The success of Gaia depends on teamwork, and that includes ensuring that mission operations at ESOC run smoothly. Gaia requires a robust mission control system (MCS) to operate the satellite, support the flight control team and minimise operations complexity. One of the many industrial partners supporting Gaia has posted an informative, ‘behind-the-scenes’, look at how the mission control system was developed using more than just a little innovation and inspiration!

Fabian (in the back) has had a lot of fun leading the project to develop the Gaia MCS. Credit: Telespazio-VEGA Deutschland

Fabian (in the back) has had a lot of fun leading the project to develop the Gaia MCS. Credit: Telespazio VEGA Deutschland

Fabian Rother, Mission Control expert at Telespazio VEGA Deutschland, knows the problems of such missions.

“Although Gaia is not an interplanetary mission, we handled its MCS in a similar way. Interplanetary missions suffer if many commands have to be resent every time, even for routine operations. But instead of sending a command for a routine manoeuvre each time the satellite is visible to a ground station, for Gaia, regularly performed commands will be stored on the spacecraft.”

Full article via Telespazio VEGA Deutschland