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DECEMBER 2019
The horizon of events Italy doubles its investment in Europe, 2020 is the year of Mars and Rome is running to become the capital of space economy
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n this last issue of 2019, we can’t help but take a stock of what happened during the year which has just ended. And as we revisit the year which has just ended, we are surprised by all the unexpected events we’ve been going through. Such as the black hole picture. Can you think of it? How can you possibly take a picture of a black hole? It feels like an oxymoron. The black hole, named as such because its strength of gravitational acceleration prevents light from escaping it, is a real object of various and impressive sizes, which to a large extent is yet to be understood; nevertheless, we are, or rather we were, substantially able to imagine it. Those who studied astrophysics, those who read Einstein and Kip Thorne, but also those who watched Interstellar are now aware that there is something around the black hole at the centre of galaxy m87: all of this was made possible by the Event Horizon Telescope program. Another event which characterised 2019, or rather marked the beginning of the year, was the arrival of the Chinese probe Chang’e-4 on the hidden side of the Moon, hidden from our sight but obviously not from our probes. This is a historical result in terms of exploration of space and, especially, of our satellite. 2019 was also the year of Luca Parmitano and the ESA-Beyond mission, of his role as station commander and his very “Italian” extravehicular activities, which kept him busy with the maintenance operations of the Ams instrument. On 20 July 2019 Parmitano launched to the International Space Station and the beginning of his mission was also the occasion to celebrate another event of the year, the 50th anniversary of the human conquest of the Moon. The anniversary gave impulse and enthusiasm to NASA’s program Artemis which, in the hopes of president Trump, will see a female astronaut walking on the lunar surface by 2024. Speaking of female astronauts, the ESA Ministerial Council, recently held in Seville, not only saw Italy significantly increasing its financial contribution for European space policies, but also announcing Samantha Cristoforetti’s return to space. An editorial doesn’t take up as much space as the actual Space, therefore we will conclude with a hint about 2020: Mars, first of all. At the beginning of the summer, three probes will take the long trip
EDITORIAL
THE HORIZON OF EVENTS by Francesco Rea @francescorea
«An editorial doesn’t take up as much space as the actual Space»
to the red planet: an American, a Chinese and a European probe. They all aim at landing a rover on Mars: to date, only the United States have managed to do so several times. Not to take anything away from the Chinese, but both myself and the entire Europe hope ExoMars rover will manage to land, since it’s a European mission with an Italian control centre and a significant contribution by the Italian industry.
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UMMARY
Artificial Intelligence
Data Cubes catalogu
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N.19 - DECEMBER 2019
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“Editorial” BY FRANCESCO REA
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“Italy doubles its presence in Space” THE SPECIAL ISSUE interviews with:
Riccardo Fraccaro BY SIMONE COLLINI Alessandro Profumo BY FRANCESCO REA Matteo Pertosa BY SIMONE COLLINI
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“CSG: first satellite put into orbit” BY EDITORIAL STAFF
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“Cheops, the italian mission that will measure planets” BY ILARIA MARCIANO
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“Science fiction chronicles: Lunar baptime” BY ALESSANDRO VIETTI
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“Also Italy has its space exhibition” BY EDITORIAL STAFF
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“Spacegate of the New Space Economy” BY EDITORIAL STAFF
“Ten years of E-Geos” BY MASSIMO CLAUDIO COMPARINI
Global Science
TESTATA GIORNALISTICA GRUPPO GLOBALIST Reg. Tribunale Roma 11.2017 del 02.02.2017 online www.asi.it - globalscience.it
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Processing
“Rosetta confirms, we are sons of the stars” BY EDITORIAL STAFF
managing director Gianni Cipriani director Francesco Rea graphics project Paola Gaviraghi graphics Davide Coero Borga
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“Space cookies, first batch” BY MANUELA DI DIO
Distributed storage editorial coordination Manuela Proietti editorial office ASI - Globalist advertising Paola Nardella redazione@globalscience.it
rtificial Intelligence ata Analytics
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models
