THE CHALLENGES OF LOW-COST, AUTOMATED SATELLITE OPERATIONS

Abstract

Satellite operations have been inherently manpower intensive since they began over thirty years ago. Since manpower intensive equates to costs, this mode of operations cannot survive in light of government budget cuts and commercial profitability. Two factors are now key for both government and commercial satellite control centers: 1) systems must be highly automated to minimize the operations staff, and 2) these automated systems must be deployed and enhanced at a low cost. This paper describes the three principle challenges which arise in migrating from high-cost, manpower intensive satellite operations to low-cost, automated satellite operations and makes recommendations for solving them.