Command & Control

Mission Goal

Build a Mission Capability Plan: define what your mission can do now (baseline), what it can do next (upgrade), and what trade-offs you will make to stay reliable. This is where you turn ambition into a credible roadmap.

Why it matters

Real mission leaders don’t just build gadgets — they build capability. Capability means repeatable outcomes, known limits, and smart upgrades without breaking what already works.

Inputs from other teams

• Payload/Build: what the system can measure/do today and what components limit it.
• Comms: bandwidth/latency constraints and what messages are realistic.
• Data/Telemetry: how data will be validated, stored, and interpreted.
• Launch/Platform: constraints that cap ambition (mass/power/space/handling/time).

What you must produce (deliverables)

• Capability Statement (baseline): 5 bullet points describing what you can reliably do.
• Upgrade Roadmap: 3 upgrades, each with benefits, costs, and risks.
• Trade-off Table: at least 6 trade-offs (e.g., more sensors vs power; more data vs simplicity).
• Interface Contract: what you require from other teams and what you promise back.

Step-by-step

1. Define baseline: what you can do repeatedly with today’s tools, in your real classroom constraints.
2. Choose 3 “upgrade targets”: faster, more accurate, more reliable, more interpretable, more shareable, etc.
3. For each upgrade: write (a) benefit, (b) cost, (c) new risks, (d) how you’d test it.
4. Map trade-offs: create a table of decisions you will make and why.
5. Write the interface contract: inputs you need + outputs you deliver (simple and measurable).
6. Get sign-off: show it to two other teams and adjust one trade-off based on feedback.

Success criteria

• Baseline capability is honest and testable (not a wishlist).
• Upgrades include real trade-offs and realistic tests.
• Your interface contract reduces confusion and makes cross-team work easier.

Evidence checklist

• Capability statement (5 bullets).
• Upgrade roadmap (3 upgrades).
• Trade-off table (6+ trade-offs).
• Interface contract (inputs/outputs) + sign-off notes.

Safety & ethics

• Don’t upgrade into unsafe complexity (especially power, heat, moving parts).
• Be truthful about limitations: credibility beats hype.
• Respect data ethics: define what you can claim, and what you can’t (yet).

Common failure modes

• Roadmap fantasy: upgrades that ignore constraints (time, budget, tools, skills).
• Trade-offs missing: assuming you can have everything at once.
• No testing plan: upgrades described without a way to prove them.
• Interface vagueness: “we’ll send data” instead of specifying format, timing, and ownership.

Stretch goals

• Create a capability maturity ladder (what changes from Level 1 → 5 for your mission).
• Write a “what we will not do” list to protect reliability.
• Add a one-slide “investor brief”: baseline, upgrade, why it matters.