Evolution of Earth Satellite Multimission Flight Operations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Operating Earth-orbiting satellites has historically been a work-intensive and relatively expensive undertaking. Personnel managing the mission and flight operations tasks typically employed a 24-hour/7-day work week to ensure a satellite or instrument achieved its objectives and that unexpected anomalies could be safely and expediently addressed. These issues were compounded by the fact that limitations in both satellite and ground system design constrained their overall autonomy and reliability. Progress in both ground computing and satellite avionics engineering has mitigated many of these past shortcomings, and satellite project teams are now challenged with how best to develop and implement their flight operational mission phase in consideration of these advancements. Our project teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have employed several National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) / JPL systems engineering management processes to successfully design and operate a moderately sized on-site multimission satellite operations facility. This paper provides a brief overview of the history, overall approach, and systems engineering principles that were applied at JPL to accomplish this goal. These include the development of mission requirements and methodology used to verify and validate ground system requirements, the sizing and scaling of a capable but efficient multimission architecture and facility, and the logistical considerations in the physical and data security measures needed to protect these operational assets. Our development task chronicle also provides a unique view of how select generic engineering principles were used for a relatively specific but broadly relevant aerospace application. In addition, it emphasizes that budget and schedule restricted this development effort and the approach taken to build the facility was not necessarily “better” but “good enough.” These insights may help provide an appreciation of the engineering trades and potential pitfalls involved with implementing flight operations systems for small/moderately sized satellite missions, and the methods used to address problems that inevitably occur. Those evaluating or participating in a “make/buy” decision for their satellite project operational phase may also benefit from both the processes and lessons learned from our overall experience.