DRDC-RDDC-2015-N043 September 2015 Preparation and Validation of Defence Research and Development Canada’s (DRDC) Microsatellite Ground Station Captain Ian Mok Defence R&D Canada Ottawa, 3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0Z4
[email protected] Budgets for traditional “big” space mission are generally higher in comparison to those of “microspace” missions. Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) used the Maritime Monitoring and Messaging Microsatellite (M3MSat) project [4, 7], a Canadian maritime surveillance satellite, to apply this low cost microspace approach [3] when building the primary Ground Station (GS). DRDC prepared a GS that will operate the microsatellite with a small operations team. Key to DRDC’s implementation of the GS was satellite control automation to conduct operations with M3MSat. This paper will document how DRDC designed, implemented, built, and validated their Mission Operations Centre (MOC) and GS as well as the training of their operators. I. INTRODUCTION staff, while maintaining a readiness for satellite operations, while retrofitting the aging GS. In preparation for the operation of a new microsatellite, M3MSat, DRDC stepped away from the II. BACKGROUND traditional big-space philosophy and applied the micro space approach when developing their GS and Mission One of the greater challenges that was tackled was MOC The satellite will carry an Automatic the number of operators available to support this Identification System (AIS) [2] payload in Low Earth mission. While the operational team consisted of six Orbit (LEO) and DRDC, with a 4.6m and 9.1m antenna, people for this mission, four of those were military was to host the primary GS.