Modular Architecture and Product Platform Concepts Applied to Multipurpose Small Spacecraft

A product platform may be considered as a set of common parts, processes and interfaces that are shared across a family of related products. The product platform methodology has been successfully employed in a range of design and manufacturing sectors, particularly in the automotive and computer industries, and in consumer electrical goods. The power of the product platform concept is that it allows common elements to be used in the production of a whole family of product variants, giving time and cost improvements whilst still allowing customisation. Variety in the product family is possible from a standard set of modules, while the total parts count in the family is reduced. This technique may be usefully applied to the design and production of spacecraft, particularly semi-standardised multi-use platforms. This paper examines the relevant literature in product platform and modular design research, with real-world examples from other industries. It then addresses the possible module structure of a spacecraft, via functional decomposition, and proposes a set of variants which could comprise a suitable product family. These variants are selected to satisfy the mission set to which a multi-use small spacecraft design may be applied. A structured approach for enabling modular spacecraft architectures is then suggested