The new metrology for Space might not be SMART

Abstract

We are able to ‘measure’ almost everything in our daily life and professional activities. Management gurus state how each corporate, department and section objective should be Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-related (SMART) but practitioners and hands-on technocrats must cope with new keywords and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) driven by customer engagement, marketing mainstream, human factors, business canvas elements. As an example, are the ‘conventional’ metrics consistent also for non-Space commercial applications of Space derived technologies? Will commercial Human Spaceflights go beyond the conventional metrology and adopt new success and reliability criteria linked also to nonmeasurable concept like empathy? Presenting the cases of commercial applications of SpaceTech (eg start-ups, incubators, business modelling, etc) and how human factors could drive next Human Spaceflight missions, gives the authors the opportunity of moving beyond the SMART indicators thus augmenting them with new (tangible and intangible) elements.