Session 2

1. The DANDE mission example

What are you doing? — Why does it matter?

These guiding questions should have answers at every level of activity in a mission:

Mission manager^[1] must know this at the most abstract level.
Mechanical engineer working on the thermal analysis.
Electrical engineer updating the design of an internal PCB.
Computer engineer debugging the communication between the battery management IC and the main controller.
Operations engineer planning when to run experiments based on Sun / Satellite / Earth relative orbital positions.

UNP Mission Design Course slides: 48—51

1 — What are you trying to do?: Articulate your objectives using plain language and absolutely no jargon. Accessible and clear to a broad and non-technical audience.
2 — How is it done today, and what are the limits of current practice?: Give context on what is currently being done or has been done in this area.
3 — What is new in your approach and why do you think it will be successful?: Highlight how this project fills in or extends the current art.
4 — Who cares? If you are successful, what difference will it make?: Describe your stakeholders and the beneficiaries of the completed project. Show how those results are actually usable according to their stated needs.
5 — What are the risks?: Demonstrate that you know where the problem areas are expected to be in the effort.
6 — How much will it cost?: You have nothing to propose if it is free to do (then just do it!), so do your homework to estimate what it will cost to reach the successful stages of results.
7 — How long will it take?: What are the key milestones and when would they be happening in an on-track and successful scope of work?
8 — What are the mid-term and final “exams” to check for success?: Define what it means to be successful and how you can evalute that to a yes or no. Something must be different about the world as the project progresses and many of the important items can be measured and compared.

UNP Mission Design Course slides: 52—62

1. Frequently the Principal Investigator (PI) in an academic or grant context.