Overview
ISO 23460:2023 - "Space projects - Programme management - Dependability assurance requirements" specifies requirements for a dependability assurance programme across all phases of space projects. The standard covers dependability as the combined discipline of reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) for space products, including system functions implemented in software and the interaction between hardware and software. It sets expectations for planning, organization, risk control, analyses, testing, data collection and lessons learned to optimize mission success within technical, schedule and cost constraints.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Dependability programme management
- Implement dependability as part of product assurance
- Produce and maintain a dependability plan covering all programme phases
- Tailor requirements to project context and consequence severity
- Document requirements via a Document Requirement List (DRL)
- Dependability critical items
- Identify and control critical items through analyses and risk assessment
- Apply design, manufacturing and test documentation reviews for critical items
- Risk reduction and control
- Identify and classify undesirable events and failure scenarios
- Assess criticality of functions/products and define risk-reduction actions
- Record risk decisions and verify mitigation effectiveness
- Dependability engineering
- Integrate dependability into system engineering and technical specifications
- Define design criteria such as consequence categories, failure tolerance and design approach
- Participate in test definition and verification activities
- Dependability analyses
- Use analytical methods for reliability, maintainability and availability
- Maintain classification of design characteristics and a critical items list
- Testing, demonstration and data
- Perform dependability testing, demonstrations and structured data collection
- Monitor dependability growth and feed lessons learned back into the programme
Practical applications
- Developing a project-wide dependability plan and DRL for a satellite or payload programme
- Classifying and controlling dependability critical items during design, procurement and production
- Conducting analytical studies to support RAM requirements and to prioritize mitigation actions
- Defining verification and test campaigns to demonstrate reliability and maintainability targets
- Managing subcontractor inputs and audits to ensure dependability requirements flow down and are verified
Who should use ISO 23460:2023
- Space programme managers and systems engineers
- Dependability, reliability and maintainability engineers
- Product assurance and quality managers
- Software architects for space systems
- Contractors, suppliers and subcontractor control teams
- Certification and audit teams engaged in space project compliance
Related standards
Normative references include:
- ISO 10795 (Space systems - Vocabulary)
- ISO 15865 (Space systems - Qualification assessment)
- ISO 16192 (Lessons learned in space projects)
- ISO 17666 (Space systems - Risk management)
ISO 23460:2023 provides a structured framework for integrating dependability (RAM) into space project lifecycle processes, helping teams reduce mission risk and improve system availability and maintainability.