Satellite CTF

Solve satellite and space-ground-link challenges by pinning the exact CCSDS/ECSS layer in play, then building or decoding one spec-compliant unit at a time and using the target's replies as the oracle.

When this skill applies

• Wording: spacecraft/satellite, ground station, uplink/downlink, telecommand (TC), telemetry (TM), transfer frame, space packet, modem, mission control, onboard software, bus/payload.
• Identifiers: APID, VCID (virtual channel), SCID (spacecraft ID), MAP ID, packet sequence count, frame sequence number N(S), service/subservice TC[x,y]/TM[x,y].
• Protocol cues: CCSDS, ECSS, PUS, CLTU, BCH, Reed-Solomon, Attached Sync Marker 0x1ACFFC1D, pseudo-randomizer, COP-1, FARM/FOP, CLCW, AD/BD/BC frames, CubeSat Space Protocol (CSP), AX.25, KISS, AOS, USLP.
• Security cues (SDLS): SPI, IV, ARSN, MAC/tag, OTAR, Security Association (SA), Key Management Service (KMS), Extended Procedures (SDLS-EP), CryptoLib, GCM/CMAC, clear-mode VC.
• Ground-system cues: Yamcs, OpenC3 COSMOS, NASA cFS / cFE, NOS3, Kubos, Mission Database (MDB), JSON-RPC command API.
• Artifacts: a raw TCP "modem" service, an IQ/WAV/SDR recording, a hex frame dump, a PCAP of a link, a skeleton client.py with frame-builder stubs, a TLE set, a ground-system container image, or an RSA/AES key with an SPI number.

Operating model