Tools for describing the reference architecture for space data systems

I NTROD UCTlO N lnteroperability of space data systems is of great concern to Space Agencies because sharing or reusing interoperable resources among multiple projects and multiple Agencies can reduce the cost of developing and operating space data systems. However, an on-going problem is that each space data system often has a different architecture and therefore the elements of one system cannot be easily used by other systems. Moreover, the method of describing the architecture is usually different from system to system and it is sometimes difficult to even describe the problems associated with interoperability among systems.