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1993-06-08
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Space Station Fact Sheet
Operations Concept
The Redesign Team was charged with considering all phases of the
program - design, assembly, operations, utilization and
management.
A specific constraint placed on the Team was to develop a
configuration and accompanying concept that would produce
"significantly lower cost operations (in the order of a factor of
two)."
The new Operations Concept departs from a traditional launch and
reentry emphasis (Shuttle) to an emphasis on steady state activity.
The Space Station is a research facility that will operate in orbit for
a decade or more. Mission success should be judged against the
space station's accomplishments over the long-term, not on the
success or failure of a discreet task, a single day, a week or even a
mission.
Basic Tenants of Concept
o Safety of crew and station is the highest priority
o Assured crew return capability is required
o Dual access is available for crew and logistics (either by Shuttle
and/or expendable launch vehicles
Mission and Payload Operations
o "Safe Mode" philosophy is baseline for mature space station
operations - station can function 24 hours without ground
intervention.
- Size of team in control centers is reduced
- Facility support reduced to one shift
o Emphasis is on "EXPRESS" rack for resupply or new experiments
once "facility-class" payloads in place. This philosophy will
reduce the planning template by at least half (from 24 to 12
months) and permits a reduction by 1/2 in the number of control
center teams.
o Training focus will be on the "probability" of a problem which
requires crew action rather than "possibility" of a problem. This
approach will reduce the number of events the flight and ground
crews must be trained to handle.
o Use dedicated crew and ground cadre teams for repetitive tasks,
such as extravehicular activities for station maintenance.
o Consolidation of facilities and program functions. Space Shuttle,
Spacelab and Space Station will share control, training and
payload operations centers.
Sustaining Engineering
o Use a single contractor to provide sustaining engineering. Work
package prime contractor will not have a long-term sustaining
engineering role.
o "Safe mode" concept does not require a large team of people
standing by to resolve problems; an "anomaly team" will be used
to fix problems as needed.
o Modifications to the space station will be limited to those
required to sustain safe operations and improve utilization - a
fixed budget will be established to ensure only the highest
priority modifications are made.
Logistics
o Logistics activities will be centralized at Kennedy Space Center.
o Logistics module processing will be 1 shift per day.
o Purchase of spares will be prioritized to the most critical
components; full set of spares for Criticality 1 (loss of crew)
components, and reduced for all other Criticality areas (vehicle
or mission success).
o Significant portion of resupply flow can be accommodated by
International Standard Payload Racks and "EXPRESS" racks once
"facility-class" payloads in place. One-of-a-kind equipment after
start of mature operations will be the exception.
Ground Operations
o Station's shorter operational lifetime (10-years) reduces amount
of replacement hardware to be purchased.
o Use Space Shuttle ground infrastructure for support.
Management and Integration
o Small core development office transitions into small core
operations office with a single prime contractor
o Short planning template - reduces number of cycles to plan a
specific period of station utilization
o Scale taxes and reserves commensurate with reduced operations costs