PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
The ASTOS software is a commercial product with co-funding by ESA. It has been developed in the past decades from a trajectory optimization software towards a multi-purpose software for mission design, mission analysis, concurrent launch vehicle design, system concept analysis, launch & re-entry safety analysis, DKE simulator for SVFs, HILs and SCOE as well as a versatile utility for GNC design.
The project aims to extend ASTOS by dedicated functionalities for the design and analysis of communication satellites and constellations. It addresses in particular New Space applications looking into fast design cycles, user flexibility and most complete coverage of user needs.
Challenges
The project faces technical challenges due to the intricate and flexible nature of the new functionalities within MOST. Integrating these features into ASTOS, a highly complex software, disrupts its existing architecture. Scripting and switching functions, though powerful, pose testing and qualification difficulties due to their flexibility. Developing fast surrogate models for optimization tasks presents a challenge for the sizing function, requiring realism for feasible designs at the same time. Keeping the flexibility of the legacy coverage analysis of ASTOS while adding functionality and enhancing performance proves to be challenging.
System Architecture
The developments in the MOST project build on the existing architecture of the ASTOS software, with some new modules.
ASTOS consists of three main parts: the aerospace model library, the simulation and optimization core and the GUI.
The simulation and optimization core is responsible to simulate the dynamics of the defined scenario and writes the results into simulation files. It comprises several optimization techniques used for trajectory optimization and concurrent vehicle design.
The model library provides hundreds of spacecraft component and environment models, dynamics equations, analysis functions, constraints and objective functions from which the user can select to build up the scenario.
The GUI is used to configure scenarios, control and monitor simulation or optimization processes and to analyse results. Latter is supported by built-in plotting, animation and automatic report generation capabilities.
The new satellite and constellation sizing function as well as the coverage analysis are located in dedicated modules but their configuration is fully integrated into the ASTOS GUI.
The scripting and switching function are fully integrated into the ASTOS model library. For their configuration, the ASTOS GUI is extended
Plan
The MOST project comprises two phases: a technology phase and a product phase. The technology phase consists of requirements engineering, software design and functional implementation of the new ASTOS features. The product phase is dedicated to verification & validation.
Current Status
The project has been kicked-off beginning of April 2024 and has reached the Software Requirements Review.
