Towards Developing a Digital Mission Engineering Framework

A key part of digital transformation is the application of digital engineering and model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools in mission engineering (ME). However, the current digital engineering practices and standards lack maturity, and the current guides are often too broad for the intention of reusability and a wide range of applications. Additionally, the diversity of system-of-system constituents deployed for missions as well as their complex system behavior and stakeholder interactions pose complex challenges to their successful application. We propose a general framework that builds on the existing guidelines to better organize and facilitate the digital mission engineering process. The methodology is categorized into multiple abstraction levels to demonstrate the existing layers of information produced and identify the relevant stakeholder viewpoints of data to improve communication and collaboration. A pilot implementation demonstrates the applicability of the framework to construct a cislunar reusable mission, and the benefits were determined based on digital engineering reference qualitative metrics, observations, and perceptions. The benefits of a digital-enabled framework include increased traceability and reusability, enhanced support for users, and improved communication and knowledge. Additional work remains to develop the early works of the proposed framework and address the pain points of academia and industry applications.