Space Architecture: Systems Architecting

A top-level architectural approach facilitates the provision of communications and navigation support services to the anticipated lunar mission set. Following the principles of systems architecting (i.e., form follows function) the first step is to define the functions or services to be provided, both in terms of character and degree. These will include communication (telemetry and command) as well as tracking and navigation services. Required performance levels are derived from analysis of the lunar mission model. Consideration of the special needs of robotic and human mission support is appropriate, as is the evolution of the service provision system to the eventual human exploration of Mars. Architectural forms are those physical assets, both hardware and software, that are used to enable the functions to be performed and the services to be delivered. These may include ground stations, lunar relay satellites, Earth-orbiting satellites, optical communications assets, and allocated...

AIAA SPACE 2016, 2016

AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference & Exposition, 2009

This paper discusses the establishment of a Supportability Technology Development Roadmap as a guide for developing capabilities intended to allow NASA's Constellation program to enable a supportable, sustainable and affordable exploration of the Moon and Mars. Presented is a discussion of "supportability," in terms of space facility maintenance, repair and related logistics and a comparison of how lunar outpost supportability differs from the International Space Station. Supportability lessons learned from NASA and Department of Defense experience and their impact on a future lunar outpost is discussed. A supportability concept for future missions to the Moon and Mars that involves a transition from a highly logistics dependent to a logistically independent operation is discussed. Lunar outpost supportability capability needs are summarized and a supportability technology development strategy is established. The resulting Lunar Surface Systems Supportability Strategy defines general criteria that will be used to select technologies that will enable future flight crews to act effectively to respond to problems and exploit opportunities in a environment of extreme resource scarcity and isolation. This strategy also introduces the concept of exploiting flight hardware as a supportability resource. The technology roadmap involves development of three mutually supporting technology categories, Diagnostics Test and Verification, Maintenance and Repair, and Scavenging and Recycling. The technology roadmap establishes two distinct technology types, "Embedded" and "Process" technologies, with different implementation and thus different criteria and development approaches. The supportability technology roadmap addresses the technology readiness level, and estimated development schedule for technology groups that includes down-selection decision gates that correlate with the lunar program milestones. The resulting supportability technology roadmap is intended to develop a set of technologies with widest possible capability and utility with a minimum impact on crew time and training and remain within the time and cost constraints of the Constellation program 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT UU 18. NUMBER OF PAGES 42 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON STI Help Desk (email:[email protected]) a. REPORT U b. ABSTRACT U c. THIS PAGE U 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (include area code) 443-757-5802 Standard Form 298 (Rev. 8-98) Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18

The book was originally intended to be for the public, Congress, and potential customers interested in flying payloads on the International Space Station but was almost immediately adopted for astronaut candidate familiarization and training and is widely used as a reference both in technical circles and by the media. The book identifies the major components of the station, the functionality of each system, and the manner in which the station was assembled and operates. The book was originally sought it 2003 but the first likely authors had difficulty determining how to compile it. I got the assignment in 2005 and was able to compile the book because of my familiarity with the systems architecture, since I was one of the original station systems architects, for Man-Systems, mainly the habitable modules and the interior module design, throughout the stations formative stages from 1986 through 1991. At that time I wrote and compiled the more technical Space Station Man-Systems Architectural Control Document.

AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, 2017

Future crewed missions beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) represent a logistical challenge that is unprecedented in human spaceflight. Astronauts will travel farther and stay in space for longer than any previous mission, far from timely abort or resupply from Earth. Under these conditions, supportability-defined as the set of system characteristics that influence the logistics and support required to enable safe and effective operations of systems-will be a much more significant driver of space system lifecycle properties than it has been in the past. This paper presents an overview of supportability for future human spaceflight. The particular challenges of future missions are discussed, with the differences between past, present, and future missions highlighted. The relationship between supportability metrics and mission cost, performance, schedule, and risk is also discussed. A set of proposed strategies for managing supportability is presented-including reliability growth, uncertainty reduction, level of repair, commonality, redundancy, In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) (including the use of material recycling and In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) for spares and maintenance items), reduced complexity, and spares inventory decisions such as the use of predeployed or cached spares-along with a discussion of the potential impacts of each of those strategies. References are provided to various sources that describe these supportability metrics and strategies, as well as associated modeling and optimization techniques, in greater detail. Overall, supportability is an emergent system characteristic and a holistic challenge for future system development. System designers and mission planners must carefully consider and balance the supportability metrics and decisions described in this paper in order to enable safe and effective beyond-LEO human spaceflight. Nomenclature AM Additive Manufacturing CFR Constant Failure Rate ECLSS Environmental Control and Life Support Systems EDL Entry, Descent, and Landing

SpaceOps 2008 Conference, 2008

Earth and Space 2012: Engineering, Science, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments

The Cis-Lunar Destination Team of NASA's Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) has been performing analyses of a number of cis-lunar locations to inform architecture development, transportation and destination elements definition, and operations. The cis-lunar domain is defined as that area of deep space under the gravitation influence of the earth-moon system, including a set of orbital locations (low earth orbit [LEO], geosynchronous earth orbit [GEO], highly elliptical orbits [HEO]); earth-moon libration or “Lagrange” points (EML1 through EML5, and in particular, EML1 and EML2), and low lunar orbit (LLO). We developed a set of cis-lunar mission concepts defined by mission duration, pre-deployment, type of mission, and location, to develop mission concepts and the associated activities, capabilities, and architecture implications. To date, we have produced two destination operations concepts based on present human space exploration architectural considerations. We have recently begun defining mission activities that could be conducted within an EML1 or EML2 facility. This paper will review details of this work.

Identification of an effective space construction concept is a current objective of NASA studies. One concept, described in this memorandum, consists of repetitive use of operational modules, which minimizes on-orbit stay time for the shuttle. A space station constructed of operational modules may benefit from fabrication and system checkout in ground-based facilities, and since the modules are the primary structure of the space station, a minimum of additional structure, and trips and on-orbit stay time of the shuttle are required.

2006

One of the major logistical challenges in human space exploration is asset management. This paper presents observations on the practice of asset management in support of human space flight to date and discusses a functional-based supply classification and a framework for an integrated database that could be used to improve asset management and logistics for future human missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond. I.