~ FEASIBILITY STUDIES ~

Once the field of potential concepts is narrowed to those that are thought to be feasible, it is time to seriously evaluate the concepts with a feasibility study.  Engineering calculations and models serve to check fundamental parameters like energy, power, weight, strength, cost, etc.  Preliminary component selections are now evaluated more closely, checking the performance range against the system requirements.  During this phase, concepts are either discarded or retained and refined.