A framework for the architecting of aerospace systems portfolios with commonality

(cont.) The framework was applied to three case studies: commonality analysis for a portfolio of future and legacy exploration life support systems, for the historical Saturn launch vehicle portfolio, and for a portfolio of future lunar and Mars surface pressurized mobility systems. The case studies demonstrate the broad applicability of the methodology and provide insights into the impact of commonality on key portfolio metrics. Results indicate that commonality can enable life-cycle cost savings of 10% or more, dependent on the type of systems in the portfolio. The results further indicate that commonality can enable significant reductions in the number of custom development projects that need to be carried out in the portfolio; reductions of 50% or more were observed, dependent on the type of systems in the portfolio. As each project carries developmental risk and cost overhead, the reduction of the number of projects and the associated simplification of the portfolio must be considered a strong driver for commonality in aerospace systems portfolios.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Hofstetter, Wilfried Konstantin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Edward F. Crawley.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50598

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/50598