ISO/TC 20/SC 14 - Space systems and operations

This document deals with control systems developed as part of a space project. It is applicable to all the elements of a space control system, including the space segment, the ground segment and the launch service segment. This document establishes general principles for all technical activities of space control engineering, including control engineering management, requirements definition, analysis, design, production, verification and validation, operation, maintenance, and disposal. It also provides requirements to progressively refine and manage control system realizations in space systems including multiple control systems. The requirements of this document can be tailored for each specific space program application.

This document establishes requirements for the design, material selection and characterization, fabrication, testing and inspection of all space mechanisms on spacecraft and payloads to meet the mission performance requirements. This document does not cover the requirements for mechanisms on expendable and reusable launch vehicles. Applicability of the requirements contained in this document to launch vehicle mechanisms is a decision left to the individual launch vehicle project. This document applies specifically to all moving mechanisms used in spacecraft during all phases of the mission, with the exception of engines and thermal protection systems.

This document defines a set of software product assurance requirements in terms of processes and products to be used for the development, maintenance and operation of software for space systems. It provides a uniform basis for defining the software product assurance activities to be applied and maintained throughout the whole software life cycle, from project conception until the software retirement. This document mainly applies to the space software segment and critical software of ground software segment (e.g. the software which is directly interface to the space segment).

This document establishes a set of requirements for planning and executing verification programmes for commercial/non-commercial manned and unmanned space systems. This document defines a distributed verification programme for each contractor that engages in the development of any element of a space system, starting from the lowest level (i.e. unit/piece part level) and the earliest phase (i.e. requirement phase) to the acceptance and the delivery review of a system’s development as well as the launch site activities. This document primarily addresses verification associated with space, launch, and ground segment acquisitions. Space support segments including range safety, ground support equipment, and launch operation facilities, which are not otherwise addressed in this document, can also benefit from the described verification programme and management processes.

This document specifies the structure and properties of the Earth’s atmosphere from ground level upward. It provides internationally accepted empirical models that specify the details of the atmosphere. It also refers to widely-accepted physical models providing insight into the physical and chemical processes driving the response of the atmosphere.

This document provides guidance to potential users for the specification of the global distribution of ionosphere densities and temperatures, as well as the total content of electrons in the height interval from 50 km to 1 500 km. It includes and explains several options for a plasmaspheric extension of the model, embracing the geographical area between latitudes of 80°S and 80°N and longitudes of 0°E to 360°E, for any time of day, any day of year, and various solar and magnetic activity conditions. A brief introduction to ionospheric and plasmaspheric physics is given in Annex A. Annex B provides an overview over physical models, because they are important for understanding and modelling the physical processes that produce the ionospheric plasma.

This document specifies the verification test activities for assessing the RF performance of integrated spacecraft, including test items, test requirements, and typical test procedures, test facility and chamber environment, with respect to the testing using compact range. This document is applicable to the RF performance test for spacecraft at system level using compact range.

This document is a guide for establishing essential collaborative enterprises to sustain the space environment and employ it effectively. This document describes some widely used techniques for perceiving close approaches, estimating collision probability, estimating the cumulative probability of survival, and manoeuvring to avoid collisions. NOTE Satellite operators accept that all conjunction and collision assessment techniques are statistical. All suffer false positives and/or missed detections. The degree of uncertainty in the estimated outcomes is not uniform across all satellite orbits or all assessment intervals. No comparison within a feasible number of test cases can reveal the set of techniques that is uniformly most appropriate for all.

This document defines the general requirements for atomic oxygen (AO) protective coatings that are applied on polyimide thermal control films. It also describes the different properties of coated polyimide films such as indium tin oxide (ITO), SiOx, germanium, and silicone, property measurement test methods, and selection guidelines.

This document defines the elementary thermal tests to obtain thermal properties of materials and composite materials used to manufacture space body to support the fragmentation and survivability analysis. This document does not apply to spacecraft containing nuclear power sources[1].

This document provides guidance and requirements for test providers and interested parties to implement vibration testing. This document specifies methods, including the force limiting approach, to mitigate unnecessary over-testing of spacecraft, subsystems and units for space application. The technical requirements in this document can be tailored to meet the actual test objectives.

This document is applicable to new projects and programs and to redesigned and upgraded launch pad and integration sites. This document describes the testing phases, goals, and general aspects for launch space complexes and complexes for assembly and tests of a vehicle and spacecraft and the associated equipment that, after successful testing, will be ready for launch vehicle processing and launch. This document can be applied to the creation of international launch pad and integration sites. At creation of new launching space complexes and complexes for assembly and tests of a vehicle and spacecraft (or at their modernization) within the framework of one country, the rules established by that country can be applied.

