Event review: 6th electronic materials and processes for space workshop (EMPS-6)

Sixth electronic materials and processes for space workshop (EMPS-6) workshop was held on April 15?16, 2015, at the German Space Operations Centre (DLR), near Munich, Germany. The opening address was given by Professor Dr. Felix Huber, director, Space Operations and Astronaut Training at the DLR site. Professor Huber described the work at DLR which covered space missions and the development of navigation systems such as the European GPS satellite system Galileo. Dr. Giles Humpston of Cambridge Nanotherm Ltd, UK, kicked off the workshop session related to circuit technologies. Dave Davitt from COMDEV, Canada, a global company manufacturing space hardware for communications, space science and remote sensing satellites, gave an interesting talk that focused on the use of passive electronics for low-risk satellite payloads. He described coaxial and stripline circuits for microwave devices and explained the difficulties faced for the electrical signal transition from these circuits to adjacent hardware. Don Tyler of Corfin Industries, Salem, New Hampshire, U.S., continued the theme of reprocessing by describing his company?s facility for converting Pb-free ball grid arrays into tin-lead by robotic hot solder dipping.