A Perspective on Acquisition of NASA Space Systems

Abstract

The purpose of the work documented in this annotated briefing was for IDA to understand NASA's unique acquisition process (as opposed to DoD's), develop preliminary outcomes for space-related programs in terms of cost and schedule growth, and explore issues related to improving methods for estimating costs and schedules of space acquisition programs. IDA's initial findings concerning cost and schedule outcomes for NASA programs over the past thirty years show that manned programs generally show more cost growth then unmanned programs and high schedule growth is associated with high cost growth. Overall, NASA space programs have demonstrated enormous technical success; however, these successes take considerably more time and money than comparable DoD programs.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA263246

Entities

People

  • Daniel M. Utech
  • J. R. Nelson
  • Karen W. Tyson

Organizations

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Aeronautics
  • Classification
  • Flight
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Security
  • Space Flight
  • Space Systems
  • Spacecraft
  • Unmanned
  • Unmanned Space Systems
  • Unmanned Spacecraft

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering.
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Theoretical Analysis.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Space