A MBSE Framework for Requirements Traceability, Verification Planning, and Risk Closure in LEO Small-Satellite Missions

Low Earth orbit small-satellite missions are increasingly used for Earth observation, communication, scientific measurement, technology demonstration, and education. Although these missions are smaller and less expensive than traditional spacecraft programs, they still require disciplined systems engineering to manage requirements, interfaces, verification activities, and technical risks. In many academic and early-phase small-satellite projects, requirements, subsystem designs, interface definitions, verification plans, and risk records are maintained in disconnected documents. This fragmentation can create missing requirement links, weak verification traceability, late interface inconsistencies, and unresolved risk items. This paper proposes a lightweight Model-Based Systems Engineering framework for LEO small-satellite missions that integrates requirements traceability, verification planning, interface control, and risk closure into a single model-based structure. The framework connects mission objectives to stakeholder requirements, system requirements, subsystem requirements, functional architecture, physical architecture, interface definitions, verification methods, and risk closure evidence. A representative LEO small-satellite mission model is used as a case study. The demonstration includes a traceability dataset, requirement allocation matrix, verification matrix, interface control matrix, risk closure matrix, and completeness metrics. The proposed framework achieved ۱۰۰% requirement allocation completeness, ۱۰۰% verification-method coverage, ۱۰۰% interface-verification coverage, and ۱۰۰% mitigation-definition coverage in the representative model, while also identifying open verification, interface, and risk-closure items that require further evidence before project review closure. The framework is intended for preliminary design, academic satellite development, early verification planning, and small-satellite mission assurance.

کلیدواژه ها:

MBSE ، LEO mission ، risk closure ، digital thread ، space systems engineering