What is it about?
This paper describes the way the Cluster-II mission implemented the tools and interfaces required to perform Multiple Spacecraft per Aperture (MSPA) operations with the spacecraft fleet and the results obtained.
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Why is it important?
MSPA operations were originally developed to track multiple spacecraft located at distant locations (inter-planetary) because their angular separation would be negligible. For spacecraft orbiting the Earth it is more difficult to have more than one within the very narrow beamwidth. Nevertheless the mission has identified such opportunities and implemented a simplified operational approach that allowed saving tracking time and costs
Perspectives
In order to make best use of the opportunities presented to track multiple spacecraft we had to ensure that the operations would be transparent to our network operator, such as not in incur in additional costs. Therefore the whole process of planning and configuring the station had to be fully automated. This was achieved in very reduced amount of time and with a very elegant solution. This activity is in line with a number of measures put in place to streamline operations for a 16 year old mission, that is doing is best to stay alive, effective and relevant for at least another half a decade
Bruno Teixeira de Sousa
European Space Agency
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cluster Multiple Spacecraft Per Aperture operations, May 2016, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA),
DOI: 10.2514/6.2016-2639.
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