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Draft:SciBox

SciBox
Original author(s)Teck H. Choo
Developer(s)JHU Applied Physics Laboratory
Initial release2001 (first modules)[1]
Written inJava[2]
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeMission planning and commanding system (space operations)
LicenseProprietary

SciBox is an automated, end-to-end mission planning and commanding system developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) for spacecraft and instrument operations. It translates high-level science objectives into validated, conflict-free command sequences for payloads, spacecraft subsystems, and ground stations, and has been used operationally on missions including MESSENGER and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s CRISM instrument.[3][4][1]

Artist's rendering of NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft at Mercury
SciBox planned and commanded the orbital science operations of MESSENGER at Mercury.[3]

Overview

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SciBox provides automated opportunity analysis, constraint checking, scheduling, command generation, and validation for space operations. The system derives commands directly from user requests (e.g. observation objectives), resolves resource conflicts, and produces uploadable sequences accompanied by machine-generated reports for review.[3][5]

History and development

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APL began investing in SciBox in 2001, proposing an uplink-pipeline architecture and then incrementally demonstrating key modules across multiple missions before fielding an end-to-end system.[6] An early description in 2004 framed SciBox as a reusable Java library for rapid development of high-fidelity operations simulation, planning, and commanding tools.[2]

The first capability, an “opportunity analyzer,” was demonstrated in 2001 on the TIMED mission via a coincidence calculator used by ground stations worldwide to plan co-observations.[6] In 2002, SciBox was extended for Cassini’s MIMI: the JCSN planning tool integrated opportunity finding with pointing/thermal hazard visualization to keep the instrument and spacecraft operating safely.[6] In 2005, the CRISM instrument on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter received JMRO, the first end-to-end (semi-automated) uplink-pipeline instance for SciBox, combining opportunity search, constraint checking, scheduling, command generation, and reporting for weekly instrument operations.[6][1]

In 2011, SciBox was scaled to a mission-level system for MESSENGER, where it planned and commanded all orbital science observations as well as guidance-and-control operations throughout the orbital campaign, automatically generating conflict-free command sequences from prioritized science objectives and updated ephemerides and ground-contact schedules. Over four years, the system scheduled approximately 294,000 images, more than five million infrared spectra, more than six million ultraviolet/exosphere spectra, and more than 41 million laser-altimeter shots, with no commanding anomalies reported.[6] External research on spacecraft autonomy has also cited SciBox as an example of optimization-based planning used to generate MESSENGER mode sequences.[7]

Subsequent work generalized the approach into a fully automated planning and commanding system used in routine flight operations.[3]

Architecture and features

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SciBox’s architecture includes (1) opportunity analyzers to find viable measurement windows, (2) constraint analyzers for health, safety, and operational limits, (3) a priority-based scheduler, and (4) command generation with validation and reporting-enabling closed-loop operations from request to uplink.[3][6] The design follows a hierarchical, modular approach to promote reuse across missions; external academic work discusses SciBox as an example of modular software architecture for space operations tools.[8]

Applications

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  • CRISM on MRO - Used to plan and command weekly CRISM operations, translating science requests into conflict-checked command sequences for uplink.[1] Independent CRISM analyses also note that photometric angles for disk-resolved observations “were calculated … using the SciBox toolkit.”[9]
  • MESSENGER - Scheduled instrument observations under pointing/power/thermal constraints and generated payload and spacecraft command sequences for the mission’s weekly uplink flow; instrument teams (e.g., MASCS) used SciBox to formulate observation timelines within mission limits.[4][10][11]
  • CubeSat Signal Preprocessor Assessment and Test (CAT) - Planned and commanded two 3U CubeSats in LEO; provided constellation-management features and supported automated “lights-out” operations via APL’s Satellite Communications Facility.[12][13]
  • EZIE - Supports automated daily command scheduling and constraint management for the three-CubeSat heliophysics mission, reusing smallsat operations capabilities demonstrated on earlier missions.[12]

Impact

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Peer-reviewed and technical literature report that SciBox improved planning efficiency, reduced manual iteration, and enabled more responsive operations compared with traditional workflows.[3][5][4] the MESSENGER program “has attributed SciBox as one of the four key enabler technologies for the mission.”[1]

