Digitization of Mission Management and Multi-Manifest Capabilities

The current system of launch services mission management is failing to meet the needs of the rapidly growing space industry. Launch services mission management is performed almost entirely manually via e-mail, phone calls, and excel spreadsheets to organize a complex array of customer requirements, timelines, and changes. Launch capacity availability from rideshare to white tail and dedicated launch is not tracked or managed with any true fidelity. Much as the airlines manually tracked available seating and cargo capacity prior to the invention of Sabre in the 1970’s, the space industry handles manifest configuration, capacity management, and the process to get to orbit manually. Within a matter of years, the needs of the space industry will outpace what these modes of communication and organization can provide.  The space industry is unique in having the mission manager position, where the solution is more FTE as opposed to automation due to the immense complexity and differentiated requirements involved with finding a suitable launch services provider and executing on that launch campaign. While this has worked in the past, launch service providers have encountered countless process errors, schedule slips, and this methodology has led to the cost of launch campaign management outpacing the cost of building a satellite in many cases. The digital solutions previously attempted generally involve expensively shoehorning Salesforce, Jira, Jama, or Smartsheet into a 40% solution, navigating around tools that weren’t purpose-built for these unique program and project requirements, and are isolated to each company. As launch services options available increase, the complexity in orchestrating such missions increases exponentially. Coordinating one spacecraft development schedule with a single launch vehicle is difficult, and the complexity compounds when multiple organizations with tens to over one hundred spacecraft in various phases of design and development with disparate requirements attempt to organize themselves into a single launch vehicle or launch date. This is a problem that can only be solved through digitization, significantly reducing the timelines necessary for launch, as well as simplifying much of the complexity. Integrate Space Corporation is digitizing the launch services mission management and planning process to simplify the way launch missions are procured, planned, and managed, minimizing errors and decreasing communication overhead required for complex missions. By digitizing these processes, complex mission timelines can be reduced to a matter of weeks or days without error, and timelines can be contracted or expanded accurately and in real-time to enable truly responsive launch capabilities. As with many other system services that have digitized their processes within recent decades, digitization streamlines operations and increases accuracy.