Applied physics laboratory integration and test: Lessons learned and applied

Over the past 40 years, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Space Department has built, tested, and operated over 50 spacecraft. Lessons learned over the years are continually evaluated and applied to future programs. This paper presents some of the lessons learned from three of our more recent spacecraft: the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX), the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), and the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). It also discusses the latest APL integration and test innovations being used on NASA's Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Meso sphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) program. Several of the topics are remote testing, limited field crew sizes, integrated mission operations and integration and test teams, and a de-coupled design/testing approach. We review how these innovations have either been derived from previous lessons learned or are concepts that proved effective on MSX, NEAR, and/or BCE. The application of these lessons learned, in particular, has greatly enhanced the "faster, better, cheaper" paradigm for space flight.