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Concepts for Life Cycle Cost Control Required to Achieve Space Transportation Affordability and SustainabilityCost control must be implemented through the establishment of requirements and controlled continually by managing to these requirements. Cost control of the non-recurring side of life cycle cost has traditionally been implemented in both commercial and government programs. The government uses the budget process to implement this control. The commercial approach is to use a similar process of allocating the non-recurring cost to major elements of the program. This type of control generally manages through a work breakdown structure (WBS) by defining the major elements of the program. If the cost control is to be applied across the entire program life cycle cost (LCC), the approach must be addressed very differently. A functional breakdown structure (FBS) is defined and recommended. Use of a FBS provides the visibifity to allow the choice of an integrated solution reducing the cost of providing many different elements of like function. The different functional solutions that drive the hardware logistics, quantity of documentation, operational labor, reliability and maintainability balance, and total integration of the entire system from DDT&E through the life of the program must be fully defined, compared, and final decisions made among these competing solutions. The major drivers of recurring cost have been identified and are presented and discussed. The LCC requirements must be established and flowed down to provide control of LCC. This LCC control will require a structured rigid process similar to the one traditionally used to control weight/performance for space transportation systems throughout the entire program. It has been demonstrated over the last 30 years that without a firm requirement and methodically structured cost control, it is unlikely that affordable and sustainable space transportation system LCC will be achieved.
Document ID
20130012516
Acquisition Source
Kennedy Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rhodes, Russel E. (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Zapata, Edgar (NASA Kennedy Space Center Cocoa Beach, FL, United States)
Levack, Daniel J. H. (Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne Canoga Park, CA, United States)
Robinson, John W. (Boeing Co. Huntington Beach, CA, United States)
Donahue, Benjamin B. (Boeing Co. Huntsville, AL, United States)
Date Acquired
August 27, 2013
Publication Date
August 2, 2009
Subject Category
Economics And Cost Analysis
Report/Patent Number
KSC-2009-065
AIAA Paper 2009-5345
Meeting Information
Meeting: 45th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference
Location: Denver, CO
Country: United States
Start Date: August 2, 2009
End Date: August 5, 2009
Sponsors: Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc., American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society for Electrical Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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