From the Editor
Improving space systems is a challenge in an era of tightened budgets and reduced development schedules. Given fewer resources, how can designers and procurers of space systems assemble more capable systems? In their quest to comply with government and industry requirements to do more with less, designers have embraced modern design-to-cost practices and innovative design approaches.
The Aerospace Corporation is continually working to develop advances that address this changing procurement environment and help designers and customers alike understand the performance and cost implications of early decisions. A widely accepted industry guideline is that 80 percent of design options are locked in during the first 20 percent of a project's development time. It doesn't pay to cut budgets and schedules during concept definition; early decisions are critical and often irreversible at later development stages.
This issue of Crosslink showcases the experience, tools, and processes Aerospace uses to balance performance, cost, and schedule in designing space systems. Sequential design has given way to concurrent design. Through advanced design models, cost-estimating approaches, lessons-learned databases, and collaborative design teams, Aerospace has created a powerful environment for the concurrent engineering of space systems. In this setting, designers make difficult decisions about what objectives can be achieved, often relying on forty years of lessons learned from space system failures and their causes.
The next time you see a launch or read about a satellite placed in orbit, think about the processes presented in this issue of Crosslink. We hope they'll help you understand the many considerations associated with developing complex space systems.
—David A. Bearden
