The main barrier to implementing a new methodology for using COTS in space applications is Resistance to Change. Overcoming barriers and debunking well rooted myths, instead of resisting a change, are the way to a proper practical solution to meet present and future requirements. The present space official policies are still penalising the use of COTS, referring to them as “last resort”. The market share of the military/space grade components has decreased to less than 0.3% (in $), questioning the components availability. The only thing certain about the availability security of the military/space EEE components is uncertainty.

In response to the rapid increase in interest in the use of small satellites, for different types of mission in low earth and interplanetary orbits, the Italian Space Agency have supported a line of national technological developments to allow the realization of a new generation of small, modular and multi platforms mission. These initiatives are devoted to be internationally competitive and to offer an excellent opportunity to test new Italian technologies. Currently estimation is that 20% EEE components in ESA satellites are COTS. No longer a decision if COTS components are needed, but more, how to use them in an appropriate manner according to the mission profile in terms of: Safety, Reliability and Availability. However, main Technology Concerns are related to: Tin whiskers, lead free, Cu wire, Risk Management, Reliability prediction, Derating.

The use of Cubesats is growing. This is mainly due to the need for low-cost communications satellites, new business evolving around earth observation services, and so on. These drive the need for new product solutions for smaller, lighter, and lower cost spacecraft for which DLA’s radiation hardness assured space-grade parts are often an overkill. Furthermore, there is a continuing need to infuse new technology into the QML system. This talk will describe the approaches taken to address these issues and develop standard parts for new missions.

New Space doesn’t simply means accepting the use of COTS components into a specific application. It means lowering the costs, being agile, use of new technologies, gain efficiency, … In order to accomplish with the market demands, things must be done in a different way. Alter Technology through its platform doEEEt.com introduces the crowd sourcing concept applied to the testing on EEE parts. The Crowdtesting platform is a collaborative project where actors WW will be able to create consortiums devoted to evaluate different technologies and sharing the costs.

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In today’s Space industry there is an increasing drive to introduce the use of COTS components, both as mission enablers and for cost reduction purposes, without affecting the mission’s reliability figures. SENER Aeroespacial has a long heritage in the Defence industry, where COTS are used extensively. We are currently in the process of transposing some of the knowledge acquired in that area to our Space business, in terms of COTS selection criteria and design rules for high reliability and long service life, among others. In this presentation we will highlight the main challenges we are facing in this process as well as some of the lessons learned associated with COTS usage for our ongoing Space projects.

The electronic content of satellites is expanding exponentially in both traditional GEO satellite signal processing applications as well as LEO small satellite constellations that will provide internet access from any point on the planet. These new ambitious design solutions require reduced size, weight, power and cost. The benefits of using Plastic Encapsulated Microcircuits (PEMs) or Commercial-Off-The-Shelf devices (COTS) in space level applications are attractive: advanced technologies, higher levels of integration, higher performance, better size, weight, and power specifications. Design engineers in the space industry are tasked with using risk analysis to reduce cost while increasing performance and maintaining system reliability. A given device might be suitable for use in space, but not in all space level applications. The components selected must meet the specific mission requirements. The challenge today is how to implement COTS methodology in space level applications. The goal is to reach an acceptable level of reliability, within the technical, commercial, and financial constraints of the mission. Unfortunately, depending on the specific mission requirements, there are an endless number of possibilities for screening and quality conformance inspections.

The generic ESCC specification ESCC3501 defines the qualification procedure for quartz crystals use in “classical” space applications. The cost for crystals manufactured along this specification is very high and lead times are long. It limits the availability and the variety of available packages, namely with regard to small SMD packages. Furthermore, many classical space crystal spec requests to use swept quartz material for improved radiation hardness, which is a heavy cost driver. In our paper we will compare the performance of swept quartz vs. unswept modern quartz material. We will present procedures for up-screening of COTS-crystals at different screening levels, depending on the application and acceptable cost.

The space industry needs to address varying challenges in different markets that have the same structure and teams. In addition to more traditional Class I and Class II projects driven by Geospace (GEO) operators and space agencies, there is more demand for alternative solutions that provide significant cost reductions and better time to market for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations and space exploration vehicles (i.e. launchers, rovers, robots). COTS solutions are increasingly used in these applications to address this new trend, but they bring concerns in regards to orbit evolution, mission duration and changing customer requirements.

This paper presents a survey of a number of commercial devices that have been tested for radiation, both Total Ionizing Dose and Single Event Effects. The results presented here will show that choosing power management devices that are intended to operate in a high radiation environment can be challenging. Renesas will also outline how it can serve the power management market with lower cost, radiation characterized devices that are ideal for New Space applications. These devices bridge the challenges of providing higher reliability and radiation assurance, while still being sensitive to the costs of small satellites and large constellations.