Challenge
After a global aerospace company won a huge contract to build numerous meteorological satellites, they needed to develop several central software modules that could control the spacecraft.
These modules would enable the company to manage orientation and orbital manoeuvring. They would also monitor the ongoing well-being of the satellites’ equipment and instruments and enable the ground station communication with the spacecraft.
Given the scale of this project, the company realised they would need to enlist the support of specialist software engineers if they were to keep to their contractual deadlines.
Solution
Mobica was selected as the project partner due to our expertise and experience in low-level programming and embedded system development.
During the project our engineers supported the development of an application designed to govern the satellite’s flightpath. In addition, we were required to design and develop systems that would enable communication with various devices on board the satellite – including technology for star tracking, solar array positioning and sun sensors.
To test this software, we used a satellite simulator and checkout system to ensure the quality of the programming.
Result
After winning this major contract, the aerospace company was quickly able to scale up its engineering workforce thanks to its ability to tap into support supplied by Mobica.
Our expertise provided reassurance that this work would be compliant with the European software engineering standards for space (ECSS). Our experience of integrating with in-house teams also meant we were comfortable working with our customer’s proprietary software validation facility, which helped the project go smoothly.
