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- Title
A Planning and Decision-Aiding Procedure for Purchasing and Launching Spacecraft.
- Authors
Scherer, William T.; White III, Chelsea C.
- Abstract
The article discusses a planning and decision-aiding procedure for purchasing and launching spacecraft. Developing a planning and decision support system (PDSS) to determine the number of spacecraft (communications satellites) to purchase and the timing of these purchases for INTELSAT was complicated by the length of time necessary to manufacture a spacecraft, the potential for spacecraft failure, uncertain future costs and capacity requirements, multiple, conflicting and noncommensurate objectives, and various exogenous factors. The PDSS uses the simulation of a large Markov decision process (MDP) to evaluate purchase strategies generated by experts, heuristic procedures, and the solution of an aggregated version of the MDP, thus integrating knowledge engineering and formal reasoning approaches to decision aiding and problem solving. Based on forecasts of future demand for various communication services, detailed operational plans are prepared that, among other things, specify the number and type of spacecraft which must be available in orbit to satisfy the global communication needs at any given time in the planning period.
- Subjects
DECISION making; INDUSTRIAL procurement; SPACE vehicles; DECISION support systems; PURCHASING; MANAGEMENT information systems
- Publication
Interfaces, 1986, Vol 16, Issue 3, p31
- ISSN
0092-2102
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1287/inte.16.3.31