The Demand, Status and Perspective of COTS Components in Space Application

With the rush development of the microelectronics technology and the increasing boost of the high-performance need in space mission,present space-level radiation-hardened components and technology cannot meet the high-performance need of spacecraft.That makes it possible to use Commercial-Off-The-Shelf(COTS) components with high-performance in space application.The space requirements to COTS products is summarized in this paper.The advantages of using COTS parts are the increased functionality,the speed of the instrument,less power consuming and lower cost compared to the space-level components.However,not all COTS parts are suitable for utilization in space applications.Most of them are designed to operate in the ordinary earth environment and are not intended to withstand the radiation environments of space.The radiation in space can cause permanent damage in some types of electronic components.This paper also points out the problems and risks associated with the use of COTS parts in spacecraft,and presents the current status and perspective of COTS components in space application.