Digital product assurance for model-based open manufacturing of small satellites

Technology advances in numerous domains have made it feasible for satellites to be small, inexpensive, and relatively fast to produce, facilitating a goal of the US Operationally Responsive Space office to deploy short-term space assets quickly and cheaply for sensing, scientific, and communications missions. This paper describes the digital product assurance method being piloted for low-cost manufacturing of small satellites at Raytheon and the information system built to support it, providing assured quality with comprehensive transparency. The method includes a novel component selection and testing capability that contributes to low cost. The pilot project exists in a next-generation space factory with an open manufacturing architecture, supporting both space and traditional air vehicle product assembly, integration, and test. Small 6U sized satellites have been designed by Space Dynamics Laboratory and then assembled, integrated and tested at Raytheon's space factory for planned 2016 launches. The digital product assurance method is implemented in the Open Manufacturing Information System (OMIS), with the goal of assuring product quality while maintaining speed and low cost. Both the method and OMIS are described in this paper.