Spazio 2050 n. 8 - Space 4.0 - English Edition

Magazine of the Italian Space Agency

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July 2023

Space 4.0 Know-how, innovation and development: Italy in outer space, a strategic asset for the country

In collaboration with

SPACE FOR LIFE WE BELIEVE IN SPACE AS HUMANKIND’S NEW HORIZON TO BUILD A BETTER, SUSTAINABLE LIFE ON EARTH

SUMMARY

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ISSUE NO. 8 JULY 2023

Credits: Shutterstock

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Editorial Vision, research and innovation.

Space is key to Italy’s economic growth

by Teodoro Valente

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Space debris – a network of bug-eyed telescopes

by Valeria Guarnieri

The IRIDE programme: a crucial step in making Earth Observation systems sustainable

by Giovanni Rum

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Flyeye: the telescope mimicking the eye of a fly for the protection of the Earth and of the space environment

by Editorial Staff

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PNRR Spazio, boosting a country already in orbit

by Roberto Formaro

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Italy at the ESA Ministerial Council 2022 Mandatory and optional programmes

by Emilio Cozzi

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Space Factory 4.0

by Manuela Proietti

In-Orbit Servicing.

An orbiting pit-stop for satellites

by Pino Di Feo

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Interview with Massimo Comparini

by Manuela Proiettii

Zooming in on SmES D-Orbit, leading international stakeholder of a responsible and sustainable future in outer space

by Silvia Ciccarelli

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ASI’s Space Labs, new enablers of space capabilities

by Enrica Battifoglia

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Thales Alenia Space and National Recovery and Resilience Plan: high-tech initiatives and projects for the future of our country

by Editorial Staff

Telespazio already working on the operations of Second Generation A and B Eumetsat Metop satellites

by Editorial Staff

Space Debris Laser Ranging

by Barbara Ranghelli A hardware and software infrastructure for the future activities of Space Traffic Management

by Alessandra Di Cecco and Valeria Guarnieri

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The eye of Euclid on the dark universe

by Giuseppina Pulcrano

Edited by ASI Multimedia Unit Responsabile Giuseppina Pulcrano Magazine of the Italian Space Agency Globalist Group Outlet Reg. Tribunale Roma 11.2017 del 02.02.2017 Printed by Peristegraf srl Via Giacomo Peroni 130, Rome

ASI and NASA work together on MAIA for public health

by Fulvia Croci

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Revolution space: Europe as a mission to accomplish

by Giuseppina Pulcrano

Editor-in-chief Gianni Cipriani Editorial coordination Manuela Proietti, ASI Multimedia Unit

on diSplay Women in science – The long road to equality

by Valeria Guarnieri

We wish to thank our ASI colleagues Roberto Bertacin, Marco Castronuovo, Enrico Cavallini, Alessandra Di Cecco, Marco Di Clemente, Roberto Formaro, Rocco Maria Grillo, Giovanni Rum, Daniele Santese, Tiziana Scopa, Francesco Tataranni

Graphic project Paola Gaviraghi SPAZIO 2050 | 3

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The ediTorial Vision, research and innoVation space is key to italy’s economic growth

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Teodoro Valente President of the Italian Space Agency

e are actively engaged in contributing to a new leading role for the Space sector. From large exploration missions to new technologies as well as from cutting-hedge space research to satellite services, Italy can rely on a robust space industry that has gained international recognition over the years and can boost the country’s economic development.

Italy's Space supply chain is autonomous and fully developed. It rests on a homogeneous and deeply rooted structure: it is a front-line sector with a far-reaching scope, from research and industrial production all the way to the launching of satellite systems into orbit and the collection and use of their data. The country’s Space industry comprises large multinational groups, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups. It’s a wealth of players and resources facilitating the use and reliable implementation of the funds that Europe has allocated to Italy through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) projects.

Space can meet all the challenges and objectives that Europe’s Recovery and Resilience Facility has set out to accomplish. Supporting innovation, generating economic returns, and ensuring direct benefits for our citizens are only some of the opportunities that Space activities can offer the global economy and the national economy alike.

The current issue of our magazine, which is focused on the opportunities that these funds give to Space, also marks the beginning of my own journey as president of the Italian Space Agency. I’ve inherited a sector that shows substantial growth and positive developments. It is increasingly emerging as a decisive and virtuous economic agenda that is capable of driving a scientific research-based economy, the so-called “Space Economy.”

Space economy is key to innovation. It boosts opportunities and opens up new fields of development and consolidation of the country's productive capabilities. The NRRP space projects have all the elements to meet these requirements. Moreover, it should also be pointed out that NRRP resources and the national complementary funds can help Italy confirm the role it has gained in recent years in terms of its ability to design, build and use satellite systems.

This is the time to make a further quantum leap: the arrival of important and competitive private players.

This is an opportunity and not an obstacle for Italy. It should be regarded as a growth-conducive element that also confirms the strength of our industry. International competition demands that Italy’s strong Space supply chain works as a system in a cohesive manner in order to generate high-level solutions, technologies and competitiveness. ASI guarantees a unified governance and vision, operating in close coordination with authorities in charge of establishing an Italian industrial and research policy and in compliance with national foreign policy priorities.

In the journey towards further consolidating the chain, it is of the essence to single out the role played by scientific research that generates new knowledge that can be transferred into original projects, economic activities and services. Focusing on the central role of scientific research, however, also means strengthening the links upstream in the chain, i.e., training, which encourages the young to study STEM subjects and pursue scientific careers. This immediately works downstream by promoting a rapid transfer of research products to the market, backing the establishment and development of new innovative companies in the Space sector, and supporting the consolidation of open innovation and open science practices and systems.

Space activities have an enormous and not fully understood economic impact on our daily lives.

Space is called upon to support the growth of Italy’s and Europe’s economic and industrial sectors. It is also worth considering that it is an enabler of sustainability and digital transformation. The use of data acquired from scientific, telecommunication, and monitoring satellites makes it possible to support digital revolution and ecological transition, to generate greater equality for citizens to access technologies while eradicating inequalities between subjects and territories, and to strengthen security and civil protection.

In short, Space technologies can concretely improve our present.

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PNRR Spazio: boosting a country already in orbit

by Roberto Formaro

Italy can claim it is one of the few countries in the world that has developed its own, autonomous and comprehensive space supply chain. Over the past decades Italy has constantly been investing in the space industry: this has led to the consolidation of knowhow, technological expertise and top-notch infrastructure while also ensuring Italy’s prestigious position on the international stage, in all relevant fields, such as Earth observation, use of the low Earth orbit, scientific missions, telecommunications and access to outer space.

Italy seen from outer space.

Credit: NASA

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It is in this very context that ASI (Italian Space Agency) has received the funds allocated by the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR)- the National Resilience and Recovery Plan (NRRP) - set up by the Government as part of the EU-funded NextGenerationEU programme to give new momentum to the economy following the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2022, the Department for Digital Transformation and ASI

signed an agreement that allocated 880 million Euros to ASI for the funding of several projects, to be identified, that fall within the scope of the NRRP’s first mission, that of supporting the innovation of the manufacturing system.

The funds allocated by PNRR Spazio will synergically be included in the plan of activities ASI has already started: indeed, the identified projects are complementary to the ones that are underway or that had been previously planned through other investments.

The identified activities shall therefore exploit, consolidate and expand previously gathered expertise, which has already been tested in all activity fields, whose implementation is now possible owing to the vision and planning that ASI has been pursuing over the past decades, making the whole supply chain a system.

The Government has identified four major subject areas: SatCom, Space Factory 4.0, Earth Observation and In-Orbit Economy.

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mated as possible. The two programme lines, Space Factory and Supply Chain, aim to make Italy one of the global benchmark hubs for a swift production of a large quantity of satellites, so as to meet the high demand stemming from the development of mega-constellations.

Regarding Earth Observation, the projects that have been started involve, in particular, the enhancement of the Giuseppe Colombo Space Centre at ASI’s operational base in Matera, by constructing earth and in-orbit laboratories. One of the objectives is making the Centre a sort of gateway to space technologies for the enlarged Mediterranean by setting up specific, dedicated infrastructure and initiatives that are open to the whole community.

This subject area includes the Matera Space Center Lab, the In-Orbit Space Lab, the development of Applications for analysing satellite data and the multi-mission cloud platform.

The In-Orbit Economy subject area features two projects: the first one is In-Orbit Servicing, which envisages the creation of an in-orbit demonstration mission for managing and reconfiguring space assets, for the maintenance of constellations and of other in-orbit infrastructure, including the setting up of refuelling systems and procedures of in-orbit assembling, manufacturing and fixing.

The mission therefore wants to enable many in-orbit interoperability capacities.

A second programme line is aimed at the development and ground testing of the Multi-Purpose Green Engine, which envisages a use for both in-orbit operations and for last-stage launcher purposes.

The SatCom line aims to develop innovative satellite technologies with a twofold purpose, for implementing safe telecommunications networks for institutions, particularly to address crises and handle emergencies. Italy will therefore equip itself with its own infrastructure, which may be shared at a European level on the basis of institutional requests. That’s why ASI has sealed a deal with the Italian Ministry of Defence, which has taken the role of commissioning body.

Space Factory 4.0 concerns the designing and construction of intelligent factories for producing, assembling and testing small satellites. The project systematises the national know-how, offering new development opportunities to the entire supply chain and bringing the principles underlying the concept of Industry 4.0 to the space industry, making facilities capable of assembling and testing satellites through digital technologies and processes that are as auto-

The second In-Orbit Economy project is linked to the management of space traffic and to the enhancement of national capabilities in terms of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST ), which entail setting up a network of three wide-field telescopes for observing space debris, called Flyeye (a fourth one will follow, to be nationally funded), as well as the Space Debris Laser Ranging, a laser station capable of tracking space debris, to be hosted at the ASI centre in Matera.

