Home / AstraForge / AstraForge Specification
AstraForge
The Open Mission Operations Stack for Aerospace Innovation
AstraForge is an open-source mission operations specification for planning, simulating, monitoring, coordinating, and supporting aerospace missions.
AstraForge provides a modular foundation for rockets, spacecraft, satellites, launch systems, ground infrastructure, Earth observation platforms, human spaceflight systems, and space exploration missions.
The specification is designed around open interfaces, mission data interoperability, hardware independence, human control, operational resilience, simulation, extensibility, and long-term preservation of mission knowledge.
Core Principles
- Open mission operations
- Modular system design
- Mission data interoperability
- Hardware independence
- Human controlled operations
- Simulation before deployment
- Operational transparency
- Mission resilience
- Extensible architecture
- Long-term mission data preservation
- Open collaboration
- Vendor independence
- Mission knowledge preservation
Core Modules
Mission Operations Center
The central operational environment for coordinating aerospace missions.
Features
- Real-time mission dashboards
- Multi-vehicle mission support
- Spacecraft status monitoring
- Mission timeline management
- Operator control consoles
- Mission event logging
- Procedure workflows
- Role-based access control
- Secure command authorization
- Operator activity auditing
- Mission archive management
- Mission status visualization
- Operational alert management
- Command and control workflows
- Mission communications coordination
Mission Planning & Operations
Provides mission design, scheduling, coordination, and operational planning capabilities.
Features
- Mission architecture planning
- Mission lifecycle management
- Launch window analysis
- Orbit insertion planning
- Payload scheduling
- Mission timeline creation
- Resource planning
- Operational workflow management
- Mission dependency tracking
- Team collaboration
- Flight operations planning
- Long-duration mission planning
- Automated mission scheduling
- Scenario planning
- Mission optimization
- Operational decision support
- Contingency planning
- Procedure management
Telemetry Intelligence Engine
Processes, analyzes, visualizes, and interprets aerospace telemetry.
Features
- Telemetry ingestion
- Telemetry packet decoding
- Data normalization
- Sensor stream management
- Real-time telemetry visualization
- Historical telemetry storage
- Performance monitoring
- System health tracking
- Automated alerts
- Threshold monitoring
- Anomaly detection
- Telemetry trend analysis
- Event correlation
- Sensor validation
- Telemetry quality monitoring
- Automated mission summaries
- Predictive system health analysis
- Failure pattern recognition
Supported Systems
- Launch vehicles
- Satellites
- Spacecraft
- Payload systems
- Ground infrastructure
- Experimental aerospace platforms
Digital Twin Engine
Provides virtual representations of aerospace systems for simulation, testing, training, and mission rehearsal.
Features
- Virtual spacecraft models
- Rocket system simulations
- Mission rehearsal environments
- Hardware-in-the-loop testing
- Software-in-the-loop testing
- Failure scenario simulation
- Operational training environments
- System behavior modeling
- Real-time simulation synchronization
- Simulated telemetry generation
- System state modeling
- Mission scenario generation
- Configuration testing
- Operational procedure validation
Supported Digital Twins
- Rockets
- Satellites
- Spacecraft
- Space stations
- Lunar systems
- Planetary vehicles
- Ground infrastructure
Ground Station Network
Provides distributed communications coordination for aerospace missions.
Features
- Ground station management
- Antenna scheduling
- Contact window planning
- Signal tracking
- Telemetry relay
- Command transmission
- Communication health monitoring
- Data routing
- Remote station coordination
- Station availability management
- Contact history
- Pass prediction support
- Distributed communications coordination
Supported Ground Stations
- University ground stations
- Research stations
- Private stations
- Amateur radio systems
- Distributed mission networks
Spacecraft Resource Management
Provides monitoring and optimization of spacecraft resources and subsystems.
Features
- Power system monitoring
- Battery health tracking
- Solar array monitoring
- Thermal system management
- Propellant tracking
- Communications resource monitoring
- Storage management
- Computing resource monitoring
- Component health tracking
- Subsystem performance analysis
- Resource forecasting
- Resource allocation
- Mission lifetime estimation
- Automated resource optimization
- Resource constraint monitoring
Earth Observation Operations
Provides operational management for Earth observation and remote sensing missions.
