The goal of launching breakthrough missions with a minimal amount of risk at a reasonable cost is achievable regardless whether the mission is large, such as NASA’s International Space Station, or small, such as CHIPSat. To meet these goals, satellite missions must rely on new tools that detect any liabilities to the project during pre-launch testing. NASA/Glenn Research Center (GRC) is currently developing an emulation testbed to assist missions with validating requirements and resolving issues, whether science or communication, before moving to an operational status. The Space Communications Emulation Facility (SCEF) will serve as a nationally accessible NASA facility. In the testbed, mission managers can emulate complete missions under typical space-based scenarios or researchers can emulate specific components of a satellite mission. The goal of this paper is to explore SCEF by discussing the architecture of the hardware and software of the emulation testbed. In addition, the types of emulations and using SCEF to minimize risks will be highlighted. SCEF will provide missions with the tools that they can use to resolve issues earlier than traditional methods. The end result will be a realization of savings, in time and money, as they move from mission concepts to launch
