The Incremental Cost of One or More Copies – Quantifying Efficiencies from Building Spacecraft and Instrument Constellations

The Incremental Cost of One or More Copies – Quantifying Efficiencies from Building Spacecraft and Instrument Constellations

Organizations struggle to estimate costs associated with generating small lots of instruments and spacecraft built as part of constellations. APL has experience building spacecraft constellations and instrument series, with a meticulous record of the associated historical costs available for research. To answer the question, “How much do the copies cost?” we explore the cost histories of STEREO, The Van Allen Probes, JEDI, and RBSPICE from APL experience. We generate a formula for estimating the cost of spacecraft and instrument copies from the historical record. We test the factor’s predictive value and provide associated statistics. Finally, we explore how other organizations can adjust and adapt the APL formula for instrument/spacecraft copy costs to reflect their own experience for estimating the cost of producing small constellations of identical instruments or spacecraft.