Requirement Generation for Space Infrastructure Systems

摘要

Despite heavy investment in the half-century period between 1970 and 2020 there will almost no progress in the capability provided by the space infrastructure. It is argued that this is due to a failure during the requirement generation phase of the infrastructure's elements, a failure that is primarily due to following the accepted good practice of involving stakeholders while establishing a mission based set of technical requirement. This argument is supported by both a consideration of the history of the requirement generation phase of past space infrastructure projects, in particular the Space Shuttle, and an analysis of the interactions of the stakeholders during this phase. Traditional stakeholder involvement only works well in mature infrastructures where investment aims to make minor improvements, whereas space activity is still in the early experimental stages and major new space initiatives aim to change the way we work in space in radical ways. A new approach to requirement generation is proposed, which is more appropriate to the current circumstances of the space infrastructure. This uses a methodology centred on the basic functions the system is intended to perform rather than its expected missions.