Lights-Out: An Automated Ground Segment for unstaffed Satellite Operations

Abstract: We present our approach for a periodically unstaffed, fully automated ground segment. The concept is in use for the first time on the German satellite communications mission Heinrich Hertz on behalf of the German Space Agency at DLR. Heinrich Hertz was launched in July 2023 and offers access to scientific and technical experiments to its users. The mission utilizes major automation concepts for the satellite platform operations, allowing fully automated operations outside of office hours. The concept includes tracking, telemetry and commanding (TTC) of the satellite. Pre-planned and automatically executed schedules enable commanding without human interaction. The user mission schedule is planned separately from the main mission schedule and is automatically de-conflicted. The automatic monitoring concept monitors the systems of the satellite and all assets in the ground segment and triggers reactions in operator-configurable ways depending on the mission needs, for example emergency notifications or automated execution of flight operation procedures. Additionally, the concept also puts special emphasis on a self-service user portal that provides flexible access 24/7, even when the control center is not staffed. The portal allows external users of the payload to schedule pre-defined experiments, monitor the live execution of the experiment with browser-based displays and access ground station telemetry and dedicated RF test equipment during the time of their scheduled experiment. Tasks can be planned long in advance as well as with a short reaction time (less than 1 minute), which allows, for example, the reconfiguration of the payload during a running experiment.