The goal is that of creating a space debris databank that is always available, on a dual cloud, and which will feature the Hardware and Software Infrastructure called IHS for deploying alert services in the event of a possible collision between satellites, in-orbit fragmentation and re-entry into the atmosphere.

ASI is striving to make sure that the European deadlines are met, hence in late March 2023 the contract-awarding procedures – required to implement all activities financed with PNRR funds, which have now been placed under contract – had all been completed.

The projects were selected based on far-sightedness and included in a wide-ranging programme; they represent important strategic assets for Italy’s growth and bolster its leadership on the international stage, in a number of space industry sectors.

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Space Factory 4.0

by Manuela Proietti

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Super high-tech outer space atelier

A network of Space factories, connected to the entire supply chain, specifically dedicated to the production of small satellites, spread out across the national territory. At its centre, a new, cutting-edge facility for the construction of space assets, available to the entire industrial sector, which can also act as an incubator of ideas, thus favouring the development of new technologies. On the whole, this is an integrated system of pioneering technologies that allows the country, as a system, to make the most of the Space Economy, starting and increasing new production lines and becoming an international centre of excellence when it comes to satellite constellations. This is the ambitious goal set out under the Space Factory 4.0 programme of the NRRP (National Resilience and Recovery Plan) for activities related to technological research and development, funded by the European Union and overseen by ASI (Italian Space Agency).

An inclusive and far-reaching project, as can be inferred from the composition of the contract-winning RTI (Raggruppamento Temporaneo di Imprese – Temporary Group of Enterprises), which includes one large company, one medium-sized enterprise, an SME and a research centre: Thales Alenia Space (Thales 67%, Leonardo 33%) is at the helm of the consortium, which also includes Argotec, Sitael and CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Centre).

Activities have been assigned through an open procedure envisaging specific requirements associated with pre-existing expertise and with the project goals. In particular, the NRRP allocates, for the Space Factory, an overall investment of 57 million Euros to support enterprises, plus an industrial co-financing of the same amount. A remarkable effort, which shows how solid the would-be contractors must be.

The Space Factory-related contract – signed on 28 April 2023 by ASI and RTI, the latter represented by Thales Alenia Space Italia in its capacity as agent – provides for an overall investment of 65 million Euros for the Space Factory 4.0 part only, 32 million of which are allocated

by ASI through the NRRP, and the remaining part by the contract-winning RTI. The formula is that of Public-Private Partnership, which means that, given an investment accounting for 49% of the total, ASI shall retain the ownership of half the facility to be built.

“Such an investment – Marco Di Clemente, head of the Technological Department at ASI, says – is an opportunity for the country as a system, because the development and testing capabilities that shall be generated through the Space Factory facility can be enjoyed at a national level. Basically, – Di Clemente adds – within the scope of a programmed management plan, facilities will be made available to all industrial communities, particularly benefitting all small and medium enterprises, and start-ups that lack the financial resources to face such an investment but will nonetheless benefit from the offered services.”

The project shall feature the development of innovative technologies for digitalising processes, as well as the use of robotics, virtual and augmented reality, man/machine interaction, automated test processes, the use of Artificial Intelligence for data management and processing: all this lies in the possibility of speeding up production lines, which in turn reduces the time required to manufacture small satellites. That’s a real paradigm shift compared to past, both in terms of cost-saving and technological efficiency.

The Space Factory programme includes two more contracts supporting the supply chain: one awarded to CESI (Italian Electro-technical Experimental Centre) and the other to subsidiaries Thales Alenia Space Italia and Sitael, related to the research and development of high-efficiency solar cells and the development of units and sub-systems of the Nimbus and Platino platforms, worth 28 million Euros overall. A further boost for the project, which aims to make Italy a pillar of the global satellite industry, both in terms of know-how and technological and manufacturing capabilities.

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IntervIew wIth MassIMo CoMparInI CEO OF ThAlES AlEniA SpACE iTAliA

by Manuela Proietti

Let’s begin with a few basic elements: what is the philosophy underpinning the Space Factory project?

The underlying concept of Space Factory is that of constructing an integration hub that can keep up with the Space Economy’s evolution. There are two fundamental elements: on the one hand, Space Factory will be a high-capability manufacturing machine that will use next-generation digital technology, such as augmented reality, virtual reality and data analytics, aiming to boost the country’s manufacturing capability in constructing space assets, particularly small satellites, in order to drive development and create constellations and mega-constellations.

On the other hand, Space Factory will be a widespread and federate factory, associated, above all, with two of our partners, Argotec in Piedmont and Sitael in Apulia, with the Italian Aerospace Research Centre, in Campania, and with the supply chain of small and medium enterprises, which will be able to exchange the digital models of their parts, to be subsequently integrated in a facility that will be one of the most sophisticated space-asset production ones in the world.

In its capacity as agent of the contract signed with ASI, Thales Alenia Space (JV between Thales 67% and Leonardo 33%) guides a temporary group of enterprises that comprises Argotec, Cira e Sitael. The formula is the Public-Private Partnership. Do you reckon it’s a winning solution?

Absolutely. Plus, it is fitting for our times. The fact that public and private partners can cooperate to bolster the country’s industrial capability is something I attach great importance to, which gives due value and pools the relevant investment potential. It’s an important model at another level too: we are building a facility that will be available to the whole supply chain, including the small and medium enterprises that may resort to the factory as-a-service to integrate their small satellites, without having to invest resources to build their own facility. I believe this is a virtuous solution that exploits both the public and private components. And, above all, it enhances the country’s overall ability to face the challenges of the space economy.

Where will the Space Factory be built? What kind of satellites will it manufacture and who will be its major clients?

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Space Factory rendering. Credit: Thales Alenia Space

the space Factory will be one of the world’s most advanced facilities producing space assets.

The new facility will stand at the Tecnopolo Roma Tiburtino hub, which already hosts 150 enterprises, most of which are SMEs. A fitting choice for a centre that was thought up as a technological park. Thanks to the use of digital techniques 4.0, the Smart Space Factory – it is not by chance that we have named it ‘smart’ – may be reconfigured depending on the type of production required.

Hence, the range of satellites to be manufactured shall range from traditional satellites to the smallest ones (with our attention initially focusing on the latter).

Clients will be both institutional and commercial. I am convinced we will be producing at least a part of the satellites of Iris², the European constellation for secure connectivity and, starting in 2025, we will certainly produce the satellites of the second-generation Galileo constellation.

The project features another line too, which includes two contracts supporting production. Thales Alenia Space and Sitael won one contract, while CESI won the other. What will be produced?

These contracts aim to increase

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actually arrive, we might use its digital twin to carry on with some of the activities and then complete them when the physical object is available.

This is a seemingly simple example, but from an industrial standpoint it is very important to optimise production flows, increase manufacturing capability and, ultimately, to have a more efficient production line, thus reducing costs.

Space Factory 4.0 The new facility shall be built at the tecnopolo tiburtino in Rome

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manufacturing capability, in particular that of products and technologies that are of interest to ASI, for example – in the case of Thales Alenia Space and Sitael – by constructing together ‘Platino’, a platform for 300 kg class satellites.

Hence the goal is to consolidate supply chains for a greater cooperation between enterprises, thus boosting manufacturing capability in order to meet the requirements of the space economy in the years to come.

Process digitalisation, virtual reality, artificial intelligence. What added value do these new technologies provide in terms of manufacturing?

Modelling a physical apparatus or component with its digital twin gives us the opportunity to check its characteristics ahead of the physical manufacturing. This is particularly important in the case of a space asset integration centre: indeed, a satellite may consist of hundreds of apparatuses that must be available for the final phase of integration and testing. For example, we might find ourselves in a situation in which, while waiting for the single piece of apparatus to

All of this is done with a view to sustainability, as set out under the NRRP. The Space Factory uses highly advanced techniques to reduce its carbon footprint too. Renewable energy sources will be used for most of the energy-related aspects and, by resorting to digital technologies, the facility’s carbon footprint will be reduced as much as possible. Therefore, from this standpoint too, we are truly talking about a state-of-theart facility.

small and medium enterprises may use the facility as-a-service to integrate their own satellites.

The facility is scheduled to be completed and be up and running in 2026. Then, a “post Space Factory” will follow. How do you think the Italian supply chain will change?

I believe it will change drastically. Having a cutting-edge facility in Italy, designed to be one of the world’s most sophisticated space asset production plants, shall have a remarkable impact, in terms of competitiveness.

Once the facility is completed, the challenge will be that of fully exploiting its manufacturing capability. To this end – aside from generating space-related development with our institutions’ funds – we should work to bring business opportunities to Italy.

The Factory can and must take the manufacturing of satellite constellations to Italy, regardless of where they are designed and who finances them. Let us build the future to make our ‘Made in Italy’ products stronger, all over the world.

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ASI’s Space Labs, new enablers of space capabilities

by Enrica Battifoglia

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An in-orbit laboratory available for research and innovation, new services based on satellite data and infrastructure ensuring access to them, the possibility of pooling, in a network, the universities of Mediterranean countries: this is what the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) Matera Laboratories are about. Set up with a 7 million Euro fund allocated by the NRRP (National Resilience and Recovery Plan), the Matera Laboratories are bound to play a pivotal role in a space-exploring Europe, even in view of the growing relevance of Earth Observation activities within the New Space Economy. Forty years after its institution, ASI’s Space Centre is ready for a further renewal, to make the Italian space industry increasingly competitive and innovative.

Founded in 1983, following the cooperation between the National Space Plan (replaced by ASI in 1998) and the Regional government of Basilicata, ASI’s Matera Space Centre gradually increased its activities, integrating Earth Observation with Navigation, Telecommunication and Positioning activities. The most recent boost, which focuses on innovation, came with the NRRP. The philosophy inspiring this further change is indeed that of the Living Lab, a sort of innovation ecosystem, capable of dealing with the requests coming from institutions, the field of research and the market, swiftly converting them into innovative prototypes and software. Initially introduced at the beginning of the millennium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this philosophy also underpins the four major activities that, all together, form the backbone of the Matera Laboratories: the ground-based Matera Space Centre Lab, the In-Orbit Space Lab, the Development of applications, services and new satellite data analysis algorithms and the Multi-mission Platform that ensures access to data via the cloud.

