SmallSat Reliability: Issues and Solution Approaches

Abstract

Improving Small Satellite Reliability: A Public-Private Initiative - Interagency SmallSat Reliability Initiative launched July 2016; Technical Interchange Meeting convened 14-15 February 2017; -One component of a public-private national initiative. Historically, it was understood and accepted that "high risk and CubeSat were largely synonymous; expectations were set accordingly. Their growing potential utility is driving an interagency effort to improve and quantify CubeSat reliability, and more generally, small satellite mission risk. Goals- Secure industry inputs on initial government thoughts on SmallSat mission classifications and mission assurance approaches; Establish next steps. Finding: Focus on Mission Confidence Levels High Confidence; You want a system and execution approach that generates HIGH CONFIDENCE when: It is a single vehicle that has got to work (no opportunity to refly); It is a multi-vehicle system that needs every vehicle to work (no vehicle redundancy, no opportunity for a second launch); You can achieve HIGH CONFIDENCE through various combinations of: Part, component, and vehicle redundancy; EEE parts selection; Design practices and margins Previous flight and system experience; heritage; Testing (HW and SW) and requirements verification; Spares policy; Design iterations (e.g. breadboards, engineering models, Qual units, flight units).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 09, 2017
Accession Number
AD1101935

Entities

People

  • Michael A. Johnson

Organizations

  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Artificial Satellites
  • Astronautics
  • Databases
  • Deep Space
  • Engineering
  • Flight
  • Launch Vehicles
  • Military Research
  • Redundancy
  • Reliability
  • Small Satellites
  • Space Flight
  • Spacecraft
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Statistical Data
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Software Engineering
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Satellites