Decision-Speed Mission Planner
Model your time-critical space operations infrastructure
See exactly how decision-latency requirements translate to costs and capabilities. Whether you're planning commercial collision avoidance,proximity operations, or defense-ready intercept coordination — this calculator uses the same models we use internally. Unlike generic "contact us for pricing," we believe in complete transparency.
Mission Parameters
Mission Requirements
System Architecture
Infrastructure Requirements
SS2 Messaging Volume
Baseline: 144K-288K msgs/day for 100-200 objects
Computation
Storage
Sensor Network
Monthly Cost: $5M
Performance Metrics
Scaling Projection
Bottlenecks to Watch:
- Sensor network costs dominate - consider space-based sensor investment
Sensitivity Analysis
This analysis shows how changing each parameter impacts your mission. Longer bars indicate higher sensitivity - these are the parameters that have the biggest effect on costs and performance.
Key Insights
- • Update frequency has the largest impact on both cost and message volume
- • Switching to real-time delivery roughly doubles your messaging infrastructure needs
- • Accuracy requirements primarily affect compute and sensor costs
Cost Breakdown
Cost Distribution Insights
- Sensor Network dominates at 100% - consider optimization strategies
- Sensor network costs are significant - space-based sensors may provide better long-term value at scale
Scaling Timeline
Growth Assumptions
This projection assumes typical constellation expansion patterns based on operational AstroShield deployments. Growth rates account for adding new objects to track, increasing update frequency for critical assets, and enhanced accuracy requirements as missions mature. Actual costs may vary based on your specific growth trajectory.
Mission Profile Comparison
Compare your configuration against common mission profiles to see where you fit in the spectrum of space tracking operations.
Starter Mission
100 objects, 1hr updates
Standard Constellation
1K objects, 15min updates
Enterprise Catalog
10K objects, 5min updates
Your Configuration
1K objects, 15min updates
| Metric | Starter | Standard | Enterprise | ★ Yours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Cost | $361K | $5M | $150M | $5M |
| Cost per Object | $3.61K | $5.04K | $14.99K | $5.04K |
| Messages/Day | 3K | 108K | 5M | 108K |
| CPU Hours/Month | 10 | 2K | 240K | 2K |
| Ground Stations | 2 | 7 | 69 | 7 |
| Coverage | 70.0% | 95.0% | 99.0% | 95.0% |
How Your Configuration Compares
Understanding Your Mission Configuration
Why 108K messages per day?
Your configuration requires 108K messages per day on the SS2 (Space Streaming Standard) infrastructure. This is calculated based on tracking 1,000 objects with updates every 15 minutes.
Each object publishes 96 state vectors per day (one every 15 minutes). With batch data topics delivery, we apply a 1x multiplier because batch topics optimize message overhead.
We also add approximately 12% overhead for metadata, health checks, acknowledgments, and error handling - essential for production-grade reliability.
Business Context: For comparison, current AstroShield production systems tracking 100-200 objects generate 144K-288K messages per day. Your configuration scales this baseline proportionally.
How are the $5M monthly costs calculated?
SS2 Messaging: $161
Based on industry-standard Kafka infrastructure costs of approximately $50 per million messages, your 108K messages per day (3.23 million per month) translates to $161 in messaging infrastructure. This includes broker instances, storage, replication, and network transfer.
Compute (Propagation): $2K
Orbit propagation is computationally intensive. Your configuration uses medium propagation quality, which requires approximately 2K CPU-hours per month. At standard cloud compute rates (~$0.50 per CPU-hour) multiplied by your 2x redundancy, this yields $2K.
Technical Note: High-fidelity propagation accounts for atmospheric drag, solar radiation pressure, gravitational harmonics, and third-body perturbations - essential for accurate collision prediction but computationally expensive.
Sensor Network: $5M
Your configuration requires 7 ground stations. Ground telescope time costs approximately $500 per hour, and each object requires multiple observations per day for tracking. Space-based sensors add fixed monthly operational costs of ~$50K per sensor but provide better coverage.
