Re: Soldering to gold plated terminals
Space grade qualified parts are supplied with a gold flash on the leads to prevent tarnishing compromising solderability. All parts are de-golded prior to assembly to prevent solder/gold brittle intermetallics. If final assembly is not within a short time (I forget how short - certainly measured in hours) they have to be stored in an inert atmosphere of dry nitrogen in a desiccator.
Even if the assembly technician has been to an ESA course and is therefore qualified, ESA still insists on solder joint cross sections to be used in the final flight model.
Basically no service calls, so the whole space industry is rightly founded on rigid procedures to ensure reliability.
Craig
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