SOPS: The science operations planning system for the first ESA lunar mission SMART-1

One of the major tasks of the SMART-1 Science and Technology Operation Coordination of the European Space Agency is planning and coordinating the operational activities of the scientific payloads on SMART-1. To fulfil the scientific objectives of this mission and to achieve an optimal scientific output, it is necessary to analyse the possible science opportunities in each phase of the mission and to select and prioritize the operations of the scientific payloads with respect to the corresponding scientific goals. The Science Operations Planning System, SOPS, is the name of a set of new, generic software tools, which is being developed at the Research and Scientific Support Department of ESA for this purpose and is being currently used on Smart-1. It will help the science operation engineers and the payload teams by providing them with tools and information to ease and speed the process of decision making and planning. SOPS is composed of two major groups of components: The first group, the so called science operations knowledge base, provides the infrastructure to store all the relevant information about the operations of scientific payloads and various sophisticated interfaces to access this information through remote computers. The second group consists of a number of tools and clients, which access and use the information, contained in the knowledge base, to carry out different tasks such as analyzing/visualizing the possible science opportunities for scientific payloads, planning the communication passes and payload observations, archiving performed payload operations and generating interface documents and files for other existing planning tools at RSSD and for the flight control team. © 2006 by European Space Agency, ESA. VEGA Group PLC.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

ESA's SMART-1 science planning concept and its evolution throughout the mission

SMART-1 is the first ESA lunar mission and was primarily built to test a novel solarelectrical propulsion system and a set of miniaturized instruments during its long cruise phase en route to the Moon. Nevertheless, possessing a handful of advanced scientific instruments, it was able to become an important science mission after Moon arrival at the end of 2004. The Science planning concept, being first drawn from a generic concept devised in ESA's Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) for all ESA planetary missions, had to be slightly modified due to the very special nature of this project. Being the first of a series of ESA low cost missions, the tight budget directed SMART-1 to use planning tools developed by bigger ESA planetary missions. This approach made powerful tools available for SMART-1 that wouldn't be possible otherwise, however their development was not always guided by SMART-1 and as a consequence essential developments had to be implemented in parallel to the routine mission phase. The second strong constraint on the planning comes from the fact that only spare time from other missions is available for SMART-1 communications. This creates extra difficulties on the mission planning, as ground station availability is only known one week before the spacecraft pointing requests are frozen. The targeted oriented nature of the mission, and the operational constraints imposed by the communications passes makes it impossible to make a solid plan much in advance. The short time frames to prepare operations and the evolving tools, guided the SMART-1 Science Operations Coordination Centre (STOC) to develop a flexible science planning concept where it should be possible to respond quick and adapt almost immediately tool evolutions. In order to achieve the goals proposed the STOC had to choose a centralised approach, where experiment teams provide the scientific goals and the operations needed to achieve such goals. The STOC then has to identify where in the mission the operations to achieve the desired science are available and propose a high level operational timeline to the experiment teams. This centralised approach and identification of valid science opportunities based on science goals decreases considerably the number of iterations needed in a planning cycle and as a consequence the planning time, making it possible to match the SMART-1 time constraints. This paper will describe the SMART-1 planning concept, its evolution, and the impact such evolution had on the planned operations, and consequently science return. © 2006 by VEGA Group PLC. and the European Space Agency.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Smart-1 science operations: Experiences and recommendations from ESA's first lunar mission

The European Space Agency's Smart-1 spacecraft has been in orbit around the Moon since February 2005. The Smart-1 Science and Technology Operations Coordination Centre (STOC) for ESA's first lunar mission is based within the Planetary Missions Division, making it the first in a series of interplanetary missions that will have their Science Operations Centre based in ESA. This small team of science operations engineers is responsible for proposing and coordinating all of the payload operations based on an established set of science-themes, prioritised targets and desired observation conditions identified in advance of the mission by the Smart-1 instrument scientists. This paper will summarise the initial goals of Smart-1, then reflect on the achievements and setbacks experienced within each phase of the mission. It will highlight the pro-active planning approach adopted by the STOC, which aims to optimise the science return of the Smart-1 mission. The lessons learned from this approach will be addressed, leading to recommendations for future missions from the perspective of the science operations manager. © 2006 by VEGA. ESA.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