This document sets out the minimum requirements for flight safety systems (FSSs), including flight termination systems (FTSs, externally controlled systems or on-board automatic systems), tracking systems, and telemetry data transmitting systems (TDTSs) for commercial or non-commercial launch activities of orbital or suborbital, unmanned space vehicles. The intent is to minimize the risk of injury or damage to persons, property or the environment resulting from the launching of space vehicles. This document can be applied by any country, by any international organization, whether intergovernmental or not, and by any agency or operator undertaking the launching of space vehicles. This document is intended to be applied by any person, organization, entity, operator or launch authority participating in commercial or non-commercial launch activities of orbital, or suborbital, unmanned space vehicles unless more restrictive requirements are imposed by the launch site country.

This document provides requirements and recommendation for space-based systems that, using satellite radionavigation services, provide high accuracy positioning of rovers. It is particularly intended for rovers whose operation requires meeting specific safety requirements, including in situations of low visibility. This document also provides methods to verify the system requirements, as well as complementary information on particular applications (Annex A), mobile mapping systems (Annex B) and augmented positioning (Annexes C and D).

This document addresses the design process of a collocation and the basic contents of collocation design process which include considerations, initial collocation strategy design, simulation evaluation of collocation strategy, optimal collocation strategy selection and collocation agreement. This document gives guidelines for multi-geo spacecraft collocation, and it applies in particular to multi-geo constellation.

This document provides the baseline standard on the subject of testing at the system, subsystem and unit levels for applicable unmanned spacecraft programmes. It also provides the requirements for documentation associated with testing activities. This document contains provisions for qualification and acceptance testing, or proto-flight testing (PFT). It assumes that hardware development is complete.

This document specifies a common process for selecting and implementing meteoroid and space debris environment models used in the impact flux assessment for design and operation of spacecraft and other purposes. This document provides guidelines and requirements for the process.

The document considers peculiarities of the space environment impact on a special kind of materials: nanostructured materials (i.e. materials with structured objects which size in at least one dimension lies within 1 nm to 100 nm) and specifies the methods of mathematical simulation of such processes. It emphasizes the necessity of applying multiscale simulation approach and does not include any special details concerning concrete materials, elements of spacecraft construction and equipment, etc. This document provides the general description of the methodology of applying computer simulation methods which relate to different space and time scales to modelling processes occurring in nanostructured materials under the space environment impact. The document can be applied as a reference document in spacecraft designing, forecasting the spacecraft lifetime, conducting ground-based tests, and analysing changes of material properties during operation.

This document establishes the baseline requirements for the design, fabrication and testing of space flight pressure components. It also establishes the requirements for the assembly, installation, test, inspection, operation and maintenance of the pressure systems in spacecraft and launch vehicles. These requirements, when implemented on a particular space system, ensure a high level of confidence in achieving safe and reliable operation. This document applies to all pressure components other than pressure vessels and pressurized structures in a pressure system. It covers lines, fittings, valves, bellows, hoses and other appropriate components that are integrated to form a pressure system. The requirements for pressure vessels and pressurized structures are set forth in ISO 14623. This document does not apply to engine components.

This document contains information on the design and operational practices for launch vehicle orbital stages for mitigating space debris. This document provides information to engineers on the requirements and recommendations in the space debris mitigation standards to reduce the growth of space debris by ensuring that launch vehicle orbital stages are designed, operated, and disposed of in a manner that prevents them from generating debris throughout their orbital lifetime.

This document establishes the requirements for simulation of the space control system, including the objective, architecture and procedure, etc. This document is applicable to four phases of control system development, including conceptual design, detailed design, prototype and integrated system. The control system referred to in this document is the flight control system for guidance, navigation and control (GNC) of space systems which include launch vehicle, satellite and spaceship, etc. This document establishes a minimum set of requirements for simulation of the flight control system, and provides guidance to engineers on what to simulate in each phase of control system development. The requirements are generic in nature because of their broad applicability to all types of simulations. Implementation details of the requirements are addressed in project-specific standards, requirements, and handbooks, etc.

This document defines detailed space debris mitigation requirements and recommendations for the design and operation of launch vehicle orbital stages in Earth orbit. The requirements defined in this document are applicable for: — avoiding the release of space debris; — disposing of a launch vehicle orbital stage after the end of its mission so as to avoid a break-up in orbit; — disposing of a launch vehicle orbital stage after the end of its mission so as to minimize interference with the protected regions; — safely re-entering a launch vehicle orbital stage.

