During an era of shrinking federal budgets, the Space Test Program has developed a management philosophy for accepting greater risks in managing small satellite programs for technology demonstration. This innovative philosophy complies with the latest government initiatives to reduce cost by using contractors’ best practices, eliminating use of government specifications and standards, and minimizing the size of the program office. We achieve program cost goals by matching the contract type to the perceived program risk, reducing program documentation, using non-redundant subsystems where possible, relaxing test requirements, and using minimal staff during on-orbit operations. However, we mitigate these increased risks and successfully perform our mission by developing detailed payload requirements early in the program, building system redundancy in appropriate areas, and applying vigorous attention to the spacecraft interfaces to the payload, the launch vehicle, and the mission control center. While these practices may not be appropriate for all satellite programs, we feel they apply to a broad range of research and technology demonstration spacecraft
