Outpacing the Threat
In this dynamic era of change—where our adversaries are working intensely to undermine our leadership in national security space—it is not enough to meet the challenges they pose, but to anticipate and confront them with greater speed, innovation, and resiliency.
Aerospace President and CEO, Steven Isakowitz, outlines what is needed to outpace the threat.
Aerospace President and CEO, Steven Isakowitz, outlines what is needed to outpace the threat.
Weight Watchers: Keeping Track of Vehicle Mass Properties
Mass growth of space systems can be costly. Well-managed programs continuously track vehicle mass status, expenditures, and critical paths. Failure to do so invariably leads to rework, resulting in budget overruns and schedule slips, so rigorous control of mass properties must be maintained during all stages of acquisition, design, manufacture, and test.
Aerospace developed the Satellite Weight Growth Database, containing mass property details and trends for more than 65 vehicles. This data supports critical decisions, particularly with regard to rapid procurement of space vehicles in a dynamic launch market.
Aerospace developed the Satellite Weight Growth Database, containing mass property details and trends for more than 65 vehicles. This data supports critical decisions, particularly with regard to rapid procurement of space vehicles in a dynamic launch market.
Disruptive Manufacturing Techniques Add Up
Additive manufacturing is a rapidly advancing technology that promises process agility along with cost and schedule savings. The technique is well suited for forming complex shapes with near net volume for low production runs and some additively manufactured parts are already flying on space systems.
To address implementation challenges, Aerospace recently partnered with the Space and Missile Systems Center to host a series of workshops focused on additive manufacturing. The events provided platforms to highlight progress, share lessons learned, address needs for future planning, and identify challenges and unknowns.
To address implementation challenges, Aerospace recently partnered with the Space and Missile Systems Center to host a series of workshops focused on additive manufacturing. The events provided platforms to highlight progress, share lessons learned, address needs for future planning, and identify challenges and unknowns.
Lessons Learned: Contamination Conundrum
Failure to implement cleanliness controls when loading propellant into space vehicles can have serious mission impacts.
More from the March Issue
Getting It Right focuses on industry collaboration for mission success by sharing lessons learned, best practices, and engineering advances in response to the nation’s toughest challenges. The Getting It Right newsletter is published quarterly by the Aerospace Corporate Chief Engineer's Office.
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