The NVIDIA Jetson Orin is an edge computing powerhouse that has transformed industries on Earth. Sterna is the platform that finally unleashes it in space, deploying the Jetson Orin NX 16GB to deliver a baseline 100 TOPS with zero compromises. For power-rich systems, a unique software unlock pushes the performance even further, reaching 157 TOPS in orbit.

Sterna puts you in complete command of your power-to-performance ratio. This begins with hardware; Sterna can equip a Jetson Orin Nano or NX to fit your satellite's baseline budget. From there, you have granular software control to command preset 10W, 15W, 25W, or 40W modes or a custom profile. Sterna safeguards these profiles, enforcing the power limits to stability.

Powerful hardware is only half the story. Sterna brings the entire NVIDIA software ecosystem into orbit, including CUDA, TensorRT, and cuDNN. This creates a seamless "lab-to-launch" workflow, allowing you to deploy the same AI models developed on Earth directly onto your satellite. Sterna is more than compute. It's your direct link to onboard artificial intelligence.

Sterna is engineered to handle any ride to space, including Falcon 9, Ariane 6, and Vega-C. To guarantee mission readiness, it endured a qualification campaign that included a 14.14 g RMS random vibration test and a 21.25 g quasi-static sine burst. Post-test resonance surveys and full functional checkouts confirmed its structural integrity and operational health remained completely intact.

Designed for the harsh vacuum and temperature extremes of space, Sterna’s operational range is −20 °C to +65 °C. We validated this resilience in an extensive thermal-vacuum (TVAC) campaign, completing a non-operational qualification cycle from −40 °C to +80 °C and operational cycles from −25 °C to +70 °C, demonstrating its robust thermal design.

We characterized Sterna’s resilience to space radiation by irradiating the entire system with 200 MeV protons. Our component selection ensures tolerance to a Total Ionising Dose (TID) beyond 30 krad(Si) and robust Single-Event Effect (SEE) performance, with a destructive LET threshold of 38 MeV⋅cm2/mg. Critical components, including the solid-state drive, underwent additional targeted irradiation testing to guarantee data integrity and system reliability.

Our Sterna Computer runs on a space-hardened, custom-built Linux Operating System (OS). Built with Yocto, the OS is minimal and fully reproducible, giving your software stack the same rigorous traceability as your flight hardware. As it's compatible with JetPack 6, our software provides a familiar and robust environment to deploy your applications.

Our supervisor acts as an autonomous guardian for system integrity. It integrates hardware and software monitoring, running on a dedicated supervisory chip to safeguard the unit's health. The supervisor offers a streamlined command and control interface, ensuring you maintain control even in off-nominal situations.

Our containerised application framework allows you to manage and update applications directly in orbit. The custom SDK optimises and compresses Docker image updates for maximum efficiency, minimising uplink costs. The framework empowers you to deploy new capabilities and enhance your mission long after launch.

To counter radiation-induced events like SEFIs, our system supports hierarchical fault detection, isolation, and recovery (FDIR) across the entire software stack. This multi-layered defence rapidly copes with radiation effects, dramatically reducing system downtime and ensuring high availability purely from software.