Shared Space Infrastructure vs Mission Independence

Retain minimum independent fallback capability for critical functions so shared-infrastructure outages do not violate NIS2 continuity and resilience obligations.

CyberTRIZ analysis · Space contradiction TSI034 · one of 8,235 worked contradictions published by CyberTRIZ.AI

Regulations

EU_NIS2 IEC_61508 ISO_22320 ISO_27001

Business Context

Shared communications relays, navigation services, servicing systems, orbital platforms, processing resources, and other infrastructure can reduce the amount of dedicated capability individual missions must carry. However, increasing dependence on shared infrastructure creates common failure points and may expose missions to availability, governance, commercial, or operational decisions outside their direct control.

Space TRIZ Resolution

Missions should use shared infrastructure for efficiency while retaining minimum independent capability for essential functions. Critical operations can have alternative service paths, local fallback modes, or limited onboard capability sufficient to maintain safe operations when external infrastructure becomes temporarily unavailable.

Applicable TRIZ Principles

Principle 5 – Merging shares common infrastructure where collective use creates efficiency.

Principle 11 – Beforehand Cushioning establishes fallback capability before external services are lost.

Principle 15 – Dynamics switches between shared and independent operating modes according to infrastructure availability.

Expected Outcome

Greater use of shared infrastructure

Lower dedicated spacecraft resource requirements

Maintained mission independence

Reduced common-service vulnerability

Decision Indicators

Early indicators include:

Loss of one external service disables critical mission functions.

Spacecraft duplicate complete infrastructure solely to preserve independence.

Alternative service providers cannot be accessed.

Safe operations depend continuously on third-party infrastructure.

Shared-service outages produce immediate mission interruptions.

TRIZ principles applied

P5 MergingP11 Beforehand cushioningP15 Dynamics

Controls that address this (22)

EU_NIS2-CTRL-001 - Daily safeguarding reconciliationoperational · critical priority · Daily reconciliation between safeguarded customer balances, core ledger balances and safeguarded bank accounts. Variances above EUR 100 must EU_NIS2-CTRL-002 - Critical ICT incident reportingoperational · critical priority · All major ICT incidents impacting payment services, customer data or availability must be classified within 4 hours and reported under DORA EU_NIS2-CTRL-003 - GDPR breach notification workflowoperational · critical priority · Personal data breaches must be assessed within 12 hours and reported to the Belgian DPA within 72 hours where risk to data subjects exists.