Feasibility check
Operations matches a tasking request against constellation orbit predictions to produce a list of collection opportunities.
When a tasking order is placed, you provide an AOI, a time window, and quality parameters: maximum cloud cover, maximum off-nadir angle, required GSD, required spectral bands, sometimes a required sun elevation. Operations runs a feasibility check against the constellation's orbit predictions. The output is a list of collection opportunities that fall inside your window and meet your quality bar.
Window length matters
A 3-day window over a single point can yield as few as one or two opportunities. A 14-day window can yield eight or more. The size and shape of the AOI matters too — a long linear AOI like a pipeline may need multiple passes to cover even once. This is the stage where realism gets negotiated. If the feasibility check says 'one opportunity in the window,' that is a very different conversation from 'eight opportunities in the window' — weather can kill the one opportunity and there is no backup.