Alessandro Donati

European Space Agency | ESA · Department of Mission Operations

The European Space Agency is well known as a powerful force for scientific discovery in numerous areas related to Space. The amount and depth of the knowledge produced throughout the different missions carried out by ESA and their contribution to scientific progress is enormous, involving large collections of documents like scientific publications,...

We present SpaceQA, to the best of our knowledge the first open-domain QA system in Space mission design. SpaceQA is part of an initiative by the European Space Agency (ESA) to facilitate the access, sharing and reuse of information about Space mission design within the agency and with the public. We adopt a state-of-the-art architecture consisting...

We present six datasets containing telemetry data of the Mars Express Spacecraft (MEX), a spacecraft orbiting Mars operated by the European Space Agency. The data consisting of context data and thermal power consumption measurements, capture the status of the spacecraft over three Martian years, sampled at six different time resolutions that range...

INTEGRAL (INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory) is an astronomical observatory of the European Space Agency, responsible for many significant scientific discoveries in the last few decades. It orbits Earth since 2002 in a highly elliptical orbit, passing through the Van Allen belts – areas with high-energy ionized particles that can dama...

We present GalaxAI - a versatile machine learning toolbox for efficient and interpretable end-to-end analysis of spacecraft telemetry data. GalaxAI employs various machine learning algorithms for multivariate time series analyses, classification, regression and structured output prediction, capable of handling high-throughput heterogeneous data. Th...

The scheduling of spacecraft operations is a complex problem involving multiple objectives, some of them hard to capture explicitly. Spacecraft operators rely on a trove of experience to build such schedules. However, the process is time consuming, and will not scale to the needs of managing the large constellations that will soon be in operation....

The Earth observation (EO) market is rapidly growing due to technology miniaturization, cheaper launch opportunities, and a wider spectrum of EO applications. Along with an exponential growth of the ground-based users that can access low-Earth-orbit (LEO) spacecraft data, this growing community represents an important demand for data relay missions...

The dynamic network analysis (DNA) interactive visualization tool is a graph-based visualization tool that gives space operations staff the ability to comprehend complex relationships at stake in many different kinds of problems. The added value of DNA is exposed through different use cases applied to spacecraft operations. Operations engineers hav...

The earth observation market is growing rapidly, along with the missions’ complexity. Therefore, automated mission planning systems are being designed, allowing for operators to simply specify their intentions on a high level. In this paper, we propose an automated mission planning system based on the ants' foraging mechanism and apply it to two di...

The Flight Control Team Multi-Agent System (FCTMAS) study, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), has investigated the use of multiagent systems in supporting flight control teams in routine operations. One of the scientific challenges of the FCTMAS study has been the detection of anomalies relative to a space system only on the basis of identi...

Space operations is currently facing novel challenges by missions that are becoming strongly dependent to on-board autonomy, such as the deep space missions. The big constellation mission will bring a higher degree of complexity in operations. Smarter small satellites missions and further manned space exploration push operations concepts to be revi...

This paper describes the approach of the Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) interactive visualization tool and the importance of having a graph-based visualization capability in space operations to comprehend relationships at stake in different kind of problems. The paper also presents the system architecture that enables multi-user remote interactions...

Earth observation market has been increasing in both size and complexity over the last years. EO missions are becoming more capable and more agile, carrying high-resolution sensors that need to frequently be steered at different directions depending on the mission goals. In this paper we discuss the coverage planning problem an Earth Imaging conste...

Data relay space missions are becoming more popular as the amount of data produced on board LEO spacecraft has greatly increased, along with the size of the user community that access them. Planning those missions requires solving an oversubscribed scheduling problem. In this paper we propose the application of a Swarm Intelligence algorithm to the...

In the old days, spacecraft alarming notifications to operators were directed, upon arrival to ground, to one of those needle printers. Trained operators could tell, from the length and rhythm of the printer noise, what kind of alarm it was and therefore infer the criticality or the subject. Today, in monitoring and control systems (MCS) currently...

Chapter 6 offers a systematic, thorough discussion on mission operations and autonomy. Section 6.1 introduces the background and 6.2 sets the context of the topic by introducing the basic concepts of mission operations, processes and procedures, and typical operation modes of planetary robotic systems. Section 6.3 discusses the first step in develo...

In the old days, spacecraft alarming notifications to operators were directed, upon arrival to ground, to one of those needle printers. Trained operators could tell, from the length and rhythm of the printer noise, what kind of alarm it was and therefore infer the criticality or the subject. Today, in monitoring and control systems (MCS) currently...

Typically, automatic telemetry monitoring in space operations is performed by Out-of-Limits (OOL) alarms. This approach consists of defining an upper and lower threshold so that when a measurement goes above the upper limit or below the lower one, an alarm is triggered. We discuss the limitations of the Out-Of-Limits approach and propose a new moni...

Typically, automatic telemetry monitoring in space operations is performed by out-of-limits (OOL) alarms. This. approach consists of defining an upper and lower threshold so that when a measurement goes above the upper limit or below the lower one, an alarm is triggered. We discuss the limitations of the out-of-limits approach and propose a new mon...

Nanosatellites missions are becoming very popular because are demonstrating to achieve scientific results. Moreover, the reduced costs of such missions are enabling small companies and universities in entering in this field. The CubeSat platform has been used for more than one hundred spacecraft. This trend is raising new challenges for the communi...

IRONCAP was an ESA study project to explore and define the concepts, techniques and interactions needed to plan and schedule the activities of an interplanetary rover. Its aim was to develop a prototype system to support the science and engineering planning activities of an interplanetary rover using state-of-the-art methods and techniques in plann...