This document contains information on the design and operational practices for launch vehicle orbital stages for mitigating space debris. This document provides information to engineers on what are required or recommended in the family of space debris mitigation standards to reduce the growth of space debris by ensuring that spacecraft is designed, operated, and disposed of in a manner that prevents them from generating debris throughout their orbital lifetime.

This document provides detailed information on the various methods of assessing the health status of lithium-ion space batteries in flight and makes recommendations to battery suppliers, spacecraft manufacturers and operators to ease this assessment.

This document specifies criteria and requirements for the use of explosive systems and explosive devices commonly used on spacecraft and other space products, including launch vehicles and space vehicle systems. It addresses the aspects of design, analysis, verification, manufacturing, operations and safety. To the greatest extent possible, requirements from past and existing standards have been analyzed, selected and tailored to be incorporated herein. In addition, the requirements herein include those generated as a result of lessons learned from launch and space vehicle programs. NOTE Specific requirements for man-rating are not addressed.

This document establishes general test requirements for launch vehicles equipped with liquid-propellant engines, launched from stationary ground-, sea- and air-based launchers, in all phases of their development.

This document provides requirements for launch system designers or interface designers regarding interfaces between LV and EGSE, which is used to support on-line processing. It defines electrical interface types, design requirements, environment requirements, verification methods (analyses and tests), and interface check operation requirements. This document is intended to minimize design costs and reduce risks from errors resulting from miscommunication. It does not limit LV or EGSE organizational requirements to specify a unique interface.

This document presents the requirements for requirements management (RM) for space projects. This document addresses the space programme/project management requirements, applicable through a top-down approach in a contractual relationship between customers and suppliers. The objective of this document is to state and establish a common reference framework for all the customers and suppliers in the space sector to deploy requirements management for all space products and projects. This document on requirements management includes — a definition of the requirements management scope for the space sector, — the standard processes for requirements management within the product lifecycle management, and — a set of rules for requirements management activities to be implemented by the actors (customers and suppliers), including rules derived from best practices. The primary target audience for this document includes — the requirements management/systems engineering process owners of the customers and suppliers, — the programme/project managers managing the space programmes, and — the chief engineers and the quality managers. The term "programme" is understood as a group of several projects. Both "programme" and "project" can be used in the same context throughout this document. In addition, this document allows customer/supplier flexibility in its implementation and tailoring.

This document defines procedures, contents and requirements for test reviews which are composed of the Test Readiness Review (TRR), Post Test Review (PTR) and Test Review Board (TRB). This document is applicable to tests of space systems and space products, including environment tests and functional and performance tests, especially for system level tests and complicated tests.

This document outlines the evaluation methods for environmental tests that can be conducted on COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) spacecraft parts intended for use on LEO satellites. The radiation effects considered consist of total dosage, single event, and displacement damage. In addition, this document describes tests that are useful for satellites operating in LEO.

This document provides guidelines for specifying the qualitative estimation of the solar wind energy input into the magnetosphere with use of operative ground-based information on the polar cap magnetic activity (PC index). The solar wind energy incoming into the magnetosphere predetermines development of the magnetospheric disturbances: magnetic storms and substorms. Magnetospheric disturbances include a wide range of phenomena and processes directly affecting human activity, such as satellite damage, radiation hazards for astronauts and airline passengers, telecommunication problems, outrages of power and electronic systems, effects in the atmospheric processes, and impact on human health. This document is intended for on-line monitoring the magnetosphere state and nowcasting the intensity and extent of magnetic disturbances as well as parameters of the high-latitude ionosphere. The method and accuracy of estimating is ascertained by close relationship between the PC index and interplanetary electric field (as the most geoeffective solar wind parameter), on the one hand, and between the PC index and magnetoshpheric disturbances, on the other hand.

This document specifies requirements for the safety liabilities of countries undertaking space activities or allowing operators to perform space activities on or from their territory under outer-space treaties adopted by the United Nations. It defines the safety responsibilities for the operators involved in commercial or non-commercial space launch activities. This document establishes the overall safety requirements to be observed on a launch site for prelaunch (integration, test, checking, preparation, etc.) and launch operations of a space object. It provides the basic principles to enable any operator to implement its own safety methods, tools and procedures to ensure the safety of people and personnel, public and private property, and the environment, in a consistent and uniform manner. The safety requirements for system safety are defined in ISO 14620-1, and the requirements for the flight safety systems in ISO 14620-3.

This document specifies the methods used for estimating geomagnetic indices for time intervals ranging from short-term (hours to a few months) to long-term (months to years). This document is intended for use to predict future geomagnetic indices and space environment.