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COSMO-Sky
Blockchain
IaaS
Data cub
Satellite/A
Insight
St
d infrastructure
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PaaS
Artificial Intelligence
Elasticity
Deep learning
ormation
SaaD
chine learning
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Data Analytics
Big EO Data
satellites
optical
Radar
COSMO-SkyMed «Genetic Stacks»
social media
Neural networks Analysis Ready Data or Decision Ready Products
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DaaS
GEOINFORMATION Application Platform
Other IoT
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Italy doubles its presence in Space
«A network of small and large companies»
… or nearly. With an increase of almost one billion euros vs. the previous ESA Ministerial Council, our country’s contribution to the budget of the ESA for the next 3-4 years will be of 2,282 billion euros, accounting for a 16% share of the overall contribution by the 22 Member States. As mentioned in a press release following the meeting, the Italian delegation, guided by the undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Riccardo Fraccaro, invested «in the significant returns for the national industry and the guarantee of greater employment levels for the whole space chain». Our country’s choice to increase its European contribution in this industry to such an extent «confirms – as stated in the official press release – the strength and capacity of our country to be among the few nations to provide turnkey systems in all areas of space activity, an ability expressed in a productive fabric of small and large companies, a network of universities and the world of research which is capable of showing high cutting-edge industrial and design skills». In an effort to elaborate on the choices made in Seville, the city where the ESA Ministerial Council was held, and above all on the potential industrial spin-offs, we approached three protagonists of these choices: the direct protagonist, the undersecretary of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with responsibility for space, Riccardo Fraccaro, who headed the Italian delegation at the Ministerial Council, and two CEOs who will be, or should be, indirect protagonists of such choices, namely Alessandro Profumo (CEO of Leonardo, the largest aerospace company in Italy and one of the most important companies in the world) and Matteo Pertosa (CEO of Sitael, an Italian company which managed to shape its own future thanks to space democratization and space economy).
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INTERVIEW WITH RICCARDO FRACCARO
THE GOVERNMENT: NOW ITALY IS STRONGER by Simone Collini @ASI_spazio
«This result shows the success of the new space governance, with the institution of the Comint», says Riccardo Fraccaro, as he talks about the increase of nearly one billion euros destined by Italy to the ESA budget. What was decided at the Ministerial Council in Seville, as added by the undersecretary with responsibility for space, is of great significance: «We reached the strategic targets for our country, by increasing our role not only within the ESA but also at a global level, and at the same time we strengthened our national capacities. We can ensure an unprecedented offering in terms of products and applications at the service of citizens». What can be done at this stage, concretely, to guarantee positive returns for the national industry and the possibility to increase employment levels for the whole aerospace chain? We must work in synergy to ensure a cooperation between the large-scale industry and the small and medium-sized businesses and innovative companies in our country, in order to increase the technological transfer between different industries. Italy has the ambitious goal to be the fertile ground on which the synergy between industry, institutions and research bodies finds its expression in space. In which sectors did you invest the most and on which ones will you insist the most? Earth observation, telecommunication, access to space, human exploration and robotics are those sectors where Italy gained a leadership role. We are the second contributor to the Copernicus program and, as regards Earth observation, we aim at implementing a permanent structure which will provide preventive instruments for wide area monitoring.
«We can ensure an unprecedented Can the European balance of power in the space sector now shift offering» towards an increased leadership of our country? Our development strategy for the Italian space sector obtained a vote of confidence by several European countries, from Spain and Belgium to Romania and Norway. These countries showed great confidence in our programs, such as Space Rider and the evolution of Vega, to which France contributed as well. Italy is increasingly helping to set the agenda of space programs.
