Title: Operational Strategies for Integrated Multi-Platform Space Systems
Abstract: As the drive to lower the cost of operations continues, the desire to implement more complex systems hasn't stopped.We have seen the era of a single satellite missions staffed by an around-the-clock operations crew come and go, and the move to multi-mission operations centers and automated operations have now become commonplace in an attempt to achieve lower cost operations.Now, concepts for constellations and other multi-satellite and multi-platform systems are being devised which present operational challenges much more difficult to overcome.Yet, the desire to continue achieving and improving upon the operational cost saving concepts currently being provided are not going to go away.By working through these concerns now, it is hoped that new insights and concepts for implementing these features will be available to future mission planners so that distributed space systems will be possible without "breaking the bank". BACKGROUNDUtilizing combinations of assets both in space and on the ground, regardless of whether they are near to the Earth or further out into interplanetary space, is looming as one of the dominant new trends in robotic space operations for the future.Development of technologies such as formation flying, intersatellite laser communications and an interplanetary internet are seen as necessary in order to continue to extend the boundaries of learning and exploration.But these technologies, combined with the reality of multiple launches and multiple vehicles per launch, continue to increase the potential stress on the operations workload required to support these mission types and they create a need for innovative new processes and tools to handle the tasks at hand.A number of studies have been done for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to look at these future mission profiles.In order to identify the key features that set these mission types apart from the current trends in single and multi-mission operations centers today, some of these studies are focusing on defining the operational challenges and suggesting solutions.Solutions may include developing more complete and integrated automation, both on the ground and in space, and augmenting them with innovative staffing concepts.Understanding how to implement these tasks will be paramount to addressing the cost and feasibility of operating the robotic, multi-platform space missions of the future.To accomplish this, an attempt is being made to isolate the key features of these future missions.Features such as formation flying, scientifically coordinated observations, and information sharing between platforms, set these types of missions apart from the status quo, but will be necessary if distributed missions are to be attempted.Analysis of the typical operational profiles in use today, and use of this information to isolate the particular science requirement drivers that have led to implementations of each profile, is also being done.From this, each new key feature of current