CONCURRENT LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS FOR LAUNCH VEHICLE DESIGN

THE PROPOSED RESEARCH ADDRESSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER-BASED MODEL TO PERFORM CONCURRENT LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS FOR THE DESIGN OF ADVANCED LAUNCH SYSTEM CONCEPTS. THE MOTIVATION FOR THIS EFFORT STEMS FROM THE HIGH COST OF MANUFACTURING, OPERATING, AND SUPPORTING CURRENT EARTH-TO-ORBIT VEHICLE DESIGNS. UNITED STATES ACCESS TO SPACE HAS BEEN SEVERELY LIMITED AS A RESULT OF THE ANALYTICAL DESIGN APPROACH UTILIZED IN THE AEROSPACE INDUSTRY. PRESENTLY, DESIGN, MANUFACTURING, OPERATIONS, AND SUPPORT DOMAINS ARE ADDRESSED SERIALLY WITH LITTLE INTEGRATION; THUS, RESULTS FROM ONE AREA TEND TO DRIVE UP COSTS IN OTHER AREAS. THE LACK OF A DEFINED SET OF PROCEDURES AND FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS MAKES IT DIFFICULT TO TRACE HIGH COST DRIVERS. THE PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL DEVELOP A METHODOLOGY AND SUBSEQUENT COMPUTER MODEL TO CONCURRENTLY ADDRESS EACH OF THE FOUR DOMAINS TO REDUCE THE LIFE-CYCLE COST OF THE OVERALL SYSTEM. PHASE I WILL BE A FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE CONCURRENT LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS CONCEPT WHICH WILL BE DEVELOPED INTO A FULL-SCALE PROTOTYPE MODEL IN PHASE II. PHASE I WILL CONSIST OF CONCURRENT LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, COMPUTER MODEL ARCHITECTURE DEFINITION, AND PROOF-OF-CONCEPTMODEL DEMONSTRATION.