SRON participates in space missions with the development of advanced technology, prototypes, space instruments and data analysis tools for science. These innovative ‘products’ enable the next generation of scientific missions, which in turn produce valuable scientific results.
The PA/QA team at SRON plays a crucial role with the quality assurance of these high-quality SRON ‘products’. They do this by ensuring that each product meets a well-defined set of quality and reliability requirements.
Space science facilities require customisation for quality and security
Where industrial companies produce products in large numbers and can continuously optimise their processes, SRON is always pushing the boundaries of technology. The projects are often complex and unique, which means a customised approach is needed for quality assurance. In space, you cannot fix or solve anything, and ‘learning from mistakes’ is not a good strategy. The focus of our quality policy is therefore entirely on preventing mistakes rather than correcting them afterwards.
Although SRON can build on a long history of successful contributions to space missions, which are well documented, the PA/QA department has to ensure quality of entirely new mechanical, optical and electrical designs every time. And even the subsequent manufacturing, assembly, integration and testing processes have never been done exactly like this before, and thus always present unique challenges for quality and assurance.
Quality management: from design to implementation
For success, a structured approach is essential. This starts with a thorough evaluation of facilities, supervision of all design activities and training of involved staff. Components, materials and processes are assessed for suitability. If beauty, cleanliness, is required, it must also literally be completely immaculate.
To ensure and control quality in projects, we draw up a project-specific Product Assurance Plan. This contains a set of quality results, ensuring traceability and insight into all aspects of quality.
To ensure quality and identify obstacles in time, audits, inspections, test observations and management reviews are carried out. Only when all critical issues have been addressed can the green light be given for the next phase of the project.
SRON’s quality team not only meets customer requirements (ESA, NASA, JAXA and others), but is also fully aware of all relevant EU regulations. And, of course, the team is fully committed to improving its performance for the next mission.
The expertises for quality and security at SRON
SRON’s Product Assurance / Quality Assurance department has the following areas of expertise:
Product Assurance (PA)
Product Assurance managers are responsible for the implementation of quality requirements within flight programmes and always keep quality aspects visible to customers and users in all phases of the project. Ensuring reliability, availability, safety, and testability and maintainability (maintainability) of SRON contributions are important aspects here.
Quality Assurance (QA)
Quality Assurance experts ensure compliance with quality requirements during production, assembly, integration and testing. This is done through inspections, non-conformance control and reviews. They also play a leading role in the early development and design phases of flight instruments, where in-depth knowledge of components, materials and processes is required.
Component Engineering
The Component Engineering expertise within the Quality Group has extensive knowledge of electrical, electromechanical and electronic components (‘EEE components’). Special procurement specifications are prepared or selected for all components intended for use in a space mission, ensuring that the components meet the required quality and reliability standards.
During procurement, we consider reliability, traceability, obsolescence, adulteration, export licences, date code restrictions, the need for upscreening tests (can something meet more requirements than what it was made for), radiation performance (how much ionisation radiation can it handle), was it stored correctly, inspections, certifications and dealing with component-level deviations if they occur. We also monitor and consider the latest capabilities of commercially available (Commercial Off-The-Shelf, COTS) components.
Configuration and Data Management
Of all products within a flight programme, we manage the information and configurations within the Quality Group’s Configuration and Data Management expertise. We keep track of each configuration item’s basic configuration and the various configuration statuses (‘as required’, ‘as designed’, ‘as built’, ‘as verified’). We strictly monitor changes within the project (Change Control) and we carefully manage documents and data.
