Advanced Validation of Overall Spacecraft Behaviour Concept Using a Collaborative Modelling and Simulation Approach

The main expected benefit of performing short-loop validation steps as early as the system concept definition and design phases is that of securing and consolidating the inputs for the development phase, thus sparing development schedule drifts. Currently, for space systems, such early validation activities may be carried out separately at subsystems levels. This paper presents a pragmatic approach for early integrated validation of several spacecraft subsystems in a collaborative way, by interfacing various models built for functional validation purposes with a backbone model representing the spacecraft command/control and FDIR concept. Moreover, the paper gives feedback on the selected validation means and identifies improvement areas based on lessons learnt within a full-scale case: the Galileo navigation satellites.