Coordinating contingency planning with external service providers is crucial when a space platform hosts multiple payloads or relies on third-party ground stations. If one payload's ground facility goes offline, the satellite must maintain reliable communication pathways for other services. Thus, planning extends beyond conventional "failover" arrangements to include cross-organizational agreements that address data ownership, availability of backup uplink/downlink sites, and potentially alternative satellite networks. In practice, mission stakeholders might define triggers that prompt an external operator to provide a temporary command channel or to store mission-critical telemetry until the primary facility recovers. By proactively hashing out these cross-provider protocols, the program ensures that unforeseen disruptions—such as local disasters or extended network outages—do not unravel critical aspects of on-orbit operations.
The [organization] shall coordinate contingency plan development and associated activities with external service providers to ensure that contingency requirements can be satisfied.{CP-2(7)}