The early conceptual design (CD) phase of space access vehicles (SAVs) is the most abstract, innovative and technologically challenging phase of the entire aerospace design life cycle. Although the design decision-making during this phase influences around 80 percent of the overall life cycle cost, it is the most abstract and thus least understood phase of the entire design life cycle. The history of SAV design provides numerous examples of project failures that could have been avoided if the decision-maker had had the capability to forecast the potential risks and threats correctly ahead of time during the conceptual design phase. The present study addresses this crucial phase and demonstrates a best-practice synthesis methodology prototype to advance the current state of the art of CD as applied to SAV design. Developed by the Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD) Laboratory at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), the Aerospace Vehicle Design Synthesis process and software (AVDS) is a prototype solution for a flight vehicle configuration–flexible (generic) design synthesis capability that can be applied to the primary categories of SAVs. This study focusses on introducing AVDS, followed by the demonstration and verification of the system’s capability through a sizing case study based on the data-rich Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar spaceplane.

中文翻译：

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演示用于空间访问车辆设计的原型设计综合能力

航天飞行器 (SAV) 的早期概念设计 (CD) 阶段是整个航空航天设计生命周期中最抽象、最具创新性和最具技术挑战性的阶段。尽管此阶段的设计决策影响了整个生命周期成本的 80% 左右，但它是整个设计生命周期中最抽象的阶段，因此也是最难理解的阶段。SAV 设计的历史提供了许多项目失败的例子，如果决策者有能力在概念设计阶段提前正确预测潜在风险和威胁，这些例子是可以避免的。本研究解决了这一关键阶段，并展示了一个最佳实践综合方法原型，以推进应用于 SAV 设计的 CD 技术的当前状态。由德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校 (UTA) 的航空航天飞行器设计 (AVD) 实验室开发的航空航天飞行器设计综合流程和软件 (AVDS) 是飞行器配置灵活（通用）设计综合能力的原型解决方案，可应用于 SAV 的主要类别。本研究的重点是介绍 AVDS，然后通过基于数据丰富的波音 X-20 Dyna-Soar 航天飞机的尺寸调整案例研究来演示和验证系统的能力。