Operations Innovations

The overarching objective of Operations Innovations is to develop a framework for ESA to:

• Enable ESA to act as the ‘European Catalyst’ for the development and adoption of innovative services and products;
• Bridge the gap between research and technology, adoption and market exploitation, addressing timely development, validation and deployment of novel products and services;
• Enlarge and consolidate the portfolio of solutions offered by the European industry in support to mission operations; and

Enhance synergies across institutional and industrial operators, by fostering technical coordination and leveraging distributed expertise, facilities and infrastructure.

The main technology and software development activities for Operations lie within the following domains: 

Ground Systems Engineering and Innovation:

Whether travelling near Earth or deep in our Solar System, every spacecraft is supported by a sophisticated 'ground segment' comprising computer systems, software, ground station networks and other resources that enable engineers and scientists to send up commands and receive data from on board instruments.  ESA's Ground Systems comprises the ground segments for satellite missions; i.e. the deep-space tracking stations; the flight dynamics infrastructure, navigation and mission-analysis services; and some of Europe’s best software for mission planning and control, and simulation.

Mission Operations:

ESA operate spacecraft orbiting near Earth, at the Sun-Earth Lagrange points or voyaging deep into our Solar System. Missions can comprise a single spacecraft (e.g. Mars Express, GAIA), or multiple satellites operated in tight coordination to enhance scientific value (e.g. Swarm and Cluster).

Mission Operations involves the preparation, planning and conduct of flight operations for all ESA missions. Operational activities include both spacecraft and related ground segment operations. The Operations goals are to efficiently plan, build and manage ground segments for ESA missions and to safely operate spacecraft from the control rooms using a sophisticated and standardised array of mission control hardware and software. 

Space Safety

ESA’s ‘Space Safety’ activities include Space Weather, Planetary Defence, Space Debris and Cleanspace. The goal of Space Safety is the protection of our planet, humanity and assets in space and on Earth from dangers originating in Space and thus to contribute to Europe by providing safety from such dangers as a service to society.

Space Safetyinitiatives enable Europe to autonomously detect, predict, assess and mitigate the risk to life and property due to man-made space debris objects, re-entries, in-orbit explosions, in-orbit collisions, disruption of missions and satellite-based service capabilities, potential impacts of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and the effects of space weather phenomena on space- and ground-based infrastructure.