The Skills Gap in Space Operations

Kurzfassung

All knowledge has an expiry date and all expertise areas are shifting constantly. Spacecraft and ground systems look entirely different compared to twenty or thirty years ago. What once was the domain of governments and electrical and signal engineers is now influenced by software developers and new space players. In the field of satellite operations, skills gaps appear in several shapes: Startups in the market are typically young and rarely bring in operational (OPS) experience. Spacecraft operations has only recently become a subject in university programs. Customers, agencies and suppliers decide about or contribute to spacecraft design, OPS concepts and tools, but have not been involved with control centers and their demands on operability. Experienced personnel face a rapid evolution of new tools, spacecraft designs and more complex missions requiring new approaches. High-value missions with long project durations lead to extended phases of routine operations with the inevitable amount of personnel exchange and knowledge attrition. And finally, the need for expertise diversification in larger control centers. To address all those needs, DLR’s German Space Operations Center (GSOC) has installed the GSOC Operations Academy. This institution offers highly diversified trainings for all levels of expertise. The scope covers in-depth topics from all mission parts ranging from ground station design, mission planning, operations during launch, and collision avoidance. The courses are also chosen such that their format matches the variety of topics, resulting in a multitude of lecture courses, practical exercises and simulations. The topics are set up on demand to individually address each group of trainees needs, i.e. to intensify their knowledge on a specialized topic or to support new employees in mastering the steep learning curves of mission operations. Even though focus is set on educating employees of GSOC to create a highly capable and versatile mission control center, it is part of GSOC’s vision to include academia, the private sector and partnering space agencies. The Spacecraft Operations Course covers a huge variety of important aspects of spaceflight missions. It has been a success for both universities and commercial customers. This paper will present the underlying concepts and highlight examples of these ambitious academy programs, both inside and outside of GSOC. It will demonstrate the success in closing the skills gap in spacecraft operations.