Cosmic Shielding Corporation (CSC), has been awarded a Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract from the U.S. Department of War, managed through AFWERX to accelerate the development of next-generation radiation protection systems for space electronics.
The $4 million award includes a $2 million match from the U.S. Air Force and Space Force–the maximum level of support offered through the program. This new capability will help cut qualification times from years to hours, allow more powerful commercial hardware to operate in space, and expand options for military and commercial space missions.
Most advanced commercial electronics, such as AI processors and high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs), fail in space due to radiation. Existing radiation-hardened electronics take years to develop, are costly, and often deliver less performance than commercial hardware.
CSC’s MSP/Plasteel™ material changes that by shielding electronics so they can survive much longer in orbit with minimal bit-flip errors. The material is lightweight, easy to manufacture, and has already proven itself in both in-space missions, including a SpaceX launch that protected the Nvidia Jetson Orin NX GPU, and in high-energy radiation tests on Earth.
MSP/Plasteel™ has demonstrated a 10-fold reduction in error rates and an eightfold increase in operational life compared to legacy materials. The technology can be used as component-level spot shielding, subsystem shielding, or structural panels, and can be coated with ceramics or metals for additional protection against heat, radio interference, and physical impacts.
Under the new contract, CSC will take the next step: creating a modeling tool that predicts how any electronic system will perform in space once shielded. The process starts by testing popular electronics, such as Nvidia Jetson and Xilinx chips, under different types of radiation. These tests compare Plasteel™, aluminum, and hybrid shielding approaches. Data from the tests is combined with simulations to produce a “shielding forecast” model, so engineers can design missions and choose hardware without years of costly particle accelerator testing.
Radiation holds back breakthroughs in communications, data centers in space, and pharmaceuticals that space can enable,” said Yanni Barghouty, CEO of Cosmic Shielding Corporation. “This TACFI contract, coupled with rapidly increasing commercial traction, we’re accelerating the deployment of the tools that will make high-performance hardware viable in space at scale.”
Getting the best value from our space assets, whether from a national security or an economic perspective, means flying the same advanced systems that we use on the ground,” said former NASA Administrator, Michael Griffin. “The biggest challenge in doing that is protecting those systems from space radiation. Cosmic’s new shielding technology is helping to make that possible.”
About Cosmic Shielding Corporation
Cosmic Shielding Corporation is a leading provider of advanced shielding solutions for space applications. Focusing on innovation and reliability, CSC delivers cutting-edge technologies that protect critical systems from the harsh conditions of space, enabling the next generation of space exploration and commercialization.