Features
- Imaging request management
- Ground target scheduling
- Sensor planning
- Observation timeline management
- Data collection workflows
- Earth observation archives
- Science product generation
- Sensor performance tracking
- Imaging prioritization
- Observation conflict detection
- Ground coverage planning
- Observation request tracking
Supported Missions
- Earth imaging satellites
- Environmental monitoring missions
- Scientific observation platforms
- Mapping systems
- Remote sensing systems
Hardware Abstraction Layer
Provides standardized interfaces between AstraForge and aerospace hardware.
Features
- Standardized hardware interfaces
- Flight computer integration
- Sensor adapters
- Payload integrations
- Robotics interfaces
- Radio system connectors
- Hardware discovery
- Device configuration
- Hardware status monitoring
- Simulation compatibility
- Hardware profile management
- Device command interfaces
Supported Systems
- Rockets
- Satellites
- Spacecraft
- Ground systems
- Experimental platforms
Mission Reliability Engineering
Provides tools for reliability analysis, risk management, fault analysis, and mission assurance.
Features
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
- Risk assessment
- Reliability scoring
- Fault tracking
- Redundancy monitoring
- Fault tree analysis
- Mission readiness evaluation
- Component lifecycle tracking
- Engineering review workflows
- Failure scenario analysis
- Risk register management
- Reliability trend analysis
- Mission resilience scoring
- Predictive reliability analysis
- Automated risk detection
Human Spaceflight Module
Provides operational capabilities for crewed aerospace missions.
Features
- Crew mission monitoring
- Life support system interfaces
- Habitat system monitoring
- Crew schedule management
- Emergency procedure workflows
- Environmental monitoring
- Crew resource tracking
- Human factors data management
- Crew health data interfaces
- Habitat status monitoring
- Emergency response coordination
- Crew procedure management
Supported Environments
- Space stations
- Lunar habitats
- Long-duration exploration missions
- Crewed spacecraft
- Surface exploration systems
Mission Data Interoperability Layer
Provides standardized exchange and translation of mission data between aerospace systems.
Features
- Open data schemas
- API gateway
- Mission data translation
- Cross-platform integration
- Data federation
- CCSDS-compatible workflows
- Real-time data exchange
- Mission system interoperability
- Data validation
- Schema management
- Protocol translation
- Mission data routing
- Cross-system event exchange
Connected Systems
- Mission control systems
- Ground stations
- Spacecraft
- Scientific platforms
- Aerospace applications
- Simulation environments
- External mission services
Space Traffic Management
Provides orbital awareness and operational support for activities in the space environment.
Features
- Space object tracking
- Orbital visualization
- Conjunction monitoring
- Collision risk analysis
- Debris awareness
- Orbital environment monitoring
- Maneuver planning support
- Satellite fleet awareness
- Orbital event tracking
- Conjunction alerts
- Risk assessment
- Collision avoidance recommendations
- Orbital resource monitoring
Flight Dynamics
Provides analysis and operational support for spacecraft trajectories and orbital activities.
Features
- Orbit determination
- Trajectory analysis
- Orbit propagation
- Maneuver planning
- Launch trajectory analysis
- Orbital event prediction
- Ground track generation
- Visibility analysis
- Contact prediction
- Reentry analysis
- Transfer trajectory planning
- Navigation support
- Flight dynamics visualization
- Mission trajectory comparison
Launch Operations
Provides operational support for launch preparation, countdown activities, launch monitoring, and post-flight analysis.
Features
- Countdown management
- Pre-launch checklists
- Vehicle readiness tracking
- Launch event monitoring
- Flight event monitoring
- Stage separation tracking
- Engine performance monitoring
- Flight trajectory tracking
- Launch status monitoring
- Range coordination interfaces
- Launch anomaly tracking
- Post-flight analysis
- Mission event reconstruction
AI Mission Intelligence
Provides intelligent assistance for aerospace mission operations.
