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From: yee@atlas.arc.nasa.gov (Peter Yee)
Subject: STATION FACT SHEET 2
Message-ID: <1993Jun8.104758.24374@news.arc.nasa.gov>
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Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Tue, 8 Jun 1993 10:47:58 GMT
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Space Station Fact Sheet
Operations Concept

   The Redesign Team was charged with considering all phases of the 
program - design, assembly, operations, utilization and 
management.

   A specific constraint placed on the Team was to develop a 
configuration and accompanying concept that would produce 
"significantly lower cost operations (in the order of a factor of 
two)."

   The new Operations Concept departs from a traditional launch and 
reentry emphasis (Shuttle) to an emphasis on steady state activity. 
The Space Station is a research facility that will operate in orbit for 
a decade or more. Mission success should be judged against the 
space station's accomplishments over the long-term, not on the 
success or failure of a discreet task, a single day, a week or even a 
mission.

Basic Tenants of Concept
o	Safety of crew and station is the highest priority
o	Assured crew return capability is required
o	Dual access is available for crew and logistics (either by Shuttle 
and/or expendable launch vehicles

Mission and Payload Operations
o	"Safe Mode" philosophy is baseline for mature space station 
operations - station can function 24 hours without ground 
intervention. 
		- Size of team in control centers is reduced
		- Facility support reduced to one shift
o	Emphasis is on "EXPRESS" rack for resupply or new experiments 
once "facility-class" payloads in place. This philosophy will 
reduce the planning template by at least half (from 24 to 12 
months) and permits a reduction by 1/2 in the number of control 
center teams.
o	Training focus will be on the "probability" of a problem which 
requires crew action rather than "possibility" of a problem. This 
approach will reduce the number of events the flight and ground 
crews must be trained to handle.
o	Use dedicated crew and ground cadre teams for repetitive tasks, 
such as extravehicular activities for station maintenance.
o	Consolidation of facilities and program functions. Space Shuttle, 
Spacelab and Space Station will share control, training and 
payload operations centers.

Sustaining Engineering
o	Use a single contractor to provide sustaining engineering. Work 
package prime contractor will not have a long-term sustaining 
engineering role.
o	"Safe mode" concept does not require a large team of people 
standing by to resolve problems; an "anomaly team" will be used 
to fix problems as needed.
o	Modifications to the space station will be limited to those 
required to sustain safe operations and improve utilization - a 
fixed budget will be established to ensure only the highest 
priority modifications are made.


Logistics
o	Logistics activities will be centralized at Kennedy Space Center.
o	Logistics module processing will be 1 shift per day.
o	Purchase of spares will be prioritized to the most critical 
components; full set of spares for Criticality 1 (loss of crew) 
components, and reduced for all other Criticality areas (vehicle 
or mission success).
o	Significant portion of resupply flow can be accommodated by 
International Standard Payload Racks and "EXPRESS" racks once 
"facility-class" payloads in place. One-of-a-kind equipment after 
start of mature operations will be the exception.


Ground Operations
o	Station's shorter operational lifetime (10-years) reduces amount 
of replacement hardware to be purchased.
o	Use Space Shuttle ground infrastructure for support.


Management and Integration
o	Small core development office transitions into small core 
operations office with a single prime contractor
o	Short planning template - reduces number of cycles to plan a 
specific period of station utilization
o	Scale taxes and reserves commensurate with reduced operations costs