Analysis of satellite servicing cost benefits

Under the auspices of NASA/JSC a methodology was developed to estimate the value of satellite servicing to the user community. Time and funding precluded the development of an exhaustive computer model; instead, the concept of Design Reference Missions was involved. In this approach, three space programs were analyzed for various levels of servicing. The programs selected fall into broad categories which include 80 to 90% of the missions planned between now and the end of the century. Of necessity, the extrapolation of the three program analyses to the user community as a whole depends on an average mission model and equivalency projections. The value of the estimated cost benefits based on this approach depends largely on how well the equivalency assumptions and the mission model match the real world. A careful definition of all assumptions permits the analysis to be extended to conditions beyond the scope of this study.