Space mission operations DBMS (SMOD)

Software tools for applications such as activity sequence planning, resource estimation, simulation, command preparation and verification, and resulting data analysis support space mission planning and operations. Historically, these applications have been loosely coupled via flat files in various formats usually requiring transformations between operational steps that create validity, consistency and accountability issues, slow down communication, make working with subsets of data difficult, and overall increase the effort of managing the mission. Recent work at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have collaborated on Ensemble, an integrating framework for supporting the upcoming Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory missions using a common graphical user interface based upon the Eclipse Open Source Development Platform. Ensemble uses a central RDBMS for storing the various data objects used in a mission. However, it still embodies the "file oriented" architecture of the previous approach, a legacy of the MER missions that are based upon "plan files", which are sets of one or more sols' activities (a sol is one Martian day). This paper presents an alternative architecture focused upon the lifecycle of an activity -proposal, scheduling, expansion, simulation, uploading, and execution. The key difference is the mission is viewed as a continuous set of activities rather than a set of plan files. Any activities may be grouped in various combinations as required for analysis, scheduling, uploading or data review over whatever span is necessary. These state transitions are tracked and controlled using well tested and widely used relational database management system (RDBMS) techniques and architectural elements. The key architectural elements are described with the resulting derived benefits highlighted. A prototype implementation is discussed and example reports presented