Evolution of a standardized, repeatable satellite test approach

With the evolution of its GEO Communications product line over the last several years, Orbital Sciences has had an opportunity to develop, evolve and enhance its spacecraft Integration and Test (l&T) suite from paper procedures that used operator driven manual commanding to repeatable, automated test sequences executed with minimal operator intervention. These enhanced procedures have been implemented in such a way that the same core test suite can be used across multiple spacecraft builds with a minimum of changes from one program to the next. This paper specifically reviews the approaches developed to resolve three test problems: 1) telemetry access for command validation, 2) improved setup to simplify execution, repeatability and analysis of attitude control system operational tests, and, 3) implementation of an automated method to simplify spacecraft unique heater and thermistor testing from one spacecraft to the next.