Low-Impact Space Weather Sensors and the U.S. National Security Spacecraft
Abstract
Incorporating inexpensive low-impact targeted surface charging (plasma) and total ionizing dose(radiation) sensors onto national security spacecraft to monitor real-time environments local to eachspacecraft will close a gap in the U.S. space weather observation network. Evaluation of the current spaceweather monitoring architecture identified key stakeholders and their needs, as well as a gap in targeteddata. This paper outlines a solution to improve national security spacecraft anomaly resolution andresiliency while decreasing system life-cycle cost. A technical assessment of available products found thatlow-cost, low-impact spacecraft charging and radiation sensors exist that meet stakeholder needs.However, upon evaluating the acquisition process, weaknesses in the Joint Capabilities Integration andDevelopment System (JCIDS) prevented the stakeholders requirements being met. Physical modificationsessential for the current space weather observation network to meet the stakeholders needs were identifiedin an IDEF0 model that represented the functional decomposition for integrated and proliferated targetedsensors using ViTech CORE system architecting software. A risk assessment for sensor integration duringeach phase of the acquisition process resulted in a recommendation for national security space enterpriseleadership to bypass the JCIDS process and require all national security space systems integrate lowimpactspace weather sensors prior to Milestone-C.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1029887
Entities
People
- Dennis R. Olson
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School