Features
- Natural language mission queries
- Mission data analysis
- Automated reports
- Operational summaries
- Anomaly investigation
- Predictive maintenance support
- Mission knowledge retrieval
- Decision support
- Mission event interpretation
- Telemetry analysis assistance
- Procedure assistance
- Risk analysis support
- Mission status summarization
- Operator assistance
- Historical mission comparison
Human Control Requirements
- AI recommendations remain reviewable by operators
- Critical commands require authorized human control
- AI actions must be auditable
- AI-generated conclusions must retain supporting mission data
- Automated operations must be configurable
- Mission operators retain authority over mission-critical decisions
AstraShield Security Layer
Provides security capabilities for aerospace mission systems and operational environments.
Features
- Secure authentication
- Command authorization
- Encryption support
- Access control
- Audit logging
- Software integrity verification
- Mission security monitoring
- Credential management
- Session management
- Security event tracking
- Authorization policies
- Operator identity management
- Security incident recording
- Configuration integrity monitoring
AstraArchive Mission Data System
Provides long-term preservation and retrieval of mission information.
Features
- Telemetry archives
- Flight recordings
- Simulation results
- Scientific datasets
- Mission reports
- Historical analysis
- Mission documentation
- Operational procedures
- Configuration history
- Mission event archives
- Data provenance
- Archive indexing
- Historical mission reconstruction
- Long-term data preservation
Developer Platform & SDK
Provides extensibility and integration capabilities for developers and mission operators.
Features
- Plugin framework
- Open APIs
- Spacecraft adapters
- Sensor integrations
- Ground station connectors
- Simulation extensions
- Visualization modules
- AI integrations
- Developer tools
- Extension interfaces
- Mission service integrations
- Custom module support
- Event subscription interfaces
- Data integration interfaces
Optional Plugin Modules
Optional plugins extend AstraForge into specialized mission, scientific, operational, and aerospace environments without requiring every deployment to implement every capability.
Autonomous Mission Operations Plugin
Provides optional autonomous mission operations capabilities.
Features
- Autonomous procedure execution
- Automated mission scheduling
- Autonomous anomaly response
- Resource optimization
- Mission state assessment
- Autonomous decision workflows
- Operator approval gates
- Autonomous recovery procedures
- Configurable autonomy levels
- Autonomous operations logging
Constellation Management Plugin
Provides management capabilities for multi-spacecraft constellations.
Features
- Fleet monitoring
- Constellation scheduling
- Cross-spacecraft coordination
- Fleet resource allocation
- Orbital configuration management
- Constellation health monitoring
- Inter-satellite coordination
- Fleet maneuver planning
- Coverage optimization
- Constellation event management
Science Operations Plugin
Provides tools for scientific mission operations.
Features
- Science observation planning
- Instrument scheduling
- Scientific target management
- Observation prioritization
- Science data workflows
- Experiment management
- Scientific event tracking
- Research collaboration
- Science archive integration
- Scientific mission reporting
Software Defined Radio Plugin
Provides optional software-defined communications capabilities.
Features
- Signal processing workflows
- Radio configuration
- Frequency management
- Communication profile management
- Signal monitoring
- Modulation configuration
- Communications testing
- Spectrum observation
- Radio simulation
- Communication diagnostics
Payload Operations Plugin
Provides specialized management of mission payloads.
Features
- Payload configuration
- Payload command workflows
- Instrument monitoring
- Payload scheduling
- Payload health tracking
- Payload calibration
- Payload data management
- Payload simulation
- Instrument performance analysis
- Payload procedure management
Robotics Operations Plugin
Provides operational support for robotic aerospace systems.
Features
- Robotic vehicle monitoring
- Robotic command workflows
- Manipulator operations
- Autonomous navigation support
- Surface operations
- Robotic task scheduling
- Sensor integration
- Robotic simulation
- Remote operation support
- Robotic mission logging
Lunar Operations Plugin
Provides optional support for lunar missions and infrastructure.
Features
- Lunar mission planning
- Surface asset monitoring
- Lunar communications coordination
- Lunar navigation support
- Surface operations
- Habitat integration
- Rover operations
- Lunar resource monitoring
- Lunar observation planning
- Lunar mission archives
Planetary Operations Plugin
Provides optional support for planetary exploration missions.
Features
- Planetary mission planning
- Surface vehicle operations
- Remote exploration workflows
- Planetary navigation support
- Science target scheduling
- Environmental monitoring
- Planetary communications coordination
- Exploration data management
- Mission simulation
- Surface asset tracking
Launch Intelligence Plugin
Provides advanced launch analysis and operational intelligence.
