Space mission architecture trade off based on stakeholder value

One the most difficult aspects of system conceptualization process is to recognize, understand and manage the trade-offs in a way that maximizes the success of the product. This is particularly important for space projects. In this way, a major part of the system engineer's role is to provide information that the system manager can use to make the right decisions. This includes identification of alternative architectures and characterization of those elements in a way that helps managers to find out, among the alternatives, a design that provides a better combination of the various technical areas involved in the design. Space mission architecture consists of a broad system concept which is the most fundamental statement of how the mission will be carried out and satisfy the stakeholders. The architecture development process starts with the stakeholder analysis which enables the identification of the decision drivers, then, the requirements are analysed for elaborationg the system concept. Effectiveness parameters such as performance, cost, risk and schedule are the outcomes of the stakeholder analysis which are labelled as decision drivers to be used in a trade off process to improve the managerial mission decisions. Thus, the proposal presented herein provides a means for innovating the mission design process by identifying drivers through stakeholder analysis and use them in a trade off process to obtain the stakeholder satisfaction with effectiveness parameters.