Reducing the Cost of Spacecraft Ground Systems and Operations

In the late 1980s JPL reduced the cost of spacecraft ground systems by implementing the Space Flight Operations Center (SFOC). Over its 15-year history this system has had several names and incarnations. What it did was eliminate the practice of building each spacecraft’s ground system from scratch. SFOC provided a set of services which could be customized to support each spacecraft’s needs. SFOC built upon the CCSDS packet telemetry standard on packets. This allowed SFOC to provide services based on a standard.