Mission Engineering and the CubeSat System Reference Model

Abstract

The International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Space System Working Group (SSWG) has created the CubeSat System Reference Model (CSRM), a representation of the logical architecture of a CubeSat system, intended to be used by system architects and engineers as a starting point as they develop the physical architecture of the Space and Ground segments of the CubeSat mission of interest to them. The CSRM is based on Model-Based System Engineering (MBSE) principles, is System Modeling Language (SysML) compliant, is hosted in a graphical modeling tool, and is intended to foster completeness and economies of scale associated with reusability. The CSRM has been vetted by System Engineering professionals and has been introduced to the CubeSat mission development team community with favorable results. The CSRM has been submitted to the Object Management Group (OMG) as a CubeSat specification, and is being evaluated for that role. Mission Engineering, a concept where the mission itself is looked at as a system is being explored as a means to maintain balance between the spacecraft system, operations (including ground systems), and the mission (the integration of needed capabilities). Now opportunities exist to extend the already-developed CSRM to enable the application of Mission Engineering to modeling a complete CubeSat mission. This paper presents the challenges and approach that the INCOSE SSWG will address, including a path for extension of the CRSM for use in exploring its applicability to the Mission Engineering concept, and capturing the Mission as a Model to create a unifying environment for universities to build on each other's successes as they learn to design for Space.