Why it matters: LEO objects move fast and have short observation windows, requiring more frequent sensor tasking. Orbital regimes covered: LEO, GEO
Storage: $1
Storing 90 days of historical state vectors requires approximately 0.01 TB of time-series database storage. At $100 per TB per month (including replication and backups), this costs $1.
API Infrastructure: $2K
Your standard API tier includes load balancers, API gateways, CDN distribution, monitoring, and analytics infrastructure. Premium tiers provide enhanced analytics, priority support, and higher rate limits.
Performance Characteristics Explained
Latency: 35 seconds
This is the time from when a sensor observation is made to when the updated state vector is available in your system. Batch delivery optimizes for throughput over latency. Propagation quality also affects latency - high-fidelity models take longer to compute.
Tracking Accuracy: 13 meters
Position uncertainty grows over time between observations. With updates every 15 minutes and medium propagation, your average position uncertainty is 13 meters. For collision avoidance, NASA recommends 10-50m accuracy; your configuration provides collision-avoidance grade accuracy.
Coverage: 95.0%
With 7 ground stations, you achieve 95.0% global coverage. This means objects are observable 95.0% of the time when they pass over sensor locations. Higher coverage provides more frequent observations and better accuracy.
Real-World Context & Use Cases
Who needs this configuration?
- Medium-scale operators or defense customers managing regional space domain awareness
- Collision avoidance operators requiring high-precision tracking for automated maneuver decisions
What could you do with this system?
Your $5M/month configuration provides the infrastructure to:
- Monitor 1,000 objects with fresh data every 15 minutes
- Predict collision risks 48 hours in advance with 13m accuracy
- Maintain 90 days of historical data for conjunction analysis and pattern detection
- Support 95% global coverage across LEO, GEO orbital regimes
How This Calculator Works
Decision-Latency Infrastructure Modeling
This calculator models the detection-to-decision pipeline — the infrastructure required to go from sensor observation to actionable recommendation in seconds, not hours. Whether you're coordinating collision avoidance maneuvers or defense intercept operations, the bottleneck is the same: decision speed.
All calculations are based on real-world operational data from AstroShield deployments serving both commercial constellation operators and defense customers. The same Kafka-scale, space-native architecture that tracks SpaceX Starlink for collision avoidance becomes the digital backbone of missile defense coordination.
The SS2 (Space Streaming Standard) messaging volume drives everything: update frequency determines data freshness, delivery method affects latency, and propagation quality impacts prediction accuracy. Legacy systems were built for ballistic missiles in the 1990s and max out at a few hundred tracks. AstroShield is designed for 100,000+ simultaneous objects in the modern threat environment.
Understanding the Trade-offs
- Update Frequency: More frequent updates provide fresher data but increase message volume proportionally. Real-time tracking (1-minute updates) requires ~1,440x more messages than daily updates.
- Accuracy Requirements: Higher accuracy demands more sensor time and better propagation quality, which increases both compute and sensor network costs.
- Delivery Method: Real-time request/response provides lowest latency but doubles message volume compared to batch delivery. Hybrid mode offers a good balance for mixed-criticality scenarios.
- Orbital Regimes: LEO tracking is more expensive than GEO due to faster orbital motion and shorter observation windows. Multi-regime coverage requires more ground stations.
Validation & Benchmarks
Our baseline configuration (1,000 objects, 15-minute updates) generates approximately 288,000 SS2 messages per day, which aligns with current AstroShield production systems tracking 100-200 objects with similar update rates (144K-288K messages/day).
All cost models are based on industry-standard pricing for cloud compute, storage, and sensor network operations. We regularly validate these assumptions against actual deployments and update the calculator as we gain more operational experience.
Ready to Build Your Decision Pipeline?
Our engineering team can help you architect the detection-to-decision infrastructure for your time-critical operations. Whether it's commercial collision avoidance or defense-ready coordination, we'll optimize for your decision-latency requirements.