New Col-CC Operations Concept and New Challenges

Abstract

On 15 January 2014 the Columbus Flight Control Team implemented the New Operations Concept after a short term preparation phase in the second half of 2013. The new setup consists of two 24/7 positions Col- FD and STRATOS support by several 8/5 positions like COSMO and COMET as well as the Eurocom. This new operations concept has been established in short timeframe in parallel to the ongoing crosscertification of the DMS and Systems team members to STRATOS. Due to the short preparation phase the new setup has to be improved and fine-tuned will already in use together with updating the relevant ops products. It is planned to finalize the transition phase by mid of 2014 which will allow providing a first experience of the new setup. In parallel to these big setup changes of the FCT a lot of challenges are waiting for the team. In January 2014 the next on-board software upgrade – Cycle 14 – has been successfully performed. The preparation for the next increment 39/40 is in full swing especially the preparation for the “Blue Dot” mission of the German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. During this mission many new payloads will be brought to the ISS and many experiments will be performed in Columbus.