The space industry is among the sectors now adopting a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach with Systems Modeling Language (SysML).
In fact, An MBSE and SysML approach have been at the forefront of NASA’s missions to Mars, including the recent successful Mars landing of the Perseverance Rover. The life-hunting robot will also help a little bit of Mars make it to Earth a decade or so from now, if all goes according to plan. Perseverance, the centerpiece of NASA’s $2.7 billion Mars 2020 mission, touched down inside the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater Feb. 18, 2021.
According to NASA, the Mars2020 Flight System adoption of MBSE methodologies to enable conquering of common SE challenges experienced on MSL is an ongoing effort.
To understand the external state of the Systems Engineering (SE) discipline, in 2019 the NASA SE Technical Discipline Team (TDT) did a “comprehensive” survey across the aerospace industry from over 50 sources.
The sources represented academia (NASA’s pipeline), government agencies (NASA’s sibling organizations), companies (NASA’s partners), and tool vendors (who are building NASA’s future).
The survey complemented and allowed comparison against a similar comprehensive 2017 survey across NASA internal workforce. Also, this survey allowed the NASA SE TDT to perform similar alignment check on investments it’s made in re-tooling SE into the future (such as with MBSE).
Model-based systems engineering (MBSE) is a formalized methodology that is used to support the requirements, design, analysis, verification, and validation associated with the development of complex systems.
In contrast to document-centric engineering, MBSE puts models at the center of system design. The increased adoption of digital-modeling environments during the past few years has led to increased adoption of MBSE.
SysML is a domain-specific modeling language for systems engineering used to specify, analyze, design, optimize, and verify systems.
Want to learn more? Tonex offers Spacecraft MBSE and SysML Training, a 4-day hands-on course that provides participants with the knowledge and skills to develop SysML diagrams of a small satellite using SysML within MBSE framework.
Spacecraft MBSE and SysML Training helps participants to create SysML Diagrams for a Spacecraft System and System of Systems (SoS) using an MBSE approach.
For more information, questions, comments, contact us.