By Dawn King, Marketing Director, Rhopoint Components & Instruments Ltd.
There is steady growth in demand for electronic equipment being manufactured for use in systems to be deployed in space. These range from large international projects to privately launched spacecrafts. To withstand the extreme environmental conditions, an integral part of operations in space, the components selected must meet extremely high requirements in regard to reliability, durability, and functionality.
Component specifications to be considered include:
- Radiation tolerance
- Thermal stability
- Mechanical robustness
- Power efficiency
- Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC)
- Long (if not everlasting) operational life
- Material selection
- Miniaturisation and weight
- Redundancy and fault tolerance
- Compliance with standards
- Testing and qualification
To oversee the electrical, electronic and electro-mechanical (EEE) components which play an essential role in the functional performance, quality, life cycle and costs of space systems the European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) emerged in 2002. It has the objective of harmonising the efforts concerning the various aspects of EEE space components by ESA, European national and international public space organisations, the component manufacturers and the user industries. Its aim is to standardise product specification, development, evaluation, and qualification and to improve the availability of strategic EEE space components with the required performance and at affordable costs for institutional and commercial space programmes for ESA Member States. This ensures that Space Agencies, European Space Industry component users and European component manufacturers cooperate in the field of EEE parts for application in space programmes.
To support the ESCC, and in an effort to reduce the dependence of Europe’s space sector on non-European component suppliers, the European Component Initiative (ECI) was created to focus on EEE components. The ECI increases the availability of European EEE components used in European space missions by identifying critical space technologies and then developing capabilities to manufacture them within Europe.
To find components which meet the required ESCC specifications designers will have to investigate a large number of potential suppliers, checking specifications of every component required, procuring and evaluating samples and considering the long-term availability of the device.
At the same time, manufacturers of space qualified components, meeting the requirements of the Qualified Products List (QPL) have to engage in costly marketing campaigns to make designers in this very specialised market aware of their product offerings.
A specialist distributor, such as Rhopoint Components, can function as a multiplier for supplier, designer, and buyer, bringing together a wide range of space-ready components from qualified suppliers. In some cases, a Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) component may be required for development purposes with certification for use in space following at a later date. This not only simplifies the task of the designer in product development, but it also makes procurement easier by having a reduced vendor base. Buyers are able to share their bill of materials (BOM) allowing the distributor to offer a wide range of solutions.
For component manufacturers, engaging with a specialist distributor who is already addressing their target customer base increases visibility of their product range without any additional costs.
Should an ESCC approved product be nearing end of life manufacturers are required to advise any relevant space agencies such as the European Space Agency (ESA), UK Space Agency (UKSA) or German Space Agency (DLR). A specialist distributor will have early notice of any component likely to become obsolete and help customers with a last-time-buy buffer stock or with sourcing an alternative product, and in some cases even being able to provide a custom solution.
The advantages for manufacturers of electronic systems for use in space to collaborate with a specialised distributor are clear, not only in terms of component selection but also supply chain management and the sourcing of approved parts. In addition to essential product information, specialist distributor’s websites can be a source of a wide range of information useful to designers including PCB layout information etc.
Rhopoint is an authorised partner for over twenty-five manufacturers from around the world offering a range of stocked lines and fully customised solutions to meet customer requirements. Its customer support team provide a high level of technical and logistical knowledge, backed by an efficient sales and distribution operation, covering their entire product range, from their UK based facility.
