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 The TIMED spacecraft launched on December 7, 2001 at 7:07 a.m. PST out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., aboard a Delta II launch vehicle with the Jason-1 spacecraft. The second of the two spacecraft jettisoned from the rocket, TIMED reached its orbit approximately 2 hours and 5 minutes after launch. Photo courtesy of NASA/The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) |
Where People Cannot Go - Experiments in Remote Space
On Earth, scientists can perform experiments in a laboratory or at a field site. But scientific experiments in space must often be performed in places where people cannot go. These experiments are carried out using unmanned robot spacecraft. Engineers and scientists in a control center on Earth send messages over thousands (or even millions) of kilometers to instruct the robot spacecraft on how to conduct an investigation. The spacecraft forwards these commands to its scientific instruments and collects experimental results in the form of digital data that is radioed back to Earth for analysis.Only a few organizations have the people, facilities, and experience to carry out all of the steps in this process. LASP is one of a few. Its Mission Operations and Information Systems (MO&IS) Division has specialists who assemble and maintain the computer and communications systems and who create the software to perform these tasks. Others oversee the day-to-day operation of spacecraft and instruments and the processing, analysis, distribution, and archiving of the collected data.
 SME |
SME - A Successful First Mission
The MO&IS Division was formed in 1979 for a mission conceived by LASP scientists - the Solar Mesosphere Explorer (SME). LASP engineers built all of the instruments and mission operations systems for the SME. LASP was also given the responsibility of operating the spacecraft after its launch in October 1981. This was a rare opportunity - until then, almost all NASA satellites were operated by NASA itself. The result was a highly successful mission, with SME making observations for over seven years - much longer than initially planned.LASP Students - Rigorous Training, Real-life Experience
At LASP, undergraduate and graduate students work side by side with scientists and engineers to design and conduct space science missions. In fact, within the MO&IS Division there are nearly as many student employees as professional staff emebers. Thorough training contributes to the student experience at LASP. Those who wish to participate in spacecraft operations, for example, must go through a rigorous summer-long training program and a battery of certification examinations. As employees, students plan science observation sequences, monitor spacecraft performance, create software tools for data analysis, and more. The knowledge and experience these students gain at LASP make them highly successful candidates for professional positions, and their contributions to LASP missions are important components of LASP's success.- Planning and scheduling the sequence of activities to be performed by the spacecraft and its instruments
- Converting the planned activity sequence into a string of command messages to be sent to the spacecraft and verifying that the commands won't cause harm to the spacecraft or instruments
- Calculating the position of the spacecraft for each moment in time and determining the precise orientation of the spacecraft and the pointing of its instruments
- Setting up communication links between the spacecraft and control center through specialized satellite tracking facilities located around the world
- Monitoring the health and status of the spacecraft and isntruments during a communications session and sending command messages to the spacecraft
- Gathering and organizing the data radioed back from the spacecraft
- Processing and analysing the data
- Distributing data to the scientific community
- Archiving the data - scientific data sets collected from space may be valuable to scientists for decades, so great care is taken to preserve them
 NASA's ICESat spacecraft is operated from the LASP mission operations center Photo courtesy of NASA/JPL/Caltech |
Missions at Work - The MO&IS Division Today
Since SME the MO&IS Division has operated six more spacecraft; two were launched in 2003. It is currently operating or preparing to operate 11 scientific instruments built by LASP's Engineering Division. LASP's Space Technology Building contains the Mission Operations Center, designed specifically for these activities. It includes two spacecraft control rooms, several instrument operations rooms, a computer and communications center, and special facilities for use by engineers and scientists during launches and other critical mission phases.The MO&IS Division is also a major developer of software for space mission operations. For example, LASP's Operations and Science Instrument Support (OASIS) command and control software is one of the most widely used software packages in the world for testing and operating spacecraft and space science instruments. NASA, the Department of Defense, numerous commercial aerospace companies, and other universities use LASP software.
Many special tasks must be performed in the LASP control center to carry out a space science mission:
Related LASP Projects:
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