NASA Office of Logic Design

A scientific study of the problems of digital engineering for space flight systems,
with a view to their practical solution.

"The Evolution of the Mission Control Center"

Michael W. Kearney, III
NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
Houston, TX 77058

Invited Paper, Proceedings of the IEEE
Vol. 75, No. 3, March 1987
pp. 399 - 416

Abstract
A discussion of the function and history of the Space Shuttle Mission Control Center describes the communications and data processing facilities, with an emphasis on display system changes. The current display system will be replaced by new technology as part of a project called the Mission Control Center Upgrade. That upgrade will implement a set of high-performance Local Area Networks (LANs) which transmit real-time and historical data to engineering workstations for processing and display. The benefits from such an architecture include a more flexible software development environment and a more module system which will promote future upgrades. The proposed upgrade architecture is explored, and the engineering and project management challenges of that effort are described, emphasizing the local area network task.