Compass conducts "studies," in which the team receives a request from a contractor to analyze a space system design.
Working in real time among engineers and scientists with a wide breath of experience allows designs to come together quite rapidly.
Compass designs spacecraft with lofty goals in mind; many of their projects seem like they have come out of a sci-fi film.
The name "Compass" was originally based on an acronym that has since been deprecated (Collaborative Modeling for the Parametric Assessment of Space Systems).
The team formally became Compass in 2006 as a response to a multi-center Lunar Lander Concept Design study led by the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC).