Programmatic Cost Tool (PCT)--A Spreadsheet Tool for Systematically Generating Sand Charts for Human Spaceflight Architectures.(NPO-50859-1)

Multi-system, multi-decade human spaceflight architectures can be very complex. Using a system architecting approach, the Programmatic Cost Tool (PCT) transforms user-provided data artifacts (e.g., systems, flight types, flight schedules) on human spaceflight architectures into a table of year-by-year programmatic costs consisting of development, production, and sustainment costs for each system/program. From this table, the software automatically generates a standard programmatic view called a 'sand chart.One anticipated use of the PCT, then, is to filter out those architectures in an analysis of alternatives (AoA) that clearly do not meet the affordability test. Another is to show the comparative programmatic costs over time for multiple specific architectures. These kinds of analyses are especially helpful when applied early in the architecture definition process. Fortunately, the PCT can be used in early studies, since the input data requirements are at a relatively high level.