DIN Standards Committee Aerospace
DIN EN 16603-10-03
Space engineering - Testing; English version EN 16603-10-03:2014
Raumfahrttechnik - Tests; Englische Fassung EN 16603-10-03:2014
Overview
The requirements on the systems engineering process are gathered in ECSS-E-ST-10; while specific aspects are further elaborated in dedicated standards, in particular: ECSS-E-ST-10-06, ECSS-E-ST-10-02 and the present standard (ECSSE-ST-10-03). In the System Engineering branch (ECSS-E-10) this standard aims at a consistent application of on ground testing requirements to allow proper qualification and acceptance of space products. This standard addresses the requirements for performing verification by testing of space segment elements and space segment equipment on ground prior to launch. This document is applicable for tests performed on qualification models, flight models (tested at acceptance level) and protoflight models. The standard provides: requirements for test programme and test management; requirements for retesting; requirements for redundancy testing; requirements for environmental tests; general requirements for functional and performance tests; specific requirements for functional and performance tests are not part of this standard since they are defined in the specific project documentation. Requirements for qualification, acceptance, and protoflight testing including qualification, acceptance, and proto-fight models' test margins and duration; requirements for test factors, test condition, test tolerances, and test accuracies; general requirements for development tests pertinent to the start of the qualification test programme; development tests are specific and are addressed in various engineering discipline standards. Content of the testing activities (for example DRD). Due to the specific aspects of the following types of test, this standard does not address: Space system testing (that is testing above space segment element), in particular the system validation test; in-orbit testing; testing of space segment subsystems, tests of space segment subsystems are often limited to functional tests that, in some case, are run on dedicated models. If relevant, qualification tests for space segment subsystems are assumed to be covered in the relevant discipline standards. Testing of hardware below space segment equipment levels (including assembly, parts, and components); testing of stand-alone software, for verification of flight or ground software, ECSS-E-ST-40 and ECSS-Q-ST-80 apply. Qualification testing of two-phase heat transport equipment; for qualification testing of two-phase heat transport equipment, ECSS-E-ST-31-02 applies. Tests of launcher segment, subsystem and equipment, and launch facilities; tests of facilities and ground support equipment; tests of ground segment. This standard may be tailored for the specific characteristic and constrains of a space project in conformance with ECSS-S-ST-00. Annex D gives guidelines for performing this tailoring. Experience has demonstrated that incomplete or improper on ground testing approach significantly increase project risks leading to late discovery of design or workmanship problem(s) or in-orbit failure(s). Testing is part of the system engineering process as defined in ECSS-E-ST-10. This starts at the early phase of the mission when defining verification process in terms of the model philosophy and test sequence and ends at the last testing phase prior launch. In the level of decomposition of a space system, this standard addresses the requirements for space segment element and space segment equipment. This document (EN 16603-10-03:2014) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/CLC/TC 5 "Space", the secretariat of which is held by DIN (Germany). The responsible German standardization committee is Working Committee NA 131-10-01 AA "Interoperabilität von Informations-, Kommunikations- und Navigationssystemen" ("Interoperability of information, communication and navigation systems") of the Standards Committee Aerospace (NL) at DIN. This document will supersede EN 14824:2005-10. This document has been developed to cover specifically space systems and has therefore precedence over any EN covering the same scope but with a wider domain of applicability (for example: aerospace).