SATELLITE SIMULATOR

A satellite simulator to aid in the development and test of a spacecraft command and telemetry application for ground stations permits a satellite simulator to be implemented effectively and with less cost than has traditionally been possible with customized systems. From the spacecraft command and telemetry processing system, the present invention appears as a satellite that can provide a configurable telemetry stream and can accept configurable commands. The invention provides core satellite simulation capabilities required for ground station spacecraft command and telemetry processing systems such as OS/COMET or for large-scale simulation networks such as multi-service simulation systems. The present invention offers an inexpensive risk mitigation that relieves application developers of total dependency on the satellite simulation development schedule. Moreover, the present invention can be used to demonstrate the features of ground station application systems. Finally, the present invention training driver can be easier to manage and can be maintained by the training team who can rely upon the knowledge that the training exercises will function properly when presented to a training class.