How expensive are aerospace-grade components?
A most common diode, it sells a few cents on the ground, but once it is in space, it will immediately turn a few A hundred times or even tens of thousands.
The price of a single controller is 5 million yuan, and a set of system has 28 controllers at a cost of 140 million yuan.
But SpaceX’s Dragon Spaceship main control system chipset is only used RMB 26,000. There is almost no instrument panel inside the Dragon spaceship, only the minimum physical buttons to deal with extreme situations, This can make the spacecraft more highly automated, making the operation difficult and reducing the popularity of manned spacecraft.Hua, Civilization lays the foundation.
The price difference is 5384 times, how does Musk do it?
The price of aerospace-grade components is mainly because they can accept harsh environments, compared with general industrial grade elements. For devices, the maximum temperature must be reached120°C, the minimum temperature should be -150°C, and the temperature difference is as high as 270°C.
A space-grade component can be used smoothly Tests and inspections with all strengths. It can be said that reliability is the lifeline of aerospace-grade components.
Large carrier components use about 30,000, medium-sized aerospace components use about 50,000, medium-sized carrier There are about 20,000 devices, and the cost of small aerospaceabout 30,000 devices. So many components, as long as there is one failure, it may cause the entire aerospace model to not operate normally.
For components, a nightmare that engineers often encounter is electromagnetic interference. In the space environment, components will face various kinds of radiation and particle interference.
In space, even a little interference can cause the spacecraft to malfunction and allow astronauts to return Not the earth.
The way Musk reduces costs is to replace aerospace-grade components with industrial-grade and civilian-grade devices.
How to solve the particle interference?
How does Musk solve the problem of particle flipping?
Put a few more same equipment, through comparison, flip the particles, and kick out the different results.
In fact, Tesla makes electric vehicles, and it also uses a large number of consumer-grade components to replace automotive-grade components, the cost Naturally, prices have fallen sharply.
You say the reliability is too bad? Unsafe? I use 5 ordinary consumer-grade devices to replace automotive-grade components, and the price still has an advantage.
Of course SpaceX Dragon spacecraft will still choose the NASA catalog recommended As for the aerospace-grade components, after all, the economic cost cannot be compared with the cost of astronauts' lives.Comparison.
In addition, Space X’s rockets and cargo ships are both near-Earth orbits and short-cycle missions. The application environment of the components needs to consider the launch phase is significantThe mechanical shock, vibration and constant acceleration stress do not need to consider the radiation resistance, long life and performance degradation of components.
Commercial devices are usually packaged in plastic, which is better than traditional military ceramics Sealed devices have better resistance to mechanical vibration, shock and constant acceleration, and because there is no space There is also no internal short circuit problem caused by movable excess.
If you really want to fly to Mars, the life and reliability requirements of components will be greatly improved.
Musk’s success has given many engineers a new thinking, that is to develop products in different industries and different fields, it is not necessary Follow the footsteps of the predecessorsGo. You can try some different implementations.
On the other hand, it is a bold hypothesis, carefully verify . SpaceX has also failed many times, and it has been successful after countless trials.
It’s time to introduce commercial off-the-shelf components into the aerospace applicationThe biggest problem of aerospace components is the lack of ecological support, and component suppliers are unwilling to support a separate production line from an economic perspective, and at the same time bear the cost of expensive and complicated identification and testing.
It was originally a demand for small batches, multiple varieties, and inconsistent demand. Aerospace-grade components are very expensive and reasonable. original.
It can be seen that commercial plastic packaging devices can meet the electrical performance, life span, radiation resistance, and performance of near-Earth orbit, short-period aerospace missions, Packaging reliability requirements, optional.
Announced by US Secretary of Defense William Perry in 1994 The "commercial spot" directive, that is, in addition to aerospace applications, can be used in military applicationsuse Spot. COTS has been successfully used in military applications for more than two decades, confirming that the above changes are feasible. The US Department of Defense William Perry's directive issued in 1994Annually officially opened the military components The change from "military EEE" to "commercial EEE device or COTS".
COTS has been officially used in the military field for more than 20 years, but it has not brought substantial changes to the market. Military and aerospace quality grade EEE devicesThe total price of parts in the EEE global market does not exceed 0.5% . No one can stop manufacturers from leaving a market that is considered to be unprofitable. FutureThe supply of military and aerospace EEE devices must be guaranteed, but the commercial decision is better than any EEE device The policy is strong.
Dan Friedlander, an electronic component engineer at the Israeli Aerospace Corporation (IAI), believes that “it’s time to introduce commercial off-the-shelf components Into the aerospace application."
