FOX (Facility for Operations Experimentation) platform infographic

The Facility for Operations Experimentation (FOX), based at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, is an initiative designed to support operational experimentation, technology validation, in-orbit demonstration/validation (IOD/IOV), qualification activities, end-to-end operational assessment and experimentation support for both traditional and New Space missions.

At its core, FOX is a flexible environment for operational experimentation powered by Estrack, ESA’s global ground station network, which provides spacecraft tracking, telemetry and communications services across the world. Through Estrack, FOX experimentation activities can access the same global communications infrastructure that supports ESA missions in orbit and across the Solar System.

FOX facilitates experimentation, qualification, interoperability and operational validation activities that may be difficult to perform within purely operational service environments. Experimental applications, services and concepts can be tested and progressively adopted by mainstream missions. Furthermore, FOX contributes to increased interoperability and operational readiness across the evolving New Space ecosystem. 

FOX can also act as an operational experimentation hub for multiple partners to securely connect to, thereby enabling cooperation between industry, operators, station providers, agency-internal projects and others.