In the industrialised world, few areas of science are as wonderful and
awe inspiring as space and the study of what lies within it. For years,
scientists have been launching satellites, space ships, and rockets out
to the final frontier, always ready to advance the technology and
research we possess using the information and data they received from
these probes and automated space explorers.
In the recent decades of this illustrious industry, however, there have
been technological advances that have been very useful to the space
industry. One of the advances that has been very useful has been surface mount technology: since rockets, satellites, and probes make every
kilogram count, the small sizes that the program can achieve with a
surface mount circuit is quite impressive: using printed circuits and a
bit of cutting edge technique, components as small as fractions of a
millimetre can be embedded in space faring systems, considerably
reducing the weight as well as allowing the engineers of the vehicle in
question to create more versatile and useful functions that would
otherwise not be possible with traditional through hole boards.
Printed circuitry does not only allow technology to progress space side,
however: on the ground, when testing and designing new components, the
tiny size of surface mounts and printed circuits means that engineers
are aided by augmented reality technology during the build process.
Though still a new technology that needs to be explored further,
augmented reality has already helped the aerospace industry tremendously
by allowing engineers and scientists to see, at a glance, certain
calculations, angles, planes, and other physical properties that would
otherwise need to be painstakingly measured manually. This allows for
faster and more precise component construction as well as calculating
more efficient vectors for final launches.
In short, printed circuits and surface mounts have expanded the range
and capability of the UK space industry by measures that would have been
inconceivable even twenty years ago. Through the use of augmented
reality technology and surface mounts, our engineers continue to push
the bounds of what can be done to explore the vast space we find
ourselves living in every day!
