% title ISSDC Training: Scheduling & Costing

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<H2>Schedules and Costs</H2>

<p>Perhaps the most challenging parts of the Space Settlement Design
Competition proposal to develop are the schedule and cost estimate
for settlement completion. This is not by accident--schedule and
cost estimates are also the most challenging part of "real life"
proposals in industry.

<p>The Space Settlement Design Competition judges are engineers and
managers in industry, and are familiar with the challenges of
schedule and cost estimating. They will not base their selections
of Finalist Competition invitees on the shortest schedule or the
lowest cost. What they will be looking for is that the teams have
gone through the thinking processes that would lead to reasonable
numbers.

<p>Schedules are based on insight into how engineering companies
complete projects. The figure summarizes the process by which product
ideas are turned into designs and ultimately become real things.
Notice that at nearly any point in the process, something can go
wrong that sends the whole process backwards for more design work.
Extra time always needs to be allowed in the schedule to absorb
these when they happen.
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<IMG SRC="g.flowchart.gif">

<H3>Schedules </H3>

<p>How long it takes to go through the process depends on the size
and complexity of the project. For a new kind of mousetrap, it may
take only weeks to develop a prototype, test it, and go into
production; selling the idea to wholesalers, however, may take
years. For the Space Shuttle, research into design concepts started
in 1969 and the first flight was in 1981, without having to accomplish
the last few parts of the standard process. Space Settlement Design
Competition judges do not expect every team to come up with a perfect
and thoroughly realistic schedule for their designs. It is expected,
however, that they allow schedule time for detailed design, analysis,
and testing before they show any manufacturing activities. The
schedule needs to show time for transportation of materials and
population to the settlement. The teams also need to consider that
it takes a finite amount of time after the structure is completed
to finish off the interior, establish farms, and move the residents
into their new homes.

<H3>Costs </H3>

<p>Estimation of costs is the most frustrating challenge for Space
Settlement Design Finalist Competition participants, especially
since it is the last thing they do, it's getting late at night, and
they are exhausted when they try to do it. They start out by thinking
they don't have a clue about how to figure out what the project
might cost. When they come looking for help, we show them that they
already have some pretty good ideas about how much things cost--they
know about how much a car weighs, and about how much it costs; the
cost per pound is a good rough estimate for costs of ground vehicles
and robots. We tell them that the cost of a year's work from a
typical technical employee (including overhead and benefits) is
about $150,000 per year; we also caution them that if they think
they can spend trillions of dollars a year, there are not enough
available workers in the economy to spend that much money. We also
point out that the primary cost driver for building anything in
space is transportation; even at a bargain-basement cost of $500
per pound launch costs from Earth, very few things would cost as
much to acquire as they cost to launch.

<p>Acquire additional insight into realistic schedule and cost
estimating by observing construction projects in communities and
by researching news reports about major construction projects
worldwide. Reports of aircraft orders will provide costs and delivery
schedules. Business journals report numbers of employees in major
companies. News media report on costs and construction times of
airports, skyscrapers, sports arenas, and government buildings.
Source data are all around us--we only need to realize that they
are useful to us.

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