Redundancy modeling for the X-Sat microsatellite system

Abstract

X-Sat, the first microsatellite indigenously developed in Singapore, was launched in April 2011. Following a series of checkouts, the satellite was declared operational mid Jun 2011. From then on, X-Sat was expected to go on operating for up to three years, totally unattended in the vacuum and temperature extremes of the space environment. Its isolation in space imposed a high reliability requirement for X-Sat. Redundancy to deal with single-point-failure was implemented throughout the X-Sat microsatellite system, whether it was hot, cold or k/n redundancies. If redundancy was not possible at the subsystem or unit level, then some form of redundancy was implemented at the component or parts level.