Rakon is pleased to announce its space oscillators are the first in the world to make it onto the European Space Agency (ESA) European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) Qualified Parts List (QPL).
Chief Marketing Officer, Darren Robinson said the achievement was a significant milestone for the company.
“Rakon has a long history of providing high-reliability products for space applications and we are extremely proud to be the very first to offer the industry’s crystal oscillators approved by the ESA. This is a tremendous result for our team in France, after a lot of collaboration and hard work over many years.
“We are the only oscillator manufacturer qualified by ESA according to the ESCC standard. It means that our site in Pont Sainte Marie, is qualified to deliver crystal oscillators (our RK135) for all its customers without any additional Lot Acceptance Tests (LAT) required, which reduces the lead time.”
Robinson said the certification will provide new opportunities for the company.
“The advantage for our customers is that, they can purchase our XOs without ordering a LAT to validate the batch they order, because it has been qualified by ESA; therefore saving them considerable time and cost.”
“Having been pre-approved also paves the way for us to be the go-to supplier when engineers are requiring an XO for their next space requirement.”
Business Development Manager for Hi-reliability, Rakon France’s Laurent Elzear said the product is ideal for use in satellite applications.
“This XO provides the clock signal for an FPGA1 or other components. It is based on hybrid technology, where it is resistant to extreme environments like radiation, shock and vibration.”
The crystal oscillator will remain certified for two years and joins two of Rakon’s space crystal resonators that are currently on the ESA ESCC QPL.
For more information, please contact us.
1FPGA stands for ‘Field-Programmable Gate Array.’ It is an integrated circuit that can be configured by a customer after it is manufactured.
About Rakon
Rakon is a global high technology company and a world leader in its field. The company designs and manufactures advanced frequency control and timing solutions that provide the heartbeat of much of today’s communications and positioning technology. Rakon was founded in Auckland in 1967 and is listed on the New Zealand stock exchange. For more information visit
www.rakon.comESA’s Certification of Qualification number 371The RK135 crystal oscillator referred to in this article is described in the certification as follows: Class 2, 4MHz to 100MHz, AHCMOS compatible output, Rad-Hard for use in ESA space programmes, according to ESCC Generic Specification 3503 and associated Detail Specification 3503/001 as recommended by the Space Components Steering Board.
Rakon’s High-Reliability SolutionsRakon has a long history of providing high-reliability products, with some customers having an association with Rakon for 40 years or more. Rakon is one of the world’s largest solutions providers of high reliability, frequency control products. Government and commercial programmes across the globe use Rakon solutions in systems where high performance is required under the most demanding conditions.
Rakon has a broad space offering to meet the needs of the most demanding applications in the traditional space and NewSpace markets including ESCC qualified resonators, oscillators, Master Reference Oscillators, Frequency Generation Units and soon to be released communication equipment.
