Reconfigurable Satellite Planning Tool

The objective of this Navy SBIR project is to develop an innovative methodology and supporting software toolset that permits a requirements-driven reconfiguration of one or multiple spacecraft. The product will be a decision-support tool termed SPEAR - Satellite Planner for Execution and Reconfiguration. SPEAR will 1) accept dynamically changing SSA data, mission requirements and priorities to support the warfighter''s needs, 2) compute a set of satellite configuration and tasking options using a backbone of optimization algorithms, simulations, and access to 3rd party tools, and 3) effectively presents these options to the operators and commanders through customizable displays. In order to promote an open-architecture design and to make efficient use of outside software tools, SPEAR shall be developed as a set of libraries and plugins on top of the VisualCommander application. VisualCommander is a product in use at Princeton Satellite Systems for spacecraft and missile analysis and simulation. This is a versatile tool designed for both engineering analysis and mission operations, providing sophisticated simulation, visualization and analysis of orbit and system dynamics. SPEAR will be sufficiently self-contained to provide value as an independent tool, but will also be capable of integration with other tools being developed to support Joint Space Operations.