Modularity and Spacecraft Cost

From computers to aeronautics, many industries have achieved great cost savings through the use of modular engineering approaches. In standardizing interfaces between elements and by reusing functional units, projects can achieve direct reductions in required development labor and secondary savings from enhanced reliability via improved process control from manufacturing identical units. Issues involved in the extension of modular design to the space industry are discussed. A cost model is developed to resolve some of the conflicting advantages and disadvantages between modular and customized designs. Key regimes are identified that represent the best opportunities for applying modular concepts.     

Assessing the performance of a heuristic simulated annealing algorithm for the design of distributed satellite systems

A heuristic multidisciplinary design optimization technique has been investigated for applicability to the conceptual design of distributed satellite systems. Different permutations of a simulated algorithm are applied to the problem of developing a systems architecture that minimizes a multicriterion metric (cost per image) for the NASA Origins Terrestrial Planet Finder mission. It was found that the efficiency of the simulated annealing algorithm could be improved by modifying the degrees of freedom within the algorithm. Further, a methodology has been developed for finding the Pareto-optimal set of design solutions within the system trade space when the distributed satellite system is modeled as a multi-objective design problem. These advances combine to yield new tools for systems engineers exploring the trade space of distributed satellite systems during the conceptual design stage.