With Artemis, the U.S. NASA is playing a leading role in the Moon race: what about Europe? NASA regards us as a privileged partner in the Artemis program: our industry is already taking part in the Mini-Hub development and, thanks
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to the investment in the ESA, will play a leading role in the cooperation with the United States. The initial talks about a cooperation with China for scientific and technological projects date back to one year ago: are you continuing down this path? Following the framework agreement between Asi and Cmsa, the scientific cooperation program related to Cses mission is continuing: the first satellite was put into orbit and the launch of the second satellite is scheduled for March 2021. Furthermore, we are working together on developing the Herd scientific project, which involves the construction of a new tool able to detect dark matter particles and study the composition of cosmic rays. A few weeks after the Ministerial Council in Seville, the Cop25 climate change conference was held in Madrid: can the higher budget of the ESA bring environmental advantages, as well as economic and industrial returns? Part of the budget destined to Earth observation programs will be allocated to services and applications which use satellite data to the advantage of the country. Precision agriculture, coastal monitoring, protection of landscape and water and forest resources: these are just some of the fields of research where space can provide beneficial information to the community, with the ambitious goal to mitigate the effects of climate changes on the environment.
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INTERVIEW WITH ALESSANDRO PROFUMO
A CLEAR LONG-TERM VISION by Francesco Rea @francescorea
At the recent Ministerial Council, the Italian Government took more than a step forward by nearly doubling its investment in the European space sector. In your opinion, which aspects of the decisions made are worth emphasizing? Certainly the fact that our country presented itself in an organised and consistent manner, with a clear long-term vision for the industry. Months of discussions, reflections and proposals within the Interministerial Committee for Space, activated by the Presidency of the Council to guarantee an effective governance and engage all the industry stakeholders, have therefore produced the expected results. In an industry like space, which needs large investments and long-term bets, such orientation and planning skills are essential. Also thanks to the clarity with which Italy represented its interests, we were able to secure a leadership position in Earth observation programs – and the centrality of such programs in the ESA budget – but also the commitment to the further development of key sectors, such as telecommunication, space navigation and space access. All these programs, and the subsequent results, will serve as lifeblood to foster the further growth of space economy, which has those companies offering space services at its core. Leonardo holds a leadership position at international level in this industry and is ready to contribute with its skills, expertise and investments. Can you think of any specific sector which would have deserved more attention? The ESA Ministerial Council is an important appointment where different interests are intertwined and careful negotiation is required, leading to unavoidable compromises and mediations. Having said that, even if every result should be seen as somehow perfectible, I think that what the Italian delegation was able to obtain at the 2019 Ministerial Council in Seville leaves little room for interpretation and doesn’t raise any concerns. It is certainly an important success, which is nearly unprecedented in absolute terms. How important are individual governments ‘choices? There are several positive values that space can provide to a country: it can be an engine for scientific and industrial growth – with unique economic returns –, a technological driver of innovations with an impact on daily life, the new frontier of a sustainable vision of human activities and, no less important, a source of strategic domain (in terms of defence and safety). Now recognised as an element of international prestige for those countries which are able to develop a competitive space sector,
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space is regarded as perhaps the most crucial domain in support of the geopolitical position of a country, along with the cyber domain; as the recent decisions by NATO, United States and France underline, it is in full the fifth military domain. The role of governments is therefore essential, and it will be even more so in view of the already inevitable development of a system of shared rules to guarantee safe and responsible operations in space. The centrality of space for Leonardo was confirmed and strengthened by Moretti first, and then by yourself. To what extent do you think space economy opportunities are important for the future of the company? As a matter of fact, the choice to set up the Space Alliance dates back to nearly 15 ago when, before anybody else, Leonardo’s management understood the urgency to pursue a dimensional growth of skills and competitiveness, which wasn’t sustainable for a purely national company. The highly integrated European industrial context and ESA long-term programs allowed our space activities to consolidate. The setup of e-Geos, the joint-venture with the Asi, dates back to 10 years ago and was the forerunner of a public-private partnership which, initially, was just a small Italian experience and went on to become an international
«What the Italian delegation was able to obtain leaves little room for interpretation»
