International Collaboration Makes a Deep Impact in Space

Home , CONTOUR, Deep Impact (spacecraft)

Main Focus

The following series of typical tests are considered : static load, modal survey, sine vibration, acoustic noise, random vibration, shock and electro- magnetic compatibility. Note that the architecture of the format of ISO/CD 19933 is in line with the overall guidelines of ISO/CD 17566, General test documentation, with the objective of generating a self-contained document. This latter document speci- fies the format of presentation of spacecraft test plan, test specification, procedure and report. These topics are combined in ISO/CD 19933 to form the comprehen- sive and compact launch environmental test report requested by launch vehicle service providers.

The benefits of standard formats International ISO meetings remind us perma- collaboration nently that the scientific language is universal. Despite their various technical cul- makes a deep tures and backgrounds, launch vehicle impact in space and spacecraft experts from Brazil, Chi- na, Europe, Japan, Russia and the USA have always come to a consensus on the by Dr. John D. Kelley, NASA (Top) ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. (Insert) Deep many technical subjects that are discussed impact from Rosetta. © Courtesy of NASA at length during the working group meet- Headquarters Program Executive ings. The group first raises the issues of for Communications and Data common concepts and similar methods Standards in the Office of Space Impact spacecraft, space telescopes and then examines specificities from indi- Operations Hubble, Chandra, Spitzer, and SWAS, vidual entities, in order to decide to what NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), n July 4th of this year, space extent they can be integrated in future and even the European Space Agency’s enthusiasts around the world standards. This technique enables stand- own comet chaser Rosetta. The use of scanned televisions, computer ard formats to be adopted on a worldwide O CCSDS-developed standards on these monitors and the sky hoping to catch a basis as they are published. missions, and on others recording the glimpse of NASA’s Deep Impact, the kind As a result, spacecraft operators event, also made Deep Impact the most of action-packed event in space that most and manufacturers have a very efficient standardized, CCSDS-intensive event of us here on Earth have only seen in a way of exchanging technical informa- in space to date. movie theatre. But as onlookers await- tion with launch vehicle service provid- CCSDS was established in ed a sign that the mission’s Volkswagen ers. With only one standard document, 1982 by ten of the world’s most influ- Beetle-sized impactor had indeed met its spacecraft operators can address launch ential space agencies as a multi-nation- target comet, they, along with ISO and requests to several launch agencies at the al forum focused on the discussion of the Consultative Committee for Space same time, whereas with a unique stand- common space communications issues. Data Systems (CCSDS), were making ard format, spacecraft manufacturers are A pathfinder in international collabora- a bit of history themselves. in a position to control technical inter- tion in space since its inception, CCSDS Individuals on the ground, a faces with the various launch service quickly grew into a global organization fleet of space telescopes, and dozens providers they are working with. dedicated to the development of space of ground observatories located world- Obviously this process results in data communications solutions. wide made Deep Impact one of the a substantial reduction of workload and As international cooperation in world’s largest astronomical observa- associated cost for everyone, and also space has grown over the years, so has tion campaigns ever. Observers with minimizes the risk of errors, omissions the need for international standardiza- communications enhanced by ISO- and misunderstandings. tion. To meet this need, subcommittee SC CCSDS standards included the Deep 13, Space data and information transfer

