Space Application Marketplace
Development Platform: Unity3D
Team Size: 2 to 5
Development Time: February 2023 (Joined May 2023) to Present
A storefront for Space Domain Awareness tools designed to revolutionize how companies connect with Department of Defense customers Integrated into Saber's Space Cockpit tool, SAM consolidates innovation across the space industry into one seamlessly designed tool.
Team Composition: Designer, Engineers
Role: Project Lead and Designer
Platform: WebGL on secure military networks
About the Project
The Space Application Marketplace (SAM) is a storefront for Space Domain Awareness tools designed to revolutionize how companies connect with Department of Defense (DoD) customers. SAM consolidates innovation across the space industry into one seamlessly designed tool. Available in Saber's Space Cockpit, SAM bridges the infamous "Valley of Death" in DoD software development. It leverages Space Cockpit's security accreditations, allowing companies to deploy to high-side networks and speeding up the delivery of technology to advance the warfighter's capabilities.
With Space Cockpit designed to be an advanced yet easy-to-use SDA tool, applications available in SAM are designed with usability in mind.
Project Contributions
Role: Project Lead and Designer
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Work:
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Develop project plans and break them into workable tasks
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Coordinate with developers and subject matter experts to ensure the project stays on track and the team is working towards the same goal
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Design user workflows and interfaces for application integration
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Program and test new features
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Connect with innovative companies through established customer outreach channels
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Liaise with primary customers and stakeholders to provide updates on the project’s progress and prioritize upcoming features
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Write progress reports
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Create and maintain documentation
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Create marketing materials and training videos
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Demo to military customers around the world
Project Management
This project is under an NDA. All descriptions of my work are left vague to adhere to the contract. Press releases are linked below for additional information.
Customer Outreach
When I joined the project, I reviewed and contacted the companies that our business development manager was in contact with. I also researched innovative applications and connect with the company.
As we make contact with companies, to streamline the process and better vet if applications were a fit, I developed a workflow for companies to mark their interest. We send this to companies when we reach out and its been shared on socials and in press releases for companies to fund us as well. They can fill out a form with some basic questions about the application, its technical details, and any current or desired military customers. From the initial documentation, I first review the submissions and then contact the ones that might be a fit for a meeting. If the application is not a fit off the bat, I will let them know and reduce the meetings I have.
If there seems like there is a fit from the form, I meet with them to give them a better understanding of the marketplace and to learn more about their application. If it is space domain focused, is able to be containerized, has an API, and has been used and tested, then there is a fit for the application and I look into the prioritization of its development and go from there.
As of March 2024, I've been in contact with over 35 companies interested in adding their technology to the Space Application Marketplace.
Project Plans, Prioritization, Time Estimations, Organization
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Develop project plans and break them into workable tasks
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Coordinate with developers and subject matter experts to ensure the project stays on track and the team is working towards the same goals
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- I joined back on the team a few months after the contract award. Not much had been done since then so I was able to start with a brand new project, 2 members on the team (myself as the designer and project manager, Keenan as the lead developer). Broke the plan down into phases (1 - design and research, 2 - customer outreach, 3 - MVP development, 4 - Application Selection and Integration).
- Started with design and research. Researched current applications stores (apple, Microsoft, google) and compared how they were doing things. Research the current capabilities and what is possible in Space Cockpit since it is being built in an established program. then I developed a design (read more below).
- Customer Outreach and MVP development. After the design and research, I I got feedback from the rest of the team and met with our developer to ensure that everything in the design was doable (whether short term or long term). Through our discussions, I broke down all of the individual tasks needed for the MVP to be complete and developed time estimations. our stakeholder who was happy with our progress. Once the initial design was done, the developer was able to begin work on the MVP. He created all the UI and the BE tables needed and converted 6 existing major features into in-house applications. The MVP development took longer than expected as converting the features into applications required an extensive refactoring that also affected unit tests. We discovered this early on in development and I quickly updated the plan with the risks and notified our stakeholder. In the meantime, I began on customer outreach to begin selecting the first applications to integrate.
- Application Selection and Integration - After a number of potential applications were gathered, we met with the stakeholder to discuss the priorities. We then prioritized the applications based on the difficulty of development and their given priority.
Contracts and Agreements and Other Documentation
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Marketplace Agreement
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EULA's
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Pricing models
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Confluence
Marketing and Demos
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Create marketing materials
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Demo to military customers around the world
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Space Symposium
Screenshot of Space Cockpit
Design
This project is under an NDA. All descriptions of my work are left vague to adhere to the contract. Press releases are linked below for additional information.
Marketplace Design and Integrations
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Design user workflows and interfaces for a Space Domain Awareness Application
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Program and test new features
Developing New Features
Every day, I spend a couple of hours testing the application. Any bugs or possible improvements I find, I write them down with reproduction steps, screenshots, and videos. I have helped the team find and test over 100 bugs that have since been fixed to create a stable project.
Through testing the program with users, I have discovered many ways that the application could improve its usability. One of the features I spearheaded was the controls panel. With two different camera modes with varying controls, I was able to design a panel that displayed the controls for each camera mode and allowed the user to remap the controls as well, letting users tailor Space Cockpit to their needs.
Every time a Jira ticket is completed, I review the ticket to make sure that all of the acceptance criteria has been met and to ensure that the new feature is bug-free.
Training Videos
Beginning July 2021, I started writing code and developing new features in addition to my other responsibilities. With Space Cockpit accessible by a URL, I programmed a new feature that allows third-party DoD applications to easily integrate a visualization with Space Cockpit into their application. The URL API features HTML Query String Parameters that allow developers to indicate the space assets that they want to be added to the scene and specified visualization tools turned on.
I have also been paired-programming with the Lead Developer on the project. Together, we have programmed 7 features since August 2021 (as of October 2021). We practice test-driven development in our DevSecOps pipeline.
Testing
Beginning July 2021, I started writing code and developing new features in addition to my other responsibilities. With Space Cockpit accessible by a URL, I programmed a new feature that allows third-party DoD applications to easily integrate a visualization with Space Cockpit into their application. The URL API features HTML Query String Parameters that allow developers to indicate the space assets that they want to be added to the scene and specified visualization tools turned on.
I have also been paired-programming with the Lead Developer on the project. Together, we have programmed 7 features since August 2021 (as of October 2021). We practice test-driven development in our DevSecOps pipeline.
Additional Work
Marketplace Design
Every week, I meet with the Person of Contact (POC) of the primary Space Delta customer. In these meetings, we discuss the current progress of Space Cockpit including recently completed features, in-progress features, any bugs and major blockers as well as user research resources and findings. With constant communication with the POC, I have been able to resolve issues before they become a major problem and communicate high-priority information to the development team to meet deadlines.
Press Releases
The following links contain articles released about the Space Application Marketplace (dated written dd/mm/yyyy):
