Title:
Responsive Space: Concept Analysis, Critical Review, and Theoretical Framework
Responsive Space: Concept Analysis, Critical Review, and Theoretical Framework
Author(s)
Saleh, Joseph H.
Dubos, Gregory
Dubos, Gregory
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Abstract
Customers’ needs are dynamic and evolve in response to unfolding environmental uncertainties.
The ability of a company or an industry to address these changing customers’ needs in a timely and
cost-effective way is a measure of its responsiveness. In the space industry, a systemic discrepancy
exists between the time constants associated with the change of customers’ needs, and the response
time of the industry in delivering on-orbit solutions to these needs. Increasingly, the penalties
associated with such delays are becoming unacceptable, and space responsiveness is recognized as a
strategic imperative in commercial competitive and military environments.
In this paper, we provide a critical assessment of the literature on responsive space and
introduce a new multi-disciplinary framework for thinking about and addressing issues of space
responsiveness. Our framework advocates three levels of responsiveness: a global industry-wide
responsiveness, a local stakeholder responsiveness, and an interactive or inter-stakeholder
responsiveness. We introduce and motivate the use of “responsiveness maps” for multiple
stakeholders. We then identify “levers of responsiveness,” technical spacecraft- and launch-centric,
as well as “soft” levers (e.g., acquisition policies) for improving the responsiveness of the space
industry. Finally, we propose a series of research questions to aggressively tackle problems associated
with space responsiveness.
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Date Issued
2007-09
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Paper