Webinar – Product Assurance Approach for New Space missions

Current exuberance of the New Space market is characterised among other factors by the use of COTS components and minimized requirements in product assurance and testing policy. This results ultimately in relatively high failure rates of the missions which have been allowed by the relatively low maturity of the New Space sector and the just-for-demonstration purpose of many of the missions.

However, recent and planned strong investments in smallsat constellations require a mastered reliability of the platforms and payloads and a risk management strategy. This means that smallsat builders need to develop a capability in risk management, contrarily to the risk avoidance of traditional space sector.

At ALTER, based on our experience of more than 30 years in the Space Sector, we have identified several key activities in product assurance and small satellite testing that need to be addressed for a successful commercial mission.

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Webinar Q&A

Can we consider COTS components to be used in the mobile industry?

Of course, smartphone applications are the main driver of innovations in the COTS components industry (just think of the image sensor development). However, these components are not designed to survive in harsh environments and need adapted packaging, so they can’t be used “as is” for New Space.

Is there any certification programmes from Alter Technology on space-related topics for students and engineers?

Yes, we have MOOC on Radiation effects in Electronics

You seem to rely on third party certification with first article inspection, but how is this compatible with fast-changing component sources?

The certifying party need to have a strong knowledge of the space sector and know which component suppliers can ensure availability of components, their obsolescence and replacement plans, the implications of these replacements, etc.

What is SRS?

Shock Response Spectrum, shock tests. Here you have more information about this test: https://www.doeeet.com/content/alter-technology-projects/small-sats/shock-response-spectrum-srs-testing-for-small-sats/

By component packaging do you mean dicing the wafer and packaging each of the dies? Or purchasing COTS components, unpacking them and repacking them?

In fact, both approaches are theoretically possible, although re-packaging COTS component needs extreme care because they can be damaged in the process.

During the webinar, the attendees answered a few questions. Here below, you can see the results.