GB/T 29082-2012Storage requirements for satellite (English PDF)

Foreword

GB/T 29082-2012 was issued on 31 December 2012 by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of the People's Republic of China, and has been in force since 1 June 2013.

The document is a recommended national standard: the /T in the designation marks it as recommended rather than compulsory.

1 Scope

China's national standard for the ground storage of satellites. Satellites spend far longer waiting than flying: a spacecraft is typically complete months or years before its launch slot, and it is stored between acceptance and shipment and again at the launch site while the campaign proceeds. The requirement is that it emerge exactly as it went in, which is harder than it sounds because a satellite is full of things that degrade while nothing is happening to them - batteries at partial charge, pyrotechnic devices, deployable mechanisms held under spring load, optical surfaces, solar arrays and multilayer insulation, all sensitive to temperature, humidity, contamination and simple time. The standard specifies the technical and management requirements for storing the complete satellite and its equipment, including the storage methods, the environmental conditions, the parallel storage specimens that are kept alongside the flight items, and the periodic inspection and retesting.

This standard specifies the technical requirements and the management requirements for the storage of satellites.

This standard applies to the ground storage, during the development of a satellite model, of the complete satellite and of general electronic equipment, electrical equipment, optical equipment, solar arrays, moving parts, multilayer insulation assemblies and similar products.

2 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following term and definition apply.

2.1 parallel storage specimen - a specimen stored at the same time as the product, in order to follow the key characteristic parameters of optical equipment, solar arrays, moving parts and similar products that are sensitive to the storage environment and to storage life.

3 General requirements

3.1 The party issuing the product development task shall state the product storage requirements in the development task statement, and the contractor and the user shall carry out the storage of the product as required.

3.2 The storage of a complete satellite is of two kinds: the satellite placed directly in the workshop (workshop storage) and the satellite placed in a dedicated packing case (case storage). Storage for longer than three months should use case storage.

3.3 There are generally four storage methods for equipment: a) nitrogen-filled case storage, in which the product is placed in a dedicated packing case filled with high purity nitrogen of acceptable quality and kept at positive pressure; b) nitrogen-filled bag storage, in which the product is packed in an antistatic plastic bag, the air in the bag is displaced with high purity nitrogen of acceptable quality and the bag is sealed and placed in a dedicated packing case; c) vacuum storage, in which the product is packed in an antistatic plastic bag which is evacuated, sealed and placed in a dedicated packing case; d) desiccant storage, in which the product is packed in an antistatic plastic bag, placed in a dedicated packing case and a desiccant is placed as required. Equipment shall use the storage method appropriate to the characteristics of the product; generally the methods of 3.3 a) to 3.3 c) are used.

3.4 Silica gel or molecular sieve desiccant with a water content not greater than 4 % shall be placed in the antistatic plastic bag or the packing case, wrapped in gauze. A humidity indicator paper shall be used inside the bag, and only after checking at 24 h that the bag meets the relative humidity requirement may the storage procedure begin.

3.5 Parallel storage specimens are generally taken from the same batch of products or subassemblies. The retesting requirements for parallel storage specimens during storage are determined by the product designer according to the characteristics of the product and of the environment.

3.6 Environmental conditions shall be set for the different storage methods and for the different products.

3.7 Periodic inspection and retesting shall be completed as required during the storage period.

3.8 The corresponding tests shall be completed as required during the storage period.

3.9 There shall be no strong electromagnetic fields or radioactive materials in the store or the workshop, and no corrosive liquids or gases.