Protoflight

Protoflight

Protoflight refers to the testing and qualification process that a flight unit undergoes before it is integrated into a spacecraft. This process involves building the unit according to approved documentation and procedures, and subjecting it to protoflight tests to ensure its reliability and suitability for flight. The protoqualification margin is a measure used during these tests to demonstrate the reliability of the hardware in a simulated flight situation.From: Spacecraft Power Systems [2019], Margins in design – review of related concepts and methods [2023]

Reliability and Flight Qualification

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Published in Hamid Hemmati, Near-Earth Laser Communications, 2018

Hamid Hemmati

Qualification of a design may include two primary stages: (1) prototype qualification, that is, qualification of nonflight units, and (2) protoflight, which is qualification of the flight unit(s). The alternative is to design the component based on environmental specifications but this is a costly process. A part that passes the qualification requirements and standards is qualified for the very specific environment defined by the standard only.

Margins in design – review of related concepts and methods

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Journal Information

Published in Journal of Engineering Design, 2023

Arindam Brahma, Scott Ferguson, Claudia Eckert, Ola Isaksson

When addressing uncertainty arising from thermal systems in aerospace components, Thunnissen and Tsuyuki (2004) classify margins into three categories. These margins span different aspects of product development: (a) Uncertainty Margin aimed at parameter uncertainties; (b) Qualification Margin, used in prototype testing when modelling the maximum and minimum temperature ranges; and (c) Protoqualification Margin, used when demonstrating the reliability of actual flight hardware in a protoflight testing situation. Cansler et al. (2016) present four types of margins, deterministic excess, epistemic excess, aleatory excess and consequent excess. Out of these two are aimed at known uncertainties: Deterministic Excesses are aimed at operational uncertainties; Epistemic Excess are margins used to account for known risk. Aleatory excess on the other hand is aimed to handle future needs and consequent excesses are a result of using off-the-shelf/standardised parts.

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Reliability and Flight Qualification

Margins in design – review of related concepts and methods