Task-Method-Knowledge Toolkit for Spacecraft Launch & Payload Processing System, Phase I

The objective of this proposal is to investigate how DiscoveryToolsTM, a knowledge acquisition tool for capturing, representing and automating strategic knowledge, can be applied to spacecraft launch and payload processing (SL&PP). Primary focus will be placed on capturing knowledge and rationale for facilitating spacecraft launch and payload processing. DiscoveryTools allows process engineers to identify control processes. It also enables graphical display of the control processes and algorithms. This can, and should be, immensely useful for spacecraft launch and payload process engineers and operators. The DiscoveryTools interface allows the engineer to simulate and monitor a process as it executes, which means that needed changes can be identified and corrected without recoding. This potentially saves time and effort, and because the control process is explicitly represented as knowledge, it can be stored, manipulated, shared, and edited as knowledge. Here we investigate how DiscoveryToolsTM can support SL&PP and how it can be enhanced to better support SL&PP in the future.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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