SatCon Technology has announced that it has received certification by the United States Defense Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio (DSCC) enabling it to build space-qualified products to the MIL-PRF-38534 Hybrid Microcircuit Class K. Class K is the highest reliability level achievable in the assembly of hybrid microcircuits, which are used in such applications as secure communications, HDTV, satellite TV and radio signals, satellite controls and on-board diagnostics.
“Obtaining a space qualification opens up a number of new markets to SatCon,” said David Eisenhaure, SatCon president and CEO. “With the increased emphasis on telecommunications, worldwide media and satellite radio, we anticipate more demand for commercial use of space-qualified products.
“The military is also increasing its emphasis on the more efficient utilization of this communication space to further integrate its communication processes in order to improve operations between the services.
“A total of 41 companies in the United States are qualified by DSCC to build hybrids. In achieving this certification, SatCon Electronics joins an elite group of only 13 of those manufacturers qualified to produce space level products.”
Satellite industry executives expect significant market growth over the next four years. As reported June 4, 2004, in a summary from the International Satellite and Communications Expo (ISCE), 69% of experts expect financial investments in the industry to increase over the next 3 years.
J Musey, a satellite industry analyst with Banc of America Securities, expects the growth in the satellite industry will “outpace the growth of the entire communications market over the next ten years, fueled by the deployment of technically ambitious, multi-billion dollar systems and competition in both service provision and manufacturing.”
According to the Satellite Industry Association’s 2002 statistics, satellite manufacturing represented $12.1 billion of the satellite industry’s $86.8 billion in market revenue.
SatCon Electronics has supplied space level devices to one of its current customers for use in GPS satellites for about 4 years. In addition, SatCon Electronics’ acquisition of the Sipex data converter products in 2002, brought with it additional space level Class K products, some of which might be used for other space applications.
SatCon Electronics undertook the challenge of achieving the Class K certification level in order to improve its product offerings and respond to the new emphasis on increasing the reliability, across the board, for all space and satellite applications. SatCon Electronics is also ISO-9001 certified.