Matera Space center Lab This is the ground segment of the Matera Laboratories. “It’s a multidisciplinary and collaborative laboratory for studying and solving collectiveness-related problems by means of technologies exploiting data derived from satellites and other sources”, says Daniele Santese, of ASI’s Earth Observation Unit.

“The laboratory – he adds – shall be a meeting point for universities and research bodies, for private companies, start-ups and institutions and civil society representatives, who can work together concurrently and devise innovative techniques for exploiting the data acquired from satellites, so as to overcome environmental challenges, issues related to territory and resource management and security criticalities, thus helping provide better services to citizens and institutions”. It is an ambitious programme, which can be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach that is made possible by the Laboratory’s ability to aggreSPAZIO 2050 | 13

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gate (both physically and virtually) operators proceeding from different contexts, which can further pool the expertise of universities, research and industry.

Assigned to the company e-Geos, the Matera Space Centre Lab is a capability enabler. Furthermore, owing to its location, at the heart of the Mediterranean, it may become a point of reference for the entire enlarged Mediterranean area.

In-OrbIt Space Lab This is the outer space segment of the Matera Laboratories, which will coordinate with its Earth station, set up at the Matera Laboratories. Assigned to a group of enterprises formed by Planetek Italia (leader) and D-Orbit and Aiko (agents), the In-Orbit Space Lab will be launched in 2026.

It’s a platform where Earth Observation applications may be uploaded, remotely too, in order to monitor the health of our beautiful planet. “The challenging goal is to find new technologies and validate them in orbit in real time”, Tiziana Scopa, ASI engineer and technical manager of the project, points out.

Set up using the complementary funds of the NRRP, “the project – she adds – currently envisages one space platform only, but we cannot rule out that in the future it might become a constellation”.

The in-orbit segment shall feature a platform launched by D-Orbit: it’s called Ion Carrier and so far it has been used chiefly for commercial purposes; it consists of a Micro-class satellite platform that can host a number of Payloads, such as sensors and cubesats. “It is therefore a system that develops, tests and checks new technologies (hardware and software) through in-orbit validating activities, thus speeding up operational validation and getting to the market earlier, and moving up the launch of cubesats. One of the goals – Ms Scopa adds – is that of providing services to users more speedily, using Artificial Intelligence algorithms too.” This is possible because data may be processed aboard the platform, by extracting solely the information that is useful for the user, unlike what happens in conventional systems, where processing occurs only once the Earth System has acquired the data.

DeveLOpment Of appLIcatIOnS, ServIceS anD new aLgOrIthmS fOr anaLySIng SateLLIte Data This programme focuses on the funding of national initiatives aimed at developing integrated services and applications based on the use of satellite data for Earth Observation, Telecommunications and Navigation, including by pairing them with non-space data and services.

“This initiative is currently being defined”, Luigi 14 | SPAZIO 2050

In-Orbit servicing.

Credit: Thales Alenia Space

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MATERA SPACE CENTER LAB AND IN-ORBIT LAB At the ASI Space Centre in Matera

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D’Amato, technologist of ASI’s Downstream and Applicative Services Unit, points out. “We will finance research and development projects that are highly innovative and carry great usage potential, which must be developed for the relevant areas of southern Italy, focusing on aspects such as tourism, preservation and enhancement of cultural heritage and landscape, the environment, the safeguard and sustainable use of resources and development-related issues, such as the planning and management of urban and local systems. Generally speaking – he points out – these projects add value to ASI’s infrastructure investments that exploit the data of national missions such as Cosmo-SkyMed and Prisma, and which could possibly be supplemented by ground segment data.”

It’s a matter of developing useful services and applications for the institutions governing the territory and the ultimate goal is that of further driving scientific and technological development by using innovative technologies.

“It is in ASI’s best interest for these services and applications to resort to new technological frontiers, such as those associated with artificial intelligence and the cloud”.

There will soon be a call for bids and “we would like to be as inclusive as possible, reaching out to a wide-ranging audience.”

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Ion Carrier.

Credit: ESA

The in-orbit segment envisages a Micro class platform called Ion Carrier, which can host a number of payloads, such as sensors and cubesats.

muLtI-mISSIOn pLatfOrm This is the cloud-based infrastructure that provides access to national satellite data. “The goal is to make available a multi-mission system that allows institutional users and researchers to access all ASI-mission generated data, as well as data proceeding from satellites of other countries, with whose space agencies ASI has sealed agreements,” Francesco Tataranni points out. The cloud is therefore the tool that gathers, in one place, all the data available to users, enabling their use by working directly on the platform to implement innovative algorithms. This paves the way for new applications and new research tools, serving institutions such as the Ministry of the Environment or the Department of Civil Defence.

The virtual space that will house the data is very large and one of the objectives of the process is to make available, on the platform, a remarkable data processing capability. Initially, the potential users will be public institutions. “Commercial use is not ruled out in technical terms, but it requires further steps”, Tataranni adds. The activities required to prepare the Cloud environment and to implement the Platform are financed through the Complementary Fund. “We are actively working to have the Multi-mission platform up and running in the short run, by the end of the year”.

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Space Debris Laser Ranging

by Barbara Ranghelli

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An innovative tracking station

About €10 million of Italy’s NRRP (National Resilience and Recovery Plan) funds have been allocated to build a Space Debris Laser Ranging (SDLR) station designed to track space debris. Currently, it’s supposed to be set up at the Italian Space Agency’s Matera Space Centre.

The SDLR system will be able to locate and map the trajectory of artificial orbital debris in Leo and Geo orbits. The tracking station will be equipped with the first Italian laser sensor to be engaged exclusively in Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) activities and developed.

It has been developed by the Italian Space Agency as part of the EU Space Program.

Optical, laser or radar telescopes are employed to observe space debris from Earth, but each one of them has its own limits. This is why the number of objects that can be observed is much lower than expected. According to ESA’s recent simulations*, it is estimated that there are around 900,000 debris objects orbiting around the Earth ranging in size between 1 and 10 centimeters. The total mass of orbital debris is around 10,000 tons.

The new SDLR station will have an advanced optics system ensuring highly accurate tracking capabilities.

"SDLR will combine the most advanced laser technologies with an Adaptive Optics (AO) system operating with a laser guide star," said Alessandra Di Cecco of the Italian Space Agency’s Engineering and Space Traffic Management Unit. "The station will implement the laser ranging technology to measure non-cooperative targets in Leo orbit and cooperative targets in Leo and Geo orbits."

One of the strong points of SDLR is the Adaptive Optics system, which makes it possible to detect even objects with very low brightness by compensating for light dispersion caused by atmospheric turbulence (the so-called 'Seeing' in astronomy). “SDLR will also be equipped with a polarimetric receiver for the sensing of the Visible to Near-Infrared to allow for the reconstruction of light curves. Such measurements will also help us understand, for example, the possible rotational motion of the observed object,” said Di Cecco.

The sensor is expected to operate 24/7.

The SDLR station will be able to integrate future optical and quantum communication terminals, or other equipment to perform research in the field of optical beam propagation.

Getting SDLR ready to accommodate future impulse transfer systems, or Momentum Transfer, is another opportunity that will be explored during the design study phase.

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) has already conducted SST tests at the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory (MLRO), mainly focusing on geodesy. The SDLR system will have the extra feature of acquiring optical images.

The project is scheduled to be completed by June 2026 in accordance with the specifications of the NRRP. * See: Esa's Annual Space Environment Report 2023 SPAZIO 2050 | 19

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A hArdwAre And softwAre infrAstructure for the future activities of space traffic ManageMent At the ASI Centre of Matera

by Alessandra Di Cecco and Valeria Guarnieri

The advent of satellite constellations, the miniaturisation of payloads and access to space provided by private companies and emerging nations have generated, over the past years, a significant increase in the number of objects launched into the orbit, consequently also increasing space debris, which specifically consists of no longer operational satellites, launcher stages, fragments produced by spontaneous break-ups or collisions in the orbit with other small components, such as those released during common mission operations.

Space debris is a global source of concern and represents a hazard for space activities, to the point that, in 2021, it was included in the agenda of the G7 intergovernmental forum. Space debris population is indeed uncontrolled and, given its high speeds, for example in the lower Earth 20 | SPAZIO 2050

Space debris is a global source of concern and is hazardous to outer space activities.

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orbit, the collision between an operational satellite and a small fragment may damage a sub-system or cause the failure of the whole mission, thus squandering considerable economic investments. Large-sized debris, on the other hand, during its uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, may be hazardous for air traffic and on the ground too, should fragments survive atmospheric friction.

Even the United Nation’s Committee on the Peaceful Use of Outer Space (COPUOS) promotes recommendations for addressing the problem of space debris and the increase in space activities, supporting the “21 guidelines for the long-term sustainability of outer space activities”. The need for a safe, protected and sustainable space environment is also supported by the NRRP (National Resilience and Recovery Plan), the economic recovery plan approved by the European Union to revive the economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ASI takes part in ESA’s SSA (Space Situational Awareness) programme and in the European Union’s SST (Space Surveillance and Tracking) programme and, as part of the NRRP’s “Mission 1 – Component 2 Investment 4.4 –In-Orbit Economy operational plan - SST/Flyeye”, the construction of an IHS (hardware and software infrastructure) has been devised too.

The facility will be built at ASI’s Space Centre in Matera.

This project will have to perform a number of tasks, given that it will be ASI’s only centre for future operations coordinating Space Traffic Management activities. The overarching goal of IHS is the delivery of alert services in the event of a possible collision between satellites (collision avoidance), occurred in-orbit fragmentation events and re-entries into the atmosphere. The enhancement of such services is also a key goal of the EU Space Programme, which ASI supports through its very participation in the SST partnership. A further capabiliy of the IHS will be that of providing innovative services that also support the operational campaigns of In-Orbit Servicing and Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre. Said services will be made available to civil, private and institutional satellite operators and to the Ministry of Defence, strengthening cooperation with the Italian Air Force’s C-SSA Centre based in Poggio Renatico.

