Organisation · Standards & Organisations
ESCC (European Space Components Coordination)
European Space Components Coordination (ESCC): the European system for specifying, evaluating and qualifying electronic components for space use, with its own qualified parts list.
It is linked with, but separate from, the ECSS standards, and is the European counterpart to US military qualification.
- Also known as
- European Space Components Coordination
- Type
- Organisation
- Domain
- Standards & Organisations, Standards bodies
Overview
ESCC (European Space Components Coordination) is the European partnership of ESA, national space agencies, space industry and component manufacturers that runs a common system for specifying, evaluating, qualifying and procuring electrical, electronic and electromechanical (EEE) components for space. Its main outputs are the ESCC Specification System, the ESCC Qualified Parts List (QPL) and the European Preferred Parts List (EPPL). ESA acts as both the qualification authority and the custodian of the specifications.
How it works
ESCC was founded in October 2002, when ESA and national space agencies, user industry through Eurospace, and European component makers signed its Founding Act; it took over the former ESA/SCC system. An ESCC Executive provided mainly by ESA handles day-to-day business. Data, specifications and the QPL are published on ESCIES, the online information exchange system, with the QPL updated monthly.
The specifications are organised in levels. Basic specifications set test methods, qualification methods and general requirements for all components; generic specifications set screening, lot acceptance and qualification testing for each component family; detail specifications are, in effect, full data sheets for individual parts. The specifications describe space user requirements rather than any one vendor's product, so one specification can have several qualified sources.
Qualification follows one of three equivalent routes: component qualification, capability approval of a technology, or technology flow qualification. Each starts with an extensive evaluation of the manufacturer and its process, documented in a process identification document, followed by qualification testing to the generic specification. When ESA accepts the test report, the part enters the QPL, or the manufacturer the Qualified Manufacturers List (QML). Qualification is then maintained through periodic testing, non-conformance reporting and audits.
Examples
- A European manufacturer qualifying a family of space-grade transistors under an ESCC generic specification and entering them in the QPL.
- A satellite prime contractor selecting parts from the ESCC QPL so that they do not need individual part approval on the project.
- An ESCC detail specification acting as the procurement data sheet for a space-qualified diode with more than one qualified source.
Why it matters
ESA reports that ESCC qualified parts have flown on every ESA mission for more than 40 years, and that using them saves projects time and cost: they are pre-approved, follow a simplified screening flow under ECSS-Q-ST-60 rules and can be bought without an export licence. EEE parts engineers, radiation effects engineers and component makers seeking space business all work within it.
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