THE EVOLUTION OF GISTDA SATELLITE CONTROL CENTER

摘要

Since the launch of THAICHOTE (THEOS) on 1st October 2008, GISTDA has gained several years of invaluable experience in remote sensing satellite operation. At the beginning of the mission, all of the operations depended mainly on the ground control systems and knowledge provided by Astrium, the satellite manufacturer. After GISTDA had familiarized with the operations and maintenance procedures during the early mission, several limitations were observed. From these reasons, GISTDA initiated several projects to develop its own capabilities to bring the systems up to date to automate routine activities and ameliorate operation efficiency, more importantly, to be independent and self-sufficient. Until now, GISTDA has developed its own state of the art tools for the whole remote sensing satellite operation chain. This paper gives an overview and the history of the development of GISTDA's satellite operation programs. Currently, these tools are being developed in-house by GISTDA's engineers in cooperation with academics and international partners. The system includes VOSSCA satellite control terminal, EMERALD flight dynamics tool, Mission planning tool, and the THAICHOTE's Image Processing and database system. The development of these programs is the result of GISTDA's quest to be self-sufficient and to lead Thailand and its industry into a space technology proficient country.