Development of a domestic space launch ecosystem for optimal support of US national interests

This thesis researches the current capabilities of the US Government's (USG) space launch portfolio and the processes in place to establish new-entrant launch providers for National Security Space payloads. It is hypothesized that there is an infeasibility of the current space launch enterprise to scale to satisfy increased demand. If true, the USG will be unable to meet projected launch requirements to satisfy nominal demand for NSS disaggregated constellations. Moreover, the USG will be unable to maintain space superiority in the aftermath of the eventual loss of NSS satellites due to adversary attacks and environmental events. A USG space launch enterprise system architecture analysis is conducted using a quantitative and qualitative approach that is designed to promote objectivity, resulting in a prioritized list of system requirements and primary stakeholders.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Reele, Maximilien H.(Maximilien Harry)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bryan R. Moser.

• Engineering and Management Program.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/122888

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/122888