Open Innovation for Space Systems – Using the DevelopSpace Platform for Designing a Near-Term Human Mars Mission

Paper number

IAC-08.A5.1.1

Author

Mr. Alar Kolk, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland

Coauthor

Mr. Wilfried Hofstetter, Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), United States

Coauthor

Mr. Paul Wooster, DevelopSpace.net, United States

Year

2008

Abstract

The next several years will see significant changes in human spaceflight activities: the retirement of the space shuttle by 2010, the development of commercial and international orbital transportation services for the ISS, and the development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and other vehicles for exploration missions beyond Earth orbit as stated in the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE). The goal is the creation of an exploration enterprise that will be sustained over decades, accomplishing ever more challenging missions leading towards human missions to Mars. This will require the sustained development of new systems and capabilities for exploration, which will require significant expenditures and will incur significant developmental risk.

Open innovation is an emerging concept for the development of space systems based on a collaborative knowledge management approach that uses sources of knowledge and information both internal and external to the developing organization. Potential benefits of the open innovation approach to space systems development include: reduced development expenditures through re-use of externally generated information or co-development with external partners, and an equivalent reduction of developmental risk. In addition, open innovation can also lead to improvement of the definition of mission requirements and overall mission architectures.

A new organization, DevelopSpace, has been created to aid in building up the technical foundations for human space activities in an open manner. DevelopSpace is a web-based platform for space system development projects, also offering engineering reference information and engineering models relevant to the development of space systems. The diverse and growing DevelopSpace community is currently engaged in the development of a minimalist architecture for near-term human Mars missions.

This minimalist human Mars mission project is aimed at developing a mission architecture and associated vehicle designs for a conjunction class mission with at least 4 crew that can be accomplished using no more than 6 launches on an Ares V-class vehicle. The evolving mission architecture is centered around a Mars orbit rendezvous approach, although direct return architectures with In-Situ-Propellant Production (ISPP) are also being considered. The emphasis is on minimum development of new systems and technologies to make near-term execution of the mission feasible. In the context of open innovation, this mission concept could support future human Mars mission architecting efforts and also current development efforts for lunar exploration systems by defining requirements and technology development needs, as well as providing innovative mission architectures.

Abstract document

IAC-08.A5.1.1.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-08.A5.1.1.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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