Reusable experiment controllers, case studies

Congress has given NASA and the science community a reality check. The tight and ever shrinking budgets are trimming the fat from many space science programs. No longer can a Principal Investigator (PI) afford to waste development dollars on re‐inventing spacecraft controllers, experiment/payload controllers, ground control systems, or test sets. Inheritance of the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) from one program to another is not a significant re‐use of technology to develop a science mission in these times. Reduction of operational staff and highly autonomous experiments are needed to reduce the sustaining cost of a mission. The re‐use of an infrastructure from one program to another is needed to truly attain the cost and time savings required. Interface and Control Systems, Inc. (ICS) has a long history of re‐usable software. Navy, Air Force, and NASA programs have benefited from the re‐use of a common control system from program to program. Several standardization efforts in the AIAA have adopted the S...