Design-to-Cost Applied Within an Integrated System Model

In an environment of declining financial budgets for space projects, new approaches - such as Design-To-Cost - are being implemented to improve today's satellite design processes. Using an example of a current mission (the power subsystem of the Solar Probe spacecraft) under study at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the main part of the paper discusses an Integrated System Model (structured into a performance model, a cost model, and an effectiveness model) that is part of a model-based design process used to perform cost-effectiveness trades. A simulation tool is used during the first step to size the components of the power subsystem, and then simulate its performance during operation. The determined dimensions are transferred into an EXCEL^TM-spreadsheet and linked to the components' costs. With a cost accounting tool that combines cost estimating relationships with the Work Breakdown Structure of the power subsystem, the life-cycle cost of each alternative design concept is computed. To determine the cost-risk of the different design alternatives for each component, cost probability distributions are introduced. By performing Monte-Carlo simulations, cost sensitivities are revealed. In the next step of the trade study process, the effectiveness of the alternatives is analyzed. Having determined cost and effectiveness, estimates can be made for where the different alternatives lie in the design space. The last part of the paper identifies the main drivers for the spacecraft's performance and cost. Finally it is shown how the mission design benefited from the Integrated System Model and from the application of Design-To-Cost.