Cooperative Fabrication of the NEAR Spacecraft

ooperative fabrication was a key factor in building the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft within the cost and schedule constraints dictated by the NASA Discovery Program. Because many of the traditional barriers between the engineering and the fabrication teams were avoided on NEAR, APL reaped the benefits of cooperative planning, design for ease of fabrication and assembly, and team problem solving. The result was a unified and high-spirited team focused on accomplishing the task. That teamwork, in combination with many of the enabling technologies within the fabrication organization, allowed APL to meet NEAR’s cost, schedule, reliability, and performance goals. (