BEST USE OF KNOWLEDGE IN A SPACE PROGRAM
Managing the Correlated Technologies
Miriam B. Alves and Ana Marlene Morais
Institute of Aeronautics and Space, Praça Marechal Eduardo Gomes, São José dos Campos, Brazil
Keywords: Space systems, Technology, Knowledge management, Research projects, System engineering.
Abstract: This paper presents an ongoing work being developed at the Institute of Aeronautics and Space (IAE) to
provide a process and a system to support the knowledge management of new technologies applied in the
conception and development of the Brazilian Satellite Launcher Program. This management is not only
necessary to organize the actual research efforts but also to identify communalities and necessities for
strategic planning of future research projects and development activities. The results of the research projects
are usually new technologies that ought to be employed in the development of the Launcher Program. The
proposed knowledge management system will not only allow the assessment of these new technologies but
will also help in the definition and planning of the research topics in each important area of this
multidisciplinary program, according to the Institute strategic goals and space mission.
1 INTRODUCTION
In general space programs deal with complex
systems, which involve not only the employment of
high technology, but also the investigation of
solutions for new and singular problems that arise in
the space realm. Complex space systems require
some very serious systems engineering with careful
planning and attention to the process (Sage, 1992).
The management of the knowledge and technology
of these programs is becoming even more important
as the complexity increases.
This paper presents an ongoing work being
developed at IAE to provide a process and a
knowledge management system to deal with new
technologies applied in the conception and
development of the Brazilian Satellite Launcher
Program. This paper is organized in five sections.
Section 2 presents some aspects of the complexity of
space systems engineering. Section 3 presents the
proposed process for managing technologies, and
Section 4 briefly comments some aspects of the
knowledge management system implementation.
Section 5 draws some conclusions of the work.
2 THE COMPLEXITY OF SPACE
SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
Space systems engineering involves the challenges
of a severe launching environment, where the
structural elements of both launcher and satellite
must be designed to resist the remarkable forces.
Sensitive electronics and sensor elements must also
resist the shock conveyed by pyrotechnic devices
used for the launcher’s stages separation and the
deployment of a satellite. There are also tight
constraints on both mass and volume that impact in
costs (Wertz and Larsen, 1996).
Technological projects, unlike most others, have
the potential to fail to meet their goals. If it is a new
technology, the implied risks are higher. Innovation
means ideas applied successfully, differing for
invention that is an idea made visible (Mckeown,
2008). Innovation generates technology and it results
from research and experimentation, which implies
that the organization has to clearly define its goals
for conducting the necessary research.
In order to prioritize specific areas of knowledge
for investment, a plan has to be elaborated based on
strategic goals and directives for the space program.
This plan is crucial for kicking off a knowledge
management process.
The establishment of an efficient system to deal
with innovation at IAE is based on concrete
301
B. Alves M. and Marlene Morais A. (2009).
BEST USE OF KNOWLEDGE IN A SPACE PROGRAM - Managing the Correlated Technologies.
In Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Sharing, pages 301-304
DOI: 10.5220/0002306303010304
Copyright
c
 SciTePress

information about the relationship between the main
research areas and Launcher Program strategic
goals. The research groups (RGs) are composed by
research topics (RTs), which have related research
projects (RPs). The research projects are the main
way to generate technology applied to the Launcher
development.
The core idea behind the advanced research
projects at IAE is to pour over the necessary
investments when conducting a space engineering
project. Therefore, a collection of new technologies
in their early development stages is produced as a
result of these projects. However, the incorporation
of emerging technologies in a real mission needs
adequate system engineering techniques to enable
the transition and insertion of these technologies into
current and future space systems. This process does
not start when the research project is brought to an
end, but back to the initial research project proposal.
3 THE PROCESS OF
KNOWLEDGE EXPLORATION
3.1 Planning for Effectiveness and
Efficiency
There are some fundamental factors that are
considered during the process of knowledge
management and exploration in order to reach the
desirable effectiveness and efficiency. They are:
- Knowledge Transfer Factor, which effectiveness
will be achieved only when there is an efficient
process, incentive, or reward for delivering a
particular required technology.
- Research Project Relevance Factor, which is
achieved by a multidisciplinary approach to asses
and approve new projects proposals, avoiding to
approve projects that bring up solutions for problems
that were not even defined.
- Human Resource Factor, which is very strategic
in this context (Armstrong, 2006), whereas.
knowledge and experiences acquired by the teams
and lessons learned are taken into account when
deciding which research projects proposal to
approve.
- Cost and Time Factor, which is important to
assess the costs related to the research conduction,
considering the time the new technology will take to
become mature enough to be employed in a space
project, and the necessary investment in new
infrastructure.
- Risk Factor, which is intrinsically connected with
costs and performance, considering the technology
readiness level as well (DOD, 2001).
One of the crucial points of knowledge
management in a space program is to recognize the
differences between the real space system and
research projects and, consequently, implement
scale-appropriate strategies to technology transfer.
(NASA, 2008).
3.2 Setting up New Research Projects
The selection of new research projects must make
full use the existent knowledge by correlating
separate sources and showing how they can be
exploited in an effective way (Bitten, Bearden, and
Emmons 2005) and (Mankins, 1995).
A knowledge management system containing all
the possible information about RGs, RTs and RGs
was essential, not only to make right decisions about
the research strategic investment, but also to
evaluate the research projects proposals. With a
decision support system based on knowledge
management, much of the information available in
the research proposal can be checked for consistency
and reasonableness.