Artistic depiction of the active satellites and space debris present in the geostationary orbit Credit: ESA

In order to achieve these goals, the IHS shall interface with ASI sensors installed in Matera and previously used for outer space surveillance, such as telescope Spade and laser MLRO, and with the future sensor network to be set up through the NRRP, namely with the “Flyeye” telescopes network and with the “Space Debris Laser-Ranging” observation station.

The infrastructure will be involved in activities concerning the acquisition, classification and archiving of sensor data, as well as the processing of observation data through a complex system of aptly developed software programmes.

The IHS shall also integrate external catalogues, including Space Weather data, so as to ensure the updating of a Catalogue of In-Orbit Objects.

Furthermore, the IHS will also be able to simulate the evolution of an outer space environment following new launches, collisions and fragmentations, for both simulated and real events.

The IHS project, financed with the NRRP funds, will be completed by Telespazio S.p.A., which won the contract following a call for bids. Activities will be developed also through the support of other industrial entities, including SMEs, the academic sphere and university spin-offs. The project shall last 36 months and, once again, ASI’s Centre in Matera – the agency’s major operational facility, which this year celebrates the 40th anniversary of its foundation – will play a pivotal role.

Prime contractors and subcontractors Where they are The IHS infrastructure will stand at Asi’s space centre in Matera

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2 5 3

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7 6 A

telespazio Rome

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ohB Milan

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spacedys Pisa

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stellar Project Padua

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ALtec Turin

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neXt Rome

1

serco Rome

1

Leonardo Rome

1

università di napoli Naples

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Politecnico di Milano Milan

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università “tor Vergata” Rome

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exprivia Molfetta (Bari)

7

eGeos Rome

1

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Space debriS a network of bug-eyed telescopes

by Valeria Guarnieri

The Flyeye telescopes are set to hunt for celestial objects - the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has financed them also through the resources made available by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

They are automated fly-eyed survey telescopes boasting a brand-new design and implementing Italian technology. Their task is to scan the sky for space debris. A constellation of four Flyeye telescopes will be hunting for possible new near-Earth objects (NEOs), monitoring and tracking them to prevent any real danger to orbiting satellites providing different types of services.

One telescope is financed through the funds allocated to the Italian Space Agency's Three-Year Activity Plan, while the other three are funded through the resources the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) and Complementary Fund have allocated to the Agency. The contract to build the four 'hunters' was signed between the Italian Space Agency and OHB Italia S.p.A. on September 16, 2022. It followed intense work by the Agency's technical and administrative offices, which managed a complex process in a very short time.

The telescopes will be located worldwide, two in the Northern Hemisphere (Italy and Mexico Tbc) and two in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia and Argentina) to increase the capability to monitor and mitigate the risk of collisions of space debris and satellites. Current estimates calculate that there are over 750,000 pieces of orbital debris larger than 1 centimeter in Earth's orbit: despite their small size, they can damage satellite infrastructure that provides a wide array of services essential to our daily lives, from meteorology to telecommunications.

Each Flyeye telescope provides a very large field of view of about 45 square degrees and is equipped with 16 astronomic cameras, “the EYES”, a structure similar to that of a fly’s compound eye that allows making nightly surveys of a large area of the sky. The telescopes have high dynamics with a repositioning speed of +/- 5 seconds and show a pointing performance accuracy of 10 arcsec.

They have instruments capable of tracking space debris in the HLEO (High Low Earth Orbit, between 1,000 and 2,000 kilometers) and MEO (Medium Earth Orbit, between 2,000 and 34,000 kilometers) orbits: Their observations will make it possible to calculate the trajectories of space junk so that potentially dangerous NEOs can be identified and collision avoidance maneuvers performed, if necessary.

Space debris.

Credits: Esa

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"The Flyeye telescope network, operating along other national debris observation sensors, is the first building block for the creation of a national Space Traffic Management system," said Marco Castronuovo, Head of the Asi STM Office.

Finally, the Flyeye infrastructure will incorporate advanced software enabling it to operate in an automated and coordinated manner. It will be possible to set up a database containing the updated orbits of all orbiting objects (above a certain size threshold) in the HLEO/MEO orbital belt

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Here are tHe companies involved in tHe building of tHe flyeye telescopes The first observatory will be located at the asi’s Matera Space center in Italy

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a

3 2

a

OHb-i Milan

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SpacedyS Navacchio di Cascina (PI)

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iee Mestre (VE)

3

around tHe World The project has scheduled the building of four 'hunters' that will be positioned in different parts of the world. Two telescopes will be set up in the Northern Hemisphere, in Italy and Mexico (Tbc) and two will be in the Southern Hemisphere, in Argentina and Australia. The aim is to increase the capability to monitor and mitigate the risk of collisions with NEOs.

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Funded by the European Union

FLYEYE: THE TELESCOPE MIMICKING THE EYE OF A FLY FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE EARTH AND OF THE SPACE ENVIRONMENT

by Editorial Staff

Flyeye is a new, all-Italian telescope developed by OHB Italia intended to mitigate the risk arising from dangerous asteroids and out-of-control space debris for the Earth.

The term 'Flyeye' comes from its ability to mimic the complex eye structure of a fly: the large field of view (FOV) acquired by the primary mirror is split into 16 beams each one directed to a different camera. The telescope has a high repositioning speed (+/- 5 sec.), combined with a pointing accuracy of 10 arcsec.

Asteroids are the source of unique information on the origin of the Solar System; however they are also debris that represent a potential threat to our Planet.

There are currently more than 20,000 known near earth objects and around 800 are potentially dangerous.

Flyeye can implement a unique Earth protection service on a wide area, scanning the visible sky at least twice a night. Asteroids detection will take place a 24 | SPAZIO 2050

The Flyeye telescope.

week in advance than the possible impact thanks to an extremely detailed optical observation. The telescope can intercept an 8cm orbiting object at about 1000Km. The first prototype of the Flyeye telescope was built for the European Space Agency (ESA), with the active support of the Italian Space Agency (ASI), for which the Factory Acceptance Test is currently being completed. At the same time, a contract was acquired for the construction of the observatory at the ASI Space Geodesy Center based in Matera. This facility will temporarily house the telescope for the completion of the acceptance cycle and for the first observational phase, pending the transfer to its final destination in Sicily.

As part of Space Surveillance & Tracking (SST), space monitoring for security purposes, OHB Italia has also

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signed with ASI, at the end of last year, a contract for other four Flyeye telescopes: one of these is financed with funds from ASI Three-Year Activity Plan (PTA), while the other three through funds from the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) allocated to the Agency according to the Next Generation EU plan.

These new space sentinels will be installed in Europe, Australia, North America and South America and will allow to increase the monitoring and mitigation of the risk of space assets colliding with other operational spacecraft or space debris. The network of Flyeye telescopes will also be equipped with advanced software that will allow them to operate in an automatic and coordinated mode, enabling the creation of a catalogue that will track, above a certain size threshold, all orbiting objects in the H-Leo/Meo orbital belt.

The name 'Flyeye' comes from the ability of the telescope to simulate the complex eye structure of a fly.

The implementation of the Flyeye network confirms the Italian system capabilities and the role of Italy as a world leader in optical observation for Space Surveillance & Tracking. Today, space debris is one of the main threats to instruments operating in space, which, if damaged, would have impacting consequences on our planet. The satellite infrastructure already in orbit is essential for the services we all rely on in our daily lives, from meteorology and communications to the global transport of goods and passengers. It is estimated that there are more than 750,000 debris currently in Earth orbit, starting from the dimension of 1 cm, which can severely damage the performance of operational satellites. This makes it easy to appreciate the considerable importance of Flyeye ground-based telescopes in maintaining a safer and more secure orbital environment.

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In-OrbIt ServIcIng An orbiting pit-stop for satellites

by Pino Di Feo

The programme, coordinated by ASI, shall ensure servicing in outer space, to be performed by robotic systems and Artificial Intelligence 26 | SPAZIO 2050

The opening scene of Walt Disney Pictures’ successful animated film, Wall•E, shows a futuristic Earth orbit literally invaded by scraps. Old, no longer functioning satellites or remains of space missions that, over the years, became…space debris.

A dystopian future that we may perhaps prevent through In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) missions: a sort of orbiting pit-stop for satellites, which aims to ensure continuous and constant robotic operations, theoretically making the satellite’s operational lifetime infinite through propellant refuelling, fixing procedures or replacement of components, orbit transfer and assisted atmospheric re-entry.

All this is not science fiction. It’s already happening.

ASI and Thales Alenia Space (a joint venture between Thales, 67%, and Leonardo, 33%), in its capacity as agent of a temporary group of enterprises (RTI), have signed a contract worth 235 million Euros for the de-

Top, preliminary concept of the In-Orbit Servicing demonstration mission

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sign, development and testing of a demonstration mission focusing on Space Situational Awareness services and Space Traffic Management.

The partnership breaks down as follows: Thales Alenia Space Italia holding about 55% of the total contract compared to the total value of the project, Avio holding 15%, Leonardo 12%, D-Orbit 10% and Telespazio 3%, while the remaining 5% has been awarded to consortium subcontractors.

The contract is part of the resources invested by the Italian government through the NRRP (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), through which ASI has funded a number of important national programmes, such as the Space Factory, highlighted in the ASI 20192023 four-year Report.“In-Orbit Servicing – says Enrico Cavallini, Head of ASI contracts – is about the range of services that may be provided to in-orbit assets, broadly speaking. Going further into detail, the demonstration mission aims to develop the technical, technological and operational capabilities for a wide range of in-orbit services, so as to allow the national aerospace industry to play a leading role on the international stage and to prepare, in the medium and long run, the in-orbit services of the future, as well as outer space logistics.

