An information system to support preliminary design of small spacecraft

With the development of information technology, the role of support systems for the technical products design process has increased significantly. The capabilities of knowledge management systems make it possible to ensure the commonality of terminology, object definitions and relations between them. In addition, the use of formal semantics is necessary to support the reuse of knowledge. The article discusses ways to improve the efficiency of the small spacecraft design process and a creation of tools for the knowledge exchange about the functional characteristics of typical subsystems of such vehicles. The creation of an information system to support the preliminary design of small spacecraft, which contains information linked to the relationship between the functions and components of subsystems and their characteristics, is considered. The created system facilitates the synthesis of various product configurations. When developing the information system, modern approaches in the field of structural and functional classifications of small spacecraft systems and approaches existing in the field of taxonomy to create database structures were used. The information system database contains a set of characteristics for a wide range of small spacecraft equipment. As an example of the use of an information system to support the design of small spacecraft, the process of choosing the characteristics of a power supply system for a promising small spacecraft designed to provide communication between mobile ground terminals is considered.