Key Point: Detail design is the second biggest driver of cost and schedule in a production  program.  Development Process  Development of New Space mechanisms varies from development for Big Space in two key ways; (i) New  Space will have tighter timelines and more schedule pressure and (ii) The development phase needs to  drive cost out of the design concept as well as validate and improve the design.  Most engineers will agree that multiple iterations continue to improve designs. This is very important  considering the premise that 80% of the lifecycle cost is dictated by the concept and design. The leverage  of design improvements in the concept phase is huge. Iteration early and often can be very cost effective  even if early models are quite crude. A crude breadboard level prototype in-hand can often show a  creative engineer design options not yet conceived or problems to be designed out.   A hardware-rich development period is a very powerful method of working within tighter timelines and  enabling cost reduction. A hardware-rich development means that multiple prototypes of each design are  built rather than just a single unit. The author has found this to be extremely valuable and cost effective in  practice. The cost of the multiple prototypes is more than recovered in the flexibility it provides. Plus, it  typically does not cost much more to make multiple prototypes than a single unit. For example, the  hardware-rich approach of building four engineering models instead of one allows the following  allocations and parallel efforts:  •Unit 1 - Test for functionality and performance •Unit 2 - Test for environments •Unit 3 – Test interfaces with electronics or with prototype spacecraft •Unit 4 – Held in reserve for use in response to unforeseen occurrences or troubleshooting Another aspect of a hardware-rich development can be the parallel production of multiple design options.  In some cases, a trade between two or more options can be best made after being informed by prototype  hardware evaluation. For example, one could prototype Design A offering lower cost with higher  performance risks and Design B with better performance and higher production costs. This way the  development program can hold schedule if the low-cost option fails to meet performance, but, does not  give up the chance to hit a low cost, adequate performance mechanism home run.  Key Point: Fast paced, iterative, hardware-rich development is a powerful tool for  improving the concept and detail design quickly.  In a development effort for a mechanism intended to enter volume production, working out all the bugs is  of high importance before entering production. Minor design errors will be extremely costly if they are  found during volume manufacturing. Imagine the pain of finding a design flaw that can cause intermittent  failures after already having shipped 100 units to customers. Similarly, minor inconsistencies in  manufacturing will make a mess of production schedules in volume production. For volume production,  manufacturing and design are effectively indistinguishable, the design of the manufacturing process is  part of the design of the mechanism. Thus, both manufacturing and design must be perfected in the  development phase is one is to have smooth, cost effective volume production.    Mechanisms Considerations for New Space: Manufacturing Phase  There is a tremendous knowledge base available on volume production, both for volume production in  general and specifically for space. The author has found significant value from the following references:  •Reference 1, a paper in the 29th Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium about the high-volume production of release mechanisms for the first Iridium program by Daryl Maus provides a powerful look an early usage of volume production for space. NASA/CP—2018-219887 450