How NOAA and NASA established an effective working relationship at the Fairbanks Command and Data Acquisition Station. Presented at the 2005 Ground Systems Architecture Workshop.

1. NOAA-NASA Cooperative Supports
for Aqua and Aura Missions
Larry Ledlow
Senior Systems Engineer
NOAA/NESDIS Fairbanks CDA Station
GSAW 2005
Working Group Session
“Teaming Early, Teaming Often”
March 2, 2005
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2. What’s the Big Picture?
In late 2003, NOAA and NASA signed an MOU…
“…to establish mission support status in order to provide contingency
back-up support in the event of planned and unplanned resource or
system outages or spacecraft emergency.”
Applicable resources
NASA: Poker Flat, Alaska; Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Virginia;
Merritt Island/Ponce de Leon (MILA/PDL), Florida; Santiago, Chile;
and McMurdo, Antarctica.
NOAA: Fairbanks and Wallops CDA Stations; GOES Backup Station
(Greenbelt, MD).
Conditions
Funding reimbursement unnecessary in most cases.
Supports carried out on a basis of non-interference...but flexible!
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3. FYI: Historical Precedents
Basic Agreement Between the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and the U. S. Department of Commerce
Concerning Collaborative Programs, dated June 17, 1998.
Memorandum Of Agreement Between the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration and the National Oceanic And
Atmospheric Administration of the U. S. Department of
Commerce for Cooperation in the Geostationary-Orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite Program (GOES), dated
April 17, 1998.
Memorandum Of Agreement Between the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration and the National Oceanic And
Atmospheric Administration of the U. S. Department of
Commerce for Cooperation in the Polar-Orbiting Operational
Environmental Satellite Program (POES), dated April 17, 1998.
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4. What’s the Problem?
Two key issues addressed
Primary purpose of the cooperative agreement is
RISK REDUCTION to environmental spacecraft
operations.
Supported services include communications, tracking, and
data acquisition.
Result is increased reliability of data provision to
meet key NOAA and NASA responsibilities
E.g., Maritime and aviation safety, environmental research
data
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5. Why Collaborate?
“The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.”
Knowledge that there is more than one method for conducting
spacecraft tracking and data acquisition expands the experience
base of both agencies.
Both NASA and NOAA have extensive environmental satellite
operations experience.
Both agencies have “global” missions.
Interagency cooperation serves national and international interests.
Technical capabilities similar.
Overlap of some station geographic coverage, especially at
northern polar ground stations.
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6. Who’s Involved?
NOAA/NESDIS
Office of Satellite Operations
Fairbanks CDA Station (Gilmore Creek)
SOCC (Suitland)
NASA GSFC/WFF
Ground Network
Poker Flat Ground Station
Honeywell-TSI
Earth Observation Systems
Aqua & Aura Flight Operations
EOS Data Operations System (EDOS)
Data Services Management Center (DSMC)
NASA Communications (NASCOM)
Flight Dynamics Facility
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7. How Did You Do It?
First instance of support under the MOU was to certify
Fairbanks CDA Station for Aqua.
Certify at least one antenna for Aqua TT&C and X-band
playback
Mid-term objective to certify all three 13-meter FCDAS
antennas for Aqua and Aura
Main tasks
Modify FCDAS interfaces to GSFC (GSIP and GSIF)
Upgrade station hardware for X-band high-data-rate downlink
Develop test plan and scheduling protocol
Engineering tests
Formal certification tests and discrepancy
reporting/resolution
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8. FCDAS Overview
IJPS upgrades
add X-band
400+ Mbps
GOES-9 DMSP POES Coriolis, Aqua, Aura
capabilities to all
three 13m
systems
GSIP
1
21m 13m-A 13m-B 13m-C
GSIP
2
To
GSFC
Cortex
Modem Bank
X-band Rx
26m (POES/GOES backup)
GSIF
Barrow 3m (POES/HRPT)
To SOCC
DOMSAT1
Three 13m
systems To AFWA
redundant for
POES/DMSP DOMSAT2
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9. FCDAS EOS Configuration
X-band
13m-C
S-band
SD
HEWLETT
PACKARD
MICRODYNE RX IN-SNEC
LHCP CORTEX HDR GSIF*
MICRODYNE RX
RHCP
UPLINK
COMMAND DATA
A B C D E F G H
SELECTED
ON-LINE
COMBINER HEWLETT
PACKARD
GDP PSK Modulator*
GSIP2
CISCOSYSTEMS
CISCOSYSTEMS
BIT SYNC 524 kbps/16kbps S-band TLM
COMMAND DATA HEWLETT
PACKARD
GSIP1
GDP PSK Modulator*
TSS-2000 TX
* NASA equipment
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10. Did it Work?
YES!
13m-3/C certified for Aqua first, then Aura.
Successful effort proved crucial when Poker Flat had
to be evacuated due to wildfires in late June 2004.
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11. Boundary Fire 2004
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12. July 2nd
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13. Early July Fire Extent
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14. NASA Site at Poker Flat
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15. MODIS from Aqua Satellite
Sea
ice
NORTH SLOPE
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16. What Helped? (1/2)
Senior management buy-in
Technology
New programmable Cortex HDR receiver configurable by
software
Detailed written test plan
Enabled agreement on test steps, progress, and procedures
to be achieved across all elements participating in the
integration effort.
Incremental testing
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17. What Helped (2/2)
FCDAS permits flexible resource allocation on 13-
meter systems.
Added daytime scheduler to FCDAS staff to better handle
real-time support requests.
Effective low-level technical and operations staff
communications
Responsiveness rapidly improved with familiarity and
frequency of emails, phone calls, scheduled contacts, etc.
“Do what it takes” attitude.
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18. What Didn’t? (1/2)
General Communications & Procedural Differences
Both agencies’ sat ops staff have different paradigms and terminologies.
Resolved through experience and frequent, open communications. We
are now able to work through the unanticipated disconnects quickly as
they are discovered.
The exchange of technical information is not sufficient to establish
interoperation between two established entities.
Failed initially to identify all participating elements and support
personnel to be involved, and provide clear definitions of roles and
responsibilities.
Clearly defined central management authorities on both sides would
have helped assure smoother execution (at first).
These problems rectified for follow-on certification tests.
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19. What Didn’t? (2/2)
NOAA-NASA MOU does not accommodate more than
casual support to maintain proficiency.
More frequent practice is needed to maintain the ability to
support another mode of operations effectively.
FCDAS can shadow AGS supports. Prior arrangements
needed with EDOS for data quality checks.
Not all shifts (FCDAS and Flight Ops) have had equal
experience with joint supports. More regular contacts will
help.
Technical incompatibility for tracking information
exchange.
Antenna angle and Doppler tracking data for FDF was not
successful; interfaces not plug-’n’-play.
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20. What’s Next?
Aqua/Aura certifications for 13-1/A and 13-2/B
underway
Goal is to have at least one other 13-meter system (and
preferably both) at FCDAS certified by 1st of June.
Test plans in review.
Remaining IJPS and GSIP/GSIF hardware modifications to be
completed before certification begins.
Command uplink PSK modulator to be added to backup GSIP,
thus having redundant paths.
More collaborative efforts!
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21. Questions?
Contact Information
Larry Ledlow
larry.ledlow@noaa.gov
+1 907-451-1274
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