SBIR-STTR Award

One of the major contributing factors to historically high satellite cost has been the requirement for very high reliability. These high costs are inherent in all current cost estimating relationships that are based on prior experience. Reasonable reliability requirements for constellations of moderately large numbers of satellites may be quite different than for constellations of very few satellites. Our analysis suggests that moderate relaxation of reliability levels can significantly reduce satellite cost without affecting mission performance. The purpose of our proposed research is to identify reasonable space system reliability goals that result in large savings without sacrifice of mission performance.

Our Phase I effort concluded that space missions can be accomplished in new ways and at significantly reduced costs. The surveillance mission analyzed in Phase I resulted in a 50% cost saving by using lighter, less expensive satellites at lower altitudes. Phase II will explore potential cost savings across a number of DoD missions and will add survivability implications to the analysis. A selected mission will be assessed in depth.