Matthew Moraguez
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
To fully capture the potential benefits of ISM, space systems must be designed to take advantage of their newly relaxed design constraints. A new approach for the design of space systems must be developed because ISM changes many of the launch-related design constraints that have become engrained in space system design. With various proposed commercial ISM concepts, this effort is complicated by significant uncertainty in future ISM technology, products, cost, and performance. Instead of attempting to estimate these highly uncertain quantities, a systematic analysis of ISM should bound the maximum allowable ISM facility cost and the minimum required performance to become cost-effective relative to the existing launched approach. These results can serve to levy requirements on commercially viable ISM facility design. This will provide insights into the design considerations for both ISM components and facilities.