Session
Session IV: The Past & Coming Years
Abstract
The TacSat series of spacecraft have very short development times but also very challenging technical goals. To meet the ambitious requirements of these programs requires a systematic approach to change control that allows developmental payloads and subsystems to be integrated rapidly and correctly with the rest of the spacecraft. Often this approach balances documentation and consideration of design impacts of changes with the need for quick decision making and rapid accommodation of changes. MSI has been involved in TacSat-2, TacSat-3, and TacSat-4. The Roadrunner, a.k.a. TacSat-2 mission is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to demonstrate techniques and methodologies to dramatically shorten the development time required for small satellites. TacSat-II is scheduled for launch on November 13, 2006. MSI supplied the bus for TacSat-2 and supported I&T of the system at AFRL under Jackson & Tull. MSI was one of four bus contractors awarded a phase A study for TacSat-3 and is one of the members of the systems engineering team supporting early TacSat-4 development. In this paper we will discuss the specific techniques used on these programs to accommodate changes at various levels of development. We will discuss who the appropriate decision makers should be, how to communicate changes to the team, how changes are documented at different stages of development, and discuss some of the technical design details that allow change to be accommodated with minimum impact. In each case we will use examples from the TacSat and other programs to illustrate how such processes have evolved and the implications they have on program elements such as risk management, cost control, testing and configuration control. We will also present an update of the TacSat-2 mission status and show how various changes during the program lifetime affected the development of the mission from a bus contractor’s viewpoint.
Presentation Slides
Adapting to Change in Small Satellites, Lessons from the TacSat Program
The TacSat series of spacecraft have very short development times but also very challenging technical goals. To meet the ambitious requirements of these programs requires a systematic approach to change control that allows developmental payloads and subsystems to be integrated rapidly and correctly with the rest of the spacecraft. Often this approach balances documentation and consideration of design impacts of changes with the need for quick decision making and rapid accommodation of changes. MSI has been involved in TacSat-2, TacSat-3, and TacSat-4. The Roadrunner, a.k.a. TacSat-2 mission is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to demonstrate techniques and methodologies to dramatically shorten the development time required for small satellites. TacSat-II is scheduled for launch on November 13, 2006. MSI supplied the bus for TacSat-2 and supported I&T of the system at AFRL under Jackson & Tull. MSI was one of four bus contractors awarded a phase A study for TacSat-3 and is one of the members of the systems engineering team supporting early TacSat-4 development. In this paper we will discuss the specific techniques used on these programs to accommodate changes at various levels of development. We will discuss who the appropriate decision makers should be, how to communicate changes to the team, how changes are documented at different stages of development, and discuss some of the technical design details that allow change to be accommodated with minimum impact. In each case we will use examples from the TacSat and other programs to illustrate how such processes have evolved and the implications they have on program elements such as risk management, cost control, testing and configuration control. We will also present an update of the TacSat-2 mission status and show how various changes during the program lifetime affected the development of the mission from a bus contractor’s viewpoint.
