Virtualization of spacecraft by the use of a standard modeling method

This paper presents an approach to virtualization of spacecraft by the use of a standard modeling method. By adopting a standard modeling method, reduction of development cost of spacecraft becomes partially possible even if spacecraft are made up of nonstandard components. This is because various projects will be able to share (1) a standard database that can store information on any spacecraft and (2) standard software tools that can be used for any spacecraft. This paper explains the concept of virtualization of spacecraft, introduces the standard model used for virtualization of spacecraft, shows how to manipulate virtual spacecraft with software tools, and explains a spacecraft operations infrastructure that utilizes virtual spacecraft