In the traditional approach, spacecraft are tailored to each mission and are associated with high risks and costs and long cycles. Moreover, once launched, their flexibility remains limited. The concept of spacecraft fractionation could enable manufacturers and users to decrease these risks and costs and to increase space systems flexibility. Fractionation transforms the traditional monolithic spacecraft into a network of elements: a free-flying payload module is supported by free-flying modules that provide the payload with power, communications, etc. Thus modules could be maintained, exchanged, and reused once launched. Furthermore one could imagine developing a whole on-orbit infrastructure made of standardized modules that could support different payloads.This thesis investigates under what conditions fractionated spacecraft could be worthwhile alternatives to traditional ones. The first part assesses different fractionated architectures and compares them with traditional ones in terms of utility and cost for a given mission and given level of performance. A framework based on Multi-Attribute Tradespace Exploration was used to analyze the impact of fractionation, first at spacecraft level for a single mission, and second, at infrastructure level, when the spacecraft is part of the infrastructure. The study demonstrates that if space assets flexibility is valued enough, customers would choose fractionated spacecraft over traditional ones.The second part of the thesis examines the impact of spacecraft fractionation on the aerospace industry to understand why despite so many potential benefits, there are major barriers that prevent its implementation. Such an innovative concept could actually create a whole new paradigm in which today's protoflight approach would become a mass production approach, which would bring sweeping changes in today's space industry organization. This thesis explores policy options to increase the private sector's ability and motivation to implement fractionation and makes specific recommendations to enable the shift from today's paradigm to the fractionated spacecraft paradigm.
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing this collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (0704-0188), 1215 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1204, Arlington, VA 22202-4302. Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number. PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS. (From -To) REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 03/04/2006 REPORT TYPE Final Report DATES COVERED PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBERMassachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 SPONSORING / MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'S ACRONYM(S)Air Force Research Laboratory AFRL/VSSV Space Vehicles Directorate 3550 Aberdeen Ave., SE SPONSOR/MONITOR'S REPORTKirtland AFB, NM 87117-5776 NUMBER(S) AFRL-VS-PS-TR-2006-1026 DISTRIBUTION / AVAILABILITY STATEMENTApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited. (Clearance # VS06-0821) SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES ABSTRACTThe report introduces the concept of spacecraft fractionation, which transforms a traditional monolithic spacecraft into a network of elements where a free-flying payload module is supported by nearby free-flying infrastructure modules supplying communications, data handling, power, etc. Models were developed from a customer-centric perspective to assess different fractionated spacecraft architectures relative to traditional spacecraft architectures using multi-attribute analysis. Along with traditional attributes of mass and cost, nontraditional attributes of maintainability, scalability, flexibility, and responsiveness were included in the assessment. A framework was created to clearly define and evaluate these non-traditional attributes, and appropriate metrics were constructed. This study demonstrates that if those non-traditional attributes are valued enough, customers would choose fractionated spacecraft rather than traditional ones. This paper introduces the concept of spacecraft fractionation, which transforms a traditional monolithic spacecraft into a network of elements where a free-flying payload module is supported by nearby free-flying infrastructure modules supplying communications, data handling, power, etc. Models were developed from a customercentric perspective to assess different fractionated spacecraft architectures relative to traditional spacecraft architectures using multi-attribute analysis. Along with traditional attributes of mass an...
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