‘There is nothing so practical as a good theory’

The title is a quote from the psychologist Kurt Lewin, who was pointing out that psychology was thin on good theories, but benefited greatly when there was one. While space systems and space system development have many good theories, we think there could be more. This paper is a step towards providing pointers to opportunities for new theories and new applications of existing theories to improve the practical development of space systems. Our intent is a reach back from application difficulties to possibly applicable theories, and a description of what those theories can imply for us. The application difficulties occur throughout the development lifecycle, in acquisition preparation, requirement specification, contract management, system design and development, and bus flight software (we do not intend to imply that these are the only areas with difficulties, or the only ones that need new theories; they are merely indicative of the widespread problem). We describe these difficult areas as we have seen them, describe the applicable theories (proposing new ones when necessary), and describe how the theory will change the practice of space system development.

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