NMC-1 An Innovative Avionics System for CubeSat and SmallSat Missions

The space industry is in a transformative period, attempting to balance cost, performance and reliability. Nextage is addressing this issue through our development of a robust, low cost, fully space qualified, FPGA based computer for CubeSat and SmallSat platforms. The Nextage NMC-1 utilizes the state-of-the-art, low power, high performance PolarFire® FPGA. Our architecture incorporates embedded CORE I parallel processing, along with a RISC V soft core that enables C/C++ programming. This architecture supports heritage applications and enables highly deterministic, real-time algorithms at speeds beyond real-time processing performance of even the most advanced microprocessors. Additionally, the NMC-1 offers massive parallel processing capability, extensive expandability, real-time incremental compilation, and ability to relocate code. The NMC-1 space computer is available in the CubeSat 1U form factor to accommodate any mission risk posture and budget. Nextage offers COTS peripheral cards to add features, capabilities and interfaces, along with custom, mission specific combination cards to optimize for SWAP. Our rack mounted units can be used as Special Test Equipment (STE), Engineering Development Units (EDU), simulators or FlatSat test beds for any mission specific application, allowing early development and testing for flight hardware and software.