This is an interesting experiment. I think it creates an opportunity to discuss the whole cost picture. COTS alone will only achieve minor cost reductions relative to the whole enterprise.
Testing costs were orders of magnitude more than the cell phones. They ran tests with Thermal Vac, vibe and shock, and weather balloon. Each test required time at expensive test facilities and hundreds of hours.
Launch and operations will require additional hundreds of hours of labor to prepare and collect data. It will also require time on expensive range assets.
For example, a launch readiness review, where they determine if everything is ready to go, would involve a dozen engineers for a few hours. This meeting alone would cost more than the all the phones they bought to test on the ground and fly.
I'm sure it will take a long, gradual process, but I hope that using cheap components will lessen the cost of failure, so we can spend less on testing, too. Now if only we could reduce the cost of launch....
Yeah, cost control is a perennial problem. I think it is so hard to solve because, it seems to me, that any solution must address interlocking technical, cultural, commercial, and policy & political concerns all together.
Testing costs were orders of magnitude more than the cell phones. They ran tests with Thermal Vac, vibe and shock, and weather balloon. Each test required time at expensive test facilities and hundreds of hours.
Launch and operations will require additional hundreds of hours of labor to prepare and collect data. It will also require time on expensive range assets.
For example, a launch readiness review, where they determine if everything is ready to go, would involve a dozen engineers for a few hours. This meeting alone would cost more than the all the phones they bought to test on the ground and fly.