ST4: Space
Operations & Project Organisation
Course begins: October 2004
Contents
The aim of the
course is to provide an understanding into the way space projects are planned
and executed, including the overall design of the instrumentation and of the
project itself. It will take into account the particular constraints of the
space environment, and of the political and financial contexts of such
projects.
By the end of the
course, students should have achieved an understanding of how to:-
– plan a project
– set up the project organisation
– cost and schedule a project
– appreciate the important aspects of
project management
– produce a design overview for the space
instrument
– set up the organisation for the exploitation
of data from an instrument.
Week 1: Mission objectives and design concept
Assessment of requirements,
proposal document, scientific justification, technical plan, management plan,
cost, PA, interface document, funding applications
Week 2: Instrument design constraints
Mass, size, power, apertures,
thermal control, surface requirements, booms, e-m properties, command
capability, data rate
Week 3: The effects of the local space
environment
Solar radiation, charged
particles, ambient plasma, air drag, magnetic field
Week 4&5: Project Management and the Project Plan
Organigram, work packages,
schedule, PERT network, milestones, critical path, progress meetings,
expenditure profiles, financial control, team-building, administration,
documentation, meetings, authority, system team
Week 6: Product Assurance, Testing and
Evaluation
Approved parts and materials
lists, cleanliness, testing, protection during shipping, documentation,
spacecraft environment, component, sub-assembly, instrument and spacecraft
level tests, vibration, thermal vacuum, thermal balance, solar simulation
tests, design changes
Week 7: Operations and Science Planning
Data acquisition, data relay
satellites, ground stations, control centre requirements, off-line data
processing, ground-support, science planning, time-lining, commanding, data
analysis
Besides the
lectures, students will be required to work on problem sheets. These will
require research on material beyond that covered in the lectures. There will
also be two short projects: one will cover the design of an instrument and the
other the setting up of a project organisation. Students will work on these in
pairs. The purpose of the projects is for students to become familiar in
practical terms with the issues involved and to acquire an understanding of the
interdependence of the two tasks.
The essentials of
the course will be delivered through discussion groups and lectures. Students
will need to make their own notes both from the discussion groups and lectures.
One copy of diagrams and reference material presented at the lectures will be
available in the MSc room for consultation.
The course notes
and other materials will be available on UCL’s WebCT
server. Registered students will have access to the course Spacecraft Operations and Project Organisation ST4.
Five books are
recommended for further reading:
Spacecraft Systems Engineering, ed P. Fortescue & J. Stark
(Wiley);
Satellite Technology and Its Applications by P.R.K Chetty (McGraw Hill);
The Space Telescope by Robert Smith (
Project Management by H. Kerzner (Van Nostrand Reinhold)
Project Management ed
D. Lock (Gower)
The course uses Microsoft
Project software as the project planning tool. This software will be
available on the PCs in the MSc room. Familiarity with it should be gained via
the Microsoft Project tutorial and manual outside of lecture time.
For the projects
and problem sheets a number of external resources will need to be consulted
(for example, for cost information, material specifications, facility
capabilities). These will be important for the projects, but will not be
examined.
The assessment will
consist of both the course work and examination. The course work is made up of
two problem sheets (each 10%) and the two projects (each 40%). In order to pass
the course both course work and examination must be passed.