Month: May 2021

A new engineering note co-authored by Brian Gardner and Paul Grogan appears in Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets as an “article in advance” manuscript.

Probabilistic Launch Delay Models for Human Spaceflight Missions

Human exploration logistics rely on a launch vehicle to place supplies in orbit. Estimating launch vehicle delay helps mission planning ensure adequate supplies under uncertainty in replenishment schedule. This paper mines launch delay data for human exploration missions from the International Space Station (ISS) US operating segment (USOS) including NASA commercial cargo (Northrop Grumman and SpaceX), ESA and JAXA missions from March 2013 to February 2017 as a mix of established mission providers (ESA and JAXA) and commercial companies spanning launch vehicle system development and recurring cargo delivery missions. Continuous probability distributions are developed using maximum likelihood estimates for launch delays associated with near-term, intermediate and long-term mission planning dates. Additionally, an approach adapted from the signal processing domain to convert the continuous distribution into a discrete probability mass function is outlined for scenario tree analysis.

A new research article authored by Paul Grogan appears in Design Science as an open access manuscript today.

Co-design and co-simulation for engineering systems: Insights from the Sustainable Infrastructure Planning Game

This paper draws on perspectives from co-design as an integrative and collaborative design activity and co-simulation as a supporting information system to advance engineering design methods for problems of societal significance. Design and implementation of the Sustainable Infrastructure Planning Game provides a prototypical co-design artifact that leverages the High Level Architecture co-simulation standard. Three role players create a strategic infrastructure plan for agricultural, water and energy sectors to meet sustainability objectives for a growing and urbaninzing population in a fictional desert nation. An observational study conducts 15 co-design sessions to understand underlying dynamics between actors and how co-simulation capabilities influence design outcomes. Results characterize the dependencies and conflicts between player roles based on technical exchange of resource flows, identifying tension between agriculture and water roles based on water demands for irrigation. Analysis shows a correlation between data exchange, facilitated by synchronous co-simulation, and highly ranked achievement of joint sustainability outcomes. Conclusions reflect on the opportunities and challenges presented by co-simulation in co-design settings to address engineering systems problems.