20 ISO Focus October 2005 Aerospace : the new frontier

systems, of ISO’s technical committee associated with the exploration of Mars. ISO/TC 20, Aircraft and space vehicles, CCSDS has produced more than thirty was formed to address the standardiza- ISO standards, with another sixteen cur- screens of the control room at NASA’s tion of data/information systems asso- rently under review. Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, ciated with space instruments, vehicles This ongoing cooperative rela- California at 5:52:24 Universal Time. and supporting ground facilities. tionship between ISO and CCSDS pro- The European Space Agency’s comet CCSDS has maintained a close vides a valuable mechanism that ensures chaser Rosetta was one of those with a working relationship with ISO through information sharing on space communi- front row seat in space. TC 20 / SC 13. The value of this relation- cations technologies continues to occur To help alleviate the concern ship is measured in part by the success on a global scale. This month, ISO/TC that flying debris from the collision of multi-mission, multi-agency space 20/SC 13 and the CCSDS Management might put at risk valuable data collected events like the one focused on NASA’s Council will convene their bi-annual by the Deep Impact spacecraft, many of Deep Impact mission, and the influence meetings in Washington, D.C. on the the world’s space agencies collaborated of the relationship evidenced by the heels of a historic summer in space for on a network of both space and ground- increasing number of CCSDS-compat- both NASA and the world. based observatories to record the Deep ible products developed by the commer- While countless onlookers Impact event. Enabled by some of the cial space industry. But perhaps the most hoped to witness Deep Impact, the his- same ISO-CCSDS standards, key observer important indicator of the success of this tory-making event with the Hollywood Rosetta and the Deep Impact spacecraft relationship thus far is the steady rise in name, only a privileged few saw the bright were able to send data back to Earth in acceptance of ISO-CCSDS standards by flash of light that also appeared on the near-real time during the event. But it mission planners worldwide. was Rosetta with its powerful remote- To date mission planners on sensing instruments that was best able more than 300 national and multi- “CCSDS has produced more to monitor the target comet continu- national missions to space have chosen than thirty ISO standards, ously over an extended period of time, to fly using these standards, including providing researchers with some of the NASA’s Deep Impact mission, ESA’s with another sixteen pre-impact and follow-up observations Rosetta mission, and every spacecraft currently under review.” essential to a successful scientific out-

Artist Pat Rawlings gives us a look at the moment of impact and the forming of the crater.

forth by NASA’s Deep Impact team, come for the Deep Impact mission. but much of the scientific story may Currently on its own 7.1 bil- still lie in the gigabytes of data sent lion kilometre journey to Comet 67P/ back by Rosetta and other observers. Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta is In particular, an analysis of data sent one of ESA’s most demanding missions back from the Deep Impact spacecraft in terms of ground station requirements. may reveal what lies beneath the sur- During critical mission phases, Rosetta © NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD face of the comet and perhaps even uses the data communications services This image shows the initial ejecta that shed light on the origins of the Solar of NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN), resulted when NASA’s Deep Impact probe System. To minimize the risk of losing the largest and most sensitive scientific collided with comet Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. this valuable data and to ensure a relia- telecommunications system in the world. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, ble bidirectional flow of data occurred, DSN stations use ISO-accepted CCSDS July 4) . the Deep Impact mission chose to use Space Link Extension (SLE) services to and costly. SLE services extend exist- one of CCSDS’ newest internationally facilitate interoperability for both NASA ing CCSDS-developed ISO standards accepted standards, the CCSDS File user facilities and international custom- for space links to include the exchange Delivery Protocol (CFDP). ers alike. They also require that space- of spacecraft data between ground ele- craft they support, like Rosetta, use the ments, and offer cost savings potential same standards for both forward and through the use of common equipment return data traffic. at ground stations as well as a standard In the past, tracking, telemetry user interface. and command cross-support between International partners collabo- ESA and NASA meant installing and rating through CCSDS first looked at the operating user equipment on the pro- development of SLE services in the ear- vider side, which was time consuming ly 1990s. As development of the recom- mendation matured in the mid-1990s, a groundbreaking decision was made by About the author the ESA INTEGRAL mission to adopt SLE for cross-support from NASA’s Dr. John D. DSN stations, which accelerated SLE- The Deep Impact icon shows the partnership Kelley is the among the University of Maryland, Jet NASA Head- related activities within CCSDS to com- Propulsion Laboratory and Ball Aerospace & quarters Program pletion. Technologies Corp. © NASA Executive for Eventually, NASA’s CONTOUR Communications mission, developed by the Johns Hop- The world’s leading space com- and Data Stand- kins University Applied Physics Labora- munications experts working within ards in the tory, would be the first mission to launch CCSDS collaborated at bi-annual work- Office of Space using SLE services in July 2002. But ing group sessions, similar to those that Operations. since that first pioneering step towards took place last month in Atlanta, Geor- With decades of the use of CCSDS SLE by the INTE- gia (USA), to first standardize CFDP. leadership experience in the development GRAL mission, SLE has become the They defined the protocol according to of information systems and operations predominant international standard sup- space file transfer requirements artic- programmes for scientific data, communications and engineering, Dr. Kelley serves porting interoperability between mission ulated by CCSDS participating space in dual roles within the CCSDS as both user facilities and ground station facil- agencies, including those of NASA, the Chair of its Management Council and ities owned and managed by different the European Space Agency (ESA), the as its Secretariat. In addition, Dr. Kelley is organizations. British National Space Centre (BNSC), the Secretariat of ISO TC 20 / SC 13. By facilitating cross-support the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales As the NASA and United States represent- between missions and agencies, SLE (CNES) and the Japan Aerospace Explo- ative for Data and Information Standards, is a truly international standard in both ration Agency (JAXA). he heads a delegation focused on space development and use. It has allowed The first US mission to com- communications standards that enhance NASA’s DSN to play an important role mit to this technology was the NASA / interoperability, reduce costs and promote in the success of ESA’s Rosetta mission, Johns Hopkins University Applied Phys- the use of shared space applications. and in turn, has allowed ESA’s Rosetta ics Laboratory MESSENGER mission Dr. Kelley holds a PhD in Public Adminis- tration, a Masters of Public Administration mission to play an important role in the to the planet Mercury, but Deep Impact and a Masters of Science from the Univer- success of NASA’s Deep Impact. was the first NASA JPL mission to use sity of Southern California, as well as a The July 4 th impact certain- CFDP for data transfer from ground to Bachelors of Science from the U.S. Naval ly marked a high point in a seven-year spacecraft (uplink) and from spacecraft Academy. engineering and navigation effort put to ground (downlink).

