CO2M Payload Data Handling Subsystem

Upcoming Space missions put new challenges in the domain of Space – Ground communication, in terms of higher downlink data rates & data volumes, and usage of less reliable communication links. These challenges, together with the goal to facilitate the Data Handling on Ground, pushed for the development and the usage of the File Based Operations (FBO) and protocols, like the CFDP, for automatic, selective retransmission of lost data. CO2M is the first Sentinels Mission to be launched, where the FBO and CFDP are implemented as per the Standards defined in the ESA Sentinel PUS-C Tailoring. Such protocols are used for the TC uplink, the Recorded HKTM downlink, and the Mission data downlink. The present paper deals with the consequent CO2M Satellite DHS peculiarities, in terms of architecture, data flow, and implemented Unit’s functionalities.