The development of commercial launch vehicles by SpaceX has greatly reduced the cost of
launching mass to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Reusable launch vehicles may further reduce the …

The decision to develop a particular life support technology or to select it for flight usually
depends on the cost to develop and fly it. Other criteria such as performance, safety …

A space system's Life Cycle Cost (LCC) includes design and development, launch and
emplacement, and operations and maintenance. Each of these cost factors is usually …

A complex system has many parts and interactions and so is difficult to understand. Systems
with higher complexity generally have higher costs and failure rates. A System Complexity …

Since the dawn of spaceflight, payload mass, or launched mass, has been used as the
primary cost metric for mission-level trade studies. However, advances in the reusability and …

HIS paper attempts to define the best approach to achieve ultra reliable recycling space life
support systems, by considering alternate reliability methods and their costs. Humans on …

What water supply method should be used on a trip to Mars? Two alternate approaches are
using fuel cell and stored water, as was done for short missions such as Apollo and the …

HE new low launch cost of commercial rocket systems changes the relative expense of open
loop life support, which requires large supplies of water and oxygen, compared to recycling …

In “Theory and Application of the Equivalent System Mass Metric,” Levri, Vaccari, and
Drysdale computed the Equivalent System Mass (ESM) of crew time. ESM is a cost-type …

Achieving verified cost-effective high reliability for new deep space systems is surprisingly
obvious and simple. The problem of providing reliable equipment for deep space …