Space Mission Concept Development using Concept Maturity Levels

Abstract

Over the past five years, pre-project formulation experts at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has developed and implemented a method for measuring and communicating the maturity of space mission concepts. Mission concept development teams use this method, and associated tools, prior to concepts entering their Formulation Phases (Phase A/B). The organizing structure is Concept Maturity Level (CML), which is a classification system for characterizing the various levels of a concept's maturity. The key strength of CMLs is the ability to evolve mission concepts guided by an incremental set of assessment needs. The CML definitions have been expanded into a matrix form to identify the breadth and depth of analysis needed for a concept to reach a specific level of maturity. This matrix enables improved assessment and communication by addressing the fundamental dimensions (e.g., science objectives, mission design, technical risk, project organization, cost, export compliance, etc.) associated with mission concept evolution. JPL's collaborative engineering, dedicated concept development, and proposal teams all use these and other CML-appropriate design tools to advance their mission concept designs. This paper focuses on mission concept's early Pre-Phase A represented by CMLs 1-4. The scope was limited due to the fact that CMLs 5 and 6 are already well defined based on the requirements documented in specific Announcement of Opportunities (AO) and Concept Study Report (CSR) guidelines, respectively, for competitive missions; and by NASA's Procedural Requirements NPR 7120.5E document for Projects in their Formulation Phase.

Concept Maturity Levels

“…CMLs were first introduced in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) paper: "Space Mission Concept Development Using Concept Maturity Levels". (Wessen, R. R. et al 2013) The authors of the paper introduced the idea of CMLs so that system architects, proposal teams, and system engineers have a way to measure, assess, and communicate the fidelity, accuracy, technical progress, and maturity of a system (NASA/JPL science space missions) concept through the system's development lifecycle.…”

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In this paper, the authors introduce and expand on a method first proposed in a paper: "Space Mission Concept Development Using Concept Maturity Levels (CMLs)" (Wessen, R. R. et al 2013). CMLs are a tool to help organizations access and mature a system concept in order to mitigate risks inherent in moving in to later development lifecycles when the feasibility of a concept has not been established.

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Avaliação da influência da consultoria em iniciativas da fase Fuzzy Front End

“…Com base nesse relatório, a NASA passou, então, a dedicar mais esforços para melhorar a fase do FFE, estabelecendo um planejamento formal desse processo, aprimorando os objetivos de longo prazo e os planos de financiamentos de tal forma que ambos estejam alinhados (WESSEN, 2013). O intuito de tal planejamento é reduzir as incertezas inerentes e aumentar o sucesso das iniciativas de FFE.…”

“…Entretanto, mesmo com estas técnicas e ferramentas disponíveis, muitas empresas não atingem o êxito no lançamento de novos produtos de projetos inovadores devido a problemas na gestão das iniciativas de FFE (WESSEN, 2013).…”

“…Além desses modelos prescritivos de gestão de FFE apresentados acima, existem na literatura propostas de modelos de nível de maturidades para elaboração de conceitos de projetos, como o modelo de Wessen (2013). Esse modelo de nível de maturidade tem o principal objetivo de estruturar o planejamento da iniciativa de FFE com base no nível de maturidade atual em que a iniciativa se encaixa, desde o primeiro, incipiente, até o mais avançado, nível nove.…”