A complete ground and flight software ecosystem for operations of autonomous satellites

The commercial competition in space exploration is increasing, which requires more efficient and scalable space missions. Autonomous satellites are emerging as an answer to this challenge. Their development became possible thanks to the increased processing power available on board to sustain onboard intelligence. However, autonomous satellites cannot be operated through traditional processes. Instead, current mission operations must adapt to this paradigm shift to fully exploit the new capabilities. Operations of autonomous satellites will be enabled by an ecosystem of software applications, which consists of both ground and flight components, covering activity planning, health monitoring, and guidance navigation and control. Flight applications enable spacecraft autonomy, whereas ground applications support the operations of autonomous satellites and further streamline the process with additional functionalities. A crucial point relies on the interaction among all components, which must integrate to build a unique process. The amount of work and results produced in recent years by academic and research institutions, as well as industry players, show that the required technology is coming to maturity, with the emergence of the first commercial solutions for mission autonomy.