¶ Purpose and Scope
¶ Purpose
This document serves a the main guideline for systems engineering efforts for the spaceshot payload system. The goal is to integrate all the key deliverables, requirements and other project items into a cohesive structure that will serve as the basis for future developments.
¶ Scope
This document covers all systems engineering aspects for the spaceshot payload porject. It will reference all the deliverables produced all the way to phase B1. This document may be expanded as development continues.
¶ Reference Documents
¶ Framework
¶ Phase-driven structure
Per typical ECSS and ERT standards the project follows a phase-driven structure. Each phase is gated by a dedicated review. While this process does not explicitly exclude some back and forth between phases, it certainly tends to limit it. We shall delve into the consequences of that aspect afterwards. Notably this tends to constrain innovation, especially in the context of an amateur student team where a significant turnover happens year-on-year.
¶ V-model
Building upon the phase-gated framework, another aspect of the typical systems engineering process is the V-model. This framework guides the various activities that happn along a project's lifecycle. The key takeaway is that the system is designed from the top-down and verfied from the bottom-up. The top and the bottom are here taken as abstraction levels, meaning that a high-level is very conceptual and general, while a low-level is at the individual mechanical part. This means that you would first map-out the system and then delve deeper and deeper into sub-systems, assemblies, sub-assemblies and parts while you design it before going in the reverse direction when verfiying that your design actually meets its objectives.
¶ Deliverables
All of these aspect finally come together when we talk about deliverables. A deliverable refers to an item (text, graph, diagram, 3D model etc.) that translates the project into an actual system. They guide the engineers in the development by offering clear expectations and guidelines. The deliverables are a way to simplify the system, into single items that are manageable by an individual on a deadline. The spirit of the matter is that if you output all the required deliverables without understanding the big picture you would have everything you need to make your project a reality.
¶ Integration
With all those bases laid out, we can now discuss how we intend to integrate them together to have something to that makes some degree of sense to follow. The objective is that this systems engineering plan serves as a basis for the future systems engineers in charge of the project but also for the product engineers that will build it. It is not merely a tool but rather a full-blown roadmap to the objective.