The world is not enough – duagon on ISS

When the transport spaceship takes off for the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2026, computing hardware from duagon will also be on board.

• duagon develops high-availability, in-flight-replaceable computing hardware for Columbus module on ISS 

• Conduction Cooled Assembly based on CompactPCI Serial technology 

• Customer is Belgian aerospace specialist “Space Applications Services nv/sa” 

When the transport spaceship takes off for the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2026, computing hardware from duagon will also be on board. The embedded specialist for railway and medical technology is currently developing a “Conduction Cooled Assembly” (CCA) for the Belgian aerospace company “Space Applications Services nv/sa”. The CCA has significant internal data storage capabilities and will collect scientific data from various systems on the Columbus module of ISS and send it to ground-based data centers for further processing.

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The CCAs developed are essentially based on CompactPCI Serial systems: They consist of cards with various functions (CPU, memory, Ethernet switch, etc.) that can be assembled into customized computing systems according to customer specifications. In this specific case, duagon uses the G028 CPU card, SSD storage with the G504 card, and high-speed industrial ethernet switch, among other components.

What makes this offer special is that each individual CompactPCI Serial card is encased in its own metal housing. Packaged in this way, they are plugged together in a metal rack to form the overall system. The card housings press against the wall of the rack via so-called “wedge locks” and transfer their waste heat to the large housing via the contact surfaces. Thanks to its large surface area, it can dissipate the heat very quickly into the fluid cooling plate system – without the need for fans and without heating up the cabin air.

For use on the ISS, all CCA systems and components must be highly available, robust, and in-flight replaceable. At the same time, they must be able to withstand the extreme environmental influences during flight and at the place of use. The nearly hermetically sealed system has venting holes to limit overpressure that occurs during external depressurization. The closed CCAs are therefore perfectly suited for space travel as well as other extreme applications such as mining or oil drilling rigs.

duagon will supply a small number of these specialized systems to Belgium. One of these will be used 400 km above the Earth in the ISS, while the others will remain on the ground for intensive testing