Methods and Applications of Risk Management in Space Programs
 

30^th Annual Symposium of Project Management Institute, Philadelphia, Oct.1999

Introduction

Risk Management is continuously gaining the attention of the Aerospace industries, as an essential and integral part of the program management.
This paper provides an overview of Risk Management techniques and standard procedures applied in Alenia Aerospazio Space Division. Its approach to Risk Management has been developed in line with the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) Standards. The paper will focus on Risk Management methods and applications in the field of commercial satellite design, production and testing, i.e. one of the core businesses of Alenia Aerospazio Space Division.

Risk Management in the European Space Industry

Space programs are characterized by the fragmentation of the work due to the high level technology of the space products and the consequent large number of highly specialized subcontractors. This aspect does contribute significantly to the complexity of program management and add a degree of risk, uncertainty, or lack of control over the outcome.
The commercial market demand for better, faster and cheaper project management, imposes a radical change in the awareness of the overall organization with respect to risks. The latter will in fact be larger than in an institutional project (e.g. for the governments or other international agencies), due to the existence of severe commercial constraints (very limited resources and tight schedules, i.e. costs and time to market) and the complete shift of design risks to the contractor by moving from cost reimbursable type contracts to firm fixed price commercial contracts...........