embarking on engineering and systems development, and developing partnerships with industry to identify innovative solutions. He also noted an additional important finding of the more recent Young report, conducted by the Defense Science Board/Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, which said that definition and control of requirements are dominant drivers of cost, schedule, and risk in space systems development programs.⁵

He described a strategy-to-task-to-technology process (see Figure 3-1) that uses modeling and simulation throughout the life cycle process. Initially the modeling and simulation will focus technology investment on critical operational environments and guide critical trade studies to enable the preparation of system requirements documents. Later in the process, the modeling and simulation will focus on the investment plan to achieve affordable system design and development.

FIGURE 3-1: Strategy-to-task-to-technology process. SOURCE: Craig Steidle, NASA Headquarters, “Office of Exploration Systems: Program Overview,” briefing to the steering committee on February 23, 2004.