NASA ESMD Systems Engineering Workshop NASA JSC October 16, 17, 2008

How It Started Fall 2005 - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin visited U of Texas at Austin - Strongly suggested including Systems Engineering instruction in engineering programs. ASE Department Chair invited Ms. Lisa Guerra of NASA ESMD to UT Austin to accomplish this task. Texas Space Grant was asked to facilitate the workshop and dissemination of the course materials

Preliminary Events 2006-Present – Ms. Lisa Guerra (NASA ESMD) IPA from NASA to UT Austin Extensive Systems Engineering experience Surveyed Systems Engineering Curricula across US (2006-07) Developed Space-focused Course Modules (2006-07) Space Capstone Design Course in Fall 2007 Pilot “Intro. To Systems Engineering” Course in Spring 2008 2006-2007 – Curriculum Revision Opportunity Increased Space Flight Technical Area from 7 to 13 hours “Intro to Systems Engineering” a required course in Tech Area

Systems Engineering Workshop Planned for August 2008 at JSC Cancelled by “Hurricane” Eduardo (JSC closed for one day) Re-Scheduled for October 2008 at JSC Hurricane Ike Hilton at JSC severely damaged A miracle – Hilton was operationaL Conference was held as scheduled 70+ Attendees

Workshop Activities Assembly of faculty associated with systems engineering and space design Importance of Systems Engineering to NASA Description of course materials created during project Description of how course integrated into undergraduate curriculum Panel -- student SE interns and their JSC mentors Panel – faculty who would use materials

Course Topics / Modules Project Life Cycles Project Scoping Concepts of Operations System Hierarchy Requirements Functional Analysis Trade Studies Design Margins Costs / Risks / Verification and Validation Technical Reviews , etc.

Fall 2008 Transition Period Systems Engineering Required for Space Flight Option (roughly half of students in department) Spacecraft/Mission Design Course Have 4 students with Systems Engineering background Four Design Teams Mid-Semester Presentations just finished Content / Maturity much improved over previous semesters

Curriculum Expectations Better understand the “whole picture” Aware of the importance of subsystems and interfaces between them View from multiple perspectives Understand the importance of requirements Understand the concept of “unintended consequences” Earlier focus on problem identification and solving Last week – mid-term design reviews – much more complete and mature than ever before

Materials lisa.a.guerra@nasa.gov fowler@csr.utexas.edu Materials are on a CD Contacts: lisa.a.guerra@nasa.gov fowler@csr.utexas.edu jurgens@tsgc.utexas.edu

QUESTIONS?

Space Flight Technical Area Basic Courses include one course: 2/3 Orbital Mechanics + 1/3 Attitude Dynamics Courses in Technical Area Advanced Orbital Mechanics Course (3) Attitude Mechanics Course (3) Spacecraft Subsystems Modeling Laboratory (1) Systems Engineering Course (3) TOTAL 13 Semester Credit Hours

S/C Systems Modeling Lab Replaces Space Applications Lab Replaced material goes into Advanced Orbital Mechanics course Focus on Spacecraft Subsystems Working Knowledge of Subsystems Preliminary Sizing Estimating Performance Modeling and Simulation Techniques

One Hour Project Credits Up to six one-hour credits (one per semester) for non-class related project participation. Satellite build projects Design – Build – Fly Projects Student participation in research projects Hours accumulate along with COOP hours for technical elective credit. Previously, students received no formal credit for these efforts.