This paper describes the design principles of k2e (Knowledge to Ease), a new Knowledge Engineering Environment (kee) based on modeling patterns currently under development at the European Space Agency (ESA). This environment aims at assisting the operational engineers in designing, maintaining, and updating the models during the whole life cycle of...

In the last decade, the interest for space missions involving multiple spacecraft is rapidly growing. A number of areas in the space field are going to benefit from this new trend such as the Earth Observation (EO) field. The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security or the Disaster Monitoring Constellation are first examples of this increasin...

Surface operations in distant bodies like Mars present a lot of challenges. Among them, lack of direct communications and a complex environment are the main drivers that push for more autonomy both on-ground and on-board. This paper presents a timeline, hierarchical, heuristically-based and domain-independent planner called QuijoteExpress oriented...

This paper describes the design principles of K2E (Knowledge to Easy), a new KEE (Knowledge Engineering Environment) based on modeling patterns currently under development at the European Space Agency (ESA). This environment aims at assisting the operational engineers in designing, maintaining and updating the models during the whole life cycle of...

Surface operations in distant bodies like Mars present a lot of challenges. Among them, lack of direct communications and a com-plex environment are the main drivers that push for more autonomy both on-ground and on-board. This paper presents a timeline, hierarchical, heuristically-based and domain-independent planner called QuijoteExpress oriented...

The ambitious long term goal of evolving planning sys-tems in use at the European Space Agency for Mission Operations is generating a debate on how to define a set of standardized interfaces to allow rapid and efficient construction of co-operating space systems. The current scenario sees a set of software systems that perform, at various levels, p...

Missions involving multiple spacecraft can offer a number of benefits over single platforms. Earth Observation (EO) constellations have the potential to offer critical services for the society such as global monitoring and disaster management. This trend is opening new challenges to the automated Mission Planning & Scheduling (MPS) systems aiming a...

Upcoming missions will require a higher degree of re-mote operations to increase quality and quantity of sci-ence return. Remote operations are certainly a challeng-ing scenario, mainly because communication delays and errors lead to objective difficulties for the operator to promptly enable opportunistic science, activate contin-gency recovery pro...

The ambitious goal of the Spacecraft Monitoring & Control (SM&C) Working Group of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) is to define a set of standardized, interoperable mission operation (MO) services, which allow rapid and efficient construction of co-operating space systems. Such services will have to be general enough to cop...

In the last decade, Dynamic Optimization Problems (DOP) have received increasing attention. Changes in the problem structure pose a great challenge for the optimization techniques. The Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) metaheuristic has a number of potentials in this field due to its adaptability and flexibility. However their design and analysis are s...

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for determining which one or more time series parameters of a plurality of time series parameters relating to operation of a system are correlated with a first operation state of the system. According to the invention, the method comprises providing time series data including data relating...

Automated Planning & Scheduling Systems are nowadays applied in a wide range of spacecraft, from satellites to Mars rovers. The planner is responsible for the generation of valid plans that determine the activities to be performed by the spacecraft, given a set of goals and constraints (the problem), and taking into consideration the status of the...

Currently, automatic telemetry monitoring is performed by Out-of-Limits (OOL) alarms. This approach consists of defining an upper and lower threshold so that when a measurement goes above the upper limit or below the lower one, an alarm is triggered. We discuss the limitations of the Out-Of-Limits approach and propose a new monitoring paradigm base...

In addition to its utility in terrestrial-based applications, Automated Planning and Scheduling (P&S) has had a growing impact on space exploration. Such applications require an influx of new technologies to improve performance while not compromising safety. As a result, a reliable method to rapidly assess the effectiveness of new P&S algorithms wo...

This paper describes the algorithms used in a plan- ning and scheduling software tool developed for the European Space Agency in the framework of the Mars Express mission. The planning and scheduling algorithm computes a feasible schedule for the transmission of telecommands (TCs) from the ground seg- ment to the space segment, complying with a num...

Future European Space Agency (ESA) space missions are demanding and driving new operations concepts for increased on-board autonomy, for flexible and robust planning and scheduling services, and for ground capabilities to agglomerate and process a huge amount of downlinked data (e.g., tens of thousands of telemetry parameters) to extract high-level...

Geant4 for Mission Radiation Effects Simulation (G4MRES) is a prototype tool with near real-time capabilities to nowcast radiation exposure levels for operational spacecrafts. G4MRES combines space weather real-time data from on-board radiation monitors together with Geant4 Monte-Carlo particle propagation, and supplies mission operators and space...

The Innovative Rover Operations Concepts – Autonomous Planning (IRONCAP) is an ESA study project to explore and define the concepts and interactions needed to control and plan the activities of an interplanetary rover. Its aim is to develop a prototype system to support the science and engineering planning of an interplanetary rover using state-of-...

In the history of space exploration, the complexity of spacecrafts and missions have never stopped growing. This makes manual operations very challenging if not impossible. As a result, space agencies have started to move toward autonomous operation and mission plan-ning systems for both on-ground and on-board scenarios. A planetary rover represent...

The Advanced Mission Concepts and Technologies Office (Mission Technologies Office, MTO for short) at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of ESA is entrusted with research and development of innovative mission operations concepts systems and provides operations support to special projects.Visions of future missions and requests for improvem...

The paper aims at sharing the experience and lessons learnt in introducing advanced planning and scheduling solutions for mission operations at the European Space Agency (ESA). Artificial Intelligence (AI) based technologies are moving from a theoretical area to the application domain, showing the capability of solving many practical problems. In t...