The Way to Service-Oriented Architectures - Lessons Learned from Introducing HCC at GSOC

Abstract

With the project HCC, the German Space Operations Center (GSOC) is on its way to provide its capabilities as services and build ground segments for space operations in a service-oriented architecture. HCC has been first utilized in an operational environment in the context of sounding rockets, operated by Moraba, DLR's mobile rocket base, in 2022. After this successful prove of its proficiency, HCC is going to be introduced step by step in all the other fields of operations at GSOC: satellite operations, human space flight and experimental setups like the LUNA analogue in Cologne. In this paper, we share our experiences and findings on this journey. Overall, the change to service-oriented architecture is a great improvement. But the necessity to convert legacy systems into this new architecture, as well as guiding operations personnel to the new paradigms might be also a major effort. We present pitfalls and benefits and also ways to gradually adapt humans and systems in order to make such a transition as smooth and painless as possible.