Development of Chang’E-1 operational simulator

Operational simulator is a satellite simulation system used to validate the flight program and ground control schemes, to train mission operators, constructing a realistic mission environment for system testing in the flight control center. The functional design, structure and using mode of Chang'E-1 operational simulator were introduced. In order to make the simulator jump to any orbit phase of the mission, and to improve the flexibility of system drilling, a new time jump method with orbit elements was presented. The simulator constructed a high-precision orbit dynamics model based on patched two-body with perturbation. In addition, part of onboard software was directly embedded into the simulator for the first time. Thus, the fidelity of the simulator was greatly improved. Centralized monitoring software was specifically designed for the simulator. The graphical man-machine interface facilitated the user's operation and management. The simulator was dependently used in the preparation of Chang'E-1 mission, and contributed for the success of it. Based on the development experience of the simulator, some advice is suggested for future simulator development.