PAGE CONTENTS
Objectives
The DSS is designed to serve both external customers (operators) and internal stakeholders (ReOrbit’s engineering, integration, and sales teams). As a digital twin, SiltaSim follows the satellite platform throughout its lifecycle.
Its modular architecture ensures that the simulator evolves in parallel with the satellite – new payload configurations, software updates, and mission variants can be reflected in the DSS without redesigning the simulation environment. This modularity also supports scalability across multiple satellite deployments, allowing models, scenarios, and data sets to be reused and adapted for successive missions.
Benefits
The DSS provides a unified digital twin capability spanning design, validation, and operations, enabling users to analyse nominal and contingency scenarios with high confidence. Compared to traditional simulators, which are often static and purpose-built, DSS offers a continuously evolving environment aligned with the physical satellite, reducing duplication of effort across lifecycle phases. Its modular and reusable architecture significantly lowers development time for new missions and variants, while improving consistency between engineering, testing, and operations.
For operators, DSS enhances mission readiness, anomaly investigation, and decision-making through realistic scenario simulation. For engineering teams, it enables early validation and rapid iteration. For commercial stakeholders, it provides a demonstrable and configurable platform to support customer engagement. This combination of flexibility, lifecycle continuity, and multi-stakeholder value differentiates DSS from existing monolithic or phase-specific simulation systems.
Features
The DSS includes a modular simulation framework covering key satellite subsystems, including AOCS, power, propulsion, thermal, payload, and communications. It supports scenario definition and execution, including nominal operations and contingency cases, with configurable fidelity levels. The system integrates time management, data logging, and replay capabilities to enable deterministic analysis and post-event investigation.
A digital thread connects subsystem models, ensuring consistent data exchange and traceability across the simulation. The platform supports integration with flight software (SIL) and potential hardware interfaces (HIL), enabling end-to-end validation. Additional features include user interfaces for scenario control and visualisation, as well as extensibility to incorporate new payloads, mission profiles, and external models. This ensures the DSS remains adaptable to evolving mission requirements.
Challenges
The primary challenges include achieving the correct balance between simulation fidelity and computational efficiency, ensuring accurate representation of physical subsystems while maintaining real-time performance, and integrating heterogeneous models across multiple domains (AOCS, power, propulsion, payloads).
Additional challenges arise in synchronising distributed simulation components, maintaining consistency with evolving satellite designs, and supporting both engineering-grade analysis and operational use cases within a single, unified framework.
System Architecture
The DSS architecture is based on a modular, distributed simulation framework. At its core is a simulation runtime responsible for time management, execution control, and orchestration of subsystem models. Each subsystem (e.g. AOCS, power, propulsion) is implemented as an independent module with well-defined interfaces, enabling flexible integration and reuse.
A digital thread layer manages data exchange between modules, supported by standardised interfaces to ensure interoperability. The architecture supports distributed deployment, allowing components to run across multiple processes or systems where required.
Supporting components include a scenario engine for defining and executing mission cases, a data management layer for logging and replay, and user interfaces for configuration and monitoring. This architecture ensures scalability, extensibility, and alignment with both engineering and operational use cases.
Plan
Two Phases with four milestones:
- SRR — Systems Readiness Review
- TRR — Test Readiness Review
- TRB — Test Review Board
- FR — Final Review
Current Status
The SRR was completed on 12 March 2026.
Following successful disposition of the RIDS, and release of the SRR documentation in accordance with the actions from the SRR meeting, the Phase I SRR is deemed successful and ReOrbit will be invited to request payment to close out the phase 1 activity.
