International Space Station: Ground Segment
VEGA supports the International Space Station (ISS) through
ground segment AIV (Assembly, Integration and Verification) support
and operations validation planning.
Challenge
ESA’s Human Spaceflight Exploitation Operations team (MSM-EO)
manages the development of all aspects of the ground segment for
ESA’s contributions to the International Space Station (ISS), of
which the most important are the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) –
an unmanned cargo vehicle – and the Columbus laboratory. VEGA
provided AIV support.
In late 2001, as the ATV and Columbus control centre
developments (contracted to CNES and DLR respectively) were making
the transition from the study phase into full production, MSM-EO
identified the need for contractor support to manage the control
centre Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) activities. The
most urgent requirement was to support planning of System
Validation Tests (SVT) for ATV and Columbus – tests that will
connect the control centres to the flight systems prior to launch
in order to demonstrate that the ground segment can successfully
control the flight segment.
How VEGA helped
VEGA was chosen to provide the necessary AIV support because it
was able to offer consultants with the right mix of experience in
the area of ground systems integration and verification, with
specific relevance to the manned space programme. VEGA’s extensive
expertise in ground segment development and operations for
scientific and earth observation satellites was also a significant
factor.
Value delivered
VEGA’s contribution has grown from an initial contract to
address SVT planning and all areas of control centre AIV, to a team
supporting the full range of ground segment AIV and operations
validation planning:
- AIV of the ATV and Columbus control centres, including
day-to-day monitoring of AIV planning and progress
- SVT planning for ATV and Columbus, including management of the
execution of each test
- Support for planning the validation of all operations products
required by ATV and Columbus
- Co-ordination of overall MSM ground segment integration and
verification planning, including providing evidence of verification
results to NASA
- Support to major programme reviews