mock-spacestation

What is mock-spacestation?

mock-spacestation is a VSCode devContainer that deploys a Mock Spacestation and Mock Groundstation to Azure to enable developers and enthusiasts to develop and test their own workloads for space with similar constraints to those seen working with the International Space Station (ISS).

When deployed via VSCode or Codespaces, the main container is the Mock Ground Station ]

What it simulates

1. Latency

   The Mock Groundstation and Mock Spacestation have network limitations and latency to simulate the speed of light latency and many international hops that communication with the ISS traverses. Synchronizing files to/from the Mock SpaceStation is limited to 2 mb/s and 200ms of latency

2. Connectivity Constraints

   The Mock SpaceStation does not have any public internet access. All packages, libraries, images, layers, etc. must be uploaded as part of the sync. Connectivity to the Mock SpaceStation is restricted and only allowed from the Mock GroundStation

3. Processing at The Edge and "Bursting Down" to The Cloud

   When the Azure Space team performed their genomics experiment, they used computing power of the HPE SBC2 on-board the ISS to perform intensive work at the edge to determine what is important enough to send back to Earth, then transmitted just those important bits through the narrow 2 megabit per second pipe, then scaled up analysis and compute on a global scale with Azure.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

To use the Mock SpaceStation, you'll need:

1. Install Docker Desktop
2. Install VSCode
   1. Install Remote Development VSCode Extension
3. Clone this repo

Alternatively you can use Codespaces

Running Mock GroundStation

1. Open the folder in VSCode and wait for the "Folder contains a Dev Container..." prompt. Choose reopen in Container.

   

   • NOTE: If the prompt does not show, select F1 to open the command palette and select the Rebuild Container Without Cache option

     

2. It may take a moment to build. Just hang out...grab a fresh water...stretch...

3. The "Mock GroundStation" banner means you're good to go!

4. The Mock GroundStation has docker (moby) configured and automatically provisions local SSH keys for interacting with the Mock SpaceStation. The Mock SpaceStation is actually a local container with restricted network access and bandwidth limits. You can see the companion Mock SpaceStation (container) via

docker container ls

Connecting to Mock SpaceStation

The Mock GroundStation deployment automatically builds and configures the companion Mock SpaceStation. Docker (moby) is installed, configured, and running, an SSH server is deployed, keys are automatically generated, and a bunch of other configuration. The good news is that it's all automated!

Once the container opens, accessing the Mock SpaceStation is done via SSH:

#Connect to the Mock-SpaceStation
ssh root@mock-spacestation

Synchronizing Mock SpaceStation and Mock GroundStation

A special folder on both Mock GroundStation and Mock SpaceStation called "sync" is pre-created and used to copy files between the Ground and Space Stations. This simulates a similar process to copy files to the International Space Station, with similar network constraints

To run (from Mock GroundStation):

bash ./sync-with-spacestation.sh

Full example, starting from the Mock GroundStation From Mock GroundStation:

#give us an output file
echo 'Hello Mock SpaceStation (from Mock GroundStation)!' > /mock-groundstation/sync/ground_station_message.txt

#sync with SpaceStation
bash ./sync-with-spacestation.sh

#Connect to the Mock SpaceStation
ssh root@mock-spacestation

#Display the file contents
cat ~/sync/ground_station_message.txt

#Update the file in space
echo 'Hello Mock GroundStation (from Mock SpaceStation)!' > ~/sync/space_station_message.txt

# disconnect from Space Station
exit

# Check contents of file - SpaceStation message NOT listed yet
ls /mock-groundstation/sync

#sync with SpaceStation
bash ./sync-with-spacestation.sh

# Check contents of file - we got SpaceStation's message!
ls /mock-groundstation/sync
cat /mock-groundstation/sync/space_station_message.txt

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