Caltech Mission Operations Center (Legacy, 2020)
Our Initiative...
The Caltech Mission Operations Center (CMOC) started in 2019 as a collaboration between Caltech undergraduates and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, seed-funded by a grant from the Keck Institute for Space Studies that was supported by Caltech's Space Innovation Council. The Caltech SmallSats organization and CMOC is intended for students interested in building, commanding, and analyzing downlink from small satellites. CubeSats and other small form factors of satellites have grown exponentially, while costs have significantly declined. This shift in form factor has created many more experiments and missions to be conducted in space, characterized by lower risk and faster development. The goal of CMOC is to develop undergraduates into competent satellite operators and data analyzers necessary to continue this growing trend. CMOC hosts an access-controlled mission operations room on the second floor of the Guggenheim building in Caltech's GALCIT.
What we do...
The team of students is responsible for analyzing downlinked data, while also uplinking commands to spacecraft. The team is also constructing an on-campus ground station using the SATNOGS network. So far, CMOC has partnered with JPL's ASTERIA and University of Michigan's MCubed-2 satellites. CMOC students are also working to prepare mission operations software for Lunar Trailblazer.
Where we are...
Find our workspace at Guggenheim 248. The facility includes operator workstations, a small meeting space, as well as a display of spacecraft data and location in real time.