Metop-SG Operations Concept: From Spacecraft Operations to Configuration of Onboard Autonomy

Abstract

The EPS-SG mission will be supported by three pairs of satellites (Metop SG A and B) instead of three single satellites as for EPS. One of the main objectives in the definition of the operations concept is to avoid a corresponding increase in staffing costs compared to EPS and this paper focusses on aspects of the operations concept which will help achieve this goal. The resulting operations concept is facilitated largely by a more modern ECSS PUS based command and control specification and the use of Position based Scheduling of commands, but also relies heavily on file based operations and maintenance of the on-board operational context (including Application Software) in non-volatile memory and accurate modelling on ground. As such, it represents a fundamental shift away from Spacecraft Operations and towards Configuration of Onboard Autonomy.A novel scheme developed for efficiently maintaining the On-board Position Schedule is presented in this paper, along with the methods which allow the Onboard Position Scheduler to be used for types of commanding which are only partially linked to the Orbital Position and the 412 Orbit repeat cycle of Metop-SG. The result is that more autonomy is transferred onboard and the majority of the available ground station passes can be just used for passively monitoring the Metop-SG spacecraft without any active involvement from controllers.This paper also presents the rationale for storing Operational Context and Onboard Software updates in non-volatile memory and how this will allow simplification of anomaly recovery operations, further minimising the workload of the Flight Control Team as well as mission outages. In particular, the advantages of having two Application Software Images at the level of instruments is described here.