player. Also the investment in Avio, which dates back to 2003, was made to ensure the key skills in terms of space access stayed in our country. We never failed to commit to key programs, such as Galileo and Copernicus, or missions on Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn or to the now famous Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet. Therefore, Leonardo’s action has always been characterised by a strong vision, based on solid alliances, technological excellence and focus on the new emerging industries: space services and space access. The so-called downstream industry, also thanks to the technological cross-pollination of artificial intelligence, big data analytics and remote online processing combined with enabling infrastructures such as 5G networks and open source data lakes, makes it easier to enter into international alliances and provide targeted services to individual countries, or even to individual customers. This allows us to be flexible in terms of geographic expansion, competitiveness, choice of partners and access to new business sectors, which is more difficult in traditional industries such as manufacturing. Twenty years ago, Finmeccanica invested in applications, space services and related infrastructures, rather than in setting up satellites tout court. Companies such as Telespazio and subsidiaries such as e-Geos surely had and have a strong potential, but the access to space is becoming more and more
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democratic and, therefore, the decision to sell the majority share of a technologically important company such as Alenia may be limiting. How is Leonardo’s strategy changing, if it’s changing, compared to the company and the French partners? Leonardo’s traditional activities in space manufacturing, of which we control a significant share (33%), haven’t been marginalised, they have actually been strengthened thanks to the Space Alliance. We have a joint strategic, technological and commercial governance with our French partners, which allows us to work in an effective and synergic manner. A democratic space, more and more crowded by nations and private operators, doesn’t just need platform producers – and such platforms do not necessarily have to be technologically advanced or innovative – but also the ability to place these objects in space and ensure their correct placement, operation and use. Thanks to the choices made in the past, Leonardo is the only private operator in Europe capable of managing the LEOP stage of a satellite mission at the Fucino space centre “Piero Fanti”, the most important teleport in the world for civilian-use, and operates in the promising industry of microsatellites LEOP thanks to a dedicated structure managed by its subsidiary Telespazio Deutschland. Add to that our downstream expertise, that I have already described. Therefore our manufacturing skills, combined with our leadership in service provision, place us in the best position to seize opportunities for growth within an industry whose perspectives are now known to all.
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Director General Esa Jan Wöerner at the opening of the Ministerial in Seville last November.
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INTERVIEW WITH MATTEO PERTOSA
A DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY FOR ITALY by Simone Collini @ASI_spazio
«What was decided at the Ministerial Council in Seville will allow Italian companies to make further progress in terms of development and growth» says Matteo Pertosa, CEO of Sitael, the largest Italian privately-owned company operating in the space sector and recognised as world leader in the industry of small satellites. From the point of view of a company like yours, how do you see Italy’s choice to allocate nearly an extra one billion euros vs. the past as a contribution to the ESA budget? With the recent Ministerial Council, Italy confirmed its position of leadership within the industry and made it clear that space is strategic for the growth of our country. It’s an important development opportunity for our country system, not only with regard to the space sector but also to those sectors which may indirectly benefit from it. Concretely, what should be done to make Italian companies even more competitive? This is the era of the so-called New Space Economy, meaning that space is not only the frontier of research but also a profitable business which can be governed by typical market dynamics and fed by private capitals. Therefore, we need to strengthen those systems that do not just have a scientific value, but also bring value to the market. And our country already plays a pioneering role in this regard, given the strategic investments in products such as the PLATiNO multifunction platform or STRIVING, a commercial orbit validation service which reduces the Time-To-Market of new innovative technologies, or the initiatives linked to Grottaglie airport and suborbital flights. How important is the synergy between public and private sector? It’s definitely necessary. As private companies entered the space sector, which had historically been limited to large institutions, new markets opened up and new businesses were born, paving the way to a new economy characterised by a faster technological development. For example, let’s think about small satellites or electric propulsion, or to a motor such as RAM-EP, the first capable of “breathing”, i.e. capturing and ionizing particles in space, to generate thrust without propellant. Our laboratories were the first in the world to show how it works. Can you give some examples of how what happens in Space concretely affects, and will increasingly affect, people’s daily lives? First of all, let’s think about telecommunication and navigation servi-
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ces. Furthermore, thanks to satellite constellations, the acquisition time of space data will be much shorter than now. Our maps will be updated in nearly real time (and let’s think of what this could mean, for example, in terms of parking …). Or let’s think about the monitoring of ordinary and special waste, the control of airborne and waterborne polluting emissions, the structural verification of buildings and infrastructures such as bridges and viaducts, the monitoring of coasts, volcanic activity, restricted areas in case of floodings or earthquakes You signed an agreement with Virgin Galactic to take the first tourists to space: what’s the logic behind this agreement, given such a high cost of tickets? Space tourism is the natural extension of the “dream of flying”, which human beings have been chasing forever. In the 30’s, crossing the Atlantic was no less dangerous and expensive than a space travel today. And it’s true that suborbital flights, nowadays, are leisure activities, but this technology promises to establish extremely fast connections from one end of the Earth to the other, for example from Singapore to New York in less than an hour. What we regard as a pastime for wealthy eccentrics today may become normal tomorrow.
