Making Spacecraft Affordable: An Assessment of Alternatives

Format:

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Callaham, Michael B., author.

Conference Name:

Aerospace Atlantic Conference & Exposition (1990-04-23 : Dayton Oh, Ohio, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 1990

Summary:

AbstractThis paper evaluates four proposals for reducing the costs of spacecraft and other payloads. It concludes that: (1) Using a standard bus, if available, could save up to two-thirds the cost of using a customized bus. (2) Payloads could cost less if allowed to be heavier. A Titan-class payload might cost about $130 million less if allowed to be five times as heavy. (3)Anticipating greater-than-expected payload weight growth during development reduces risks of delay and expense for redesign. The optimal weight margin to allow at the beginning of full-scale development is about 11 to 12 percent for a Titan-class payload. (4) A swarm of small satellites might be as effective for some missions as a single large satellite, and possibly more economical, because smaller satellites typically cost much less per kilogram than do large ones

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

901020

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license