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Spacecraft Telecommand: Recommendations and standards

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) publishes recommendations documents (Blue Books) for spacecraft telecommand. The recommendations define protocols, procedures and data structures, including the TC Transfer Frame. The recommendations have been adopted by many space agencies including NASA.

The documents can be downloaded from the CCSDS site at www.ccsds.org.

CCSDS recommendations for telecommand data links

TC Synchronization and Channel Coding, CCSDS 231.0-B-1, September 2003

TC Space Data Link Protocol, CCSDS 232.0-B-1, September 2003

Communications Operation Procedure-1, CCSDS 232.1-B-1, September 2003

Space Packet Protocol, CCSDS 133.0-B-1, September 2003

CCSDS original recommendations

The CCSDS original recommendations for packet telecommand are now obsolete (silver status):

Telecommand Part 1: Channel Service, CCSDS 201.0-B-3-S, June 2000

Telecommand Part 2: Data Routing Service, CCSDS 202.0-B-3-S, June 2001

Telecommand Part 2.1: Command Operation Procedures, CCSDS 202.1-B-2-S, June 2001

Telecommand Part 3: Data Management Service, CCSDS 203.0-B-2-S, June 2001

The original recommendations have some differences, for example in presentation and technical terms, but the major technical content is similar to the current recommendations.

ESA Standards and ECSS

The standards of the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are based on the CCSDS recommendations:

Space data links - Telecommand protocols, synchronization and channel coding, ECSS-E-ST-50-04C, 31 July 2008

The ECSS standards replace the earlier ESA standards:

ESA Packet Telecommand Standard, ESA-PSS-04-107, Issue 2, April 1992

ESA Telecommand Decoder Specification, ESA-PSS-04-151, Issue 1, September 1993

I B + M A de Lande Long Software + Consultancy has many years of background experience with the definition of the CCSDS recommendations and ESA standards. We provided support for the development of the new (November 2007) telecommand standards for ECSS.

CCSDS informational reports

CCSDS publishes informational reports (Green Books) which provide additional information and explanation. The Green Books relevant to telecommand include:

Overview of Space Communications Protocols, Green Book, CCSDS 130.0-G-2, December 2007

Space Data Link Protocols - Summary of Concept and Rationale, Green Book, CCSDS 130.2-G-1, December 2007

TC Synchronization and Channel Coding - Summary of Concept and Rationale, Green Book, CCSDS 230.1-G-1, June 2006

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