22 ISO Focus October 2005 Aerospace : the new frontier

The decision to use CFDP paid With space programmes around off. During Deep Impact’s cruise phase, the world facing budget cuts and resource CFDP uplinked thousands of files to the allocation, CFDP, like SLE discussed makes it critical to successful commu- spacecraft, including new flight software previously, also benefits missions by nications on deep space missions like loads, commands and tables. CFDP also providing cost savings potential. CFDP Deep Impact, and will make it highly successfully downlinked well over a hun- allows an instrument to record an obser- applicable to future lunar exploration dred thousand files during this time. vation in a file and transmit the file to missions and missions to Mars. During the encounter phase, earth without having to consider wheth- The CCSDS became a pioneer CFDP downlinked approximately 10 206 er or not physical transmission is possi- in international cooperation in space by files from the Deep Impact spacecraft, ble at that time. Sequestering outbound providing an environment that fosters or about 2.4 Gigabytes of data and data management and transmission plan- collaboration and information-sharing images. Files were uplinked in “ relia- ning functions within CFDP can simplify between the world’s space agencies. ble ” mode, which ensured a complete flight and ground software, which reduc- Now a model of international collabo- and accurate file transfer. Files were es mission costs – an important benefit ration, CCSDS participation includes downlinked from both spacecraft in to today’s lower cost missions. space communications experts from “unreliable” mode to save bandwidth Nevertheless, the most striking 32 space agencies and 28 countries, all due to the large volume. benefit remains CFDP’s ability to main- committed to developing the best engi- CFDP enabled the bidirection- tain high data transfer reliability even neered space communications recom- al flow of this important data between across interplanetary distances which mendations in the world. Deep Impact spacecraft and Earth using powerful forward error correction cod- ing that minimizes data loss in com- munication across deep space. CFDP also supports optional “ acknowledged ” modes of operation during which data loss is automatically detected and a retransmission of the lost data is automatically requested. This design allows CFDP to function reliably despite the long data propagation delays and fre- quent, lengthy interruptions in connec- tivity experienced in deep space by missions like Deep Impact.

This artist’s animation depicts one of the most “ Through its partnership widely accepted theories pertaining to the with ISO, CCSDS will move origin of comets. The Deep Impact poster. © NASA forward in supporting the © NASA/JPL-Caltech Through its partnership with efforts of NASA, ESA, and ISO, CCSDS will move forward in sup- other space agencies.” porting the efforts of NASA, ESA, and other space agencies in using joint com- While NASA JPL’s CFDP team munications assets for future missions worked closely with the flight software through the continued development of team to ensure that CFDP performed new protocols that advance both commer- correctly, CFDP was also integrated into cial and governmental interoperability in NASA JPL’s multi-mission ground system space. New possibilities for cooperation for use by future missions. Incorporating will continue to emerge as delegates to an internationally-accepted standard file both TC 20/SC 13 and the CCSDS Man- transfer protocol, like CFDP, into NASA agement Council remain committed to JPL’s multi-mission ground system pro- growing strong relations between their vides missions with a way to get data, like respective national space agencies and large image files for example, faster and those of other delegates. more reliably than by having to devel- Comet Tempel’s silhouette – This false-colour image shows comet Tempel 1 about 50 op their own software in order to create minutes after Deep Impact’s probe smashed products from the telemetry stream, as into its surface. required in the past. © NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

ISO Focus October 2005 23