In article ,
rk wrote:
Anyways, whether it's called COTS or modified COTS it is inexpensive
and more or less available to anyone at a commercial fab.

It's COTS if I can order it from Digi-Key and have it arrive on my desk
the next morning. :-)

Actually, you can take the ":-)" off that. One of the Secret Wisdoms :-)
of the cheap-spacecraft mafia is that prototyping early and often, which
is really good for effective debugging and thus for system reliability, is
just a Whole Lot Easier if you stick to parts that *don't* have six-month
delivery times and a requirement for ITAR paperwork. (Not to say that
these necessarily do; haven't tried them.) Being able to implement your
design change tomorrow, so you can start testing it the day after, does
wonders for cost-effective engineering.
--
MOST launched 30 June; first light, 29 July; 5arcsec | Henry Spencer
pointing, 10 Sept; first science, early Oct; all well. |