SiFive X280 delivers a 100x increase in computing power with high power efficiency, fault tolerance and computing flexibility to drive next-generation planetary and interplanetary surface missions
SiFive., the founder and leader of RISC-V computing, announced that it has been selected by NASA to provide the core processor for the next generation of NASA’s High Performance Space Flight Computing (HPSC) processors. HPSCs are expected to be used in almost every future space mission, from planetary research to lunar and Mars missions.
The HPSC processors will use the 8-core SiFive Intelligence X280 RISC-V vector core, as well as four additional SiFive RISC-V cores, to provide 100 times the computational power of today’s space computers. This massive increase in computing performance will help lead to new possibilities for a variety of mission components such as autonomous rovers, vision processing, space flight, guidance systems, communications and other applications.
“As the leading RISC-V semiconductor company based in the US, we are very proud to be chosen by the leading space agency to power their most mission-critical applications,” said Jack Kang, SiFive’s VP of Business Development. “The X280 demonstrates orders of magnitude performance improvements over competing processor technology, and our SiFive RISC-V IP enables NASA to take advantage of the support, flexibility and long-term viability of the rapidly growing global RISC-V ecosystem. We’ve always said that with SiFive the future knows no bounds, and we’re excited to see the impact of our innovations extend far beyond our planet.”