Operated by an ever-growing number of space actors, these missions all need to send their precious data home, receive vital commands, perform automated on-board tasks and even make use of artificial intelligence technologies as they continue to evolve.

Clearly, designing a new control system to cater for each spacecraft’s needs and goals would use up precious time and resources. With a shared infrastructure any number of missions and mission types can share a “common core”, minimising the need to tailor software to each one and importantly meaning that missions can be flown by multiple operators.

This new software opens up the possibility to operate bigger missions collaboratively, with multiple operators working in a distributed manner across countries and control centres, allowing them to work together to share expertise and support each other including during critical moments in a mission. It has been designed to encourage a collaborative approach in the space community bringing in flexibility and opportunities for exploitation not previously possible.