A commercial procedure execution engine completing the command chain of a university satellite simulation infrastructure

Abstract The Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart has a small satellite programme consisting of currently four missions. The first of these missions is the Flying Laptop , the purpose of which are technology evaluation, Earth observation and scientific measurement. Since the budget for a University satellite programme is obviously limited, engineering models of the entire spacecraft are to be avoided. In order to keep technical risks at a low level, a simulation based development approach was selected instead which already has been applied as proven technology in industry. The Institute of Space Systems applies the system simulation infrastructure Model - based Development and Verification Environment (MDVE) developed by Astrium as real-time simulator which is commanded via a SCOS-2000 mission control system. Easy commanding of such an entire simulated S/C, respectively, later the hardware in AIT phase, is mandatory especially for students only working with the equipment for a typical 6 months thesis period. Therefore the infrastructure setup was completed by the test procedure editor and execution engine Manufacturing and Operations Information System (MOIS) which for the first time provides a complete command/execution/control chain in the programme.