The High-Stakes Decision of Observability Tools
When operating mission-critical satellite systems, where precision and reliability are non-negotiable, telemetry and observability tools play a crucial role in ensuring performance, safety, and compliance. These tools provide real-time insights into complex spaceborne assets, enabling engineers to detect anomalies, predict failures, and optimize operations. However, the decision to build or buy observability tools has significant long-term consequences, particularly when in-house solutions are considered.
The allure of custom-built tools lies in their promise of control and cost savings. Yet, the reality is that these tools often fail to scale, leading to inefficiencies, knowledge silos, and operational risks that jeopardize long-term success. According to Sift’s Aerospace report, 77% of respondents identified inefficiencies and loss of expertise as significant consequences of fragmented telemetry systems—a clear indicator of the hidden pitfalls of in-house development.
Take the example of a satellite operator managing a large constellation. Facing increasing data ingestion and analysis requirements, their in-house telemetry tools struggled to adapt, leading to delays in anomaly detection and inefficient resource allocation. By transitioning to Sift’s unified telemetry platform, the organization was able to focus on satellite performance rather than maintaining inadequate software, ensuring scalable and reliable data insights at every stage.
The allure of custom-built tools lies in their promise of control and cost savings. Yet, the reality is that these tools often fail to scale, leading to inefficiencies, knowledge silos, and operational risks that jeopardize long-term success.
The Challenges of Unscalable Solutions
In-house telemetry systems, often built using general-purpose tools such as Influx or Grafana, might be sufficient for small-scale satellite programs. However, as data volumes and mission complexity grow, these tools frequently fail to meet operational demands. Challenges include:
- Handling massive telemetry data volumes from satellite constellations in real-time.
- Adapting to evolving mission requirements and new sensor integrations.
- Providing unified visibility across ground stations and mission control.
- Preserving institutional knowledge despite personnel changes.
When these limitations become apparent, organizations often face mounting technical debt and abandoned projects. In fact, 63% of aerospace professionals in Sift’s survey cited data management challenges—such as ingestion, migration, and traceability—as major issues. Fragmented tools further exacerbate these problems, often leaving mission-critical data inaccessible or underutilized.
K2 Space, a rapidly scaling satellite company, faced a critical decision: build an in-house telemetry system or adopt a purpose-built solution. Rather than diverting valuable engineering resources to developing internal tools, K2 chose Sift’s observability platform to ensure reliability and scalability across its growing satellite constellations. With Sift, K2 Space gained universal access to telemetry data, accelerated root cause analysis, and seamlessly integrated automated testing into their workflows. This decision enabled K2 engineers to focus on solving mission-critical challenges, ensuring continuous operational success in an increasingly demanding space environment.
This ongoing maintenance not only diverts talent away from core innovation but also introduces points of failure that compound under pressure.
Engineering Impact and Resource Allocation
Maintaining in-house telemetry tools places a significant burden on satellite engineering teams, diverting valuable resources from core mission activities. Instead of fostering resilience and adaptability, these tools demand constant updates, troubleshooting, and reconfiguration, slowing down innovation and increasing risk exposure.
- Key Insight: In Sift’s Observability Aerospace Report, 81% of respondents highlighted the value of redirecting resources from tool maintenance to mission-critical tasks, emphasizing the inefficiencies of in-house solutions.
Organizations operating satellite networks need tools that evolve with mission complexity. Yet, in-house solutions frequently fail to scale without extensive manual intervention. The result is a cycle of reactive maintenance, where engineering teams spend more time fixing telemetry systems than improving satellite performance. In an industry where uptime is paramount, this misallocation of resources becomes increasingly costly
In contrast, in-house tools often struggle to adapt, leaving organizations exposed to escalating inefficiencies and accumulating technical debt.
Financial Implications: The Long-Term Cost of In-House Tools
Building telemetry tools in-house may appear cost-effective at first glance, but the hidden financial burdens are substantial—and they tend to grow as systems scale. Internal tools often lack transparency in cost projection, which leads to surprises as the system scales and adapts. Companies consistently underestimate expenses in areas such as:
- Maintenance Costs: Regular updates, bug fixes, licensing fees for dependencies, and scaling efforts demand ongoing investment, often exceeding initial budgets.
- Technical Debt: Legacy code and architectures accumulate over time, requiring costly overhauls to keep pace with evolving operational demands.
- Operational Inefficiencies: Fragmented tools increase storage costs, delay anomaly detection, and hinder compliance efforts, driving up indirect costs.
According to Sift’s 2024 Aerospace report, rising storage costs and inefficiencies were identified as major concerns, particularly as telemetry data volumes continue to grow exponentially. Additionally, regulatory requirements impose strict data retention and traceability mandates, further escalating costs for organizations relying on non-scalable in-house solutions.
By contrast, purpose-built observability platforms like Sift automate compliance, streamline anomaly detection, and reduce operational overhead, allowing organizations to allocate resources more strategically and focus on mission success.
Operational Risks and Long-Term Impact
Bespoke telemetry solutions introduce operational risks that can undermine long-term reliability. A key issue is the formation of knowledge silos, where expertise is concentrated in a handful of engineers. This creates vulnerabilities during staff turnover, leaving organizations struggling to maintain critical systems. In fact, 77% of aerospace respondents in Sift’s survey highlighted knowledge silos as a major risk to telemetry management.
Additionally, traditional monitoring tools often struggle with slow anomaly detection and false alerts. In a recent study, 62% of respondents cited delays in anomaly detection as a significant operational challenge. These inefficiencies lead to costly mission disruptions, increased risk exposure, and degraded satellite performance.
Scalability as a Strategic Imperative
For satellite operators, scalability is not just a technical necessity—it’s a strategic imperative. The ability to scale telemetry analysis in response to mission complexity determines operational efficiency and long-term success. Purpose-built observability platforms enable organizations to:
- Manage exponential telemetry data growth without additional overhead.
- Ensure accessibility for ground station personnel, engineers, and program managers.
- Collaborate efficiently through unified workflows, enhancing data-driven decision-making.
Sift’s architecture is designed to scale infinitely while keeping costs low, ensuring organizations can maintain full visibility into their satellite fleets. This enables regulatory compliance, real-time anomaly detection, and operational agility, positioning satellite programs for sustained success.
Making The Case for Scalable Observability Platforms
In industries where stakes are high, scalability is not just a technical requirement—it’s a mission-critical necessity. Sift’s observability solutions empower satellite operators to:
- Handle Exponential Data Growth: Sift DB scales effortlessly, managing massive telemetry datasets without increasing personnel.
- Simplify Certification: Automated reporting simplifies adherence to rigorous standards, allowing for agility even under strict regulatory constraints.
- Support Innovation: By consolidating data and streamlining workflows, scalable solutions free resources for breakthroughs instead of maintenance.
The risks of building in-house telemetry tools—from operational inefficiencies to escalating costs—are substantial. As satellite networks continue to evolve, the need for scalable, reliable, and intelligent observability solutions becomes undeniable.
Sift’s platform eliminates the pitfalls of in-house solutions, ensuring that satellite operations remain agile, resilient, and data-driven. With 78% of industry professionals citing data visibility as a critical issue, now is the time to invest in scalable observability tools that enable long-term mission success.
Informed decision-making today ensures operational excellence tomorrow. Sift’s Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) help transform organizations to be more scalable, ensuring their systems and workflows are built to adapt and grow with future demands. Grab 30 mins with Sift’s FDE team here.
