Why PCB for space applications should be first class?

                                                    image source: Twitter

About 70% of spacecraft include electronic equipment, and for any electronic device, the PCB is its backbone. It provides mechanical support for electrical interconnections between components. However, when it comes to space applications, the process of manufacturing a PCB and ensuring its reliability becomes inherently complex.

PCBs for aerospace applications must go beyond standard processes and procedures for PCB design, manufacturing, and assembly. Today's military and aerospace designs require high reliability compared to previous generations. In addition to achieving 100%, fault coverage using technologies such as test design (DFT), high RF and thermal management requires special PCB design and layout techniques.

System reliability plays an important role in spacecraft. Enormous effort goes into the making of a spacecraft, which is made up of a lot of sub-systems involving huge monetary investments. Besides, the users of the spacecraft have high expectations with respect to its performance, as it can cause human as well as material damage in case of a malfunction while in flight.

The components that populate consumer PCBs have tolerances anywhere between 5 and 10 percent, whereas military or aeronautical standard components have tight tolerances of 1 to 2 percent. These components are expensive but they are highly reliable, with gold-finish terminations, compared to components for consumer PCBs with tin-lead finishes. The components used for spacecraft cost about 5 to 10 times more than the commercial components.

These are important factors that must be kept in mind when designing a PCB for a launch vehicle program or any space program. Once the launch is successful, the spacecraft must withstand the power of the space environment, which is harsher than the ground or launch environment. The electronic package combined with the PCB used in the spacecraft will face abrupt changes in radiation and temperature.

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