Session
Weekend Session 2: Missions at Scale - Research & Academia
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
The University of Georgia’s (UGA) Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL) is developing two CubeSat missions, each with ambitious operational goals that require accounting for a large number of variables. Given the inherent difficulty of fulfilling these requirements without complex onboard autonomous decision-making software, an automated ground-based solution is desirable. To meet this demand, SSRL is implementing an operational pipeline to effectively integrate the newly authored Multi-aspect Automated Satellite Scheduler (MASS) into both missions. MASS is administered and tested by SSRL’s Mission Operations and Flight Software teams. MASS implements a complex decisional tree informed by CubeSat operational requirements, and determines operational schedules while accounting for internal and external variables. SSRL’s Mission Operations team will analyze and verify output schedules to prevent procedural errors or unforeseen anomalies. SSRL’s Flight Software team will utilize ground station software and pipelines to automate conversion of output schedules to satellite-readable formats ready for uplink and automate downlinking telemetry to the MASS program to improve prediction accuracy. This operational pipeline and the MASS program are intended to be mission-agnostic and available to all CubeSat operations.
Development and Implementation of Automated Planning in CubeSats
Utah State University, Logan, UT
The University of Georgia’s (UGA) Small Satellite Research Laboratory (SSRL) is developing two CubeSat missions, each with ambitious operational goals that require accounting for a large number of variables. Given the inherent difficulty of fulfilling these requirements without complex onboard autonomous decision-making software, an automated ground-based solution is desirable. To meet this demand, SSRL is implementing an operational pipeline to effectively integrate the newly authored Multi-aspect Automated Satellite Scheduler (MASS) into both missions. MASS is administered and tested by SSRL’s Mission Operations and Flight Software teams. MASS implements a complex decisional tree informed by CubeSat operational requirements, and determines operational schedules while accounting for internal and external variables. SSRL’s Mission Operations team will analyze and verify output schedules to prevent procedural errors or unforeseen anomalies. SSRL’s Flight Software team will utilize ground station software and pipelines to automate conversion of output schedules to satellite-readable formats ready for uplink and automate downlinking telemetry to the MASS program to improve prediction accuracy. This operational pipeline and the MASS program are intended to be mission-agnostic and available to all CubeSat operations.
