Tradespace Analysis Capabilities for the Next Generation of the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS)

This paper shows how the Tradespace Analysis Tool for Constellations (TAT-C) can evaluate revisit time and data latency values for satellite mission alternatives, supporting tradespace exploration studies for strategic planning of next-generation constellations. This study demonstrates how TAT-C provides performance metrics such as revisit time and data latency used within the Advanced Systems Performance Evaluation tool for NOAA (ASPEN) to assess future earth-observing missions. TAT-C supports exploration of constellation designs comprised of smaller satellites which offer improved performance to traditional monolithic systems. TAT-C analysis calculates temporal refresh (revisit time), the time between consecutive observations of a fixed point, and data latency, the time between observation and first available downlink to a ground station. It simulates satellite paths utilizing General Perturbations (GP) data, fields of regard, and ground station locations and calculates revisit and latency times based on observation timing of test points and ground stations. A tradespace analysis consisting of 18 alternatives varies architectures in terms of the number of satellites, sensor field of regard, and orbits. TAT-C facilitates future satellite systems like JPSS consider distributed satellite mission (DSM) concepts which offer multiple advantages including improved spatio-temporal resolution.