2019 Volume 62 Issue 1 Pages 1-10
The rapid development of emerging concepts and technologies, e.g., modularity, standardization, and fractionation, has resulted in the miniaturization of satellites and simplification of mission design, as well as a move towards more responsive and economical systems. However, the current customized and labor-intensive design philosophy is not naturally appropriate for enabling the application of these concepts and technologies. Therefore, a value-centric architecture for spacecraft design and certification is proposed in this paper to address this need. Firstly, the characteristics of different types of spacecraft are compared and summarized. In parallel, a survey on the current design and certification frameworks of large and complex systems is carried out. Taking in the experience of the frameworks, a generic design and certification architecture is developed from a value-centric perspective. Apart from keeping the critical advantages from the traditional methodologies, the new approach is capable of solving the problems inherent themselves. The results of a preliminary case study clearly show that the approach proposed can effectively capture, analyze, and optimize the value of different system designs, appealing to the growth of the space market.