Introduction to Satellite Ground Segment Systems Engineering

The ground segment is the fundamental backbone of every satellite project, yet it is usually not visible to the public or the end user of a satellite service. Also the bulk of existing published space literature tends to focus on the satellite or its subsystems. This book tries to fill this gap and addresses systems engineering concepts applied to the design, development, qualification, and deployment of the ground control segment required to operate a single satellite, a constellation, or even a manned space vehicle.

The domain of ground segment engineering has significantly evolved in recent years, mainly driven by major advances in the IT sector. Hardware virtualisation or the availability of on-demand cloud computing services are typical examples of new technologies that have changed fundamental architectural concepts previously standard in heritage ground segments. Furthermore, the stark increase of cyber attacks - today a major risk to almost all critical IT based infrastructure - has made a cyber threat resilient architecture to become one of the indispensable design requirements for ground segment engineers. The new mega constellations recently put into space deploying up to several hundred of flying objects have put very demanding needs on the ground segment for automated satellite operations. These topics and more are addressed in the book’s chapters, along with a detailed explanation of the most relevant components of a typical ground segment architecture. The basic functional requirements, design features, and the most important ground and space segment interfaces are addressed and explained in detail, supported by a wealth of figures for easier understanding.

This book is kept at an introductory level, allowing newcomers to get familiar with this fairly complex subject matter. It is therefore suitable for graduate students, but can equally serve as a valuable source of information for already experienced space engineers who seek to gain a deeper understanding of the ground segment infrastructure and related systems engineering processes. It can also help project managers to better interact with their systems engineers, satellite developers to define their ground segment interfaces, and satellite operators to improve their flight and ground procedures. It is very well suited for everyone intending to start a career in satellite ground segment systems engineering.

Bobby Nejad is a ground segment Systems Engineer at the European Space Agency (ESA) where he has been involved in the design, development, and qualification of the ground control segment of the European Global Navigation Satellite System “Galileo” for the past 14 years.

He received a master’s degree in technical physics from  the ‘’Technische Universität Graz”  and a second one in astronomy from the “Karl-Franzens Universität” in Graz, Austria. He conducted several academic research stays at the “Université Joseph Fourier“ in  Grenbole, the “Bureau des Longitudes” of the Paris Observatory, and the “Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering” of the University of Idaho. He started at ESA as a young graduate trainee in 2001 to work on the joined NASA and ESA Cassini-Huygens mission to explore Saturn and its moons in the outer planetary system. Being a member of the collocated team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena USA, he earnthis PhD. on the reconstruction of the entry, descent and landing trajectory of the Huygens probe on Titan in 2005.

In the following year Bobby joined the operational flight dynamics team of the German Space Operations Centre, where he was responsible for the manoeuvre planning and commanding of the synthetic aperture radar satellites TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X, and the SAR-Lupe constellation, the latter one being the first military reconnaissance satellite system of the German armed forces. Bobby joined the Galileo project at the European Space Technology and Research Centre of the ESA in 2008 and has since then contributed as a Technical Officer to the definition and development of the ground segment’s flight dynamics, mission planning, and TT&C ground station systems. Since 2012 he works at the Galileo Control Centre, where he is supervises the assembly, integration, and qualification of the Galileo ground control segment.