Sidus Space Collaborates with VORAGO Technologies to Advance Next-Generation Radiation-Hardened Computing for Resilient Space and Defense Systems
Sidus Space (NASDAQ: SIDU), a leader in mission-critical space and defense technologies, has entered into a strategic partnership with VORAGO Technologies, a prominent developer of radiation-hardened semiconductor solutions. The collaboration, announced today, aims to accelerate the validation, testing, and integration of VORAGO’s upcoming high-performance, radiation-hardened microcontroller (MCU) through its exclusive Alpha Customer Program. This partnership represents a significant milestone in Sidus’ commitment to designing and deploying advanced, resilient technologies capable of withstanding the harshest conditions in orbit and on Earth.
By joining VORAGO’s Alpha Customer Program, Sidus Space will gain early access to VORAGO’s unreleased next-gen MCU platform, specifically engineered to endure extreme radiation levels, temperature fluctuations, and other environmental challenges encountered in space and defense operations. Sidus will be among the first to evaluate the MCU’s performance at both the component and system levels, integrating it into platforms that span multiple mission domains.
The strategic alliance will enhance the capabilities of Sidus’ growing suite of space and defense assets, which include ruggedized high-performance onboard computers, satellite integration platforms, advanced AI software, space-based data analytics, and other mission-critical technologies. These assets play a vital role in addressing the escalating demands for real-time, resilient intelligence and communication solutions across both commercial and government sectors.
Shaping the Future of Resilient Microelectronics
Sidus Space’s involvement in the Alpha Customer Program positions the company not only as a user of cutting-edge microelectronics but also as an influencer in shaping their evolution. By providing real-time performance data, conducting system-level integration trials, and participating in joint hardware and software design reviews, Sidus will help refine the upcoming microcontroller’s architecture to better match the needs of future space missions and defense operations.
This level of collaboration is critical to ensuring that next-generation electronics can meet the growing demands of autonomous platforms, intelligent edge processing, and AI-driven command and control systems in radiation-heavy environments such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO), geostationary orbit (GEO), deep space missions, and even terrestrial military applications.
“Sidus is focused on developing systems that not only meet but exceed the standards required for success in some of the most unforgiving environments imaginable,” said Valerij Ojdanic, Chief Technology Officer of Sidus Space. “Our collaboration with VORAGO goes beyond supplier-customer dynamics. It’s a deep engineering partnership designed to shape the next wave of high-reliability hardware that aligns with the future of resilient, intelligent missions.”
Expanding a Proven Relationship with VORAGO
While Sidus has previously used VORAGO’s radiation-hardened microcontrollers in earlier mission architectures, this marks the first time the company will engage directly in the early-stage validation and qualification of a VORAGO component before it becomes publicly available. This involvement gives Sidus a critical advantage in shaping the performance benchmarks, interfaces, power envelopes, and software integration pathways of the MCU, ensuring it fits seamlessly into Sidus’ long-term roadmap of integrated mission systems.
For VORAGO Technologies, this collaboration provides an ideal proving ground for its next-generation MCU. Sidus’ platforms provide a real-world application ecosystem to validate performance across varying conditions, mission profiles, and compute requirements. The feedback loop between development, testing, and deployment will enable VORAGO to optimize the microcontroller’s firmware, thermal management characteristics, and radiation mitigation strategies more effectively and rapidly than through traditional development cycles.
“We’re thrilled to have Sidus Space as a partner in our Alpha Customer Program,” said Bernd Lienhard, Chief Executive Officer of VORAGO Technologies. “Their team brings deep domain expertise and a practical, agile engineering approach that complements our mission to redefine what’s possible with radiation-hardened electronics. This collaboration is accelerating the journey from innovation to deployment, ensuring the technology is robust, scalable, and production-ready for the most critical missions.”
A Shared Vision for Space and Defense Innovation
At the heart of the Sidus-VORAGO partnership is a shared commitment to enabling smarter, faster, and more survivable systems that can operate independently in environments with limited connectivity, high radiation exposure, and dynamic mission objectives. The microcontroller under development will be pivotal for applications requiring edge computing capabilities directly onboard satellites, uncrewed defense platforms, and next-gen autonomous vehicles.
