Rad-hard integrated circuits by Renesas used on the Hayabusa2 mission
NewsFebruary 25, 2021
TOKYO. Renesas Electronics Corporation, supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced that its radiation-hardened (rad-hard) integrated circuits (ICs) were onboard the Hayabusa2 spacecraft that returned asteroid samples to Earth in an armored re-entry capsule on December 6, 2020. Operated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Hayabusa2 launched onboard the H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center on December 3, 2014.
Arriving at the Ryugu asteroid on June 27, 2018, officials claim that the Hayabusa2 asteroid samples retrieval mission was designed to explore the origins of the planets, the water of Earth’s oceans, and sources of life.
Hayabusa2 carried multiple science payloads for remote sensing and sampling, and its four small rovers investigated the asteroid surface and analyzed the environmental and geological context of the surface and subsurface samples collected.
According to the company, Renesas’ Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs were deployed throughout the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Renesas’ Intersil-brand rad-hard solutions included a linear regulator, voltage reference, PWM controller, MOSFET drivers, quad comparator, 8-channel and 16-channel multiplexers, and RS-422 receivers & drivers.
