Satellite Control Center (SCC)

There are various control rooms at GSOC in Oberpfaffenhofen for the operation of satellite missions. The two largest, K1 and K2, are visible from the "visitors' bridge".

Other slightly smaller control rooms are set up for geostationary communication satellites, e.g. K6 for the operation of the EDRS payload or the regular operations of the SatCOMBw mission, which are carried out in separate control rooms.

A separate control room (K9) is used for simulations and training as well as for integrating the operating systems of new satellite projects.

A special feature of the German Space Operations Center GSOC is the so-called multi-mission environment. In multi-mission operations, the various projects are combined in a single operating environment based on shared systems and tools. The multi-mission operations team is able to support each of the satellites. This ensures a permanent exchange of experience and maximum operational reliability thanks to the support of dedicated project engineers.

Satellite Control Center - Impressions of the control room

Control room K1 during the launch of TET
The K1 control room is GSOC's main control room. It is used for the complex LEOPs (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) as well as for in-orbit tests, simulations and system tests. In addition to the GSOC subsystem engineers, engineers from the satellite manufacturer's Engineering Support Team can also follow the mission at the respective consoles in this control room and are available to assist the operations team, particularly in critical situations.
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Control room K2
Several multi-mission missions are managed in the K2 control room: TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X - two of the most successful radar Earth observation satellites in the world, Firebird with the two infrared detector satellites TET and BIROS, the GRACE-FO satellite system, which uses two satellites to study the Earth's gravitational field, and EnMAP for exploring the ecosystem on the Earth's land surface.
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Control room 1970
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