These microcontrollers are expected to play a central role in embedded systems where computing performance, power efficiency, and resilience must be tightly balanced. Applications range from real-time satellite telemetry and fault detection to autonomous navigation, onboard data compression, sensor fusion, and more.
Through this partnership, Sidus will conduct in-depth system integration tests to assess how the MCU performs within their onboard data handling units (DHUs), payload command modules, and AI-enhanced processors. The teams will also explore advanced use cases involving machine learning at the edge, which requires microcontrollers capable of executing neural network inference locally with minimal latency and without relying on constant communication with ground systems.
This level of autonomy and embedded intelligence is increasingly critical for missions involving large satellite constellations, swarm-based unmanned systems, and near-Earth object observation — all of which require systems to make critical decisions in real time, often without the luxury of human oversight or reliable uplinks.
Alpha Customer Program: Driving Development at the Edge
VORAGO’s Alpha Customer Program is an elite initiative aimed at partnering with top-tier system integrators, defense contractors, and commercial space leaders to provide early access to next-generation semiconductor platforms. Participants receive a full suite of engineering samples, development boards, software toolchains, datasheets, and direct technical engagement with VORAGO’s R&D teams.
For Sidus, the program offers a unique opportunity to co-develop and shape a foundational technology component that will be integral to the company’s future hardware platforms. It also allows Sidus to test new mission scenarios with the MCU well before it is commercially released, giving the company a competitive edge in time-to-market and mission readiness.
The collaboration will span across several development phases:
- Phase 1 – Component-Level Validation: Bench testing of the MCU for performance, radiation tolerance, temperature stress, and interface compatibility.
- Phase 2 – System Integration Trials: Embedding the MCU into Sidus Spaces’ engineering models and validating performance within real hardware architectures.
- Phase 3 – In-Orbit Demonstration (Optional): Testing the microcontroller on an actual space mission to confirm functionality in orbit.
- Phase 4 – Production-Ready Transition: Preparing the microcontroller for full-scale manufacturing and integration into Sidus’ 2026 and beyond mission schedules.
Reinforcing a Full-Stack Space and Defense Strategy
This partnership reflects Sidus Space’s broader strategy of becoming a vertically integrated space and defense company. Beyond manufacturing satellites and deploying platforms, Sidus Space is focused on owning the full technology stack — from embedded computing to sensor fusion, artificial intelligence, and end-to-end mission support.
The company’s roadmap includes the development of software-defined satellites, hybrid communication architectures, low-latency edge processors, and resilient multi-orbit data delivery systems. Central to this vision is the ability to customize, upgrade, and reprogram systems in space — a capability that hinges on reliable, high-performance microcontrollers such as the one being developed with VORAGO.
This initiative also strengthens Sidus Space’ offerings in defense, where the ability to quickly deploy ruggedized autonomous systems and tactical edge intelligence platforms is increasingly in demand by government customers. Whether it’s for missile defense systems, surveillance constellations, or battlefield situational awareness, having a certified, radiation-hardened microcontroller can provide the secure computing foundation that defense clients require.
With deployment of the new radiation-hardened MCU targeted for 2026, both Sidus Space and VORAGO are working on aggressive schedules to meet integration milestones and flight-readiness goals. The rapid pace is fueled by increasing demand across both commercial and defense sectors for electronics that can handle the computational requirements of AI-enabled platforms, in environments where traditional chips cannot survive.
Looking to the future, the companies plan to expand their collaboration into additional technology domains, potentially including system-on-chip (SoC) development, advanced packaging for thermal resilience, and software ecosystems optimized for embedded AI processing.
This announcement signals not just a single product collaboration, but the beginning of a long-term partnership between two innovation-driven companies that are aligned in their mission to shape the future of resilient Sidus Space and defense infrastructure.
As Sidus Space becomes more congested, contested, and commercially viable — and as defense operations evolve into more distributed and autonomous systems — the role of smart, robust, and radiation-tolerant computing will become paramount. The Sidus Space-VORAGO partnership is poised to deliver on that promise, one microcontroller at a time.
