Session
Technical Session IV: Cost / Schedule / Quality / Risk
Abstract
In 1996, Matra Marconi Space (now Astrium) has started the design of Leostar, a family of small platforms capable of supporting Earth observation, science and communication missions for a large range of Low Earth Orbits. This internal initiative has been triggered by the Faster/Better/Cheaper (FBC) tendency appearing among institutional customers and obvious on the export market. Hence, Astrium strategy was to provide standard qualified platforms relying upon a generic core avionics, as well as customized elements to be used for specific applications. To achieve these FBC goals, Astrium implemented innovative design and validation incremental methods, coupled with the maximum use of off-the-shelf equipment. The validation of the Leostar generic core avionics is now terminated and turned out successful w.r.t the FBC approach. Indeed, significant cost and time reduction could be observed not to the detriment of performance since the family now includes the Leostar 500-XO bus dedicated to very demanding high resolution observation missions. For a recent export program awarded end 99, Astrium is relying upon the Leostar concept to answer the needs of an Earth observation mission while coping with the challenging schedule requirement of delivery of satellite to final Customer in 30 months. Moreover, thanks to this Leostar heritage, Astrium has started to study for the French Space Agency (CNES) the new generation of agile bus which will support PLEIADES, the Spot follow-on program. This paper gives a brief overview of the Leostar family and its current and planned applications, describes the lessons learnt throughout the validation phase, and discusses how adequate aspects of the Leostar development approach have been applied to an interplanetary mission such as Mars Express.
Leostar: Lessons Learnt and Perspectives
In 1996, Matra Marconi Space (now Astrium) has started the design of Leostar, a family of small platforms capable of supporting Earth observation, science and communication missions for a large range of Low Earth Orbits. This internal initiative has been triggered by the Faster/Better/Cheaper (FBC) tendency appearing among institutional customers and obvious on the export market. Hence, Astrium strategy was to provide standard qualified platforms relying upon a generic core avionics, as well as customized elements to be used for specific applications. To achieve these FBC goals, Astrium implemented innovative design and validation incremental methods, coupled with the maximum use of off-the-shelf equipment. The validation of the Leostar generic core avionics is now terminated and turned out successful w.r.t the FBC approach. Indeed, significant cost and time reduction could be observed not to the detriment of performance since the family now includes the Leostar 500-XO bus dedicated to very demanding high resolution observation missions. For a recent export program awarded end 99, Astrium is relying upon the Leostar concept to answer the needs of an Earth observation mission while coping with the challenging schedule requirement of delivery of satellite to final Customer in 30 months. Moreover, thanks to this Leostar heritage, Astrium has started to study for the French Space Agency (CNES) the new generation of agile bus which will support PLEIADES, the Spot follow-on program. This paper gives a brief overview of the Leostar family and its current and planned applications, describes the lessons learnt throughout the validation phase, and discusses how adequate aspects of the Leostar development approach have been applied to an interplanetary mission such as Mars Express.
