TET-1 SATELLITE OPERATIONS LESSONS LEARNED: PREPARATION OF MISSION, LEOP AND ROUTINE OPERATIONS OF 11 DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTS

Abstract

TET-1 is a small experimental satellite with 11 different space experiments on-board. Built by German space industry it’s a satellite dedicated to verification of newly developed space hardware and software. The German Space Operations Center (GSOC) as part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is responsible for satellite operations. Development of space and ground segment started back in 2006, with a scheduled launch in the second half of 2011, expected in December. Keeping this in mind we perform a survey of mission preparation activities focusing on first the reuse of existing GSOC mission infrastructure and second the specific adaption’s necessary for TET-1. Lessons learned are compiled with respect to applicability for other missions, especially with respect to flight procedure development and satellite commanding. Operations team training started in 2010 with different training and simulation sessions. Engineering models and the flight model itself have been used; no dedicated software simulator has been available. Advantages and disadvantages of this approach are discussed. After a concise conclusion of preparation of LEOP and commissioning sequences that are commanded from ground control center a short introduction to the activation sequence of the satellite is given. This sequence is a set of predefined commands executed after spacecraft activation at separation. Discussion is extended to our planned routine operations concept for 11 different payloads. We conclude with a collection of space segment design decisions with the biggest (positive as well as negative) impact on ground segment design and subsequent operations.