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The KSC Model, a Comparative Dashboard
January 23, 2009
The KSC Model is a single screen MS Excel dashboard useful for comparing any future human-space flight ground operations costs to the current Space Shuttle. The Model is an off-shoot of a larger, more complex model, LLEGO. It is assumed for use in an "apples-to-apples" study of an intended system that transports crew and cargo to low Earth orbit (LEO) versus the Space Shuttle on a cost basis only. Productivity, how many crew per year, hours of on-orbit crew time, pounds of cargo per year, are not compared. This is left to the user to be aware of in comparing systems. There are 2 principal insights that are gained by using the dashboard:
- The comparison by percent % of that similar function versus the Space Shuttle.
- The ratio of a component of
cost in the system being studied versus that same
ratio in the Space Shuttle operation. For
example, in the Space Shuttle the ratio of
workforce category 3 to category 1 = 3.2. The new
system settings would generate a new ratio which
can be compared against the 3.2 for feasibility
including:
- Any consideration of dropping below a fixed cost of performing the function given the operations practices, processes, systems and technologies intended to be employed.
- Any consideration of how costs behave, fixed versus variable, in relation to other costs.
Note: The Space Shuttle data derives from the merger and analysis of numerous publicly published and/or non-sensitive pieces of data. Hence, the KSC Model is publicly available upon request. POC: Edgar Zapata, edgar.zapata-1@nasa.gov or at 321-867-6234.
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Website Contact: Edgar Zapata, NASA Kennedy Space Center