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The New Space trend resulted in an increase in the number of small software teams involved in satellite development, especially in start-ups, public institutions, or universities. Those teams face challenges such as strict budgets and schedules; however, they must deliver reliable software that meets aerospace standards, such as those from the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS). A state-of-the-art analysis coupled with an examination of the ECSS standards highlights the need for a reliable strategy to validate and verify satellite software developed by small teams.
By utilizing the Design Science Research methodology, this dissertation addresses the challenges small teams active in satellite engineering face. It aims to provide a feasible approach for validating and verifying small satellite software and was conducted within the Spectrum AnaLysis SATellite (SALSAT) project between 2017 and 2024. The resulting artifact was applied to the development of the in-orbit software updates of SALSAT.
Following an analysis of the ECSS standards and modern software development practices, the dissertation presents a strategy for quality assurance of satellite software tailored to the needs of small teams. It combines modern DevOps software development practices with the traditional ECSS approach. The accompanying automated functional test framework supports the application of said strategy. The framework is designed to meet the needs of small software teams, with an emphasis on low setup effort, support by non-software engineers, reduced documentation requirements, hardware independence, and support for distributed multi-agent systems.
The research contributes a quality assurance strategy and an accompanying software framework that together address the challenges posed on small teams active in the New Space landscape. The approach ensures and adaptable and effective satellite software development by small development teams while adhering to the traditional space standards.