TTTECH Aerospace has been working on Orion with Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, and NASA, since 2006.
Orion is an integral part of NASA Artemis that aims to return humans to the Moon, build a permanent lunar base, and extend space exploration further, including to Mars. NASA Orion completed the first successful test flight (EFT-1) in 2014. In November 2022, the Artemis I mission sent Orion on a first uncrewed test flight on the Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket built so far. The first mission with a crew of four (Artemis II) was successfully completed in April 2026, with further missions planned in the coming years.
TTTECH Aerospace’s also provides products for the European Service Module (ESM) that supplies propulsion to the Orion capsule, as well as storing fuel, water, oxygen, and nitrogen.
"Fail-safe computer systems are a basic prerequisite for the success of the mission. We are incredibly proud to be able to contribute to this with other technology leaders from the US and Europe, providing TTEthernet products used in Orion’s avionics system. Using a single network for safety-critical and non-critical data allows to save space, weight and power and therefore demonstrates the future of highly integrated avionics systems."
TTEthernet - the spacecraft’s 'nervous system'
One of Orion’s most important systems is the avionics system, often described as the “central nervous systems” of the spacecraft. The avionics system consists of a wide variety of standard and complex electronics assembled into various independent systems, each responsible for performing specific safety-critical functions. TTEthernet is at the core of this “nervous system” allowing a mixed-criticality architecture. It enables the use of one single network for critical and non-critical data with three traffic classes, i.e. best-effort, rate-constrained and time-triggered Ethernet, making it highly flexible and modular. All independent avionics sub-systems of Orion are connected with this deterministic high-performance Ethernet network. TTTECH Aerospace provides TTEthernet Switch and End System products for Orion and ESM’s avionics backbone network
About TTEthernet®
TTEthernet is a highly deterministic version of Ethernet and is fully compatible with the standard IEEE Ethernet networks found in every home and office around the world. As a single network, it supports all of Orion’s data transfers and communication with less mass, power, and cost than the old multi-system network approach. These savings are achieved because it is now possible for the first time to robustly integrate highly critical real-time functions like flight controls and life-support systems with lower priority data on one single physical network while guaranteeing predictable system behavior.
TTEthernet is a standards-based technology, which means that new or additional components can be integrated into the network and tested more quickly, saving cost and time.
TTEthernet technology: use cases in space and on earth
Apart from Orion, TTEthernet is used in many other applications in space (e.g. Ariane 6, space station modules, and space transportation vehicles), as well as various industries on Earth, for example the energy and automotive sectors.
