Methods for Improving User Needs Incorporation in Conceptual Design Phases of Systems Engineering

The New Space economy, characterized by financial models increasingly driven by private investment and paying end-users, stresses the importance of accurately identifying and fulfilling user needs. The success of Earth observation mission design critically depends on the effective collection and translation of user needs into mission and system requirements. Traditional Systems Engineering practices, however, often lack effective and efficient mechanisms to address this during the early phases of mission development. This study explores how novel methods for user needs collection and transformation can be integrated into the Systems Engineering framework to enhance the formulation of mission requirements in the conceptual design phase. Innovative methodologies for improving user needs identification and transformation, drawn from both within and outside the space sector, were identified and systematically assessed. Additionally, three previously undescribed methods for mission requirements generation were developed based on practices currently employed by New Space organizations. A total of 32 methodologies, characterized by strong user integration, were identified and further analyzed on their suitability for application in the space domain. Through a tradeoff analysis involving eleven experts and 20 evaluation criteria, the two most promising methods were identified: Iterative Prototyping (a newly developed method) and Design Thinking. These two methods were subsequently adapted to facilitate their integration into the Systems Engineering process, ensuring their outputs align with the required process inputs and maintain validation and verification traceability. Next, their performance was evaluated using a real-world Earth observation use case focused on seagrass monitoring. This case involved a user group comprising European domain experts on climate and maritime anthropogenic impacts, who worked towards generating mission requirements using the two selected methodologies. This study reveals that numerous methodologies exist to improve user engagement, yet few address the transformation of needs into formal requirements. Traditional Systems Engineering does not sufficiently engage users in its front-end practices as highlighted by the results of the trade-off analysis. Both selected methodologies, Iterative Prototyping and Design Thinking, allow for enhanced early-stage user engagement and needs collection. Iterative Prototyping supports continuous feedback loops and validation and facilitates the derivation of mission-level requirements. Instead, Design Thinking effectively frames user problems and promotes inclusive dialogue but lacks a (traceable) path to technical specifications and mission requirements. This study finds that spatial and temporal mission requirements can be derived using Iterative Prototyping. Spectral and radiometric requirements, however, still depend on conventional techniques and expert judgment. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that the use of novel methods, such as Iterative Prototyping and Design Thinking, applied in the early phases of the conceptual design process improves user engagement and promotes the elicitation of user needs. The study's trade-off analysis indicates that Iterative Prototyping also facilitates the derivation of mission requirements directly driven by user needs.