Implementation approach for Discovery-class missions

A sound implementation approach is necessary to win Discovery missions and is critical to successfully accomplishing the mission. The science concept is iterated with the design and implementation approach until a mission is defined that is within the 35-month development to launch period and the cost cap, and utilizes technology that permits implementation with acceptable program risk. The original mission concept must be defined in sufficient depth that development risks are low and the costs are well defined. This takes a very cooperative total team effort and willingness to be flexible to develop a balanced total mission package. Once selected the team must then commit to implement the mission within the agreement. This paper addresses the end-to-end implementation using Stardust, the fourth Discovery mission as a model. The author managed the industrial partner effort for Stardust development