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European Space Agency

Press Release

Ground Control to Mars Express

30 May 2003
 
Mars Express diary 11

Operating a spacecraft going to Mars while you are on the Earth is
like driving the Monte Carlo Rally - by remote control from a locked
windowless room! 
 
And we also have to buy the car, read the manual, writing a series of
operations and complete the race without crashing or running out of
petrol! With only a few days to go before launch, John Reddy,
Principal Electrical Systems Engineer for Mars Express, describes the
final preparations on the operations side.

With the spacecraft being readied for launch at Baikonur, it is easy
to forget the intense effort under way to prepare for the flight of
the spacecraft after launch.

Our team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt,
Germany, has been training to 'fly' the spacecraft under realistic
conditions and to be ready for any eventuality. 

Spacecraft operations will be conducted by the Flight Control Team
(FCT), sitting at rows of consoles in the Mission Control Centre
(MCR) from which controllers can send commands and monitor the
telemetry from the spacecraft. This team comprises the Spacecraft
Operations Manager and a team of engineers, under the direction of
Flight Operations Director. The team is split into two shifts to
provide 24-hour coverage of the spacecraft as it passes first over
the ground station at New Norcia, Australia, and then Kourou, French
Guiana. They are supported by representatives from the industry and
the Project team.

Training is carried out in a 'Simulations (or SIM) campaign' where
the MCR is connected to a 'Spacecraft Simulator' which is able to
replicate the behaviour of real spacecraft systems. It accepts
commands from the MCR and provides telemetry in the same way that the
spacecraft would during flight.

Simulations are used to train the FCT to react effectively if things
go wrong. A typical simulation would concentrate on activities
associated with a particular pass (for example, the first acquisition
of the spacecraft after launch). During one of these simulated
passes, the Simulations Officer would introduce failures into the
system to allow the FCT to practice recovering from these problems.
These are not limited to on-board electronics failures, but also
incidents at ESOC, such as a fire alarm in the MCR which might force
the entire team to move to an alternative control centre!

During all these exercises, the teams act as though a real spacecraft
is at risk. Sometimes we forget this is a simulation in the intensity
of the activities and it is not unusual for meals to be missed during
emergencies.

At the end of the simulation, a debriefing session is held in which
everybody involved makes an appraisal of their conduct. These
sessions are often quite heated. Every member of the team understands
the importance of their role in the success of the Mars Express
mission. There is a lot of self-criticism as everyone tries hard to
get their contribution right. The SIM campaign is an essential
team-building exercise.

Simulations for the Launch and Early Operations Phase began early
this year and are now coming to an end. After the launch on 2 June
2003, similar simulations will be performed for the next important
phases of the mission, such as the release of Beagle 2 and the Mars
Orbit Insertion manoeuvre.

But from then on, there are no more simulations. It's for real. We'll
be in control of a real spacecraft on its way to Mars — the first
European mission to another planet.

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