Shining a Light on Student-Led Mission Operations: Lessons Learned from the Lunar Flashlight Project

Lunar Flashlight (LF), a 6U technology demonstration CubeSat launched in December 2022, was the first NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) mission to be operated entirely by students. The focus of this paper is the lessons learned from the mission operations team, made up of graduate and undergraduate students at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), with regards to the structure, elements, and relationships of an interplanetary small satellite mission operations system (MOS). The complex work environment of mission operations is functionally decomposed using a work domain analysis to group lessons learned by relevant work functions. In this way, all aspects of a holistic MOS are addressed, including their implementation on the LF project and relevant lessons learned. The experience of the GT operations team can inform expectations, preparation, and execution for future student-led project involvement at JPL and elsewhere.

月球手电筒（Lunar Flashlight, LF）是2022年12月发射的6U技术演示立方卫星（CubeSat），是美国国家航空航天局喷气推进实验室（NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL）首个完全由学生操作的任务。本文聚焦于任务操作团队所总结的经验教训——该团队由佐治亚理工学院（Georgia Institute of Technology, GT）的研究生与本科生组成，内容涉及星际小型卫星任务操作系统（mission operations system, MOS）的结构、要素及相互关系。任务操作的复杂工作环境通过工作域分析（work domain analysis）进行功能分解，从而按相关工作职能对经验教训加以归类。借此，全面覆盖了整体任务操作系统的各个方面，包括其在LF项目中的实施细节及相关经验教训。GT操作团队的经验可为未来在JPL及其他机构开展学生主导项目的预期设定、准备工作与执行过程提供参考依据。