CCSDS

The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) was formed in 1982 by the major space agencies of the world to provide a forum for discussion of common problems in the development and operation of space data systems. It is currently composed of ten member agencies, 22 observer agencies, and over 100 industrial associates.

Since its establishment, it has been actively developing Recommended Standards for data- and information-systems standards to

1. reduce the cost to the various agencies of performing common data functions by eliminating unjustified project-unique design and development, and
2. promote interoperability and cross support among cooperating space agencies to reduce operations costs by sharing facilities.

Recommendations

The CCSDS develops recommendations, called Blue Books, for standards in order to:

• Reduce the cost of performing space missions
• Enable cross support for space missions
• Improve understanding of space related data
• Preserve archived space related data

Benefits of CCSDS

• Promotes understanding of exchanged data
• Reduces nonrecurring costs:
  • Fewer project-specific developments
  • Shorter test times
  • Less training of staff is needed
• Reduces recurring costs:
  • More commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware is needed
  • Fewer facilities because of load leveling
  • Only selected redundancy is needed
  • More automation, less staff
• Mitigates mission risk
• Enables ingest and access data archives

Important CCSDS standards

Related standards

• CCSDS Advanced Orbiting System (AOS)
• CCSDS File Delivery Protocol (CFDP)
• CCSDS Image Compression standard CCSDS_122.0-B-1
• Packet Telemetry
• Producer Archive Interface Methodology Abstract Standard (PAIMAS)
• Proximity-1 Space Link Protocol
• Spacecraft Monitoring & Control (SM&C)
• Space Link Extension Services (SLE)
• Space Communications Protocol Specifications (SCPS)
  • SCPS-FP
  • SCPS-TP
  • SCPS-SP
  • SCPS-NP
• Telemetry Channel Coding
• XML Telemetric and Command Exchange (XTCE)

References

• The content of this article was adapted and expanded from the www.ccsds.org (public domain)

External links

NSSDC (NASA)

• CCSDS Official Web Site URL accessed 13 March 2006
• CCSDS Documents in PDF format URL accessed 12 April 2006
• An Introduction to CCSDS URL accessed 12 April 2006
• CDSCC, an acronym sometimes confused with CCSDS URL accessed 12 March 2006
• Goddard Space Flight Center URL accessed 12 March 2006
• National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center URL accessed 12 March 2006