How do you do laundry on a nine-month trip to Mars? Answer: You don’t. At least, scientists have not yet figured out the answer to this challenge—one of space travels interesting problems. A water-based solution is out of the question—water is heavy and expensive to ship, and what water one …

Ever since I’ve been an engineer, technical designers have been dealing with handoff issues. What do I mean by handoff issues? In track and field, when a relay runner hands the baton to another runner in the exchange zone, it can happen that a runner bobbles the handoff. This can …

The systems engineering tool “Analysis of Alternatives,” or AoAs, impacts a broad range of concepts in systems engineering. In my experience, the inception of a project revolves around smart people—often program managers, technical directors, or business developers—discussing what they’ve heard or read or seen as an opportunity to do something …

Just as medieval knights had need of the right tool at the right time—a longsword? a lance? a dagger?—we systems engineers have a similar challenge. But the unsavory foe that we do battle with is not another knight carrying a mace or throwing flames, but the scourge of disorder, lack …