See also

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Further reading

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  • Choo, Teck H.; Skura, Joseph P. (2004). "SciBox: A Software Library for Rapid Development of Science Operation Simulation, Planning, and Command Tools" (PDF). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest. 25 (2): 154–162.
  • Choo, Teck H.; Berman, Alice F.; Nair, Hari; Nguyen, Lillian; Skura, Joseph P.; Steele, R. Joshua (2017). "SciBox: An Autonomous Constellation Management System" (PDF). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest. 33 (4): 314–322.
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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Choo, Teck H.; Anderson, Brian J.; Bedini, Peter D.; Finnegan, Eric J.; Skura, Joseph P.; Steele, R. Joshua (2012). SCIBOX, an Integrated Instrument and Spacecraft Planning and Commanding System for the MESSENGER Mission (PDF). NASA/GSFC IPM.
  2. ^ a b Choo, Teck H.; Skura, Joseph P. (2004). "SciBox: A Software Library for Rapid Development of Science Operation Simulation, Planning, and Command Tools" (PDF). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest. 25 (2): 154–162.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Choo, Teck H.; Murchie, Scott L.; Bedini, Peter D.; Steele, R. Joshua; Skura, Joseph P.; Nguyen, Lillian; Nair, Hari; Lucks, Michael (2014). "SciBox, an end-to-end automated science planning and commanding system". Acta Astronautica. 93: 490–496. Bibcode:2014AcAau..93..490C. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2012.09.011.
  4. ^ a b c Kochte, Mark C.; Sepan, David M.; Shelton, Richard G. (5–9 May 2014). Getting the Message to MESSENGER: Overview of the Weekly Planning and Sequencing of MESSENGER Orbital Activities. SpaceOps 2014, 13th International Conference on Space Operations. Pasadena, California: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). doi:10.2514/6.2014-1915.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  5. ^ a b Choo, Teck H.; Russell, Edward; Kim, Michael (25 February 2014). SciBox, a Proven Automated Planning and Commanding System (PDF). Ground System Architectures Workshop (GSAW).
  6. ^ a b c d e f Choo, Teck H.; Berman, Alice F.; Nair, Hari; Nguyen, Lillian; Skura, Joseph P.; Steele, R. Joshua (2017). "SciBox: An Autonomous Constellation Management System" (PDF). Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest. 33 (4): 314–322.
  7. ^ Harris, Andrew; Teil, Thibaud; Schaub, Hanspeter (2019). Spacecraft Decision-Making Autonomy Using Deep Reinforcement Learning (PDF). AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference. Advances in the Astronautical Sciences. American Astronautical Society. AAS 19-447.
  8. ^ McCafferty, Julian P. (24 March 2016). Development of a Modularized Software Architecture to Enhance SSA with COTS Telescopes (Master’s thesis). Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio: Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT Scholar).
  9. ^ Fraeman, Abigail A. (2012). "Analysis of disk-resolved OMEGA and CRISM spectral observations of Phobos and Deimos". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 117 (E11) 2012JE004137. Bibcode:2012JGRE..117.0J15F. doi:10.1029/2012JE004137.
  10. ^ Anderson, Brian J.; McClintock, William E.; Choo, Teck H. (2010). Prometheus's Challenge: Scheduling MASCS Observations Using SciBox for the MESSENGER Mission. SpaceOps 2010. AIAA. doi:10.2514/6.2010-2134.
  11. ^ Domingue, Deborah L.; Anderson, Brian J.; Choo, Teck H.; Skura, Joseph P. (2009). Orbital Operations Planning and Scheduling for the MESSENGER Mission (PDF). International Workshop on Planning and Scheduling for Space (IWPSS).
  12. ^ a b Fretz, Kristin; Perez, Ralf; Choo, Teck H.; Mirantes, Annette; Chen, Warren (9 August 2021). Efficient SmallSat Operation Using SciBox. 35th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. Logan, UT.
  13. ^ The Cubesat Assessment and Test (CAT) Program. 35th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites. 2021.
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