Accelerating Space Launch System Studies at NASA MSFC with Vdot™ Smart Process Management

Abstract

As part of the effort to create the new heavy lift Space Launch System (SLS) the Advanced Concepts Office (ACO) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has been tasked with analyzing hundreds of concepts to help determine viable configurations that are worthy of further, more detailed study. This effort involves a team of engineers who perform mass sizing, trajectory analysis, and structural analysis in a highly iterative process. To help manage the large number of study cases and associated data the team decided to use an active process management tool called VdotTM from ESI. Using the VdotTM tool the current Earth To Orbit (ETO) SLS study process was quickly documented, deployed to the team and activated, resulting in accelerated data delivery, real-time tracking capabilities, metrics on demand, and increased team productivity and ETO customer satisfaction. This paper provides insight into the processes and tools used for the ETO analyses, as well as the approach used by the ACO team to implement and optimize the execution of these processes.