The Station Network Management Hub

Abstract

For closer cooperation within the space agencies of Europe, ESOC and GSOC have established a cooperation called “Technical Gateways” (TGWs) to provide mutual and tangible benefits in terms of expertise, efficiency and reliability as well as to enable the potential for technical integration of the Centres in the medium and long-term. For the Station Network Management Hub the following items were selected for development: - ESOC/GSOC Ground Station Cross-Support - Harmonisation of Station Operations, Procedures and Documentation etc. In the area of ESOC/GSOC ground station cross-support, integration of GSOC station in the ESOC network and ESOC stations in the GSOC network are planned on a TM/TC interface level. This includes agreements on SLE management, communications and security issues. It is planned for upcoming missions to verify these issues. Currently ground station network management is done on two different systems the first step in this area will be the setup for remote operations of the partners’ ground stations. This includes the functionality of a backup ground station management. To overcome the problems of space agency specific procedures and documentation, the hub will coordinate radiometric and pointing data input to CCSDS, the harmonisation of management plans, documentation, tests, simulations, anomaly reporting, availability reporting and utilisation measurements.