A Software Tool for Planning LEO Satellite Operations

For most satellites, the operation is a detailed process which requires careful planning by the ground operations team. For a typical Earth-observation satellite in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), the operation involves imaging operations, Attitude and Orbit Control Subsystem (AOCS) related operations, communications, routine telemetry monitoring and emergency procedures, to name a few. Specifically, the satellite requires continuous command and control operations throughout its lifetime to ensure it does not deviate from its intended orbit and adequately performs its imaging missions. If the satellite is a newly designed one, the operational workload may be considerably high (especially in the commissioning phase) depending on the customer requirements, complexity of the design, skill level of the team, past experience of the institution and so on. In this work, we present a software tool that supports the planning of communication and imaging operations throughout the life cycle of a typical Low-Earth Orbit imaging satellite. The tool predicts the orbit and attitude patterns of the satellite for a desired time window and presents the results in a couple of forms to support the planning process. It mainly consists of a simulation module and a graphical user interface.