Supplement: Aerospace, Military and Defence
high-volume component manufacturers. Space-system designers may start by needing as few as 10 units of a component to meet the Breadboard and Engineering Model (EM) requirements. The quantity continues to remain very low when the design moves to the Flight model which may need only 100 pieces of a component if the design is for a one-off Rover or deep- space probe.
Designers need to be aware that there will be significantly fewer values available of the space-grade capacitor, than there are of the COTS version of the same capacitor. Many designers start the design with the value that can easily be sourced from a catalogue house and maximising the capacitance and voltage (CV) for a given case-size. The designer may then discover the same values are not available when the design needs to move to a higher grade of capacitor.
Satellite constellations can run into higher quantities but even the largest, SpaceX Starlink, has only around 4,500 satellites and the Amazon Kuiper constellation plans to launch 3,236 satellites. These volumes are still low compared to the number of vehicles that are manufactured, where a single automotive factory in the UK produces 1000 cars every day.
Designing-out failure
The need to increase satellite performance and throughput is also leading to satellites
Around 4500 SpaceX Starlink internet satellites have been launched
becoming heavier and more complex. Most of the Starlink internet satellites weighed between 200 and 300 kilograms, but the Starlink V2 satellites will be around 2,000 kilograms each.
The increase in size and complexity presents designers with the need to add innovation while still developing failure-
The graph shows that there are fewer space-grade capacitor values compared to COTS and automotive. Not all values of capacitors are available at space grade.
free satellites. It also means that greater overall value is invested in the satellite, and therefore longer mission lengths are required to increase cost-effectiveness. This also means that higher-grade components are needed to deliver a longer lifetime. Designers need to access a whole range of space-qualified components, not just
high-end semiconductors. Every component needs to be space grade, and that includes capacitors and resistors, as well as electromechanical components, multi-chip arrays (MCA), magnetics, fuses, filters and optoelectronics.
The IMECE satellite is carrying space-grade tantalum, ceramic and polyester film capacitors from European component manufacturer, EXXELIA, and the Euclid space telescope and Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) use magnetic components and capacitors from the same manufacturer. The UK-headquartered component manufacturer, TT Electronics, has optoelectronics on the Curiosity Rover. In addition to using components which are on the European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) Qualified Parts List (QPL), or the European Preferred Parts List (EPPL), designers use the special customised and flexible screening programmes offered by space-orientated component manufacturers. These programmes take components to higher levels of space-grade reliability in addition to limiting additional cost.
The engineers who design satellites and other systems for space must be able to rely on specialist support to tackle the challenges of pushing space-grade performance and reliability to higher levels.
www.charcroft.com
www.cieonline.co.uk. Components in Electronics October 2023 29
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