The long-term sustainability of the Earth economy is constrained by numerous factors such as energy and resources. Some of these constraints could be alleviated by the growth of a space economy, offering new types of goods and services to Earth and to space. However, this will critically depend on the introduction of novel space systems with novel value propositions. This talk will present examples for such space systems and the challenge of designing them. First, AttoSats, gram-scale spacecraft the size of a postage stamp, which might enable the deployment of distributed space sensor networks. Such spacecraft introduce a new paradigm of extremely low-cost (hundreds of Euros) and fast (few months) development. Second, space systems which collaboratively integrate multiple systems but also services, called product-service system of systems, require the modelling of actors, services, and hardware and how they deliver value to stakeholders. Third, an asteroid mining concept where small spacecraft working together might offer unprecedented benefits compared to existing concepts based on large, monolithic spacecraft. This concept is the result of a parametric exploration of key design parameters for asteroid mining concepts. Designing these systems will not only depend on dedicated model-based systems engineering approaches but also integrating data from a variety of sources during the design process.
Andreas Makoto Hein is an assistant professor at the Industrial Engineering Lab at CentraleSupélec – Université Paris-Saclay in the area of systems engineering and space resource utilization. He is also the Executive Director of the UK not-for-profit company Initiative for Interstellar Studies, focusing on the development of advanced space systems concepts. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Technical University of Munich and conducted his PhD research at the same university and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Stanford Ignite – Polytechnique program. Andreas has published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. He is the recipient of the Exemplary Systems Engineering Doctoral Dissertation Award and the Willy Messerschmitt Award.