| ICS Sends First Command to FUSE Payload Minutes After Launch
Columbia, Md., June 25, 1999
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In one of the earliest communications with a payload after launch, Interface and Control Systems (ICS) software began receiving telemetry, and sent and verified a command to the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft within 10 minutes after launch yesterday. The communication took place while the payload was still mated to the launch vehicle.
The command was sent from the Satellite Control Center in Baltimore, Md., using SCL, the company’s unique command and control software product. SCL is providing both basic telemetry and command functions in the control center and full, autonomous, onboard control of the instrument operations for NASA’s FUSE mission. The FUSE spacecraft was launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral yesterday.
FUSE is the first orbital mission to use SCL as the control system for both ground and flight operations. SCL is used on the flight Instrument Data System, in the mission control center, and for integration and test of the payload. Using scripts and rules uploaded to the spacecraft by mission operators, SCL will enable the FUSE telescope to perform astronomical observations autonomously for period of 24 hours or more. ICS delivered SCL under contract to Johns Hopkins University in late 1997.
The three-year FUSE mission will explore the primordial chemical residue from the Big Bang, from which all stars, planets and life evolved. SCL enables operators to
communicate with spacecraft in real time. It also enables the spacecraft to operate on its own. SCL uses both a traditional scripting language and an integrated expert system that responds to asynchronous events. Scripts and rules can be written and run on the ground and later uploaded to provide mission support and progressive autonomy.
ICS is privately held company with main offices in Columbia, Md., and Melbourne, Fla. The product development and engineering services firm specializes in the development of real-time, embedded, and autonomous command and control software systems.
SCL provided command and control support for NASA’s Clementine mission in 1994. It also will be onboard the Interim Control Module for the International Space Station and the Navy Earth Mapping observer, both scheduled for launch in 2000.
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