A Case Study in NASA-DoD - The Black Vault

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the Air Force's Space Test Program than the development of the STPSS
and that the use of the L-AEM in combination with the AEM or the MS
would constitute alternative cost-effective procurement options.
In the analysis of the L-AEM spacecraft for Air Force Space Test
Program missions, the L-AEM-BL configuration was found to be able to
accommodate only 28 percent of the missions, primarily because of
limitations on its maximum operating altitude and orientation. Consequently,
in the L-AEM procurement options the more expensive and more
versatile L-AEM-P configuration has been used when the L-AEM-BL
configuration would have been adequate except for those limitations.
To evaluate the effect of increasing the capability of the L-AEM-BL
configuration to allow geosynchronous altitude and sun-oriented operations,
the cost of the L-AEM-BL was increased to allow for an increase
in size of the hydrazine reaction control system.
containing this configuration are labeled L-AEM-I.
Options
Table 14 compares the four procurement options based on the L-AEM,
with four options based on the L-AEM-I design. As expected, the program
costs for the procurement options based on the L-AEM-l design are
lower than those based on the L-AEM design; but, given the accuracy of
the spacecraft designs and cost-estimating procedures, most of the
options are comparable. This means that giving the L-AEM-BL more capability
is worthwhile but not essential in deciding on the procurement
option for conducting the Air Force Space Test Program missions.
Earlier in this section, it was shown that an upgraded AEM in
combination with the MMS provided the lowest total program cost.
upgraded AEM differs from the L-AEM in that it has the payload, data
rate, and power limitations of the original AEM; L-AEM capability is
greater in all of these areas. Table 15 displays a comparison of the
program costs for the four procurement options derived from the L-AEMI
and the two options using the upgraded AEM. Again, the upgraded AEM/MMS
procurement option is the preferred solution (as indicated by the
parentheses), but by less of a cost margin than before. This result
The
It is assumed that the additional sun sensor required for sun
orientation would be part of the payload package and therefore would
not affect the cost of the L-AEM-BL.