The DPU BOX-P flight software of Plasma Observatory, a LIRA contribution

Plasma Observatory is one of the three candidates currently being evaluated by ESA as the future M7 mission. Its objectives are to determine how particles are energized, identify the main processes that transport energy in space plasma, and understand the interactions between the different regions of the Earth's magnetosphere with multi-scale measurements in situ. To achieve these scientific objectives, Plasma Observatory (PMO) is deseigned as seven identical sister spacecrafts (SSCs) in a two nested tetrahedra configuration.

The Laboratory for Instrumentation and Research in Astrophysics (LIRA) of the Observatory of Paris is responsible for the DPU-P application software for the BOX-P instrument. The LIRA contribution includes the specification, design, implementation and testing, verification and validation, product assurance, and development of the test platform. The DPU BOX-P flight software transforms the raw data produced by the instruments into scientific products of L0 level that can be used on the ground (precise dating, synchronisation, filtering, reduction, compression), which means that a significant part of the scientific value of each instrument is directly produced by the software. Responsibility for the flight software places LIRA at the heart of defining scientific products (content, format and cadence of L0s), optimizing on-board processing and science/resource trade-offs, in direct interaction with the instrument teams and mission constraints. The LIRA team has recognized expertise in complex scientific flight software, demonstrated on missions such as PLATO and Solar Orbiter.

Here we present the DPU-P software and we discuss its contribution to the science of Plasma Observatory.