Preliminary concept of the Multi-Purpose Green Engine.

Credit: Avio S.p.A.

All this goes hand in hand with the development of the Multi-purpose Green Engine, a next-generation green engine developed through additive manufacturing techniques and rapid prototyping approaches for wide-range space logistics applications, from last stage and kick-stage ones of medium class launchers to in-orbit module ones for In-Orbit Servicing and Space Rider.

ASI is the entity that is implementing the project, within the funding framework of the NRRP and Complementary Fund, namely: Mission 1 - Component 2 ‘Digitalisation,

Innovation and Competitiveness of the Production System’ – Measure 4.4 ‘Satellite Technology and Space Economy’ – ‘In-Orbit Economy’, conferred to it by the managing administration, the Ministry for Enterprises and Made in Italy, which in turn involves two synergic investment lines: the In-Orbit Servicing demonstration mission and the Multi-purpose Green Engine (MPGE).”

In OrbIt ServIcIng: partnerS InvOlved

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In-orbit operations shall be performed by a robotic arm developed

by Leonardo, together with Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the participation of the SME Sab Aerospace.

The Low Earth Orbit (LEO) demonstration mission will be ready by the end of 2026 and aims to test the technologies enabling these future in-orbit servicing missions, performing several robotic operations on already orbiting satellites.

“The system – says Rocco Maria Grillo of ASI’s space transport unit and In-Orbit Servicing – will consist of two satellites (a Servicer satellite performing the services and a target satellite) and the relevant control and management services on the ground, which will have to perform, autonomously and complying with the required security standards, several in-orbit operations, following an incremental capability profile. In particular, the Servicer – which Thales Alenia Space Italia shall build – will be the in-orbit infrastructure performing servicing manoeuvres.

Telespazio and Altec will be charge of design, development and validation of the ground segment and of the mission control centre”. Avio shall deal with the design and development of the In-Orbit Support Module and Servicer Propulsion Module.

thales Alenia Space Italia 1 Turin Avio Colleferro (Rome)

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Leonardo Nerviano (Milan)

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D-Orbit Como

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telespazio Rome

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tSD Pozuoli (Naples)

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SrSeD Rome, Naples, Turin

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Kayser Italia Leghorn

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SAb Benevento

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INFN Rome

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IIt Genoa

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Altec Turin

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The company D-Orbit shall design and manufacture the target satellite platform – to be based on the company’s ION (In-Orbit Now) plaSPAZIO 2050 | 27

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impact on the environment, will allow us to simplify loading procedures (lowering the security levels it must meet) while also reducing time and costs.

Besides, once the engine’s performance levels have been defined and checked, the number of potential applications may surely be increased, also including Deep Space profile missions (characterised by long cruising phases) thanks to the engine’s intrinsic versatility, its ability to re-ignite and the so-called ‘storability’ of the combination of the propellants used”.

tform – as well as the system ensuring the refuelling and re-supply of the target satellite. Leonardo will develop the robotic arm for the capturing manoeuvres of the final phase, namely the approach, docking and separation of the servicer with the target”.

The In-Orbit Servicing’s second programme line is the development of the Multi-purpose Green Engine (MPGE), an engine running on ‘green’ liquid propellant that may be used in the future applications of In-Orbit Servicing and Space Logistics.

Finally, one of the strong suits of In-Orbit Servicing missions is the use of Artificial Intelligence, which ensures greater automation and a more effective resilience of the programme.

The overall cost of engine-related activities totals some 55 million Euros and includes the development of two versions of the same engine. The first version is to be used as the last stage of a launch vehicle, while the second one shall be used for In-Orbit Servicing.

The MPGE shall indeed be extremely versatile (hence the definition ‘multi-purpose’): it may be used as a propulsion module for next-generation in-orbit servicing space systems (and reconfigured to serve as Space Rider), and as an engine in the in-orbit stage of Vega class launchers.

“This kilo-newton class engine (namely, providing a 100 kg thrust) – says Roberto Bertacin of ASI’s Space Transport Unit and In-Orbit Servicing – is characterised by the use of a liquid state combustible-oxidising combination.

Thanks to an intrinsic adjustment capability, it may equip the in-orbit stages of Vega launchers or be used as the propulsion module for in-orbit space platforms.

Unlike the current combinations of non-cryogenic liquid propellants, which can maintain their physical state at ambient temperature and performance levels for operational missions lasting several months or years, this engine will resort to compounds that have a much lower toxicity. This feature, since it considerably reduces risks for human health and has a lower 28 | SPAZIO 2050

the ASI-coordinated programme will make sure that servicing is performed directly in outer space by means of robotic systems and Artificial Intelligence.

“To date – Cavallini adds – the use of Artificial Intelligence in satellite assets is an opportunity for spinins proceeding from non-space sectors to space sectors, as it is for space activities to specifically develop their processing capabilities and ability to use the data generated by and acquired in the space environment.

This is particularly important, both aboard the satellite and on the ground. Clearly, introducing and using this technology requires the due development and checks in terms of solidity, resilience and quality, as do the algorithms currently in use, especially when Artificial Intelligence algorithms are used for activities or functions that are critical to the mission.

Like any technological development that is considered functionally essential for developing In-Orbit Servicing capabilities (e.g. robotics), there is a logic of incremental development of Artificial Intelligence algorithms within the In-Orbit Servicing programme, which will employed alongside the standard ones and checked during the mission, in order to define their technical performance and validate them during the demonstration activities planned for the mission.”

partnerS InvOlved In the green engIne prOject:

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1 3

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Avio Colleferro (Rome)

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t4i Monselice (Pordenone)

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Finis terrae Rome

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OMb Saleri Brescia

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temis Corbetta (Milan)

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Sophia High tech Somma Vesuviana (Naples)

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tekrevolution Rome

3

rina consulting S.p.A. -centro Sviluppo Materiali Rome

3

novaeka Padua

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Milan Polytechnic Milan

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La Sapienza university Rome

3

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a showcase for small and medium-sized enterprises and national start-up companies, whose goal is highlighting unique growth paths, evolving business models and adaptation and anticipation strategies of the most advanced New Space trends, so that the whole sector can draw inspiration from them.

ZOOM ON SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED ENTERPRISES

D-Orbit leading international stakeholder of a responsible and sustainable future in outer space

by Silvia Ciccarelli

Every satellite has a limited amount of resources and the complex manoeuvres to be performed in the initial and final phases of the mission consume a significant part of them. An unexpected failure, aside from terminating the mission early, creates debris that is left in an uncontrolled orbit for dozens of years. Because of collision risks, satellite operators frequently perform emergency manoeuvres, thus increasing operational costs and interrupting the service. Outer space activities have a sustainability problem – and if it isn’t solved, it is bound to worsen.

D-Orbit is headquartered in Como and also has offices abroad: in Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. It’s a medium-sized enterprise that can boast a number of private investments and is working to set up a space logistics facility in order to efficiently and competitively address the challenges of sustainability in outer space. Founded in 2011 by Luca Rossettini and Renato Panesi, D-Orbit is transforming the space industry, focusing on a sustainability-centred business model.

The first pillar of this new infrastructure is the Ion

D-Orbit COMO

Satellite Carrier, an orbiting vehicle that has already completed eleven missions in less than three years.

Ion has been designed to carry a set of satellites from one orbit to another and place them in an operational trajectory, a “last mile” service that is very effective in terms of time-to-market, since it ensures the positioning of satellites in a matter of days, rather than months, thus speeding up innovative cycles and profit-generation for clients. At the end of the mission, each Ion vehicle becomes once again available to D-Orbit, providing other services, such as in-orbit tests of proprietary or third-party hosted payloads.

D-Orbit holds a number of records, including that of being the world’s first B-Corp certified space company. As such, it undertakes to generate benefits for all stakeholders: clients, society, workers, suppliers, community and the environment, while also aiming to generate profit. Embedding social responsibility and sustainability in industrial activities is a constant commitment that also stimulates innovation.

In the near future, the goal is that of growing in the in-orbit servicing segment. In the meantime, D-Orbit’s constantly expanding fleet is introducing advanced services such as in-orbit cloud computing, which enables data processing in outer space.

The several contracts acquired as part of the NRRP will be an important opportunity to further develop the different business lines, supporting cooperation with the national industrial centres of excellence of the sector.

With more than 260 employees and a staff that is constantly on the rise, D-Orbit is a successful model. In just over ten years it has managed to scale up, with the ambition to surpass the status of SME in the near future. Growth and innovation require not only sustainability but also internationalisation: in addition to its existing foreign offices, D-Orbit is looking to the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America.

Follow D-Orbit’s page in the Italian Space Industry Online Catalogue, with updated content and links to the company’s official channels: https://italianspaceindustry.it/listing/d-orbit-spa/

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Telespazio is already working on operations for the eUMetsat Metop second generation a and B satellites

by Editorial Staff

The Telespazio Flight Control team in the control room of the Fucino Space Centre.

Telespazio is preparing for the 2025 launch of the Eumetsat Metop Second Generation A and B satellites, which will play a major role in improving the accuracy of weather forecasts by observing the Earth from low orbit. Telespazio will be responsible for the launching and early operations in orbit, known as LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase). Although the satellites will not be launched for another two years, the route that will take the Metop-SG A and B satellites into low orbit has already been plotted. The first of three rounds of System Validation Tests (SVT), needed to validate all the procedures for the LEOP operations, was successfully completed in May. In a space mission, LEOP is one of the most critical phases, in which all activities from the separation of the satellite from the carrier to reaching operation orbit are carried out. This phase is essential to guarantee the satellite is fully functional and to extend its operating life. By optimising fuel consumption when approaching the final orbit, it is possible to extend the satellite’s operating life, which guarantees many years in service to the users.

