Innovative Technologies for Space Asset Management

ABSTRACT: The Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) Mission System (JMS) needs to process situational awareness (SA) data from many sources and incorporates the resulting assessments to perform automated, intelligent tasking of space assets. SA and automated resource management (RM) for space assets take a significant amount of infrastructure and layers of technologies working in concert to be effective in a spacecraft ground system for cyberspace operations. To perform effective SA and RM, applications must interface many types of data sources, correlate that data to specific conditions, display that information in ways an operator can understand it, and use it to make intelligent RM decisions. Emergent Space Technologies, Inc. is proposing to use an expert system to gain more SA of a satellite ground system and to enable better automated RM of space assets. The solution will be a service-oriented architecture (SOA) platform that will enable system integrators to easily construct SA displays that exploit existing sources of space asset data and to manage the assets using expert system technologies. The SA displays and expert system will enable end users to better manage the space assets in a more intelligent and effective manner. BENEFIT: The ultimate goal of this project is to integrate the SOA platform with situational awareness (SA) and resource management (RM) capabilities into JMS and ORS operational systems. Emergent has laid the groundwork for implementing new innovations that can make it to market significantly quicker than those starting a project without the same infrastructure. The innovation being tackled in this case is the application of expert system technologies to ground system operations. Emergent is also looking to commercialize the SOA platform to other government and commercial ground systems. We are currently working with the Goddard Space Flight Center, Ames Research Center, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on ground system technologies and plan to solicit the SOA platform to every upcoming NASA mission. Current NASA missions we are working with or soliciting include the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) at JPL and the Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF) at GSFC. MSL is the next Mars rover mission and the FDF is responsible for TDRSS space network operations and orbital and attitude products for many of the GSFC missions. We also look to streamline and automate operations for existing missions that are looking to reduce operations overhead or further empower current operators. Emergent is also looking to market the SOA platform to commercial satellite providers, such as the upcoming Iridium NEXT project to replenish the current constellation of Iridium satellites.