The Design of a Highly Configurable, Reusable Operating System for Testbed Satellites

Quick testbed satellites, typically inexpensive, built in quantity, and designed to run customer specified experiments offer researchers the opportunity to test, in a relatively inexpensive manner, experiments in space. Likewise, quick testbed satellites offer companies the ability to prototype new products in a relatively short design cycle. The design of an operating system (OIS) for a quick testbed satellite is different from ordinary operating systems found on today's satellites. In the case of a typical satellite, the mission is specific and therefore the software on board is designed with that mission in mind. For a testbed, the satellite bus has been designed ahead of time in a few standard configurations. A researcher would select a bus that most satisfies his needs. Therefore, it is important to note that the experiments are not known up-front. Rather, interested researchers identify their experiments at a later time. Since there can be multiple researchers, the experiments may come in at various times prior to launch.