Development of software tools for mission control operations training at RMIT

With the creation of the Australian Space Agency in 2018, the space industry is surging with the Responsive Space Operations Centre (RSOC) established and operational as of March 2021. As the RSOC expands, a steady turnaround of trained personnel will be required. We have established a space training operations centre at RMIT University's Virtual Experiences Laboratory, using its tiled display wall. We present results of human factors studies on spaceflight operators with specific reference to international Space Situational Awareness activities with external industry and military partners. Specifically, a satellite monitoring activity using the Predictive Interactive Ground-station Interface (PIGI) from Saber Astronautics. We also present findings from simulated operations activities for training undergraduates in university spaceflight courses. We conclude that a display wall is the preferred method of data visualisation for an operations team and is essential for emulation of operations centres.