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Both KSAT and Statsat are Norwegian companies with stations far north. This is highly advantiougs for the operations and might be preferred for this reason. There are also other companies such as Leaf Space https://leaf.space/leaf-line/ providing ground station services for small satellite missions.
Cost and possibilities for all options must be clarified in the next project phase.
(3): Combination
Operations software
Especially if the we do not get several other partners onboard, the need for a commerical partner can be strong in order to get as much contact time to the satellite as possible. Trondheim is far north and will most likely see up to 5 to 6 passes every day (for TM/TC), but S-band downlink might require high elevation angles in order to close the link budget (TBC) so only 1-3 passes might be usable pr. day. This must be further simulated and calulated. Generic coverage simulations can be performed now, but accurate link budget calculations are only possible when the hardware is known.
KSAT Svalbard and Vardø stations are far north and will therefore see the satellite more times during the day, this alone can be a reason for having to use these stations during mission aquicition operations. Local ground stations can be used for TM/TC and simple operations in order to not incure more costs than necessary.
Ground station and operations software
The satellite bus suppliers will, depending on our needs, deliver software for operating the satelliets. When their specification is known, we can derive the need for our own mission planning/scheduling software. Software for interperting data/distribute data will be needed and should be agnostic wrt. the operations software.
Some partner universities have software to consider.
The Norwegian company Statsat are doing • Again, I think we must know what we have to play with from the satellite supplier wrt. implementing our own software on-top/instead of. Then we can sit down and see if software/toolchains from our partners can/should be used or not.
• I’ve initiated discussions with Statsat; a company affiliated with the space centre and Space Norway. They are doing operations of the AIS-satellites and NORSat satellites. They now have four satellites operational, and a staff of only four-five people doing everything. They are in the process of re-writing their software based on the 5-6 years of experience they now have, in order to further simplify and stream-line operations. They are delivering an operational service for Kystverket, in addition to more ad-hoc support to research teams with other payloads on the NORSats. I’ve invited them and Space Norway to Trondheim in November/December.
• Also KSAT can be approached on this. We will also approach them when other activities are cleared of the list. We have a lot of people we know very well in KSAT at the moment.
I hope this helps clarify my thoughts, and that it can be used as basis for discussions. Please let me know if you think any of this does not make sense.
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It could be very beneficial to try partner with them on mission software and control room ops.