Digitally supported Systems Engineering, or Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodologies usage in full scale space science missions development in Europe is so far limited to a few cases and several factors limit a wider adoption: from lack of clear methodology, to limitations in tooling, to lack of clarity on contractual aspects.
To tackle some of these limitations, a progressive implementation of MBSE practices in Science missions at the European Space Agency has been adopted, starting with the Euclid mission and continued with PLATO and ARIEL. We present an assessment of the experience in the PLATO mission with the usage of two main MBSE approaches: i) SysML model and ii) a Mission Parameters Database used for all performance and pipeline development. We review the lessons learned from the experience in Euclid, and the implementation in PLATO, and identify areas for development to reach standardization of practices in Europe.
KEYWORDS: Cameras, Space operations, Stars, Design, Data processing, Control systems, Planets, Scanning tunneling microscopy, Satellites, X band, Exoplanets, Astronomical telescopes, Space telescopes
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations) mission is a space-based optical multi-camera photometer mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) to identify and characterize exoplanets and their hosting stars using two main techniques: planetary transit and asteroseismology. Selected as the M3 (third Medium class mission) of the ESA 2015-2025 Cosmic Vision program, PLATO is scheduled to launch end of 2026 and designed for 4 years of nominal observation. The PLATO spacecraft is composed of a Service Module and a Payload Module. The Service Module comprises all the conventional spacecraft subsystems and the sun shield with attached solar arrays. The Payload Module consists of a highly stable optical bench, equipped with 26 optical cameras covering a global field of view of > 2232deg2. The PLATO spacecraft data is complemented by ground-based observations and processed by a dedicated Science Ground Segment. We describe the mission and spacecraft architecture and provide a view of the current status of development.
PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations) mission is a space-based optical multi-camera photometer mission of the European Space Agency to identify and characterize exoplanets and their hosting stars using two main techniques: planetary transit and asteroseismology.
The PLATO spacecraft is composed of a Service Module and a Payload Module. The Service Module comprises all the conventional spacecraft subsystems and the sun shield with attached solar arrays. The Payload Module consists of a highly stable optical bench, equipped with 26 optical imagers/cameras covering a global field of view of > 2232 deg2. The design includes two types of cameras: 24 Normal Cameras (N-CAMs) with measurement cadences of 25s and 2 Fast Cameras (F-CAMs) with a cadence of 2.5s. The PLATO spacecraft data is complemented by ground based observations and processed by a dedicate Science Ground Segment.
We describe the mission and spacecraft architecture and provide a view of the current status of development.
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