2.3.3 A Transparent Way for Process Guidance in Satellite Design

Abstract This paper describes the development of a satellite design process and its implementation within a process guidance tool (Process Steering Tool – ProST) for the work within a design center environment (Satellite Design Office – SDO). Process and tool have been developed at the Institute of Astronautics (LRT) of the Technische Universität München in cooperation with EADS Astrium Ottobrunn within the BaiCES project (Bavarian Center of Excellence for Satellite Constellation Systems) partially funded by the Bayerische Forschungsstiftung BFS. The work presented in this paper was based on two major aspects, the design center concept and the satellite design process. The paper emphasizes a new way of process guidance, using a web based tool support, against the background of these aspects. The authors present the overall process development and guidance approach, in particular the design and implementation of the satellite design center process within the process steering tool and the process guidance provided by the tool. The paper also highlights the evolution from the idea of developing a HTML based process guidance demonstrator to a dynamic PHP/mySQL based tool. It also shows that this approach is well suited for the guidance of a design center team through a development process. The usability and flexibility of this process was shown during a satellite design workshop at the Institute of Astronautics. At the end of the paper the next steps of the process and tool development will be presented.