Applications of Commercial-Grade Electronic Components in Space Projects: A Review

Electronic components play a fundamental role in critical missions, performing functions such as data processing, measurement of physical variables, data storage, communication, power generation and storage, and algorithm computation. However, their performance can be compromised in harsh environments like those encountered in aerospace applications, where components are exposed to extreme conditions including radiation, temperature variations, and vibrations. To ensure reliability, electronic components used in aerospace missions must comply with strict specifications, typically requiring space- or military-grade standards. These components are significantly more expensive than commercial alternatives and often involve long development and design times for custom platforms. The use of COTS (Commercial-Off-The-Shelf) components has emerged as a viable solution for aerospace applications where cost and development time are critical factors. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of COTS components used in aerospace missions. After an extensive literature review and document screening process, the results indicate that COTS components are commonly employed in critical missions, representing 44% of the studies analyzed. Furthermore, approximately 81% of the reviewed projects focused on space applications, with validation performed in space (22%), ground (75%), and air (3%) environments. Among the systems validated for space missions, half used CubeSat-based payload structures, while the rest relied on other platforms. Most launches were conducted using spacecraft (96%), with the remainder using balloons.