A proposal for including technical failure risk in market-based resource reallocation for spacecraft design

This paper summarizes past efforts to use market-based approaches to reallocate resources during the design of space systems, and it proposes an extension to these previous efforts that would include the risk of system failure as a tradable resource. The proposed approach builds from the Cassini Resource Exchange, a method used to allow instrument developers for the Cassini space mission to trade resources among themselves over the life of the project. Market-based design methods offer potential for increased efficiency in engineering design, and small-scale field trials would be a logical step in further testing and improving these approaches.