Also see: Space Shuttle Robot Arm Simulator
Reprinted from the 14 April 2003 version of NASA staff’s list of the uses of Forth in space applications. The list is archived at the Internet Archive WayBack Machine. The original URL was: http://forth.gsfc.nasa.gov/, where it was curated by NASA’s James Rash.
The following table presents space-related applications of Forth microprocessors and the Forth programming language, including:
- spacecraft flight system controllers
- on-board payload experiment controllers
- ground support systems (e.g., communications controllers and data processing systems)
- hardware or software used to build or test either flight or ground systems.
Developers are requested to supply table updates and corrections, as well as information regarding relevant projects not already included, as appropriate. Please send information, comments, and suggestions to the author of this web page. Authorization for release of the information is the responsibility of the contributor.
Notice: Nothing appearing in these pages is to be construed as an endorsement by NASA. The information may be changed or withdrawn at any time without notice. The author has obtained the information from sources believed to be reliable, and has attempted to ensure accuracy, but makes no guarantees or representations of any kind. Copying, using, and distributing the table is authorized, provided it is kept intact, properly attributed, and accompanied by this Notice.
| DEVELOPER | MISSION | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| Baja Technology LLC | IMAGE | Controller for the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) instrument, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Baja Technology LLC | Rosetta | Controller for the Ion and Electron Sensor instrument, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Baja Technology LLC | Deep Impact | Controller for the Avionics & Control (AOC) system, using Harris RTX2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) | Star Scanner instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Chandra X-ray Observatory | Software to control the Science Instrument selection and focus mechanisms, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Chandra X-ray Observatory | Software to operate precision CCD Aspect Camera, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Earth Observing System (EOS) | Scanning mirror controller for the Thermal Imaging Radiometer (TIR), using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Midcourse Sensor Experiment (MSX) – SDIO | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Military aircraft | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Miniature Seeker Technology Integration (MSTI) | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | SAGE (Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment) III | CCD Controller Software, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Shuttle | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| Ball Aerospace | X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE) | Star Tracker instrument & control software, using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | Advance Composition Explorer (ACE) | Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) instrument controller hardware (RTX2010) and software in Forth |
| California Institute of Technology (Caltech) | Advance Composition Explorer (ACE) | Solar IsotopeSpectrometer (SIS) instrument controller hardware (RTX2010) and software in Forth |
| FORTH, Inc. | USAF Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) | Position encoder implemented with SwiftX cross compiler on Harris RTX-2010 Forth microprocessor |
| Innovatia Laboratories | NASA & USAF tropospheric research balloons | Telemetry system using Innovatia MC1 microcontroller running Forth-83 |
| Johns Hopkins University Applied PhysicsLaboratory (JHU/APL) | USAF DMSP | Magnetometer instrument control |
| JHU/APL | USAF DMSP | Special Sensor Ultraviolet Spectrographic Imager (SSUSI), 5 missions over 15 years using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| JHU/APL | Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite | ULEIS (Ultra Low Energy Isotope Spectrometer), using embedded Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| JHU/APL | CASSINI spacecraft | Magnetospheric Imager (MIMI) using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| JHU/APL | HILAT | Magnetometer instrument control |
| JHU/APL | Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) | Instrument control, on-line data analysis, telemetry |
| JHU/APL | MAGSAT | Attitude Control Processor |
| JHU/APL | Polar Bear (Polar Beacon & Auroral Research Satellite) | Magnetometer instrument control |
| JHU/APL | US Navy LONARS High precision navigation receiver using Loran-C | Real time data processing & sensor control software |
| JHU/APL | Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) | Command & Telemetry Processor,Multi-Spectral Imaging System,Infrared Spectrograph and Magnetometer,X-ray/Gamma-ray Spectrometer, andLaser Rangefinder, all using the Harris RTX 2010RH Forth microprocessor |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory | Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) satellite | Solar wind data processing unit, using Harris RTX 2010 Forth microprocessor |