SMART-1 lunar mission: Operations close to moon impact

SMART-1 is the first of the European Space Agency's Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology. It demonstrated orbit raising from geostationary transfer orbit to the Moon using solar-electric propulsion. In November 2004 SMART-1 successfully manoeuvred into Moon orbit. Since February 2005 SMART-1 has been in its operational orbit performing scientific operations that were interrupted only by a one-month reboost phase in September 2005 to re-optimize the orbit. Without orbit control, natural degradation of the orbit causes the spacecraft to impact the Moon on the far side by midaugust 2006. With orbit control, the impact date and location can be influenced such an Earth observation campaign can be organized to observe it. This paper will outline how the ground segment at ESOC (Darmstadt, Germany) and the ESA Directorate of Scientific Programmes at ESTEC (Noordwijk, The Netherlands) are preparing for operations close to Moon impact. It will highlight how the orbit evolves towards the end of the mission, discuss how the different spacecraft sub-systems are affected by the changing orbit and close proximity of the Moon, and suggest ideas for special operations at low altitude and around the time of impact. © 2006 by European Space Agency (ESA).link_to_subscribed_fulltex

SMART-1 highlights and relevant studies on early bombardment and geological processes on rocky planets

We present results from SMART-1 science and technology payload, in the context of the Nobel symposium on 'Physics of Planetary Systems'. SMART-1 is Europe' first lunar mission (Foing et al 2000 LPSC XXXI Abstract #1677 (CDROM); Foing et al 2001 Earth, Moon Planets 85-86 523-31; Marini et al 2002 Adv. Space Res. 30 1895-900; Racca et al 2001 Earth Moon Planets 85-86 379-95, Racca et al 2002 Planet Space Sci. 50 1323-37) demonstrating technologies for future science and exploration missions, and providing advances in our understanding of lunar origin and evolution, and general planetary questions. The mission also contributes a step in developing an international program of lunar exploration. The spacecraft, launched on 27 September 2003 as an Ariane 5 Auxiliary passenger to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), performed a 14-month long cruise using a tiny thrust of electric propulsion alone, reached lunar capture in November 2004, and lunar science orbit in March 2005. SMART-1 carried 7 hardware experiments (Foing et al 2003 Adv. Space Res. 31 2323, Foing et al 2005 LPI/LPSC XXXVI 2404 (CDROM)) performing 10 investigations, including 3 remote-sensing instruments, used during the cruise, the mission' nominal six-months and one-year extension in lunar science orbit. Three remote sensing instruments, D-CIXS, SIR and AMIE, have returned data that are relevant to a broad range of lunar studies. The mission provided regional and global x-ray measurements of the Moon, global high-spectral resolution NIR spectrometry, high spatial resolution colour imaging of selected regions. The South Pole-Aitken Basin (SPA) and other impact basins have been prime targets for studies using the SMART-1 suite of instruments. Combined, these should aid a large number of science studies, from bulk crustal composition and theories of lunar origin/evolution, the global and local crustal composition, to the search for cold traps at the lunar poles and the mapping of potential lunar resources. We present here SMART-1 results relevant to the study of the early bombardment and geological processes on rocky planets. Further information and updates on the SMART-1 mission can be found on the ESA Science and Technology web pages, at: http://sci.esa.int/smart-1/. © 2008 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

SMART-1 latest results for future lunar exploration

We present latest analysis results and synthesis from SMART-1's science and technology payload, in preparation for future lunar exploration. SMART-1 has permitted science but also to prepare future international lunar exploration, in collaboration with upcoming missions. We describe some analysis based on SMART-1 and other data related to the selection, characterization of landing sites, and surface operational scenarios for future robotic and human missions.link_to_subscribed_fulltex