Every year more and more Smallsats (Microsatellites, Nanosatellites, CubeSats, etc.) will be launched but not only the number of Smallsats increases; also the failure rate of such space probes increased in the last years reaching the 51%. Only two reasons can explain such failures number:
- Bad design
- No qualification
Unfortunately, there is no data that would allow to explain this problem objectively. The manufacturers do not share information about their system if something goes wrong and which components built the satellites is also unknown. Only few institutions in the world have the expertise to qualify components for space missions. Testing requires a certain investment and time. Many space companies apparently do not want to invest money and time in their own products. Then the uncertainty remains whether the components installed can comply with the requirements of the mission. A manufacturer can only offer a professional product, if the performance of the product is well known. If not, the new product will fail. If you want to offer professional and high quality hardware for the space industry, work professional and test all the components inside your product!