Features
- Launch readiness analysis
- Countdown intelligence
- Launch window evaluation
- Weather data integration
- Launch constraint monitoring
- Vehicle status correlation
- Launch anomaly analysis
- Historical launch comparison
- Launch risk assessment
- Post-launch intelligence
Mission Simulation Plugin
Provides expanded mission simulation capabilities.
Features
- Multi-mission simulation
- Scenario generation
- Failure injection
- Mission rehearsal
- Synthetic telemetry
- System behavior simulation
- Operational procedure testing
- Mission timeline simulation
- Simulation comparison
- Simulation result analysis
Emergency Operations Plugin
Provides specialized workflows for mission emergencies.
Features
- Emergency procedure management
- Incident classification
- Emergency alerting
- Fault isolation support
- Contingency workflow activation
- Operator coordination
- Emergency timeline management
- Recovery planning
- Incident logging
- Post-incident analysis
Aerospace Analytics Plugin
Provides advanced analytics across mission datasets.
Features
- Mission performance analytics
- Fleet analytics
- Telemetry analytics
- Reliability analytics
- Resource analytics
- Operational trend analysis
- Historical comparison
- Predictive analysis
- Mission performance reporting
- Custom analytics workflows
Community Mission Plugin
Provides tools for educational, research, citizen science, and collaborative aerospace projects.
Features
- Shared mission workspaces
- Educational mission environments
- Community mission coordination
- Collaborative telemetry
- Shared simulation environments
- Public mission dashboards
- Research data sharing
- Mission documentation
- Community procedures
- Public mission archives
Modular Integration
AstraForge modules should operate independently while providing standardized interfaces for communication and coordination.
Modules may:
- Exchange mission data
- Subscribe to mission events
- Publish operational events
- Request mission services
- Provide specialized capabilities
- Consume telemetry
- Generate mission records
- Integrate with simulations
- Connect to hardware
- Extend operational workflows
Deployments may enable only the modules and plugins required for a particular mission.
Specification Branding License (SBL)
Standard
- Fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant system
- Copyleft enforced for network deployments
- Required attribution:
- Roxanne Ardary
- https://www.roxanneardary.com/
Optional
- Specification Branding License (SBL)
- Attribution-free commercial deployment
- Pricing based on scale, usage, and deployment scope
- https://roxanneardary.com/astraforge/
License & Notice Requirements
AstraForge is released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
By contributing to any Open Arsenal project, you agree that your contributions will also be released under this license.
Please note the following:
- All contributions must comply with the AGPL-3.0+ terms.
- Under Section 7 of the license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works must preserve attribution to: Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
- AstraForge specifications are free to use with attribution. A Specification Branding License can be negotiated upon request.
- The project’s notice.md file tracks attribution requirements and contributor acknowledgments.
- Any update that adds new contributors or modifies attribution should also update
notice.md. - When submitting a pull request, ensure that any new files maintain the attribution headers where applicable.
- Network-deployed versions of this software must also remain fully AGPL-3.0+ compliant, including exposure of source code modifications when applicable under the license.
For full legal details, please refer to the AGPL-3.0+ license and the project’s notice.md file.
Notice – AstraForge
Attribution Requirement: Under Section 7 of the AGPL 3.0+ license, all redistributions, forks, and derivative works, including network-deployed versions of this project, must provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com.
Contributors
This file tracks contributors and their specific contributions to the project.
- Roxanne Ardary, roxanneardary.com – July 8, 2026
Created the repository for AstraForge. Created the open-source mission operations stack concept for aerospace innovation, including mission planning, telemetry intelligence, digital twin simulation, spacecraft operations, and distributed space infrastructure. - [Add other contributors here] – [Date]
[Describe contribution in one sentence]
License – AstraForge
This repository is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 or later (AGPL-3.0+).
Key Points:
- You are free to use, modify, and distribute the code.
- All redistributions, forks, and derivative works or network-deployed versions must also be licensed under AGPL-3.0+ and provide attribution to Roxanne Ardary and roxanneardary.com as required under Section 7 of the license.
- The software is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind.
For the full license text, see GNU AGPL-3.0 License.