Telespazio’s Flight Control team, operating in the control room of the Fucino Space Centre, has successfully conducted tests on the Metop-SG B satellite. During the four days of testing, numerous LEOP procedures were simulated, both for nominal and contingency operations. The simulations included the automatic

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initialisation sequence, the deployment of the solar panels, acquiring Earth-pointing attitude and orbital manoeuvres. All the tests were done remotely, while the satellite was still safely located in the clean room in the Friedrichshafen site of Airbus, which is responsible for building the six satellites that will make up the Metop-SG constellation. The same tests had been previously performed on the Metop-SG A satellite in July 2021, in the Airbus facility in Tolouse.

The next round of System Validation Tests is scheduled for the end of October in the Lario Space Centre, in the province of Como. Telespazio’s new backup LEOP control room will also be inaugurated and tested on this occasion.

The launch of the Metop-SG A satellite is currently set for March 2025 and the Metop-SG satellite B is scheduled for December of the same year.

In December 2022, Telespazio had already successfully carried out the LEOP operations for placing the Meteosat Third Generation Imager-1 (MTG-I1) satellite into orbit and transferring it to its final orbit, after it was launched on 13 December from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, in French Guyana. Telespazio has been involved from the beginning in the development of the MTG programme, with the development and management of the Earth segment, handling both data acquisition and satellite command and control operations.

GLOBALSCIENCE.IT

The eye of euclid on the dark Universe

(INFN) is playing a leading role in this scientific mission.

Euclid is equipped with a 1.2 m reflecting telescope and two scientific instruments: the VISible instrument,(VIS) the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer, (NISP). They are designed to provide very sharp images of a large fraction of the extragalactic sky and perform near-infrared spectroscopy of hundreds of millions of galaxies and stars over the same sky.

by Giuseppina Pulcrano

At 5.12 p.m. Italian time on July 1, Euclid took off onboard SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40. A perfect launch marking the beginning of Euclid mission on its journey to reach the Lagrangian point L2, one of the equilibrium points of the Sun-Earth system located 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit.

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) also supports the INAF in the key role it plays at the helm of the Science Ground Segment (SGS), as well as in the development of the software of the two instruments, coordinating at the national level all of the research entities participating in the activities of the Science Working Groups.

The Italian Agency is also overseeing the industrial activities, ALTEC has been selected to carry out to design and develop Italy's Euclid INAF-led Science Data Center and further computing resources with which the INFN has provided the Italian component of the mission to analyze data and carry out simulations on scientific results. The Italian Space Agency has also led the industrial team contributing to the two instruments by means of a temporary association of companies with OHB as agent and SAB Aerospace and Temis as principals.

Euclid is one of ESA's most ambitious scientific endeavors of the Agency’s current planning cycle, Cosmic Vision 2015-2025. Italy, through the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics

Another important milestone for Italy is Thales Alenia Space Italia of the Leonardo Group being the prime contractor for the construction Euclid.

“Today Italy is celebrating yet another major scientific and industrial achievement in Space,” said Teodoro

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Valente, president of the Italian Space Agency, during the live broadcast of the launch. “ The Euclid mission will pave the way to a new understanding of ourselves and the Universe around us. Missions such as this are further proof of the role scientific research plays in advancing knowledge and promoting growth as a whole. This is a most important program for which the Agency has coordinated a remarkable group of national entities. Thank to this work we can confer Italy’s outstanding expertise and knowledge to such an ambitious European project securing for our country a lead actor role. Over 200 Italian scientists and researchers are involved in the project. It is proof of excellence that gives prestige to Italy's Space endeavors.

The mission will map the 3D distribution of billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light years away – looking beyond the Milky Way galaxy to image around a third of the observable Universe. By revealing the Universe’s large-scale structure, and its pattern of expansion, Euclid will cast light on the mysterious dark energy and dark matter that make up 95% of the cosmos.

Euclid’s main mirror and five others, plus the telescope itself and more than 30 parts, 10 of which make up the mission’s Near Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer and the optical bench that surrounds them, are all part of Euclid’s ‘Korsch configuration’. They are all made from the same material: not glass, but a Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramic. SiC is one of the hardest materials known, used to make cutting tools, high-performance brakes and even bulletproof vests, while being much lighter than glass. It is similar to a metal in ha-

ving high thermal conductivity but unlike metals can undergo extreme temperature shifts without deforming.

The final mirror shape is accurate to nine millionths of a millimeter under Earth gravity.

Right after the launch, as Euclid headed on to its set observing point in space, it turned in its course to face the Sun for a planned 96 hours in total. This important manoeuvre was necessary says Mauricio Portaluppi – an ESA contamination control engineer, because “Euclid needs boil away any moisture that potentially might have ended up freezing on its telescope mirrors, obscuring its otherwise pristine views of the distant cosmos beyond our own Milky Way galaxy.”

The 1.2 -m diameter main mirror, seen during assembly, integration and testing.

Credits: Airbus

The satellite is set to arrive in orbit four weeks after launch with the telescope aligned and all instruments switched on.

The Euclid program started more than ten years ago when the Euclid Consortium was first established.

The Consortium has about 2,600 members and is currently composed of the early teams that first imagined, designed, and proposed the Euclid mission.

To date 14 European countries contribute to Euclid Consortium activities (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). Canada and USA through NASA and few US laboratories as well as few Japanese laboratories are also contributing and are members of the Euclid Consortium.

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The IRIDe pRogRamme: a crucial step in making earth ObservatiOn systems sustainable

by Giovanni Rum The IRIDE programme is included in the NRRP (National Resilience and Recovery Plan, objective M1C2, investment 4), whose final goal is that of providing local administration offices and national authorities with a raft of integrated geo-space services while also stimulating a rapid expansion of the commercial market, at a national and European level, including by developing small enterprises across the national territory.

Achieving such a goal entails an improvement, on the Italian national territory, of space observation, with rapid revisit time and high resolution, supplementing the capabilities of the existing national and European systems.

The prerequisite for defining and starting a programme as ambitious as IRIDE, which is unprecedented at a European level, is the leading role, in Earth Observation, that Italy has gradually taken on over the past 20 years, in Europe and globally, both from an institutional standpoint (ASI, national programmes and contribution to ESA) and from an industrial and commercial one.

The other decisive element that has ensured the programme’s inclusion in the NRRP and its swift greenlighting is the availability of a consolidated and documented set of institutional User Requirements developed, under the coordination of the National User Forum, within the Mirror Copernicus programme, part of the government’s Space Economy initiative.

The IRIDE programme is strictly linked to other NRRP -funded programmes (such as the development of the National Integrated Monitoring System, coordinated by the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security) and to ASI institutional activities related to the development of tools and national missions.

IRIDE is an end-to-end system, but it is also user-driven. Indeed, it develops all the three necessary elements, from satellites to services, and directly meets the requirements of institutional users, which are identified and made applicable.

Being a user-driven system, the first element is represented by the Services to be developed, for which the NRRP identifies the main subject areas (see the Box) whose needs IRIDE will have to meet.

The second element is the Upstream segment: IRIDE is a “constellation of constellations”, consisting of satellites that host four different observation instruments (see the box), focusing on the coordinated observation of the Italian territory, completing the observations made available by the Copernicus programme and by national missions. The constellation’s operational modalities are currently being defined in order to optimise their use, guaranteeing both systemic and on-demand observations.

IRIDE constellation satellites • X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), high geometric resolution (HR), about 3 m.

• Hyperspectral Optical Instrument, moderate geometric resolution (MR), about 30 m and high spectral resolution.

• RGB Multispectral Optical Instrument, high resolution (HR) 2-3 m.

• RGB Multispectral Optical Instrument, very high resolution (VHR), 1 m.

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PRImE contRactoRs anD PayloaD managERs anD RElEvant locatIons WWW.ASI.IT

3 7 10 19 4 9 11 Coastline and marine-coastal monitoring

air quality

Water-WeatherClimate

Water resources

Fig. 1 – Subject areas of service development

Subsidence

ground coverage

8 6

emergencies

Security

The third element of the IRIDE system is the Downstream segment, which offers remarkable additional functions, aside from the traditional ones (which are still necessary) for managing the constellation and for acquiring, processing and delivering the generated data.

In particular, the Marketplace – an open and scalable digital system – will allow users to search, view, analyse and process data and use a specific tool, CyberItaly, a digital representation of the major phenomena/ processes occurring on the Italian territory (Digital Twins) that ensures the monitoring, analysis and creation of predictive scenarios.

The IRIDE programme enhances the national investments made so far (by ASI, by the Defence and by the industry) and integrates the existing institutional capabilities, for both SAR observations, with increased coverage and quicker revisit time, and optical observations, offering observations (HR, VHR and Hyper) that are currently not provided, at an operational level, by institutional systems, thus developing an open and scalable system which can be further enhanced through the addition of new elements.

It also engages the entire national industrial system and promotes its excellence in both Upstream and Downstream segments and in public utility and commercial services.

Finally, it lays the foundations, through concrete Public-Private Partnership opportunities, for an operational sustainability in a system capable of meeting the public administration’s major observation requirements, while also providing economic operators with data and products that can further bolster the development of the commercial market.

17 16 2 1 13 12

TaS-I Rome, L'Aquila, Bosisio Parini (Lecco)

14 5 15

18

1

2

10

3

4

5

6

ohB-I Milan, Parabiago (Milan)

4

7

aRgoTeC Turin, Sarcedo (Vicenza)

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D_orbit Fino Mornasco (Como), Milan SITaeL Bari, Florence

Stellar project Padua, Fino Mornasco (Como) arianespace Colleferro (Rome)

12

Science and Technology Italy Rome

Planning and management aspects

IRIDE programme logo.

Budget: 1.070 million Euros, 797 million allocated by the NRRP and 273 by the national budget (complementary fund).

Commencement and End dates: the programme kicked off in early 2022 and must end in June 2026 with the Demonstration of the Constellation’s operativity and the Provision of Institutional Services. programme management: the development of the IRIDE programme is governed by the Assistance Agreement entered into by the Italian Government and ESA, signed on 16 December, 2021, which states that ESA shall run the technical and contractual aspects of the Programme, assisted by technical experts provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and by other Italian public entities, forming an Integrated project Team - IpT: to date, it features experts designated by ASI, ISPRA and DPC.

