Author Topic: System Engineering at SpaceX (Read 5214 times)

gdelottle · « **on:** 02/15/2022 09:00 am »

Is someone aware of any document, book, presentation, interview, video looking into the details of SE techniques applied at SpaceX? Like many, I am really surprised by the speed they improve. I looked at some presentations available online but can't grasp how they could speed up procedures that in aerospace usually take years, e.g. configuration management, ICD, etc. Specially for monster products like starship.

I am more looking for firsthand experiences, someone telling me how they do that, maybe by a concrete example.

Jim · « **Reply #1 on:** 02/15/2022 01:47 pm »

nothing publicly available.

niwax · « **Reply #2 on:** 02/15/2022 01:54 pm »

Not exactly detailed information, but SpaceX and Tesla use a custom in-house ERP system called Warp that is supposed to integrate well with the sort of agile change management you would usually find in software.

RedLineTrain · « **Reply #3 on:** 02/15/2022 02:44 pm »

Here is a prior thread here on NSF...

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39135.0

The link to the presentation is broken, so I searched online and found it. Attached.

gdelottle · « **Reply #4 on:** 02/15/2022 03:33 pm »

Quote from: RedLineTrain on 02/15/2022 02:44 pm

Here is a prior thread here on NSF...

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39135.0

The link to the presentation is broken, so I searched online and found it. Attached.

My apologies. I must be doing something wrong with the forum search engine, because "System Engineering" in the search gives no results.

RedLineTrain · « **Reply #5 on:** 02/15/2022 03:36 pm »

Quote from: gdelottle on 02/15/2022 03:33 pm

Quote from: RedLineTrain on 02/15/2022 02:44 pm
Here is a prior thread here on NSF...

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=39135.0

The link to the presentation is broken, so I searched online and found it. Attached.

My apologies. I must be doing something wrong with the forum search engine, because "System Engineering" in the search gives no results.

No worries. I think the forum search engine is more or less broken. But Google has indexed the forum pretty well. So googling "spacex system engineering site:forum.nasaspaceflight.com" will give you a good comprehensive text search.

gdelottle · « **Reply #6 on:** 02/16/2022 10:11 am »

not easy to find clear information about WARP. My company uses a concurrent suite - I guess, because I do not understand completely the scope of this ERP. However, I would really like to know how decision are taken, maintenance is managed, updates are worked out, ICDs, configuration, stuff like that.

I get the impression that those who work at SpaceX are bound by an obligation of extreme confidentiality about the company. Or maybe they just don't have time to devote to these things. Jim seems to confirm that.

Understandable but a pity.