Concurrent Design Facility

22 Jun 2011

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​​​The CDF has been developed by RAL Space Engineers, but incorporates the experience and best practice of other CDFs located overseas (for example ESA-ESTEC, NASA, ASI, CNES, JAXA and DLR).

The RAL Space CDF consists of three elements:

• ​The Facility: The room itself, the IT and communications hardware and the specialist space mission design software that enable engineers to design individual elements of a complex mission.
  
  
• The Tools: The primary tool is the design database software which automatically links the design of the individual elements of a mission into a coherent system.
  
  
• The Methodology: The process for efficiently coordinating the design activities of Engineers and Scientists in a concurrent design environment.

These three elements of the CDF enable novel space concepts to be quickly and efficiently assessed from technical, financial and programmatic points-of-view.

The key benefits of utilising the RAL Space CDF for Mission studies are:

• ​Study Quality: The rigorous and systematic approach to the design process helps ensure that the results are of a consistently high standard.
  
  
• Efficiency: ESA and other CDF operators report a reduction in assessment study costs by a factor of two and elapsed time by a factor of four.
  
  
• Reduced Risk: Examining the entire system at an early stage helps avoid surprises in the implementation and exploitation phases of the project.
  
  
• Fostering Collaboration: Teams of scientists and engineers from different organisations and countries are able to start work together on real projects quickly, build collaborations and profit from each other's strengths.
  
  
• Stimulating Innovation: New ideas and concepts can be refined, elaborated and assessed from scientific, technical and business points-of-view and take them to the next level of maturity.
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The RAL Space CDF has been used for a ​wide variety of previous studies:

​Study	​Description
​HAGRID (study report)​​	​An early warning system for space weather events.
​Mars Hopper	​A Mars lander with long-range autonomy and a novel propulsion system.
​Tropical Carbon Mission	​A mission for monitoring atmospheric carbon from space.
​Project BA/Lunar Mission One	​A Lunar lander mission near the Moon’s south pole.
​Project BA Return	​A Lunar sample return mission.
​UK Launch	​An assessment of the UK launch market.
​HexSat (HexSwarm mission pa​per​)	​Use of swarm satellites for self-assembly in-orbit.

The CDF is maintained by STFC and is available to the wider UK space community to help ensure the UK remains internationally competitive.​

For more information please contact: RAL Space Enquiries