2216. Cost and Weight Relationships for Space Flight Hardware
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Paper
Abstract
Cost estimating of space flight hardware is routinely performed using statistical relationships that predict cost as a function of some physical and/or programmatic variables. These relationships are called cost estimating relationships or CERs. By far, the most popular dependent variable for CERs for predicting the cost of space flight hardware is dry weight. Weight is popular both for basically two reasons. First, weight is a very critical parameter due to the lifting restraints of launch vehicles and is one of the very first variables quantified in space project studies. Secondly, weight turns out to be a fairly reliable predictor of space hardware cost. Exhibit 1 shows a typical CER which relates development cost of several classes of space hardware projects to the dry weight of the hardware.
