INTEGRAL mission - Automation of Transponder Swaps Scheduling and Schedule Validation

Abstract

Human-made satellites allow to broaden the knowledge of the world by discovering new stars, and exoplanets, observing Earth, performing X-ray measurements and more. All satellites need to be controlled from Earth by the Flight Control Team (FCT) consisting of experts from a wide range of fields. The satellite INTEGRAL is controlled from the astronomy control room in the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) together with XMM-Newton and Gaia. Automation allows a single person to control three spacecrafts simultaneously and helps to reduce operational costs. This paper describes the automation of transponder swaps scheduling and mission schedule validation using tools developed in the programming language Python. Both tools were carefully tested in the defined verification process and marked as ready to be used. The developed tools allow faster mission planning for the INTEGRAL satellite thus saving the human resources of the FCT.