Concurrent AIV as a Method to hard tailor Test- and Model Philosophies in Times of Need

Kurzfassung

MASCOT, a small 11 kg Asteroid Lander on-board JAXA's Hayabusa2 space probe, was launched on December 3rd, 2014. To catch this particular launch opportunity its development timeline needed to be heavily compressed so that current and well established verification processes could not be followed in order to finalize the project in the given time. Applying a unique mix of conventional and tailored model philosophies it was possible to dynamical adapt the test program to accomplish for the shortest planning and a suitable weighing of costs and risks. A strategy of Concurrent Assembly, Integration and Verification (C-AIV) helped to identify and mitigate design and manufacturing issues and shortened the test timeline further from a general 4-5 year C/D-phase down to 2,5 year C/D-phase.