[time-nuts] Speaking of Costas loops

Jim Lux jimlux at earthlink.net
Fri Jul 5 21:37:02 EDT 2013


On 7/5/13 11:37 AM, Attila Kinali wrote:
> On Fri, 5 Jul 2013 12:14:20 -0400
> Bob Camp <lists at rtty.us> wrote:
>
>> Indeed the atomic clocks on sats are set up so they can "tune" far
>> enough to take out the relativistic effects. That (and a bunch of other
>> things) makes them somewhat more expensive than their ground based cousins
>> (like by 10-100X).
>
> Something being space qualified already makes it 10-100 times more expensive.
> A "simple" FET costs easily 100USD, 1000USD is not unheard of.
>
>
the component is still <$10. It's the pallet load of paperwork that 
accompanies that component, and the burden on the manufacturer(s) of 
"traceability to sand"  (I suppose we have to change that phrase.. not 
much Gallium, Indium, etc. in sand)

That is changing though.  Class S and V parts are getting harder and 
harder to find, and the space biz is definitely moving towards more 
"industrial" parts. AFter all, the required failure rates for components 
used in engine control units for cars are substantially better than 
those traditionally required for spaceflight.

It's more a matter of understanding what might go wrong, than the actual 
probability of it going wrong.



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