Model Based Systems Engineering with a Docs-as-Code Approach for the SeaLion CubeSat Project

The SeaLion mission architecture team sought to create a model-based systems engineering approach to assist improving CubeSat success rates as well as for the SeaLion CubeSat project to guide an implementation for the flight software. This is important because university CubeSat teams are growing in number but often have untrained students as their core personnel. This was done using a document-as-code, or docs-as-code, approach. With this the team created tools for the systems architecture with the Mach 30 Modeling Language to create an architecture that is easy to learn and use even for newly admitted team members with little to no training. These tools generate documents via its own code for easy presentation on a local file system without any proprietary software while keeping the model content format-agnostic.

Automated summary

The SeaLion mission architecture team aimed to develop a model-based systems engineering approach to enhance CubeSat success rates and guide the implementation of flight software for the SeaLion CubeSat project. This is crucial because university CubeSat teams often have inexperienced students as their key members. They adopted a document-as-code approach to achieve this. By using the Mach 30 Modeling Language, the team created tools for systems architecture that are easy to learn and use, even for new team members with minimal training. These tools generate documents through their own code, allowing for easy presentation on a local file system without the need for any proprietary software while maintaining format flexibility.