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ONE-SYS and CIRA: Innovation in Space Systems Engineering

  • Salvatore Marangio
  • Mar 13
  • 2 min read

Updated: Apr 16


ONE-SYS and Cira

At the heart of Italian aerospace innovation, ONE-SYS , an official partner of INCOSE , the International Council on Systems Engineering , has successfully collaborated with CIRA , the Italian Aerospace Research Center , to innovate the way requirements are managed in space systems projects. This partnership combines ONE-SYS' expertise in Systems Engineering with CIRA's deep knowledge of the aerospace sector.


The challenge: managing the complexity of the Space Rider project

Among the many space system projects in which CIRA participates, we can mention the ESA Space Rider , the first European reusable spacecraft, which represents an unprecedented engineering challenge, in which CIRA participates as Design Authority of the Thermal Protection System (TPS). This subsystem of the craft becomes extremely critical with respect to the innovative requirement of reusability. With hundreds of requirements to manage and verify, with Qualification and Acceptance purposes (ref. ECSS), CIRA found itself faced with the need to overcome the limitations of traditional spreadsheets to ensure the precision and reliability needed in a project of this scale.


Space rider image

The contribution of ONE-SYS: support and application of Systems Engineering

ONE-SYS supported CIRA in using IBM DOORS Next, adapting it to the specific needs of the Space Rider project in an effective manner. The team was able to:

  1. Centralize requirements management, creating a “single source of truth”;

  2. Automate the generation of critical reports functional to ESA reviews;

  3. Improve collaboration within the team by eliminating errors and reducing communication times;

  4. Facilitate the tracking of changes made and the analysis of their impact.


Tangible results

The application of Systems Engineering methodologies and the support of ONE-SYS have led to significant improvements:

  • Report preparation time reduced from weeks to days;

  • Increased data quality and reliability;

  • Greater efficiency in managing project reviews with ESA;

  • Facilitating the transition to a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach.


Looking to the future: towards MBSE

We share the hope that the collaboration between ONE-SYS and CIRA will not stop here, the aerospace industry is moving towards the adoption of MBSE and ONE-SYS will be a valuable support for CIRA in its evolution path. The ONE-SYS approach, aligned with INCOSE standards, ensures that this transition is based on solid methodological foundations.


A partnership for innovation

The collaboration enabled a qualitative leap in the management of the requirements for the Space Rider, creating a solid foundation for future challenges in space systems engineering.

“The great advantage of collaborating with ONE-SYS is the correct implementation of our processes, on tools that guarantee error-free management, in line with the ECSS standards for checks, an essential element to successfully pass the ESA project reviews. Today we can start a review with the certainty of having an updated and reliable picture of the situation,” says Francesca Maria Pisano , project manager at CIRA.

 

As ONE-SYS, we are proud to support CIRA in this pioneering project. Our expertise in systems engineering, combined with CIRA's deep knowledge of the aerospace sector, is creating new opportunities for innovation in the sector.


Collaboration between excellent research centers and specialized companies can lead to extraordinary results, pushing forward the boundaries of space exploration and Systems Engineering.

 
 
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