Talking Aerospace Today The Rise of Software-Defined Aerospace – The Future of Systems Engineering Ep. 2
Aug 15, 2025
Dale Tutt, Vice President of Industry Strategy for Siemens, joins Todd Tuthill, Vice President of Aerospace, Defense, and Marine for Siemens. They delve into the evolution of systems engineering for software-defined aerospace, stressing the need for holistic approaches due to increased complexity. Topics include space sustainability, the necessity for design that accommodates failure modes, and how other industries can learn from aerospace's focus on redundancy and safety. They also discuss the challenges of remote updates for critical systems.
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Software Drives Unmanageable Complexity
- Modern aerospace systems have exploded in interface complexity due to electronics and software driving most functions.
- A holistic, integrated systems engineering approach is now required to manage hundreds of thousands of interactions and internal failure modes.
Design For End‑Of‑Life And Sustainability
- Life‑cycle thinking must be designed in from day one for modern spacecraft, including end‑of‑life deorbit and sustainability.
- You cannot add responsible disposal or reuse strategies after launch; they must be engineered up front.
Reusing Rockets Changed The Game
- Todd used SpaceX’s booster recovery 'chopsticks' example to show holistic systems engineering enabling reuse.
- Reusability solved speed and cost problems that were unimaginable in the Apollo era.