Transforming space operations with virtual ground segment: A partnership with AWS

Powering the core of your smart mission center 

The space industry is experiencing rapid growth and evolution, driven by the proliferation of satellites, sensors, data streams, and user terminals. This growth brings increased complexity and demands innovative solutions to manage ground operations effectively. In response to these challenges, Capgemini, in partnership with AWS, presents the Virtual Ground Segment—a cloud-native solution designed to redefine satellite ground operations for Mission Centers, the keystone of ground segment. 

The challenge

With more satellites, sensors, data streams, and user terminals, ground segments face growing complexity and demands for enhanced functionality, faster deployment, and cost efficiency. The challenge lies in simplifying what is becoming ever more complicated and demanding:

• Greater functionality for seamless user experience: Clients need advanced features that ensure a smooth and efficient user experience.
• More flexibility to adapt in real-time: The ability to quickly respond to changing mission requirements is crucial. 
• Faster time to market: Accelerated deployment of new capabilities is essential to stay competitive.
• Increased pressure for cost efficiency and market impact: Clients are under constant pressure to reduce costs while maximizing their impact.

These challenges demand a ground segment that is both broadly capable and finely tuned for smart, mission-specific operations.

Our solution

The Virtual Ground Segment is a modern, cloud-native solution that addresses these challenges through three key strengths: 

1. Simplifying the complex: By providing a flexible, streamlined platform, the Virtual Ground Segment supports diverse mission needs while reducing time to market and operational overhead. 
2. Balanced design: The solution strikes the right balance between generic features and mission-specific customization, combining reusable components with tailored solutions to save costs and accelerate deployment without sacrificing flexibility.
3. Modular, interoperable architecture: The solution’s standardized, modular architecture supports both cloud and on-premise deployment, ensuring seamless integration with legacy systems and third-party partners while maintaining high security and scalability for future growth.

Built entirely on an API-based architecture and leveraging standard AWS services, the Virtual Ground Segment is agile, reusable, and ready to support the evolving needs of smart mission centers.

Key features

The Virtual Ground Segment offers a range of powerful features designed to enhance ground operations:

• Image processing: Receive and process raw payload telemetry to generate final products, such as images, for the end-user portal catalogue. The solution provides an adapted framework for integrating specific algorithms and configurations. 
• Mission programming: Submit and analyze acquisition tasks, handle large areas by splitting them into meshes, and compute the activity plan for the entire satellite constellation. The solution also supports urgent programming, allowing for the insertion of prior acquisitions into an already computed constellation plan. 
• State-of-the-art technologies: The solution’s scalability and modularity are enabled by a DevOps approach and microservice architecture, ensuring system robustness and resilience with automated tests at all levels.

Benefits 

The Virtual Ground Segment provides numerous benefits to clients:

• Supports clients with or without advanced R&D capabilities: The solution provides baseline algorithms that are easy to replace or customize for faster feature integration and consistent operations.
• Increases modularity and standardization: The use of modular and standardized components accelerates adoption and lowers the barrier for new market entrants.
• Lowers costs: The blend of off-the-shelf features and customization, along with reusable components, reduces costs.
• Increases scalability and flexibility: The fully virtualized and API-based infrastructure enables greater scalability and agility. 
• Reduces time to deploy: Reusability leads to 20-30% time savings when implementing new features.

In partnership with AWS

Capgemini and AWS blend deep industry knowledge, cloud expertise, and services to help clients realize their vision of a 21st-century business. Capgemini specializes in integrating complex systems across industries, ensuring that all components work together efficiently to drive innovation, optimize operations, and achieve strategic goals. As a Premier Tier Partner, Capgemini has a 15-year relationship with AWS, with 11,000 certified consultants on AWS and 10 AWS competencies.

Together, Capgemini and AWS empower clients to transform their space operations with the Virtual Ground Segment, leveraging proven methodologies and programs to accelerate their journey to the cloud and lead them to a smart, efficient business. 

In summary, the Virtual Ground Segment represents a transformative solution for the space industry, addressing the key challenges of complexity, flexibility, and cost-efficiency. With the combined expertise of Capgemini and AWS, clients can confidently navigate the evolving space landscape and achieve their mission goals. 

For more information, contact us or visit the AWS Marketplace.