Nanosatellites

19 I-4cMission Operations

Chantal Cappelletti

Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

19.1 Introduction

The term “mission operations” is used to refer to all activities required to operate a spacecraft and its payloads. Thus, mission operations are strictly related to mission success, which can be defined as the achievement of mission goals, or in other terms, can be considered as quantity, quality, and availability of delivered mission products and services within a given cost envelope.

To achieve mission success, it is essential to have a clear definition of the mission goals since the beginning. What is necessary to perform, how to operate the satellite, how much data per week should be downloaded, and so on are requirements that should be well defined since the first phases of the mission design. A wrong definition of goals will result in increased mission costs, time, and complexity, and in reduced chances of success of mission.

Designing and launching a satellite mission is a long and complex process that covers the definition, design, production, verification, validation, postlaunch operations, and postoperational activities, involving both ground segment and space segment elements. To ensure mission success, it is not enough just to complete all these single phases with success. More than that, it is necessary to have a close link between all the mission design phases and between segments. The mission operator is the key person to ensure the ...