Tradespace exploration provides a structured, concept neutral means of considering a large number of design alternatives while avoiding a premature focus on point designs. However, the process can be difficult to implement in the design of complex space systems when considering practical partitioning and allocation of design tasks. Complicating the effort further is the existence of many subsystem interactions that must be considered in order to assemble a system level tradespace. This paper presents a process used to populate and analyze the tradespace for an example constellation of Earth observation satellites, by analyzing individual subsystem level trades in parallel and capturing system level interactions at key nodal checkpoints. The process is shown to allow for practical development of tradespace knowledge, leveraging subsystem-level design expertise, as well as identifying novel design alternatives at the intersection of subsystem proposed alternatives.
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