Spacecraft Technologies: Satellite Reliability

Abstract

AbstractReliability has long been recognized as a critical design attribute for space systems. Since physical access to these high‐value assets is difficult or impossible, maintenance cannot be relied upon to compensate for substandard reliability. It is therefore imperative to design high reliability into satellites. Statistical analysis of flight data, in particular of actual on‐orbit failure data, would provide particularly useful feedback to spacecraft designers. For example, such analysis can help guide satellite test and screening programs and provide an empirical basis for subsystem redundancy and reliability growth plans.This chapter provides a nonparametric statistical analysis of satellite reliability. Parametric fits using a Weibull and mixture distributions are also provided and discussed. The relative contribution of each subsystem to the failure of satellites is quantified, and the “culprit” subsystems driving unreliability are identified.