TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 1, 2026--
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced its radiation-hardened (rad-hard) ICs are being used in NASA’s Artemis II mission, which successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1. The first crewed mission around the moon in decades, Artemis II represents a major milestone in NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon and establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface.
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Four astronauts are now en route to orbit the moon aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft as part of NASA’s Artemis II mission, taking humans farther from Earth than they have traveled in over fifty years. During the flight, the crew will test spacecraft systems and crew performance in this deep-space environment before returning safely home. The mission will validate key spacecraft capabilities and position Orion for future crewed journeys and lunar landings.
Within the Artemis II core systems, including the Orion capsule and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Renesas rad-hard ICs are used across multiple subsystems. These Intersil-branded devices are embedded in the space vehicle’s avionics and safety launch system, helping to regulate and distribute power, maintain signal integrity and support onboard computing. These specialized ICs are built to operate reliably when exposed to the elevated levels of radiation and extreme temperatures that are typical of human space missions.
“Human space flight missions leave no margin for failure, and we’re proud to be one of the select few semiconductor companies entrusted to provide space-qualified technology for this historic crewed Artemis mission,” said Chris Stephens, Vice President of the HiRel Business Division at Renesas. “Our rad-hard devices help keep spacecraft systems connected, protected and precisely controlled, as crews venture into deep space. We look forward to supporting future landmark missions and ushering in the next era of solar system exploration with our space-grade semiconductor solutions.”
The Renesas Intersil brand has a long history in the space industry spanning more than six decades, beginning with the founding of Radiation Inc. in 1950. Since then, virtually every satellite, shuttle launch and deep-space exploration mission has included Intersil-branded products. Renesas leverages this experience to deliver efficient, thermally-optimized and highly-reliable SMD, MIL-STD-883 and MIL-PRF 38535 Class-V/Q Intersil-branded products for the defense, high-reliability (Hi-Rel), and rad-hard space markets. Renesas Intersil-brand rad-hard ICs support subsystems for mission critical applications in data communications transfer, power supplies and power conditioning, general protection circuitry, and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C).
For more information on Renesas’ Intersil-brand space and hi-reliability solutions, visit: www.renesas.com/space.
About Renesas Electronics Corporation
Renesas Electronics Corporation ( TSE: 6723 ) empowers a safer, smarter and more sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. A leading global provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines our expertise in embedded processing, analog, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These Winning Combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications, enabling billions of connected, intelligent devices that enhance the way people work and live. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
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Renesas’ Radiation-Hardened ICs Take Flight on NASA’s Artemis II Crewed Lunar Mission
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday rescinded a rule that DHS expenditures over $100,000 be personally approved by his office, ending a widely criticized policy implemented by his predecessor Kristi Noem that critics said put a particular burden on the Federal Emergency Management Agency ’s work aiding disaster response and recovery.
The decision marks the first major action by the new Homeland Security leader, sworn in last week, to change a policy implemented by Noem, whom President Donald Trump fired in March.
Mullin's move is expected to ease a spending bottleneck that lawmakers and states said delayed disaster response and recovery funds, though those impacts are unlikely to be widely felt until after the end of the DHS shutdown, now in its 46th day.
A DHS spokesperson confirmed that Mullin rescinded the rule Wednesday, telling The Associated Press the secretary “re-evaluated the contract processes to make sure DHS is serving the American taxpayer efficiently.” CBS News first reported Mullin's decision.
The spokesperson said Mullin’s action will streamline the contracting process and allocate aid more efficiently.
The International Association of Emergency Managers praised Mullin’s decision. “We appreciate Secretary Mullin’s common-sense approach to this matter, and we look forward to working with him,” said Josh Morton, president of IAEM-USA.
Noem issued a directive last June requiring that she personally approve any Department of Homeland Security expenditure over $100,000. Critics said the rule undermined FEMA in particular, an agency that routinely issues contracts and reimbursements well over that amount in its work preparing for and responding to natural and manmade disasters across the U.S.
The policy created “an untenable situation for emergency managers,” Morton said, and a bottleneck that also hindered mitigation and preparedness programs, “putting Americans at increased risk from disasters.”
A recently released report by Democratic members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found the approval rule had delayed at least 1,000 FEMA contracts, grants or disaster reimbursements by September.
The policy came under scrutiny after news reports linked it to unstaffed call centers and delays deploying FEMA Urban Search and Rescue teams to Texas during deadly floods last July, and brought sharp rebuke from some state officials and lawmakers, especially Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose state is still recovering from devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
“You’ve failed at FEMA,” Tillis told Noem at a Senate hearing the day before she was fired.
About $2.2 billion in recovery and mitigation dollars were in the DHS approval queue Wednesday, according to FEMA data seen by the AP.
“It’s got a great mission, and I think people at FEMA want to do their job,” Mullin told lawmakers at his March confirmation hearing, sparking cautious hope that he would ease the tumult experienced at the agency under Noem.
Mullin said he would keep the agency ”adequately staffed” after it lost over 2,400 employees last year, and said he was already considering nominees for a permanent FEMA administrator, which the agency still lacks.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of eliminating FEMA, saying as recently as Tuesday that the agency is “very expensive and it really doesn’t get the job done.”
Michael Coen, FEMA chief of staff during the Obama and Biden administrations, said, “Hopefully this a step toward transparency and stability between FEMA and states."
DHS is reviewing other policies across the agency, pausing the purchase of new warehouses for immigration detention this week as it reviews contracts signed under Noem.
Lifting the spending approval rule will not necessarily mean a rapid flow of FEMA reimbursements to states, tribes and territories, as the agency is still impacted by the DHS fund impasse, now the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
While FEMA disaster response and recovery activities are paid out of a non-lapsing Disaster Relief Fund, that money is running low, a FEMA official warned lawmakers in a House hearing last week, with about $3.6 billion remaining. The DHS appropriations bill would add just over $26 billion to the fund.
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday signaled an agreement to end the shutdown could be reached in the coming days.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
