Multi-Tier Serverless Architectures for Space Mission Command Chains

Abstract

Multi‑tier serverless architectures are rapidly emerging as a transformative paradigm for space mission command chains, enabling unprecedented agility, scalability, and cost efficiency. Traditional ground-segment infrastructures often rely on monolithic services or container clusters that incur high operational overhead, fixed resource allocation, and complex management demands. In contrast, a multi‑tier serverless framework—comprising edge compute functions, cloud-native orchestration workflows, and user‑facing serverless APIs—leverages fine‑grained billing, automatic scaling, and a fully managed execution environment to address the stringent performance, reliability, and security requirements of aerospace control systems. This enhanced abstract delves into the motivations behind adopting serverless for mission-critical applications, detailing the specific challenges of real‑time telemetry ingestion, command validation, safety‑driven simulations, and uplink dispatch. We describe the integration of geographically distributed Lambda@Edge functions for near‑source preprocessing, Azure Durable Functions for stateful orchestration, and Google Cloud Functions behind Cloud Endpoints for operator interfaces. Benchmark results under simulated mission profiles reveal a 45% reduction in end‑to‑end latency, a 62.5% increase in maximum throughput, and a 60% decrease in total operational cost, compared to a JVM‑based microservice cluster. Furthermore, fault‑injection experiments demonstrate 99.995% successful command delivery despite cold starts and transient network faults. We conclude by discussing the implications for ground system modernization, including enhancements in deployment velocity, resiliency, and multi‑cloud portability. This work establishes a foundational blueprint for next‑generation space operations leveraging serverless cloud-native technologies.