The Glenn Research Center
(GRC) Telescience Support Center (TSC) is a NASA telescience
ground facility that provides the capability to execute
ground support operations of on-orbit International
Space Station (ISS) and Space Shuttle payloads. This
capability is provided with the coordination with the
Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Huntsville Operations
Support Center (HOSC), the Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Mission Control Center in Houston (MCC-H) and other
remote ground control facilities.
The concept of telescience
is a result of NASA's vision to provide worldwide distributed
ISS ground operations that will enable payload developers
and scientists to control and monitor their on-board
payloads from any location - not necessarily a NASA
site. This concept enhances the quality of scientific
and technological data while decreasing operation costs
of long-term support activities by providing ground
operation services to a Principal Investigator and Engineering
Team at their home site. The TSC acts as a hub in which
users can either locate their operations staff within
the walls of the TSC or request the TSC operation capabilities
be extended to a location more convenient such as a
university.