Mission Awareness provides guidance when creating a new tasking request on the potential satellite access times available to satisfy the tasking request. This tool is available for Point task requests only.
Mission Awareness enables users to understand if a satellite opportunity matches their task request parameters prior to submitting the request. For example, if only a limited number of opportunities exist, users can change the task request parameters in order increase the number of potential access times and, thus, increase their chance of the task being Accepted by the Scheduler. Information from Mission Awareness can also be used to determine the feasibility of a repeat task request cadence.
Satellite access times in Mission Awareness should be seen as potentials rather than guarantees. The tool shows all access opportunities, including those already reserved by previously submitted task requests, because tasks can be automatically moved by the Capella system under the No Bumping policy, re-opening access times for new tasking requests.
Access opportunities for seven (7) days after Window Open are automatically displayed on the Create New Task page. Additional access opportunities can be seen by changing the Window Close date, up to a maximum of 30 days from the Window Open date.
When hovering over a satellite icon in the Mission Awareness panel below the map on the Create New Task page, the following information is displayed in a pop-up box:
- Orbit state
- Orbital plane
- Observation direction
- Look angle
The area coverage and orientation of the predicted satellite access opportunity is often an important consideration during the task creation and review process. The potential scene footprint for the access opportunity is also displayed for on the map. The footprint can be used to inform selection of optional parameters such as Orbit State, Orbit Plane, and Observation Direction. This footprint should be used as a guide and may change when collection begins.
The list of potential satellite access times and associated metadata can be downloaded as a Comma Separated Value (CSV) file for more detailed exploration and analysis. The potential scene footprint for an individual access can also be dowloaded as a GeoJSON file by hovering over the potential satellite access time and clicking on the Geometry button.
Potential access times can be refreshed on demand by making changes to selected tasking parameters. The Refresh Access Times button will illuminate a darker blue and become clickable when changes are made to the following parameters:
- Collection Type
- Collection Tier
- Window Open
- Window Close
- Look Angle
- Observation Direction
- Orbit State
For example, changing the Collection Type from Spotlight to Stripmap - 100 does not change the time and date of the potential satellite access times. It does, however, change the potential scene footprint displayed on the map.