ASTE 527 �Graduate Space Concepts Studio

M. Thangavelu, Conductor

Department of Astronautical Engineering

Viterbi School of Engineering

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International Moon Capital Competition 2010

• Competition in the summer of 2010
• Choice of Visions or Real world requirements
• Detailed architectural program offered
• International Jury
• Picked Vision over accurate scientific portrayal
• Humanity’s aspirations are different from narrow segment of professionals ?
• Need to align and connect globally.

ASTE 527 : Department of Astronautical Engineering�– Where Architecture Meets Engineering

• 3 unit engineering elective
• Preliminary, Pre-engineering projects
• Architects are strong in vision and graphics
• Engineers are trained in numerical analyses
• Combines the conceptual and programmatic skills of Architecture with the preliminary analytical tools of the engineer
• ASTE 527 offers Architecture + Engineering

ASTE 527 Studio Mechanics

• Space Exploration/Activities Concepts Creation
• Mid Term Individual Project
• Final Team Project
• Associative, Metaphorical and Analogous Logic
• Inspirational talks by visiting lecturers who are creative practitioners – U of Iowa Creative Writing Workshop Model ?
• End Product : Rapid Concepts Generation, not an optimized System Study, but vignettes or snapshots of what alternatives are possible
• Papers presented at various conferences

Advice to Studio

• Philosophy, Visions, Concepts and Policy, all come before engineering number crunching.
• Credibility is strained as you look further into the future….so stay close to existing systems and infrastructure and projects.
• If we can get the concept right, engineering becomes a lot more coherent and simpler.
• Concept Nucleation - Start in your area of expertise.
• Visualize everything. After all, engineers end up building things that can seen and experienced.

Eb Rechtin(1926-2006)

Heuristics - Common Sense

• "(When) asking skilled architects ...what they do when confronted with highly complex problems... (they) would most likely answer, "Just use Common Sense." (A) better expression than 'common sense' is 'contextual sense'-a knowledge of what is reasonable within a given context. Practicing architects through education, experience and examples accumulate a considerable body of contextual sense by the time they're entrusted with solving a system-level problem..." �- Eb Rechtin - Systems Architecting Creating & Building Complex Stems, Prentice Hall, 1991

“.common sense is not so common…”

Clarence Kelly Johnson

Visiting Lectures-Pearls of Wisdom

• Reason for Human Spaceflight – Settlement of the solar system. Spiritual experience.
• Air Force Space Command – Network Complexity about 20 years ahead of the civilian space community.
• NASA has yet to assimilate what prez has directed in latest space policy plans – state of denial ?
• Politics always wins – Congress is all about protecting jobs, any kind of jobs, the more jobs the merrier, has never shown interest in technical efficiency, economic viability… or space projects.

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Empiricism – “Pranging”

Complex Concepts Creation

Concept Creation

Avoid Tunnel Vision

Complex Concepts Creation

Solutions

Problems

Promising Concept

Cautious - wary - abandon !

Who Should Create and Evaluate Visions for Future of Human Spaceflight ?

• Any one but:
• Congress, NASA, industry or allied partners because of established “jobs protection” related interest
• Cause expensive, jobs oriented architectures to be envisioned
• Universities best suited to create and evaluate alternative Visions
• Independent, ….. Aerospace Corp ?

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Human Spaceflight-Arena for �Complex Systems Synthesis

Medicine

Policy

Law

Human Factors

Behavior

Art

Engineering

Sciences

Architecture

Vision 2010 – Globally Viable Future of Human Space Activity

ASTE 527 Fall 2010

• Visions for the future of Human Spaceflight
• Imagine ISS clones in orbit around the Moon and Mars
• Imagine you are returning home from a lunar or interplanetary expedition
• Your next to last stop before returning home is…………Earth Station !

Earth Station:

Global ISS Marketing

Future of Human Spaceflight

ASTE 527 Space Exploration Architectures Concept Synthesis Studio

Team Project, Fall 2010, Astronautical Engineering Department,

Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California

Earth Station Storyline

Guests and Reviewers

• Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Crew
• Dr. Bill Gaubatz, X Prize
• Boris Fritz, NGC
• Michael Wehner, NGC
• Rick Tumlinson, SFF
• Dr.Anita Sengupta, JPL
• Dr.Knut Oxnevad,SIMTANO
• Gene Rogers, Chief TechBoeing
• Dr. Tom Austin, H S Boeing
• Lt.Col.Garretson, NSSO, Pentagon
• Lt.Col.Paul Damphousse, Chief Advanced Concepts, NSSO
• Lt.Col.David Smith, NSSO

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• Catherine Girardey, Boeing
• Wendy Pracht
• Jonathan Hofeller, Spacex
• Dr. L. Wickman, Aero Corp.
• Justin McCarthy, Asst. City Manager,Palm Desert
• Col. Scott Larrimore, USAF
• Ed McCullough, Principal Scientist Boeing Space Systems
• John Constantino, Raytheon
• Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, BCC, Fl.,
• Russell Romanello, NASA KSC
• Prof. Harvey Wichman, Claremont McKenna College
• John Spencer, STS

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Earth Station DEN On-Site Participants

Evaluation Criteria

• 1. Originality
• Imagination, Creativity, Vision, Innovation, simple, clear, plain, clever. Does the concept architecture stimulate further thought? Have you seen or heard about a similar idea before? Are there new and original parts to this particular idea?

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• 2. Rationale
• Does the motivation behind this idea appeal to you? Possibilities are positive and problems are negative?

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• 3. Clarity and Follow-Through
• Do you understand the concept? Is it complicated? Difficult? Simple? Is it well explained? Crisp and clear? Can you recollect concept in detail? Does it stick to the rationale and deliver a solution?

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• 4. Presentation
• Do you like the presentation? The way the story is told? The sequence in which the idea was revealed? Black and Whites, the Visuals, the Package?

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• 5. Context and History
• Depth of Research. Understanding of Context in which the concept is proposed. Understanding of Real World Constraints.

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• 6. Technology Integration
• Is this a viable concept architecture?(Extrapolation allowed) Understanding of Fundamentals?

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• 7. Complexity
• Is this a difficult concept to present? In that context, does presentation handle complexity well and address the most important parameters? i.e. positive attributes include: Strong Bones, Alternatives, Scalability, Manageable System-Subsystem Interfaces, Evolution and Growth Potential, Critical Systems Redundancy.

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Comments and Remarks