Frontgrade Gaisler’s GR740 Single Board Computer Selected for RAMSES Mission

Gothenburg, Sweden - Frontgrade Gaisler today announced that its GR‑SBC-GR740 Single Board Computer (SBC) has been selected for the upcoming RAMSES mission, underscoring the company’s evolution into a comprehensive provider of on‑board computing solutions - offering a complete ecosystem spanning advanced IP cores, rad-hard microprocessors, flight software, and fully integrated, flight‑ready onboard computing platforms.

“For decades, our processor technologies have powered spacecraft around the world. With our first single board computer product now heading into flight, we are taking a major step toward delivering complete, integrated solutions that simplify our customers’ system development while maintaining the reliability and performance they expect from us,” said Sandi Habinc, General Manager at Frontgrade Gaisler.

The GR-SBC‑GR740 is Frontgrade Gaisler’s first single board computer product, built on its flight-proven GR740 quad-core rad-hard microprocessor. Designed for high reliability in the harshest space environments, the GR-SBC-GR740 integrates advanced processing capability, versatile I/O, and a complete software ecosystem. More details about the platform can be found at: https://www.gaisler.com/products/gr-sbc-gr740.

RAMSES (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety) is a future European-Japanese planetary defense mission to the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis, led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The spacecraft will encounter Apophis during its close flyby at Earth in April 2029 at a closest distance of 32’000 km. 

RAMSES will be the first asteroid mission with a high-resolution Plasma Spectrometer onboard to study the interaction between the surface of the asteroid and its surrounding plasma environment. The RAMSES Plasma Spectrometer (RPS) will measure charged particles with high time- and energy resolution from nearly all directions in half a hemisphere around the asteroid. 

The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen/Germany and the Swedish Institute for Space Physics (IRF) in Kiruna/Sweden are working together and continue the strong collaboration between both institutes in designing and manufacturing space plasma instruments. The RPS-team, led by Dr. Norbert Krupp from MPS, is also very happy that Frontgrade Gaisler is participating via IRF in this very challenging project in providing the data processing unit of RPS to operate the instrument.

Rapidity Space in Uppsala/Sweden is responsible for developing the onboard flight software for the RPS in close collaboration with IRF. The software manages telecommand handling, telemetry generation, operational logic, and real-time control of the instrument electronics during the Apophis encounter.

“The GR740 Single Board Computer provides a reliable and flight-proven foundation for the RPS Instrument. A close collaboration between IRF, Frontgrade Gaisler, and Rapidity Space ensures a robust hardware-software integration and dependable system performance for one of ESA’s most demanding Space Safety missions,” says Mattias Örth, CEO of Rapidity Space.

About Frontgrade Gaisler
Frontgrade Gaisler, a Frontgrade company, is a leading provider of radiation-hardened microprocessors and IP cores for critical applications, particularly in the space industry. The company’s processors are ideal for any space mission or other high-reliability application due to their reliability, fault tolerance, and radiation tolerance. Frontgrade Gaisler microprocessors can be found all over the solar system.