Virtual Mission Operations Center Explicit Access to Small Satellites by a Net Enabled User Base

Abstract : The Office of Naval Research (ONR), The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), The Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are funding the development and integration of key technologies and new processes that will allow users across the breadth of operations the ability to access, task, retrieve, and collaborate with data from various sensors including small satellites via the Internet and the SIPRnet. The Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) facilitates the dynamic apportionment of space assets, allows scalable mission management of multiple types of sensors, and provides access for non-space savvy users through an intuitive collaborative web site. These key technologies are being used as experimentation pathfinders for the DoD's Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) initiative and NASA's Sensor Web. The ORS initiative seeks to provide space assets that can be rapidly tailored to meet a commander's intelligence or communication needs. For the DoD and NASA the VMOC provides ready and scalable access to space based assets. To the commercial space sector the VMOC may provide an analog to the innovative fractional ownership approach represented by FlexJet. This paper delves into the technology, integration, and applicability of the VMOC to the DoD, NASA, and commercial sectors.