This document provides definitions of all common terms used in the area of space systems and operations for programme management and quality. It does not contain terms specific to an individual International Standard in the area of space systems and operations, which are defined in that particular International Standard.

This document defines the primary space debris mitigation requirements applicable to all elements of unmanned systems launched into, or passing through, near-Earth space, including launch vehicle orbital stages, operating spacecraft and any objects released as part of normal operations. The requirements contained in this document are intended to reduce the growth of space debris by ensuring that spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages are designed, operated and disposed of in a manner that prevents them from generating debris throughout their orbit lifetime. The requirements are also intended to reduce the casualty risk on ground associated with atmospheric re-entry of space objects. This document is the top-level standard in a family of standards addressing space debris mitigation. It is the main interface for the user, bridging between the primary space debris mitigation objectives and a set of lower level standards and technical reports that support conformance. The lower level documents contain detailed requirements and implementation measures associated with the high-level requirements in this document.

This document specifies requirements for the following: — planning for disposal of a spacecraft operating at geosynchronous altitude to ensure that final disposal is sufficiently characterized and that adequate propellant will be reserved for the manoeuvre; — selecting final disposal orbits where the spacecraft will not re-enter the operational region within the next 100 years; — executing the disposal manoeuvre successfully; — depleting all energy sources on board the vehicle before the end of its life to minimize the possibility of an event that can produce debris. This document provides techniques for planning and executing the disposal of space hardware that reflect current internationally accepted guidelines and consider current operational procedures and best practices.

This document addresses the key elements for an EEE parts management programme for space systems and is written in general terms as a baseline for developing, implementing, validating, and evaluating a space parts management programme. The family of EEE parts includes electro-optical parts.

This document establishes technical guidelines for developing and documenting an electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) parts control program, in order to assure that the parts used in the flight hardware are acceptable and possess adequate functional, radiation and reliability characteristics to meet the system requirements. The family of EEE parts includes electro-optical parts. This document identifies a set of management guidelines for dealing with space systems engineering activities and defines the minimum existing processes on the subject. These guidelines are tailorable to the needs of each individual programme based on the project performance criteria, risk tolerance, budget, mission duration, environment, schedule and other considerations. This document is applicable to all customers and suppliers furnishing flight hardware and is suitable for reference in proposal instructions.

This document supports and complements the implementation of the risk management process defined in ISO 17666 in situations when the application of a quantitative risk assessment is deemed necessary. This document defines the principles, process, implementation and requirements for conducting a quantitative risk assessment and explains the details of probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) as applied to safety. While PRA can be applied to project risk management involving cost and schedule, this application is outside the scope of this document. This document provides the basic requirements and procedures for the use of PRA techniques to assess safety or mission risk and success in space programmes and projects. This document is applicable to all international space projects involving: — the design of space vehicles for the transportation of personnel in space; — the design of space and non-terrestrial planetary stations inhabited by human beings; — the design of space and launch vehicles powered by, or carrying, nuclear materials; — other projects as directed by the authorities or clients. These types of projects generally involve scenarios, chains of events or activities that could result in the death of, or serious injury to, members of the public, astronauts or pilots, or the workforce, or the loss of critical or high-value equipment and property. For other types of projects, it is intended that PRA be performed at the discretion of the project management.

This document defines the contents, methods and requirements of configuration management for space projects, and the responsibilities and authorities of related parties. It can be used together with ISO 14300‑1:2011, Clause 10. This document is applicable to the configuration management of space projects from the mission analysis phase to the disposal phase.

ISO 21494:2019 specifies magnetic test methods including magnetic field test methods, magnetic moment test methods, magnetization and demagnetization test methods and magnetic compensation test methods. This document is applicable to magnetic tests on several levels: spacecraft-level, subsystem-level and unit-level. ISO 21494:2019 gives guidelines for conducting magnetic tests both in zero-magnetic field environment provided by magnetic test facilities and in the presence of the geomagnetic field environment.

This document provides a framework with which to assess, reduce, and control the potential risks that spacecraft and launch vehicle orbital stages (referred to hereinafter as "space vehicles") pose to people and the environment when those space vehicles re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and impact the Earth's surface. It is intended to be applied to the planning, design, and review of space vehicle missions for which controlled or uncontrolled re-entry is inevitable. This document is applicable to following objects in assessing their risk to the ground: a) objects re-entering from orbit in conformance with ISO 24113; b) launch vehicles (including payloads, other objects separated during the ascent phase, etc.) that are mentioned in flight safety activities under ISO 14620‑2[1]; and c) interplanetary spacecraft returning to Earth. This document complements ISO 14620‑1 and ISO 17666. This document is not applicable to spacecraft containing nuclear power sources[2]. NOTE 1 This document does not apply to Space Transportation Systems with wings and control functions intended for targeted landing. NOTE 2 Useful background information for this document is available in ISO 24113.