1

Progress The programme has just passed the milestone of 31 March, 2023, awarding some 30 development contracts, involving more than 50 companies, with about 25% of the total amount awarded to SMEs. Upstream: 30 satellites ordered (and related launch services), with an option for 35 more; Downstream: development contracts awarded for all elements.

Services: development contracts awarded for more than 50 service chains within eight subject areas identified at a national level, plus five service demonstrators for local administration offices.

Telespazio Roma, Fucino (L'Aquila) 1

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exprivia Molfetta (Bari)

14

e-geos Rome, Matera

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Cap gemini Rome Serco Rome, Frascati

15 1

1

16

planetek Bari

5

agricolus Perugia

17

mapsat Benevento

18

engineering D-hub Vicenza

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gmaTICS 1 Rome SPAZIO2023 2050 | 35 Contracts as at 31 March,

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

www.asitv.it

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Italy at the eSa MInISterIal CounCIl 2022 Mandatory and optional prograMMes

by Emilio Cozzi Belonging to the space élite, predicting needs and trends.

At the ESA Ministerial Council held in November 2022, Italy invested in far-sighted projects: the International Space Station, contributing to lunar exploration (gateway and lunar lander), the landing on Mars and the carrier rockets that will allow this and more (see reusable space logistics). Actually, as ASI’s Head of Relations with ESA, Fabrizio Battazza, says, “Italy is one of the few Member States that takes part in almost all programmes”. That’s a fact: Italy is way ahead of all other countries when it comes to funding optional programmes, while it is the third overall contributor in Europe, after Germany and France, with the former having reduced their support, in terms of percentage, compared to the Ministerial council of 2019.

As allocated in Paris, ESA’s three-year budget totals 16.9 billion Euros. Italy is allocating 2.8 billion (versus 2.28 billion in 2019), which exceeds 3 billion if we consider the part of mandatory programmes over a five-year period. Two and a half billion Euros are allocated specifically for the optional programmes, strongly supported by the delegation led by Minister Adolfo Urso.

There are three areas of particular strategic value: “space exploration, space transportation and Earth observation,” Battazza explains, “which stimulated great interest in the months preceding the Ministerial Council, as resulted from the interactions we had with national stakeholders: industries, the scientific community and, ultimately, from the political approach.”

Heading towards tHe Moon and beyond More than a quarter of the entire amount that Italy will allocate over the next three years is for human 38 | SPAZIO 2050

"Our country is one of the few Member States that is taking part in everything." and robotic space exploration: 719 million Euros, over 200 million more compared to the previous Ministerial Council (+43%). It is under this chapter that the most fascinating space novel unfolds; no wonder it is ESA’s second most funded one, with 979 million Euros (out of a 2.7 billion Euro budget). Italy has committed almost 200 million Euros for its astronauts’ missions and for handling the ISS, at least up until 2028.

Then, there is the Moon. ESA expects to invest 394 million Euros, partially for completing the Gateway project – the outpost to be placed in the lunar orbit.

Italy believes in it, to the point that its contribution accounts for almost half of ESA’s overall sum (197 million). In the meantime, thanks to ESA’s 329 million Euros (120 of which allocated by Italy), the European Large Logistic Lander is beginning to take shape: a cargo supporting human space exploration, named Argonaut, which is also Europe’s main contribution to the Artemis programme. “Our participation in Arte-

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the Kourou spaceport. It is a strategic investment: “the bulk is for Vega C and its evolution, the Vega E,” Battazza explains, “we have the development of the p120 C Plus engine (first stage of Vega C, but also strap-on booster of Ariane 6, editor’s note) accounting for more than 50%. Plus, there are new initiatives focusing on evolution, sustainability, and reusable technologies.

One example is the M10 methane engine.” In this case, the national resources allocated exceed 600 million, plus another 51 million for Space Rider, the automated and reusable shuttle laboratory for which Italy is the main funder.

EartH, cliMate, sustainability and telecoMMunications ESA’s third pillar is Earth Observation and Italy will allocate almost half a billion Euros to this activity.

ESA has directed most of the funds (1.2 billion Euros, with Italy contributing 260 million) to the FutureEO programme’s scientific missions for monitoring the Earth and climate change. “One of these missions is the Harmony satellite – Battazza points out – which shall carry a Synthetic Aperture Radar, and Italy can boast leading-edge expertise in this technology.

These missions are very focused on science, but they can generate an operational segment.” That’s the case history of Aeolus, launched in 2018 to analyse wind profiles using a lidar. Its successor, Aeolus2, will help Eumetsat deliver more accurate weather forecast (414 million Euros allocated, 65 million of which by Italy).

As for the Copernicus segment, 641 million Euros will be allocated for next-generation Sentinel-1 satellites and for next-generation topography Sentinel-3 satellites. Once again, Italy is there, with 140 million Euros: the goal is to strengthen a leadership that may add projects IRIDE and Platino to the consolidated Cosmo-SkyMed and Prisma. “These undertakings have strengthened our presence at the important tables.”

Telecommunications chapter: Italy is allocating 315 million Euros, 190 of which to the Artes programme, which will receive one billion Euros from ESA to stimulate competitiveness in the industrial sector. The other big national project is Moonlight, the telecom and lunar positioning service for the upcoming space explorations: Italy, with its 153 million Euros, is covering almost half of the European budget.

mis is ambitious”, says ASI’s physicist. Indeed, one of its objectives is to have an Italian astronaut land on the Moon by the end of the next decade. As for the robotic exploration domain, it is Mars that takes centre stage: 792 million Euros have been allocated to make the Rosalind Franklin rover land on Martian soil, with NASA replacing the Russians in the support to the ExoMars mission. The remaining funds will support Mars Sample Return, whose goal is to retrieve the samples collected by the Perseverance rover and return them to Earth. Once again, Italy’s contribution is by no means negligible: 245 million Euros for the Martian mission.

back to launcHers Given the current situation – “a serious crisis,” as Director General, Josef Aschbacher, called it at the European Space Conference in Brussels – it is not surprising that ESA’s first expenditure chapter is launchers. In view of last December’s failure (resulting in the halt of Vega C) and the delays of Ariane 6, Europe is now struggling to secure autonomous access to space. For Italy, homeland of the Vega line, the response to the crisis accounts for the second largest item of expenditure (664 million Euros), which takes top spot including the mandatory contribution for

Rendering of the Argonaut lunar lander.

Credit: ESA

Even when it comes to smaller contributions, such as those for Navisp, GSTP, Scale up or Incubed, the national goal is clear: to develop the commercial sector by involving enterprises, now more than ever, which can provide a boost. For Italian businesses, return on investment in ESA is greater than 1, and this comforts management, “this has given us the margin to increase leadership opportunities for our industries,” Battazza concludes.

Belonging to the outer space that matters: not a promise, but a challenge to be won.

SPAZIO 2050 | 39

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Revolution Space: euRope haS a miSSion to accompliSh

by Giuseppina Pulcrano

The report presented by the 12-international expert High-Level Advisory Group for the future strategy of Space in Europe “Let us be bold, let us put Europe at the forefront of space exploration!” said Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Danish Prime Minister, while introducing the report “Revolution Space: Europe’s Mission for Space Exploration”, which was presented by the High Level Advisory Group to the 315th session of the ESA Council at ESA Headquarters in Paris on March 23, 2023 The “High Level Advisory Group” (HLAG), which includes leaders across industry, government, academia and civil society, was established in 2022 at the request of ESA’s Council.

The Group was given a mandate to provide an independent and objective assessment on the geopolitical, economic and societal relevance of human and robotic space exploration for Europe.

In brief, the HLAG recommended to ESA to ‘act visionary’, ‘act differently’ and ‘act now’ on space exploration.

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The Group has called on Europe to first of all develop its own capabilities to send humans to space so as to not depend on non-European partners.

The future today is looking grim in view of the new geopolitical dynamics that are changing the global economic and geopolitical scene.

Europe's 'vision strategy', according to the HLAG should include a significant increase in its investment in human exploration, and the development of its own human spaceflight transportation capabilities to be able to enjoy in full the benefits of a booming space economy.

The strategy rests on two main pillars, i.e. human and robotic exploration which are both essential for an exploration strategy.

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Space Europe, consisting of 22 ESA member states and 27 EU member states, has € 9 billion upstream revenues (about 35% of the global market), and € 70 billion downstream revenues (25% of the global market), with global space public funding close to 16%.

The HLAG’s report states that “Countries and regions that will not secure their independent access to space and its autonomous use, will become strategically dependent and economically deprived of a major part of this value chain. Europe’s goal should be to capture one third of this future market.”

However, it is not only about increasing investment.

It is evident that Europe will have to adopt a new procurement model if it wants to make the most of this ongoing space revolution and secure a competitive advantage. It is of the essence to provide support for industry to innovate and grow while curbing costs.

The Revolution Space report is a wake-up call for European leaders to act now: “The cost of inaction would far outweigh the necessary investment to establish Europe as a strong and independent space actor.”

High Level Advisory Group Members: Stefania Giannini, former Minister of Education, University and Research of Italy; Erling Kagge, explorer and the first person to reach on foot all three “poles” (the North Pole, the South Pole and Mount Everest); Mariana Mazzucato, Professor at University College London, Director of the Inst. for Innovation and Public Purpose, and Author of Mission Economy;

Chris Rapley, Professor of Climate Science at University College London and Chair of the European Science Foundation’s European Space Sciences Committee; Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former NATO Secretary General and former Prime Minister of Denmark; Anna Rathsman, President of the ESA Council and Director General of the Swedish National Space Agency; Tomaz Rożek, science communicator;

Maria Theresia Niss, Member of the National Council of Austria and Chair of the European Inter-Parliamentary Space Conference;

François Schuiten, cartoonist;

Cédric O, former Secretary of State for the Digital Sector of France;

Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director of the World Economic Forum.

