PintaOnWeb - a Versatile Mission Planning Tool (also) for Planetary Exploration

PintaOnWeb is a web-based recent-generation application for interactive and collaborative planning of satellite, space and research missions. This tool is under active development at DLR’s German Space Operations Center (GSOC). PintaOnWeb, in combination with its basic components, the Reactive Planning framework and the Plains library, is already successfully used within GSOC for Earth-orbiting missions and the planning and scheduling of ground-based assets, laying the groundwork to now venture further into the solar system.

A supportive and reliable mission planning system (MPS) is not only non-negotiable during the active mission, but also highly valuable in the phases leading up to the launch: Preparing the mission timeline beforehand can help identify possible weaknesses of the schedule and using the system in training scenarios helps to familiarize engineers and scientists to be able to quickly react in any case of uncertainties. Even before that, the (iterative) development of the planning model is done in close collaboration with the mission engineers and/or mission scientists to maximize the flexibility for adapting the complete planning system to the use-cases of each mission. Configuration capabilities include the modelling of activities, resources, parameters and dependencies, constraints and effects, real-time conflict checking, well defined interfaces for project-specific extensions as well as the possibility to include algorithms of varying complexity and the ability to work with multiple time standards (e.g. Phobos time and UTC).

The system can be automated to a varying degree or operated more interactively, enabling a user with according access rights to schedule and plan by themselves, on the timeline, without requiring any expert knowledge on mission planning. For example, scientists can be allowed to request images or measurements directly in the tool and get real-time feedback on possibly occurring conflicts (e.g. not enough memory space is available). In all cases, users can inspect the planning model and view the current timeline state, using customizable plots to view details of interest, and make manual modifications if necessary.

PintaOnWeb is supporting the MMX (Martian Moons Exploration) mission with a planning system for the IDEFIX rover to explore the Martian moon Phobos (see Figure 1 for an exemplary timeline view for the IDEFIX MPS). During the ongoing development of this MPS, we’ve already detected and overcome some challenges: IDEFIX will use the MMX spacecraft as a relay orbiter during its main operation on Phobos. The data will first travel to a RolBox mounted onto the spacecraft, then it will be transferred to its memory and only then send down to Earth. To tackle this complex data transfer, we focused on a detailed constraint modeling to correctly display the process.

Additionally, we are providing a planning tool for the LUNA analogue facility and for the EDEN-LUNA project. Both systems operate independently, but will have the ability to interact with each other, to support the coordination of utilization activities and personnel. For EDEN-LUNA e.g., it enables the detailed planning of regular operations for the plant cultivation module with its bio-regenerative system, but also special campaigns with astronaut interaction.

We will cover the overall architecture and design of PintaOnWeb, give real-time demonstrations on its functionalities based on planetary and analogue missions (MMX, LUNA and EDEN-LUNA), as well as highlight the challenges we faced during expanding the already existing PintaOnWeb functionality for planetary exploration and address the solutions we found and the benefits we can provide to other future missions exploring the solar system and beyond.

Figure 1: Exemplary timeline/workspace view of the MPS for the IDEFIX rover of the MMX mission.