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«This is the era of the so-called New Space Economy»
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The first CSG satellite takes off into the sky of Kourou on December 18th, 2019.
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t’s 9.54 am in Italy, 5.54 am at the European space centre of Kourou, French Guyana when, after a 24-hour postponement, the Soyouz carrier heads to Space. On board, the first second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed (CSG) satellite, belonging to the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defence. After a trip lasting slightly more than 25 minutes, the signals received by Telespazio’s Fucino space centre confirm that the first second-generation Cosmo satellite reached its polar heliosynchronous orbit at an altitude of around 620 km, where it will be put through the necessary tests before it becomes operational. At the end of this stage Cosmo-SkyMed SG will become the first operational satellite in the constellation, which was first launched in June 2007. «The new generation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites allows our country to confirm an Italian technological excellence which is recognised worldwide» underlines Asi president Giorgio Saccoccia a few minutes after receiving the signal that the satellite was correctly launched into orbit, then he adds: «The new generation will strengthen our country’s leadership in the field of satellite Earth observation and related services and applications, as an effective tool for economic growth and social wellbeing. The new generation of Cosmo-SkyMed satellites will be characterised by new functionalities, improved performance and more flexibility of use, thanks to the significant investments by the Asi and the Italian Ministry of Defence. The success of this first launch of the second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed satellites is an important step, aimed at ensuring continuity and consolidation of an extraordinary infrastructure, unique in the world and capable of providing the most sophisticated services in terms of monitoring and observation of our planet». The second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed satellites are state of the art in the sector of synthetic aperture radar and are able to ensure high performance and reliability, unique in the international scene. The new attitude control system, the possibility to obtain the data in quadruple polarization and the doubled number of transmission and reception modules are just some examples of the innovations introduced by the new generation, both from a technological point of view and from an operating modes point of view. Such innovations will allow a better operational capability and new and more effective services and
SECOND-GENERATION COSMO-SKYMED
FIRST SATELLITE PUT INTO ORBIT by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
«Essential for environmental monitoring and national safety»
applications supporting a large number of commercial and institutional users. The first second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed will be joined next year by a second satellite which will be launched with Vega C, a European carrier under Italian leadership. The second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed was set up by Thales Alenia Space Italia; Telespazio will be in charge of the ground control systems from its Fucino base whereas data collection will be managed by the Asi base in Matera, home to the centre run by e-Geos, a joint venture between Asi and Telespazio. Both the largest aerospace company in the country, Leonardo, and a significant number of small and medium Italian enterprises contributed to the set-up of the new satellite.
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THE NEW EUROPEAN MISSION
CHEOPS, THE ITALIAN MISSION THAT WILL MEASURE PLANETS by Ilaria Marciano @ASI_spazio
For more than 10 years, the Cosmo-SkyMed constellation has been providing a service which is unanimously recognised at international level and nowadays is essential for emergency management, environmental monitoring and national safety. By introducing the second-generation satellites, the Italian Space Agency and the Ministry of Defence confirm also for the future their commitment to ensure the continuity of the already available services to the national community and to add some new services for land management and prevention of disasters, national safety, environment protection and archaeological heritage, infrastructure management and, in general, caring of our planet.
