The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) mission, launched 24 June 1999, is a NASA Origins program designed to provide an observatory for far ultraviolet spectroscopy with ～1 arcsec pointing for use by the broad astronomical community. Each year about 600 individually planned targets are observed with a total on-target time of approximately 9 million seconds. FUSE was developed and is operated with a cost cap. Cost considerations also led to the selection of a low-earth orbit over a high-earth orbit, which as a by-product increased the complexity of operation. Thus, FUSE is a general-use astronomical observatory, operated in low-earth orbit with a cost cap. This paper describes the approach used in developing the FUSE ground system. The resulting operations system is effective, robust and flexible. We also discuss satellite performance, our success in overcoming hardware breakdowns, and plans for operations in the extended-mission phase, which will have additional resource constraints.
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