSA signature mismatch
• Sensor drift over orbital eclipse cycles with thermal cycling-induced IMU bias accumulation
• Multi-fault scenario: TID-degraded sensor + cross-string SpaceWire bridge anomaly + uplink contact loss
• Operator-in-the-loop override: ground command authority intervention during autonomous maneuver

Standards Alignment

• NASA SBIR EXPAND.3.S26B (Autonomous Spacecraft Health Management)
• NASA-STD-8729.1 (Reliability and Maintainability)
• NASA-STD-8739.8 (Software Assurance and Safety)
• ECSS-Q-ST-30C (Dependability), ECSS-Q-ST-60C (EEE Components)
• MIL-STD-1540E (Test Requirements for Launch and Space Vehicles), MIL-STD-461G (EMI/EMC)
• MIL-PRF-38535 (QML Class V for rad-hard ICs)
• CCSDS protocol stack (SpaceWire, AOS, USLP, authenticated TC)

Related Work

• SATA: 10.5281/zenodo.18936251
• HMAA: 10.5281/zenodo.18861653
• CARA: 10.5281/zenodo.18917790
• ADARA: 10.5281/zenodo.19043924
• MAIVA: 10.5281/zenodo.19015517
• FLAME: 10.5281/zenodo.19015618
• BLADE-EDGE (defense): 10.5281/zenodo.19177472
• BLADE-AV (automotive): 10.5281/zenodo.19232130
• BLADE-MARITIME (maritime): 10.5281/zenodo.19246785
• BLADE-INFRA (critical infrastructure): 10.5281/zenodo.19277887

Author

Burak Oktenli
Georgetown University, M.P.S. Applied Intelligence
ORCID: 0009-0001-8573-1667
Website: burakoktenli.com