A method for common infrastructure for ISS payload training

Abstract

The Space Station Training Facility (SSTF) is a suite of high-fidelity simulators providing the only venue for fully integrated, interactive training of flight and ground crewmembers. Located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, the SSTF plays host to International Space Station (ISS) system and payload training. Astronauts, mission controllers, and payload Principal Investigators engage in coordinated training exercises that focus on real timelines and interactions between systems, subsystems, and payloads. Payload developers from around the world are tasked to provide a simulator reflecting their respective payload. Termed Payload Training Simulators (PTSs), they are integrated into the SSTF and interact with other simulated ISS systems in a realistic manner. As the SSTF developer and prime contractor, Raytheon was faced with the daunting task of integrating all the various PTSs. As each of these simulators would likely be different in design and capabilities, they each would present new and different integration issues to overcome. To promote commonality and limit the integration issues, Raytheon developed a standard format and configuration for PTSs. The realization of this approach is packaged in the Payload Simulator Environment (PSE). The PSE embodies standardized hardware, software, and command and control structures but does not attempt to specify the form of the underlying simulation model. Thus, every PTS that arrives at the SSTF will integrate in a known and anticipated manner, even though the representative simulations may be vastly different. Based on off-the-shelf PC technology and the Gensym G2TM graphical programming environment, the PSE approach returned about $8 million of SSTF support budget to the ISS Program Office. This paper discusses the PSE approach, advantages, and limitations.