A Low Cost Approach to EUVE Spacecraft Operations: The Future in Astrophysical Satellite Operations?

The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite launched in June 1992 is a typical low-Earth orbiting astrophysical satellite, similar to the Gamma-Ray Observatory (GRO) and more complicated (operationally) than the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE). EUVE is jointly operated by Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of California at Berkeley. The EUVE mission is scheduled to be terminated in 1996 due to lack of funding. An extended mission is being considered by NASA if EUVE can be operated for less than one third of current NASA and UCB costs. It must also continue to be scientifically valid, be useful as a testbed for innovative mission operations techniques, and contain an educational component to the mission. We present our plans for a low cost, incremental increase in Berkeley's operational capability providing the ability to support an extended EUVE mission beginning in 1996. By using state-of-the-art mission operations software from NASA Centers and an innovative approach, we hope to demonstrate techniques applicable to future astrophysical space missions. This work has been supported by NASA contract NAS5-29298.