CONSOLIDATED SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER

Abstract

The Consolidated Space Operations Center (CSOC) is being designed by the Air Force Systems Command Space Division to centralize all Department of Defense Space Shuttle and satellite operations within a single secure facility. CSOC will be located near Colorado Springs, Colorado. It will provide DOD with enhanced space command and control capabilities in the late 1980s and 1990s. It will include a Satellite Operations Complex (SOC), a Shuttle Operations and Planning Complex (SOPC), and communications, facilities, and support segments. An initial operational capability is planned for mid-1986 that will include appropriately selected portions of SOC, SOPC, and the integrated segments. These early limited capabilities will be expanded in the late 1980s to satisfy the requirements of the DOD mission model. SOC will share command and control of space satellite missions with the Satellite Test Center (STC) in Sunnyvale, California. The STC is part of the Air Force Satellite Control Facility (AFSCF). Both the STC and SOC will control assigned satellite missions using the AFSCF remote tracking stations located at seven sites around the world. SOC will be functionally equivalent to a portion of the STC as improved by the data systems modernization program. SOC and STC will be interoperable to permit mutual backup in the event of an extended failure at either center. SOPC will be functionally equivalent to portions of the Shuttle operations complex at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). It will provide for flight planning, flight readiness, and flight control of DOD Shuttle flights. As with SOC and STC, SOPC and JSC flight control facilities will be able to provide critical backup support to each other in the event of an extended failure at either center. External wideband communications circuits at CSOC will interface with both NASA and Air Force space facilities, such as the eastern and western launch sites, JSC, and the AFSCF remote tracking stations. Satellite relay techniques using both Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS) satellites and Domestic Communications Satellites (DOMSAT) will be the basic method of network communication. Dedicated narrowband circuits, provided by leased lines accommodating both voice and data, will interface mostly with other Air Force space facilities. This paper discusses the CSOC program background, configuration, operations concept, external interfaces, and acquisition status.