Quality Assurance
This article of the Satellite 101 Wiki has been contributed by K T Prajwal Prathiksh and Shaun Zacharia, both of whom are members of the Student Satellite Program of IIT Bombay.
“Space does not give you a second chance!”
- -Manvi Dhawan, Project Manager at the time of Pratham launch
Achieving the reliability and the robustness of a satellite is a significant challenge. This is where having a robust set of quality assurance practices comes into play. Quality Assurance (QA) quite simply put - are a set of practices followed to maintain the quality of a system.
Unlike the other subsystems of a student satellite, the task of enforcing quality assurance practices across all aspects of a system should not be supervised by a single subsystem or a group of people. Although organisations and space agencies across the globe have dedicated teams of people that deal solely with quality assurance practices for their respective missions, when it comes to a student team, however, such a setup would not be recommended. The reasons for which are enumerated below:
- Accountability: A designer would become complacent, knowing that the person-in-charge of QA would point out all flaws. Having a separate subsystem would inadvertently result in the shifting of accountability from the designer to the person-in-charge QA.
- Imbibing the mindset: QA should be an integral part of the thought process of all of the team members. Examining each other’s work, and questioning the rationale behind decisions amongst the members allows for people to improve system-level understanding and lead to a more refined decision.
- Effectiveness: By the time a person can reasonably understand a subsystem, she/he would have already spent two years and would be nearing their graduation. Such senior members will need to serve as subsystem heads and train recruits. However, having the senior members devote all their time on QA would not be effective either.
Thus, the model with QA as a separate subsystem does not seem appealing to be implemented in student satellite teams. Quality management and assurance need to be an integral part of the entire team’s working. Each person should be involved in QA-related activities at various levels across subsystems.
The spirit of QA is to be imbibed in the entire process of satellite design - starting from the selection of payload to the final retirement phase. Below listed are examples of QA practices that can be followed in each phase.
