† Advisors’s scientific contributions

We present storage integrity concepts developed for the CubeSat MOVE-II over the past two years, enabling dependable computing without relying solely upon hardened special purpose hardware. Neither component level, nor hardware-or software-side measures individually can guarantee sufficient system consistency with modern highly scaled components. Instead, a combination of hardware and software measures can drastically increase system dependability, even for missions with a very long duration. Dependability in the most basic sense can only be assured if program code and required supplementary data can be stored consistently and reliably aboard a spacecraft. Thus, to enable any form of meaningful dependable computing, storage integrity must be assured first and foremost. We present three software-driven concepts to assure storage consistency, each specifically designed towards protecting key components: a system for volatile memory protection, the filesystem FTRFS to protect system software, and MTD-mirror to safeguard payload data. All described solutions can be applied to on-board computer design in general and do not require systems to be specifically designed for them. Hence, simplicity can be maintained, error sources minimized, testability enhanced, and survival rates of miniaturized satellite increased drastically.