Christoph Schweizer, Chief Executive Officer of Boston Consulting Group;

SPAZIO 2050 | 41

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The goal is to determine how these different types of particulate matter in the atmosphere can affect the onset of specific respiratory and cardiovascular pathologies

ASI And nASA work together on MAIA for public health

by Fulvia Croci The Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols mission will study the impact of polluting aerosols on human health.

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Artistic depiction of the MAIA mission orbiting above the Earth’s surface.

Credit: Nasa

How do polluting aerosols impact our organism?

ASI and NASA have come up with this question and are now working to set up MAIA (Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols) in order to study how exposure to different types of particulate matter – differing in size and composition – affects human health. More specifically, MAIA will analyse airborne polluting particulate matter, called PM 10 and PM 2.5, present in many highly populated urban areas of the world and in particular in three national areas, in northern, central and southern Italy, which include the most densely populated urban centres, such as Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Bari and Taranto.

The goal is to determine how these different types of particulate matter in the atmosphere affect the on-

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Maia will consist of a space segment, formed by ASI’s Platino-class mini platform and its ground segment, and a tool manufactured at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPG). The latter is equipped with a spectro-polarimetric camera capable of capturing digital images from multiple angles in the electromagnetic spectrum bands of ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared and shortwave infrared. This information will be crucial to better understand the size, geographic distribution, composition and amount of particulate matter in the atmosphere. In particular, the measurements taken by MAIA will be useful in the most populated cities, which have so far relied solely on ‘in situ’ point measurements to gauge particulate matter pollution.

MAIA’s video camera is fitted on a rotating stand that, through the simultaneous observation of the same target from different angles, makes assessing the characteristics of different aerosols less uncertain, while also enabling the observation of a single target up to three or four times a week.

“Maia marks an important moment in NASA and ASI’s long-standing cooperation and symbolises the best that our two agencies can field in terms of Earth Observation expertise, knowledge and technologies,” says Francesco Longo, Head of the Earth Observation and Operations Unit at ASI. “The science produced by this joint mission will benefit humanity for many years to come.”

set of some specific respiratory and cardiovascular pathologies.

These types of particles have a diameter that is less than 10 and 2.4 microns, respectively, and prolonged exposure over time to even low levels of this particular matter is associated with increased respiratory disorders such as asthma, decreased lung capacity, reduced respiratory functions and chronic bronchitis, along with serious effects on the cardiovascular system.

MAIA, scheduled to be launched by the first half of 2025, will orbit at an altitude of about 740 kilometres and is the first example of a mission that will be tasked with supporting public health for citizens, entailing cooperation between different types of experts, such as epidemiologists, who will be involved in the development of the mission.

MAIA will be operational for three years, monitoring 11 areas, as well as the three specific Italian areas.

Once collected, the data will be forwarded to health institutions and compared with models on the morbidity of respiratory and heart diseases in that particular area.

Epidemiologists will play a key role, studying the effects of exposure to harmful particles, so as to determine the effects of short-term and long-term exposure on the human body.

“Working together with colleagues from Italy and from all over the world, we expect MAIA to help us understand how airborne particulate matter pollution is hazardous to our health,” says David Diner, NASA principal investigator for MAIA, “The mission will play a pivotal role in supporting institutions take public health-related decisions.”

MAIA will operate for three years, monitoring 11 areas, in addition to three specific areas in Italy: Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Boston in the United States; Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, Turin, Genoa, Bari, and Taranto in Italy; Addis Ababa, Barcelona, Beijing; Johannesburg; New Delhi; Taipei, Taiwan and Tel Aviv, just to name a few, in the rest of the world. The mission will also analyse particulate matter from 30 other secondary areas across the world, including large cities such as Mexico City; Milan; Santiago, Lagos and Seoul.

SPAZIO 2050 | 43

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Thales alenia space and naTional RecoveRy and Resilience plan: high-tech initiatives and projects for the future of our country

by Editorial Staff

Doubling its turnover in five years to reach around €7 billion in 2028: this is the challenge of the space industry and its supply chain. And, it is precisely within this context that the latest achievements of Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), fit under the umbrella of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

Let's begin with IRIDE, the project created as the initiative of the Italian government, thanks to the PNRR resources, that will be completed by 2026 under the management of ESA in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Thales Alenia Space will contribute to the making of this innovative hybrid constellation, made up of innovative satellites of different classes with dedicated Earth observation sensors, equipped with sophisticated operational modes, that will guarantee a high-revisit time providing data that can be integrated both with existing infrastructures and with future deployment, such as Cosmo-SkyMed second generation and Prisma, as well as from European programs such as Copernicus.

Thales Alenia Space will also provide an optical satellite, and a possible additional satellite, with per44 | SPAZIO 2050

formance that respond to the needs of the constellation. Thanks to the enduring attention of the Italian government and the vision of ASI, In-Orbit Servicing activities will also represent a paradigm shift by introducing unparalleled system scalability and flexibility, providing in-orbit maintenance and upgrade possibilities while also changing the entire approach to satellite design.

In this framework, Thales Alenia Space has signed a contract with ASI, as lead agent of a Temporary Grouping of Enterprises comprising Leonardo, Telespazio, Avio and D-Orbit, for the design, development and qualification of a demonstration mission vehicle dedicated to this type of in-orbit servicing.

Sar antenna integration.

The demonstration mission will test enabling technologies for future in-orbit servicing missions by performing various robotic operations on satellites already in orbit: refueling, repair or replacement of components, orbital transfer, and atmospheric reentry. To meet this challenge, the industry will call on its unparalleled multidisciplinary expertise, including launchers, satellite infrastructure, robotics, sensing,

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artificial intelligence as well as atmospheric reentry systems.

Also, within the PNRR framework, the company has signed another major contract with ASI for the development of Space Factory 4.0. As lead agent, Thales Alenia Space is leading a Temporary Grouping of Companies, including Argotec, Cira and Sitael, to build a system of interconnected space factories located in Italy that will be operational by 2026.

The Space Factory will offer the specific means and tools to produce advanced satellites in a wide range, from large satellite infrastructures of a few dozen kilograms to satellites of a few hundred kilograms, produced in the large quantities required from the new constellation configurations. The entities of Space Factory 4.0, distributed throughout the territory, will be located in Piedmont with Argotec, in Lazio with Thales Alenia Space, in Campania with Cira and in Apulia with Sitael, a system of space companies interconnected with the supply chain, including startups and research centers, creating an advanced production hub for national, European and international

Thales alenia space will consolidate our country's industrial expertise in making and testing satellite components and parts.

space programs. Thales Alenia Space will consolidate our country's industrial expertise in the manufacturing and testing of satellite components and parts. The consortium will implement automation and process digitization systems to build advanced satellites, particularly in the micro and small satellites sector that include the Platinum and Nimbus families.

One of the key elements of this interconnected project is the creation of an all-digital facility for satellite design, manufacturing, and testing. This is a true digital hub that will use advanced technologies during all phases of satellite manufacture, design, assembly integration and testing, including digital twins, virtual and augmented reality techniques, simulators integrated with the supply chain and automation elements (robots/cobots).

The facility will be equipped with highly versatile and flexible clean rooms to support the integration and testing of a wide range of constellations of different sizes as well as satellites for Earth observation, space exploration and other applications.

SPAZIO 2050 | 45

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ON DISPLAY

The book Donne nella Scienza – La Lunga strada verso La parità (Women in science – the Long road to equaLity)

by Valeria Guarnieri It’s been a long road, bristling with obstacles, and even in the 21st century still shows the difficulties that stem from the all too commonplace social conventions and discrimination. This is the challenge that women who set out to study and work in science have had to face and which they are still battling with.

Through the centuries, women scientists have achieved recognition and satisfaction but always with great effort and late in the day. This is the core premise of Donne nella Scienza – La lunga strada verso la parità (Women in Science - The Long Road to Equality), an essay recently published by FrancoAngeli in the “La società” series and written with competence and enthusiasm by Maria Pia Abbracchio and Marilisa D'Amico. Both women are university professors who are passionate about their profession and engaged in many dissemination/awareness-raising activities to support female students and young researchers.

The book, which has a clear and compelling narrative style, is supplemented with many useful explanatory boxes and organized into three parts.

In the first part, ‘Women Scientists in History’, the authors analyze the secondary role played by female scientists. In the past, female scientists were relegated to marginal tasks, defrauded of their achievements or deprived of the scientific prizes they would have greatly deserved. All of this was due to deep-rooted prejudices about female intelligence and stereotypes that have always associated science and research with the male universe.

The second part, ‘The Long Road to Equality’, traces the formation of all too common social conventions that have conditioned the work of women scientists. It dwells extensively on the long work of the Constituent Mothers, measuring the weight of their indivi46 | SPAZIO 2050

"Women do not have an analytical mindset", "engineering and physics are subject matters fit only for men". these are just some of the expressions generating unconscious stereotypes that have kept women away from pursuing science, at least officially.

title: Donne nella scienza author: Maria Pia Abbracchio, Marilisa D'Amico publisher: FrancoAngeli year edition: 2023 price: 20 euro

dual words, who fought for the principle of equality in every field to be applied in the Constitution. This part also considers the evolution of women's careers, which are still today beset by numerous obstacles, in academia as well as in the public and private spheres.

It further examines the role of women scientists in the pandemic period, during which they were excluded from task forces and working groups and were often the target of boorish attacks on social networks.

The third part, 'Our Tale', is autobiographical: the authors recount their experience as researchers and the difficulties they had to encounter in reconciling academic activity and family commitments. The testimony of the two professors, who speak with an 'open heart' and convey their experiences and emotions to the reader, is a fundamental passage in the book. It offers encouragement to today's young women to pursue studies and careers they most desire without allowing themselves to be restrained by social conventions and to continue to strive for effective equality.

@altecspace

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