The Manned Transportation System Study - Attributes and their measurements

Attention is given to the Manned Transportation System (MTS) Study, initiated to help identify the 'right' transportation system architectures needed for human access to space. A listing of the requirements used for this study and the rationale behind them are given. Attributes allow comparison of elements that meet the requirements and the 'needs' (mission model). The attributes include: safety, probability of mission success, funding profile, architecture cost risk, schedule confidence, dependability, availability, mission growth potential, environment, resiliency, and alternate access. The attributes need to be measurable, to have repeatable calculations and well-defined assumptions, to have their weight determined relative to other attributes, and to be a discriminator. The process used to determine the attributes, which involved the MTS team forum and some of the quality function deployment techniques, is discussed.