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Precisely measuring the still unknown physical characteristics of planets in different planet systems from the solar system. This is the main goal of Cheops (CHaracterizing ExOplanet Satellite), the European space agency mission, which took off on December 18th from the space centre in Kourou, French Guyana, aboard a Soyuz-Fregat rocket. The mission is the result of a partnership between the ESA and Switzerland with a significant international contribution, including from Italy. The core of Cheops is the telescope aboard, equipped with a highly sensitive photometer, designed by the researchers of the National Institute for Astrophysics in Catania and Padua and set up thanks to the support of the Italian Space Agency with the participation of companies such as Leonardo, Media Lario and Thales Alenia Space. Italy plays a significant role also within the international scientific team, which includes researchers from the Inaf and the University of Padua. The space telescope – a 320 mm primary mirror with a very compact diameter – will investigate the structure of extrasolar planets in the 1 to 6 Earth radii size range and with a 20-times bigger mass than the mass of our planet. The mission will be tasked with the high-precision measurement of a sample of bright stars already known to host planets and, with the aid of transit photometry, will keep track of the variations in the light of stars when planets cross the stellar disk. This high-precision measurement will allow to determine the size of planets with known mass and unknown diameter. This is an important step to improve our knowledge regarding the formation process of planetary systems and to identify their different types. The ultimate purpose of the mission is to iden-
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tify potentially habitable planets where, in the future, the next missions currently under development might be able to detect signs of life. «A highly accurate assessment of these planet’s sizes», – explains Mario Salatti, Program Manager at Asi Hardware Cheops – «will allow us to measure their density more precisely and make a more accurate estimate in regard to their internal structure. This means that we will be able to assess whether these planets are made up of rocks, like the Earth, or gas, like Jupiter and Neptune. In some cases, we’ll be able to make a hypothesis on the composition of their atmospheres and establish whether there might be liquid water on their surface. Cheops is the first small class in the European space agency’s Cosmic Vision program. It’s a follow-up mission aimed at characterising some of the most interesting, already known exoplanets and, perhaps, discovering some new ones”. The path to the mission was long and did not lack in obstacles: for five years Cheops underwent all types of testing, from environmental tests – to assess the probe performance in the hard space environment – to structural tests – to test the resistance of airborne systems during the critical stage of launch into orbit. The solar panels, the propulsion module and the scientific tools were assessed in every single component and went through different testing stages in the ESA centres in France, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Cheops shared its trip to space with the first Italian satellite of the Italian second-generation Cosmo-SkyMed constellation, funded by the Italian Space Agency with the contribution of the Ministry of Defence. Its purpose is to monitor Earth and environmental emergencies.
«A highly sensitive photometer designed in Italy»
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Science fiction chronicles: Lunar baptisme by Alessandro Vietti @grandemarziano
“…For me, it is an honour beyond words to be under the magnificent vault of Armstrong Auditorium, before you all, in the role previously held by the great Professor Chandra, without whom none of us would be here today. Yes… how much do we all owe that man? That’s why not a day goes by without thinking of the emotion I felt when I saw him before me, as you see me now. It’s been so long! Yet I remember him so vividly, maybe because past doesn’t run down a line but collapses in a point. I would still be able to recognise the timbre of his voice: Believe it or not, a hundred years ago I was a brat just like you. Those were the first words he said to us, as soon as he reached this footboard where my feet are standing. He almost mumbled to himself while he approached the pulpit with the helmet under his arm. We weren’t as many as you are today, it was about twenty of us, but when he showed up in the room our shouting suddenly stopped: the myth, the one we had heard so much about, was strolling (breathing) a few steps away from us! Looking at me now, you wouldn’t think that he said right after. At the time he was still the director of the Great Dark Observatory. I remember he chuckled inside the echo of a cough, then, as he held on to the bookrest with a hint of fatigue, he added: Gravity gives, gravity takes. The same words that, two years later, would be his epitaph.
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The Apollo 15 mission. Credits: NASA.
