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3.3 Mission Control Gateway

The KidSat Mission Control Gateway (MCG) was the heart of the KidSat Mission Operations System. It functioned like a remote Payload Operations Control Center (POCC), connecting the investigators (in this case, the students in their classrooms) to their instrument, and was modeled after the new Space Station Mission Control Center at JSC. The KidSat MCG was designed by a team of undergraduate students. This team identified the functions of the Gateway, and from those functions defined the requirements for hardware, software, information, and resources such as TV monitors, headsets, etc. A prototype was developed based on this work, and the students' preliminary design was reviewed in the spring of 1995. The communications links were also designed and established by a team of undergraduates. This team identified the hardware and software requirements for the link between the Johnson Space Center MCC and San Diego's MCG, and links between the Gateway and the pilot schools.

The Gateway communicated with the ESC Payload Operations Control Center (POCC) ad JSC via a dedicated T-1 line through eight voice loops and a high-speed data line. The Gateway's mission support functions and Internet interfaces were operated using software that was written by UCSD students. The voice loops provided students at the Gateway and at the Data System at JPL the ability to monitor the conversations of the crew––the Flight Director, ESC Coordinator, Integrated Communications Officer, and Payload Officer––and to communicate with the JSC POCC.

In preparation for the flight itself, the SMOCs and the Gateway developed a pre-flight timeline based on expected weather and lighting conditions, and the shuttle's orbit. They developed the tools needed to track the mission and updated the potential coverage of the shuttle using Satellite Tool Kit (STK) software. During the weeks preceding the mission, simulations of the mission were run to refine procedures and give students practice for the real mission. During the flight, students at the pilot program schools were able to monitor the shuttle flight, the status of the KidSat instruments, and weather conditions around the world. This information was provided by the KidSat Gateway, which relayed telemetry, flight information, and weather information over the Internet in a format compatible with the computers at the SMOCs. This information gave the middle school students the ability to follow and participate in the flight, and to modify or update their scheduled observations.

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Figure 24: Mission Control Gateway at UCSD as configured for STS-76.