A Committee constituted of two investigators of
each main research area of the Launcher Program, is
responsible for the assessment of the projects
proposals that are submitted. The project evaluation
final grade is based on the fulfillment of nineteen
evaluation criteria, according to five fulfillment
levels: 5 (Complete); 4 (Good); 3 (Regular); 2
(Minimum) and 1 (None).
The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) provides the
research grants for the selected projects based on a
list of selected projects in which a priority is
established for each selected project based on their
final grade.
3.3 Assessment of New Generated
Technology
Once the research projects are approved, the
Research & Development Coordinator (R&DC) is
responsible for keeping track of each project’s
status. There is a very simple computer system,
called Project Tracking System, used for
communication between the R&DC and the
projects’ manager, providing up-to-date projects
information to the knowledge management system
as shown in Figure 1.
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KnowledgeManagement
System
Academic
Publication
RPs
generate
Project Tracking
System
informs
Measures of
projectsuccess
IAE
standards
confirms
SpaceSystems
Engineering
RGs RTsTRLs
Techno transfer
TRL fou r
or higher
External
Validity
provides
Problem
Statement
Research
Exploration
drives
Research
Project
sets
controls
identifies
Strategic
goals
Space
Program
needs
reviews
influences
leads
Figure 1: The proposed process for managing technologies.
Measures of the project success consist of a set of
quantitative and qualitative information including
the following data:
 Technology delivered;
 Projects’ outcomes that resulted in successful
technology transfer for the space program;
 Appropriate combination of basic and applied
research, if it is the case;
 Descriptions of lessons learned;
 Research accuracy in meeting the original
selection criteria to include potential for
technology transfer;
 Interaction with other RGs;
 Uncertainty of the results and conclusions.
 Waiver of the results compared to the initial
projects goals and theories;
 Experiments with inconclusive or negative
results;
 Procedures that can guarantee the data
exposition and tests reproduction;
 Generalization of the results to more general
cases.
The evaluation of the resulting technology of a
research project considers the technology readiness
level (TRL) as well (DOD, 2001). The resulting
technology has to be at least level four in order to be
employed by the Space Systems Engineering. One
of NASA successful technology transfer
measurement is called Penetration Factor (McGill at
all, 2006).
Figure 1 presents a pictorial view of the proposed
process for managing technologies that is being
implemented at the Institute. This process is strongly
based on the knowledge management system as a
sustention pillar to manage the correlated
technologies within the Space Program.
4 THE KNOWLEDEGE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
The main idea behind the conception and
development of a knowledge management system is
to organize and to store information about the RGs,
RTs, and RPs, capturing the experiences of
investigators and research groups, the resulting
technologies and their association with the Space
Program. Besides, the design, review, and
implementation of both social and technological
processes help to improve the application of
knowledge in the Institute.
Figure 2 illustrates the schematic idea adopted in
the conception of the knowledge management
system, showing the important role of the research
projects as generators of new technologies. The
adequacy of the research project to the Space
Program goals is given by its measures of success.
Figure 2 also illustrates the hierarchy between RGs,
RTs, and RPs, reinforcing the power of projects in
this context.
BEST USE OF KNOWLEDGE IN A SPACE PROGRAM - Managing the Correlated Technologies
303

A database to implement the knowledge
management system is now under development. It
stores all the data related to the RGs, RTs, RPs, HRs
and their relationship. The sets of criteria used to
evaluate project proposals and research groups are
also incorporated in the system, as well the TRLs.
The database was designed to keep up with the
dynamic aspect of a knowledge management
environment. A friendly user interface was designed,
providing an extensive set of possible queries by all
the Institute staff. The insertion of new information
and its updating is easily done by authorized
personal and certified by the R&DC.
5 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
This paper presented an ongoing work at IAE to
promote the best use of the available knowledge to
manage the correlated technologies and employ
them efficiently in the Brazilian Satellite Launcher
Program. A process was defined to carry on these
activities and a knowledge management system is
under construction to support it.
One of the expected benefits with the
implementation of the proposed process and the core
knowledge management system is the assurance that
the intellectual capabilities of Institute are shared,
preserved, and institutionalized.
Justification of the investments in research is
another side of the coin. The Brazilian Space
Agency will carefully look at past research projects
and the effective utility of their results for the
Launch Program in order to concede grants for
future research projects. This fact increases the
responsibility of the Institute in promoting strategic
research that adequately fits its space mission.
Suggestions from researchers to make
improvements in the space program and
involvement of practitioners and developers in
research design needs are also important as it leads
to better research evaluation, grants greater
recognition, and promotes the integration of
scientific research to system engineering activities.
Improvements will certainly be necessary in the
process and the original system conception to
incorporate new requirements as the process gets
more mature. The final aspiration of this work is that
the overall benefits of a knowledge management will
be found in tomorrow’s new space programs.
Human
Resources
Strategic
goals
Knowledge Management
System
Project Tracking
System
Project results and
deliverables
Technology Transfer
Space
Program
needs
Infrastructure
Tech nolo gy
Readiness
RGs
RTs
Tech n olo gy
RPs
Measures
ofsuccess
Figure 2: A schematic idea of the knowledge management
system.
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Sage, A.P., 1992. Systems Engineering, Wiley Series in
Systems Engineering.
Armstrong, M., 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource
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th
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