Online Small-Sat Knowledge Repositories and Modeling Tools for Risk Reduction and Enhanced Mission Success

Developers of small satellites face the challenges of a short development schedule, incomplete information about parts from vendors, and limited budgets. The situation is complicated by the need to use commercial electronic parts rather than radiation hardened parts to meet performance and budget constraints. Fortunately, a number of organizations are standing up new modeling and data resources that are available for free online. Motivation for sharing models, part data, and lessons learned include shorter development times, increased mission success likelihood, and training the next generation of space professionals. The purpose of this paper is to make these resources and their complementary capabilities known to the small satellite community. Five free online platforms are discussed that address various parts of the information and modeling challenges posed by when electronics are operated in space, especially commercial electronics. The first platform is the Small Satellite Reliability Initiative (SSRI) Knowledge Base, a Wikipedia-like site that documents knowledge useful for successful small satellite missions. The second platform is Radiation Guidelines for Notional Threat Identification and Classification (RGENTIC), which accepts user input on electronic part types and mission parameters, then produces a list of possible radiation concerns for various part-types. The third platform is Systems Engineering Assurance and Modeling (SEAM), which incorporates architectural system modeling for identifying radiation fault propagation, Goal Structuring Notation, a visual argument scheme for creating radiation assurance cases, and construction of fault trees and Bayesian nets for reliability analysis. The fourth platform is the Parts, Materials and Processes Encyclopedia (PMPedia), a repository for information on relevant information for small satellite performance on electronic parts, material properties, and constructing processes. The fifth platform is Cosmic Ray Effects on Microelectronics (CREME), a collection of tools that enable the user to estimate the effect of the cosmic ray environment on various microelectronic parts. Taken together, these tools can significantly improve the chance of mission success.