Design Space Exploration/Identification in Elegant System Design and Operation
No abstract available
Watson, Michael D.↗
Engineering topics
Griffin, Michael D.
Publications and source records attributed to Griffin, Michael D..
Communication and Knowledge Management in Elegant System Design
No abstract available
Watson, Michael D.↗
The cost of access to space
Nearly four decades into the space age, our biggest problem is still the high cost of transportation to space. Close behind are the relatively infrequent flight opportunities and high risk of the transportation systems we have. These problems are of course not independent; rather, they are interrelated measures of the difficulty of accelerating a payload through an ideal velocity increment of over 9 km/s and a height of 200 km or more in just a few minutes. These difficulties are not unrecognized, and the demand for newer, cheaper, more reliable, more frequently flying launch systems has been unending. Hundreds, maybe thousands of studies have been done on various approaches offering improved access to space, and each approach has its ardent supporters, convinced that no other approach can work as well. In the government, hardly a year passes without the attempted initiation of a new program to lower the cost and improve the reliability of space transportation. This paper does not attempt to decide the merits and demerits of various transportation concepts but examines the cost of access to space from a slightly different perspective, and attempts to use that perspective to reach some conclusions about characteristics that a next-generation system must have to yield lower cost, regardless of its design.
Griffin, Michael D.↗
Management as the enabling technology for space exploration
This paper addresses the dilemma which NASA faces in starting a major new initiative within the constraints of the current national budget. It addressed the fact that unlike previous NASA programs, the major mission constraints come from management factors as opposed to technologies. An action plan is presented, along with some results from early management simplification processes.
Mandell, Humboldt C., Jr.↗
NASA reports
Activities and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) programs, both ongoing and planned, are described by NASA administrative personnel from the offices of Space Science and Applications, Space Systems Development, Space Flight, Exploration, and from the Johnson Space Center. NASA's multi-year strategic plan, called Vision 21, is also discussed. It proposes to use the unique perspective of space to better understand Earth. Among the NASA programs mentioned are the Magellan to Venus and Galileo to Jupiter spacecraft, the Cosmic Background Explorer, Pegsat (the first Pegasus payload), Hubble, the Joint U.S./German ROSAT X-ray Mission, Ulysses to Jupiter and over the sun, the Astro-Spacelab Mission, and the Gamma Ray Observatory. Copies of viewgraphs that illustrate some of these missions, and others, are provided. Also discussed were life science research plans, economic factors as they relate to space missions, and the outlook for international cooperation.
Obrien, John E.↗