A Modern Approach to Visualise Structured and Unstructured Space Missions' Data

Abstract

In this paper the Visualisation and Data Analysis (ViDA) project, currently being developed at the German Space Operations Center (GSOC), is presented. ViDA is a modern, interactive, web-based frontend tool designed to efficiently explore various types of data generated by space missions. It is more than just a telemetry display tool and, as such, includes features from business intelligence, data science and AI tools, while being focused on the multi-spacecraft operations use case. The paper describes how the big data challenges (volume, variety, variability, complexity, value) in the context of spacecraft operations have been addressed and how the adopted solutions have been integrated into ViDA. It also highlights the importance of contextual knowledge as crucial point for the design and implementation of ViDA. The techniques used for creating appropriate visual representations of the data and their relations are described. Such visualisations are specifically designed to deliver interpretable results to the users, thus helping them to quickly extract knowledge from them during their analytical process. Finally, the integration of ViDA into the ground system and its connections to the other tools in the telemetry/telecommand chain are discussed.