A structured procedure for assessing the suitability of commercial components for space applications

Although traditional space qualified components are used for most space projects they have the disadvantages of high cost and limited availability of "state of the art" types. The use of "commercial" components has been seen as a way of overcoming these problems in some applications, but careful selection of the components is essential if the introduction of alternative problems is to be avoided. To achieve this a structured procedure has been developed for assessing the suitability of commercial components for space applications. A number of recent space projects were reviewed to determine the realistic component level performance requirements imposed by space use. These requirements were then used, together with information on the data typically available from commercial component manufacturers, to develop a procedure and criteria for assessing the suitability of commercial components. After development the procedure was evaluated by using it to assess a wide range of different component types. This exercise demonstrated the effectiveness of the procedure and confirmed the existence of commercial components suitable for space use.