Space Acquisition - Air Force Space Command

Figure 2. Template knowledge points.
proach for the formation of new programs and acquisitions. A
detailed set of appendices provides a “desk reference.” Aerospace
is working to integrate course materials into acquisition
guidance, systems engineering plans, mission assurance products,
and IPA guidance materials.
Developing a Consistent, Credible Acquisition Risk
Strategy
Aerospace has codified a set of core processes and supporting
disciplines to ensure successful development, deployment,
and operation of space systems ranging in type and complexity.
In the context of a major engineering endeavor such as the
acquisition of a space system, mission assurance is that part
of the systems engineering and integration activities that, by
means of a combination of design validation and product verification,
provide both the designer and the user with a high degree
of confidence in the successful execution of the required
system functions.
Consistent with this perspective, mission assurance is at the
core of the Aerospace charter and represents one of the primary
technical functions that Aerospace performs for its NSS
customers. Accordingly, Aerospace has prioritized a series of
development initiatives that better document and facilitate the
application of mission assurance processes. One of these initiatives
led to the publication of the Mission Assurance Guide.
The Mission Assurance Guide addresses mission assurance
from a systems engineering perspective. It introduces the fundamental
principles and objectives, and then further defines
them in practical terms as a hierarchically organized set of
standard processes and methodologies. These processes cover
the complete life cycle of space, launch, and ground system
programs, from concept to disposal, and are systematically interwoven
in their application to achieve a successful and repeatable
mission outcome.
Mission assurance objectives complement key acquisition
tasks. For example, in the early conceptual phases of a program,
the primary objective is to ensure that the architecture
and system requirements are aligned with user needs
and expectations. A parallel and equally important
goal is to lay the contractual groundwork for staffing,
generation of design-relevant data, and open communications
necessary for successful program execution.
As the program moves from design through fabrication
to checkout and operation, the mission assurance focus
moves accordingly to ensure that the integrity of the
system design is maintained throughout.
The guide defines mission assurance in terms of
a reference set of core mission assurance processes,
supporting mission assurance disciplines and associated
tasks. This definition draws from a foundation
of systems engineering principles and from Aerospace
experience in applying engineering best practices to
the procurement and launch-readiness certification of
space systems. This experience has established that a
judiciously combined application of the mission assurance
processes and disciplines maximizes the likelihood
that a system will not only meet its basic, specified performance
requirements, but also user expectations regarding
safety, operability, suitability, and supportability.
Core mission assurance processes identify and organize—in
a standard systems engineering execution flow that naturally
lends itself to actual programmatic implementation—tasks that
focus on the validation and verification of system acquisition
activities.
The core processes can actually be executed through a combination
of tasks and technical approaches that can vary in nature
and depth. A degree of flexibility is in fact necessary to
accommodate the scope and constraints of each specific space
program implementation. Such flexibility is achieved through
a tailoring process, which is an essential element in defining the
program mission assurance plan (see figure 3).
The implementation of mission assurance cannot succeed
without a solid foundation of baseline activities executed by
space program contractors and suppliers. Beyond that, however,
mission assurance requires detailed technical insight into
each program by a truly independent organization to measure
the effectiveness and outcome of core processes and tasks.
Through the disciplined application of mission assurance practices,
Aerospace has contributed to the current string of successful
launches and their associated missions on orbit.
Besides the definition of reference processes and disciplines,
successful programmatic implementation of mission assurance
methodologies relies on the application of risk criteria to tailor
processes and tasks onto a specific program based on resource
and schedule constraints and system priorities. Thus,
the breadth and depth of mission assurance processes for a given
program will depend on several factors, including budget,
schedule, technology maturity, purpose, and mission criticality.
An essential extension of the guide is a database of the mission
assurance tasks that it references. These tasks—grouped
according to execution timelines, hierarchy, and functional organization—are
selected and tracked using a software tool associated
with an extensive database. This combination of data-
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