Collaborative Development of a Space System Simulation Model

Modeling and simulation is a powerful method to evaluate the design of a space system. Simulation models represent valuable knowledge and require considerable time and effort for their development. Means for reuse should be taken into account from the beginning of model creation. This paper presents a collaborative model development process, which creates prerequisite information for successful reuse of simulation models. It introduces a knowledge model and proposes reviewed documentation at each step in the process. These pieces of documentation enable successive reuse at different levels. The modeling process was evaluated by creating a system simulation of the OOV-TET-1 satellite including three satellite subsystems, dynamics, kinematics, and space environment. Furthermore, the organization of models and their documentation artifacts is crucial in order to search, find, and reuse models across project partners and across projects. The paper suggests a flexible model database that suits the special requirements of typical space projects and large research organizations.