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NASA NTRS · 20205006326

A CubeSat-Payload Radiation-Reliability Assurance Case using Goal Structuring Notation

Rebekah A Austin·Nagabhushan Mahadeva·Brian D Sierawski·Gabor Karsai·Arthur F Witulski·John Evans
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Abstract

CubeSats have become an attractive platform for universities, industry, and government space missions because they are cheaper and quicker to develop than full-scale satellites. One way CubeSats keep costs low is by using commercial off-the-shelf parts (COTS) instead of space-qualified parts. Space-qualified parts are often costlier, larger, and consume more power than their commercial counterparts precluding their use within the CubeSat form-factor. Given typical power budgets, monetary budgets, and timelines for CubeSat missions, conventional radiation hardness assurance, like the use of space-qualified parts and radiation testing campaigns of COTS parts, is not practical. Instead, a system-level approach to radiation effects mitigation is needed. In this paper an assurance case for a system-level approach to mitigate radiation effects of a CubeSat science experiment is expressed using Goal Structuring Notation (GSN), a graphical argument standard. The case specifically looks at three main mitigation strategies for the radiation environment: total ionizing dose (TID) screening of parts, detection and recovery from single-event latch-ups (SEL) and single-event functional interrupts (SEFI). The graphical assurance case presented makes a qualitative argument for the radiation reliability of the CubeSat experiment using part and system-level mitigation strategies.

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COTSCubeSatGoal Structuring NotationRadiation Hardness AssuranceReliability and Maintainability

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Rebekah A Austin, Nagabhushan Mahadeva, Brian D Sierawski, Gabor Karsai, Arthur F Witulski, John Evans. 2017-01-23. A CubeSat-Payload Radiation-Reliability Assurance Case using Goal Structuring Notation. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20205006326

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