SMALL SATELLITE COST ESTIMATING CATEGORY: ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT

THIS EFFORT WILL PROVIDE DARPA WITH A TOP-LEVEL, INTEGRATED DESIGN AND COST ESTIMATING MODEL, THE SMALL SATELLITE INTEGRATED DESIGN (SSID) COST MODEL, TO ASSESS AND CALCULATE THE DESIGN AND COST RAMIFICATIONS OF A VARIETY OF SMALL SATELLITE CONCEPTS. THE FOUR PHASE I ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO DEVELOP THIS MODEL ARE (1) IDENTIFY THE PARAMETERS NECESSARY FOR TECHNICAL DESIGN AND TOP-LEVEL COSTING OF SMALL SATELLITES; (2) PRIORITIZE THOSE PARAMETERS INTO THE APPROPRIATE ORDER OF IMPORTANCE; 3) DEVELOP A TOP-LEVEL INTEGRATED DESIGN AND COST ESTIMATING MODEL; AND 4) IDENTIFY AND ACQUIRE RELEVANT HISTORICAL DATA AND COMPILE THAT DATA INTO A FORMAL STRUCTURED DATABASE. THE SSID COST MODEL WILL ALLOW VARIATIONS IN DESIGN PARAMETERS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, WEIGHT, RANGE, ALTITUDE AND PLANE OF ORBIT, TYPE AND COMPLEXITY OF MISSION, TYPE OF POWER SUBSYSTEM, COMMERCIAL AVAILABILITY OF PIECE PARTS, AND LAUNCH TIME OF YEAR. THE NONRECURRING AND RECURRING PORTIONS OF THE SYSTEM LIFE CYCLE WILL BE TREATED. THE PHASE I MODEL WILL, IN ESSENCE, BE A TOP-LEVEL WORKING TOOL DESIGNED TO DEMONSTRATE THE FEATURES OF THE MODEL TO BE COMPLETED IN PHASE II. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS - NONE.