Ensuring Readiness for Europe's First Mars Mission Team Building Through Simulations

Abstract

In the years preceding the launch of a spacecraft various teams of experts are preparing the space and ground segments. Each of these teams is focusing on the area of its responsibility and even though information is exchanged among them, the outputs of their work are relatively standalone. During the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) or any critical operational phase of a mission, all the different experts work together in an operational environment and the interaction and interfaces between all elements of the system (Software, hardware and human) have to run smoothly. The simulations campaign is a programme during which an effective structure of these elements is developed and maintained, and where the main focus is the build-up of the Mission Control Team comprising all experts involved in the operations of the spacecraft.