X-33 redundancy management system

The X-33 is an unmanned advanced technology demonstrator with a mission to validate new technologies for the next generation of Reusable Launch Vehicles. Various system redundancies are designed in the X-33 to enhance the probability of successfully completing its mission in the event of faults and failures during flight. One such redundant system is the Vehicle and Mission Computer that controls the X-33 ea, and manages the avionics subsystems. Historically, redundancy management and applications such as flight control and vehicle management tended to be highly coupled. One of the technologies that the X-33 will demonstrate is the Redundancy Management System (RMS) that uncouples the applications from the redundancy management details, in the same way that real-time operating systems have uncoupled applications from task scheduling, communication and synchronization details.