| McDonnell Douglas | Shuttle – Electrophoresis Operations in Space (1986) | Pharmaceutical purification process control software |
| McGill University | International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) (shuttle mission STS-42) | Space Adaptation Syndrom Experiment management and data acquisition for four out of seven life science experiments |
| NASA/GSFC | Compatibility Test Van (CTV) | Dual channel PCM simulator system software |
| NASA/GSFC | Compatibility Test Van (CTV): Landsat, HST, GRO, COBE, UARS, etc., Wallops, Data Evaluation Lab | Programmable Data Formatter III system software |
| NASA/GSFC | CRAF/CASSINI | MASSACQ Flight Instrument Test/Calibration System |
| NASA/GSFC | Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) | Command and data acquisition system written in Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) | Image processing software |
| NASA/GSFC | NCC Mission Operations Support Area (MOSA) | ITR (Intelligent Transmitter/Receiver) — Interface board for MOSA (formerly Mini-NOCC) Front End |
| NASA/GSFC | Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet (SSBUV) ozone calibration instrument with eight successful shuttle bay flights | Small Payload Accommodation Module (SPAM) interface controller software written in Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet (SSBUV) | Instrument Interface Electronics Module (IIEM) software written in Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Shuttle Ozone Limb Sounder Experiment (SOLSE) | A “Hitchhiker Junior”, to fly summer ’97 — instrument controller writtenin Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Limb Ozone Retrieval Experiment (LORE) | A small independent instrument within SOLSE — instrument controller written in Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) on Space Shuttle Astro-2 mission | Dedicated Experiment Processor (DEP) written in Forth |
| NASA/GSFC | Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) (Lewis Research Center/TRW) | Goddard Electronics Module (GEM) data acquisition processor using Harris RTX-2010 |
| NASA/GSFC | ACE (JHU/APL) | Spacecraft Loads & Acoustic Monitor (SLAM) simultaneous data acquisition and downlink subsystem using Harris RTX-2010 |
| NASA/GSFC | Wideband Transport Frame Formatter (WTFF) | Virtual channel processor & system controller for the Advanced Orbiting Systems (AOS) Testbed using Harris RTX 2000 Forth microprocessor |
| NASA/JSC | Shuttle, IML-1 | Krug Life Sciences Microgravity Vestibular Investigations |
| NASA/JPL | Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR-B) | Command & control software |
| NASA | TOPEX | Portion of Ground Support Equipment software |
| NSI | Globalstar, Thuraya, Iridium, ICO, Astrolink, various NASA missions including SWAS (Sub millimeter wave astronomy satellite), Space Shuttle Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and Rosetta (comet probe) | Microwave nearfield antenna testing of spacecraft antennas |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation | ORBCOMM Experimental Package OXP-1 on Pegasus | Flight & experiment software |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation | ORBCOMM Experimental Package OXP-1 on Pegasus | Flight & experiment software |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation (formerly Fairchild Space & Defense) | USAF Multimission Modular Spacecraft (MMS) | Multiplex Data Bus Monitor/Recorder test equipment using Harris RTX2000 microprocessor and firmware written in Forth |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation | ORBCOMM-X | Telemetry, flight control support |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation | USAF APEX | Data management and power control software |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation | SeaStar | Sea WiFs data management and power control software |
| Orbital Sciences Corporation/Hercules | Pegasus | Telemetry & flight control |
| Radio Amateur Satellite Corp. (AMSAT-DL (Germany)) | OSCAR 21 | Integrated Housekeeping Unit (including navigation, attitude control, telemetry and telecommand tracking, payload control, power management, health & safety, and propulsion control) and Ground Support Equipment, all using the Forth-like language IPS (Interpreter for Process Structures). OSCAR 21 used the Harris RTX2000 microprocessor. |
| Swedish Space Corp./JHU/APL | Freja | Magnetometer experiment control |
| University of California | Galileo | Magnetic Field Experiment instrument control |
| University of Wisconsin | Wisconsin Ultraviolet Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) | Instrument control |
| US Navy | SPINSAT | Portion of ground support equipment software |
| USSR | Baikonur Cosmodrome | Telemetry data analysis & retrieval workstations |
| Vertex Communications Corporation | Satellite earth station antenna systems | 7210 Monopulse Antenna Control System on Motorola 68030 platform |
This reprint of NASA’s James Rash’s list of Forth in space applications is reprinted here, courtesy of FORTH, Inc., in order to preserve the information and make it more accessible. Contact information and names might have changed. Additions are welcome, in the event that we may update it — use this web site’s general contact form to provide details. Thank you.