Bringing a Satellite into Operation

For the mission operations team it is an essential task to familiarize oneself with the ground segment infrastructure, the Mission Control System, its control consoles, databases etc. The ground operations team must be in the position to exercise all nominal and contingency operations for LEOP phase, the commissioning phase and the routine operations phase. Satellites are usually operated in two shifts per day. The A or prime team is the one which has already participated in the System Validation Tests and in verification of the S/C Flight Procedures. This team handles the critical operations sequences. The B or secondary team is subsequently trained up. This can comprise less experienced operations engineers or operations experts from other missions.