Chinese Lunar missions Chang'E-1 and Chang'E-2 and the ESOC support: an example of systems interoperability

Abstract

Both ESOC and BACC have operated satellites successfully for many years using their own systems. ESOC were contracted to investigate possible ground station tracking support for China's first lunar probe, Chang'E-1. BACC, China's lunar exploration project mission control center, and ESOC were therefore faced with the problem of connecting two systems: the BACC missions control system and the ESOC groundstation network ESTRACK; this had to happen within the relative short period of one year. Fortunately ESOC had already provided cross support to other agencies such as NASA and JAXA and the proposal from ESOC was to provide the Chang'E-1 support based on CCSDS standards and therefore to provide systems interoperability without modifying the BACC system and the ESOC system. All interfaces would be based on CCSDS standards and each partner would then be responsible to bridge the CCSDS defined interfaces into their own system. This paper describes how this in practice was achieved, which CCSDS standards were utilized and how each party handled their interfaces. Test, validation and training is in this context very important. This is also explained and finally the actual support is described. The paper will also provide the lessons learned from this cross support and finally the paper will give the outlook of future cooperation between BACC and ESOC and the utilisation of the CCSDS standards for these supports.

KARI and NASA JSC Collaborative Endeavors for Joint Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter Flight Dynamics Operations: Architecture, Challenges, Successes, and Lessons Learned

“…For example, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s Kaguya [22] and Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)'s Chandrayaan mission [23] involved a joint effort with Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the Orbit Determination (OD). Additionally, China's Chang'e missions collaborated with the European Space Operations Center (ESOC) for telemetry and tracking services [24]. In recent years, the significance of space exploration through international collaboration has been greatly emphasized.…”