This document (first level standard) is the main document among the others regarding human-life activity support systems and equipment integration in space flight. This document, along with second and third level standards, forms a complex three-level international standard entitled: Space systems — Human-life activity support systems and equipment integration in space flight. It is applicable to all human space flight programmes in all manned space objects, including space systems, space stations, lunar and planetary bases, as well as extravehicular activity. It covers all phases of development of a manned space object, such as design, production, tests, operation, and maintenance.

This document defines the safety programme and the technical safety requirements that are implemented in order to comply with the safety policy as defined in ISO 14300‑2. It is intended to protect flight and ground personnel, the launch vehicle, associated payloads, ground support equipment, the general public, public and private property, and the environment from hazards associated with space systems. Launch site operations are described by ISO 14620‑2 and flight safety systems in ISO 14620‑3. The safety policy is applied by implementing a system safety programme, supported by risk assessment, which can be summarized as follows. a) Hazardous characteristics (system and environmental hazards) and functions with potentially hazardous failure effects are identified and progressively evaluated by iteratively performing systematic safety analyses. b) The potential hazardous consequences associated with the system characteristics and functional failures are subjected to a hazard reduction sequence whereby: hazards are eliminated from the system design and operations; hazards are minimized; and hazard controls are applied and verified. c) The risks that remain after the application of a hazard elimination and reduction process are progressively assessed and subjected to risk assessment, in order to: show compliance with safety targets; support design trades; identify and rank risk contributors; support apportionment of project resources for risk reduction; assess risk reduction progress; and support the safety and project decision-making process (e.g. waiver approval, residual risk acceptance). d) The adequacy of the hazard and risk control measures applied are formally verified in order to support safety validation and risk acceptance. e) Safety compliance is assessed by the project and safety approval obtained from the relevant authorities.

This document, by using a model that reproduces the fluctuations of radiation belts, defines the calculation method (orbit, operation period) of the radiation fluence received by a satellite. The quasi-dynamic model of Earth's radiation belts adopts input parameters (index values) to predict variation. The input parameters are selected from those that are easy to obtain data and have high correlation with the variation in Earth's radiation belts. NOTE This method is an engineering method used for satellite design and similar purposes.

This document describes the set of management requirements needed to identify and provide logistic support, so the customer can operate and maintain a product in its operational environment for the expected lifetime. These requirements also aim, throughout the product life cycle, at implementing everything pertinent to the control of risks considered as critical for operational objectives. The management requirements are applicable to those activities necessary to design, develop, deliver, deploy and manage an organized and structured set of materials and software, services, processes and information dedicated to support the system throughout its life cycle. This document specifies management, studies, production activities, information management processes and tasks to meet the customer's need for logistic support. When viewed from the perspective of a specific project context, the requirements defined in this document are tailored to match the genuine requirements of a particular profile and circumstances of a project. NOTE Tailoring is the process by which individual requirements of specifications, standards and related documents are evaluated, and made applicable to a specific project by selection, and in some exceptional cases, modification of existing or addition of new requirements.

This document defines the requirements and verification methods from design to on-orbit operation for Satellite Based Passive Microwave Sensors. This document covers the requirements for, design, analysis, manufacturing, ground tests and on-orbit self-sensor calibration and validation. In addition, this document includes the conditions considered for on-orbit inter-comparison among sensors as preparation for cross-calibration. This document includes some examples on how to apply the development of passive microwave sensors as shown in Annex A through D.

This document describes minimum requirements for small spacecraft. Small spacecraft may employ untraditional spacecraft development and management philosophy. These spacecraft projects are usually budget-limited or mass-limited, which makes a single (exclusive) launch unaffordable. The scope of this document encompasses different categories of small spacecraft — so-called mini-, micro-, nano-, pico- and femto-, as well as CubeSat, spacecraft. Therefore, for the sake of convenience, the term "small spacecraft" is used throughout this document as a generic term. Regardless of the development philosophy, there are minimum requirements every spacecraft complies with. This document explicitly states those requirements and also refers to existing applicable standards. In that sense, this document serves as the top document to cover the minimum requirements for various stages of small spacecraft system life-cycle — with emphasis on design, launch, deployment, operation, and disposal phases. In this way, (1) safety, (2) harmlessness to co-passengers and launcher, and (3) debris mitigation, are all assured. This document is addressed to small spacecraft developers, as well as dispenser providers and/or the launch operators.