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You know what, guys? As soon as I saw him he made me think of a king, even though there was nothing majestic about him, quite the contrary. His dark head popped out of the hook ring of his tracksuit, resembling a condor’s head; if you don’t know what a condor looks like, please look for a picture in the Archive, because it gives a good idea of it. He wore a simple tracksuit, slightly bulkier and more essential than yours, with some coloured patches that looked like flattened chewing gums. But, obviously, what made him legendary in my (our) eyes wasn’t the over 50.000 habitable planets he had discovered during his life; it was what he stood for, it was his story; let alone the fact that I had never seen such an old man, but he looked in great shape to be 109 years old. I remember thinking to myself: “If he made it, then I can make it too”. At the time, obviously, the studies on the effects of low gravity on body ageing were still at an early stage but seeing him was enough to nourish hope. At least, he moved on, today you no longer have to hide for a whole day in a Buggy’s boot to come down here! And he accompanied these words with a wide movement of his arm, as if he was trying to keep balance. We were subjugated by his sight. But actually I think you might have missed something: the adventure! he added then, with some kind of lightning in his eyes. At the time, his story was famous on both Sides. We had read it, exactly like you, we had been told it, but hearing it from the mouth of the person who had lived it was a privilege that, still today, brings the same feeling to my heart as an exploding supernova. You should have seen my dad’s face when he found us, he told us then, looking us in the eyes one by one. He wasn’t angry, no, he was just surprised and he had a vague feeling of a “What shall we do now?” in his eyes, a question he had actually already answered. It must be noted that Chandra’s parents were undoubtedly keen on transgressing. His coming into being was proof of that. And two people like them would hardly comply with the Restriction, issued when Chandra’s birth had turned out to be more una-
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«Chandra was the first (and until then only) lunar child»
voidable than impeding. They would hardly keep him in the Dark until he became of age. And you know why the Lunar Authority had done such a thing? To protect him. Ah! That had been the motivation, think of it, how ridiculous! In short, hadn’t little Chandra hidden in the Buggy, I can swear sooner or later his parents, on their own initiative, would have taken him to see the Clear Side sky. But it wouldn’t have been as epic, obviously, and because of this, perhaps, it wouldn’t have had the same effects. I can still see him, the old Chandra, as he raises his arms towards the vault and tells us what he yelled to his father: I want to see it! And his father’s expression had opened up, the same emotion as somebody who has a load taken off his mind. Then he had taken a look around, as cautious as a stowaway. After all, at the time there weren’t such small tracksuits on the Moon: Chandra was the first (and until then only) lunar child, and moreover he was born on the Dark Side. Chandra was the Error, or even worse, the Outrage, as he had been defined when the news spread. Therefore, had somebody seen him, he would be easily recognised and maybe he would get into trouble. And so parent and son tied the helmet and sat down in one of the airlocks. Are you ready? his father asked. He nodded. Are you afraid? his father asked then. Chandra told us that he had held his breath while air was being sucked, and had shaken his head, although he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t go mad. Then the door had slid open and the Other Sky had appeared, black and similar in all respects to the Dark Side sky. A (big) hand held mine he told us, his eyes glistening, and with gradual steps he took me out, in the grey of the regolith, towards the Sea of Tranquillity. The Flag was down there. But I still couldn’t see anything forbidden. Then my dad, in complete silence as if speaking could spoil the moment, stopped and beckoned me to turn around. At this point Chandra paused, as if he had to wait for an inner wave to calm down. Then he turned to us. Are you afraid? he asked. And I remember we all shook our heads. But it’s more likely that somebody lied, partly at least, including myself.
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He pointed to us. Good, he said, because when I saw it before me… He paused once more, and the pause was so unbearable that, at some point, we heard somebody from our side encouraging him: Well, what happened? Nothing, he said. I felt nothing. No nostalgia. No desire. No vertigo. No sign of madness. All my fears were unfounded, you know? They thought that, if I had seen it up there in the middle of the sky, the thought of not being able to set foot on it would be so unbearable that I’d lose my mind. Because since the beginning of the Colonization it had been known that a native body would never be able to bear a six-times more weight, that no Small Step would ever be conceded to us on that planet. Because of this, the Prohibition (of Births), or alternatively the Mandatory Return (to the Earth), had been ordered. But that acknowledgment was both beautiful and necessary to Chandra because, he explained, that’s when I realized that I didn’t give a damn. Earth was beautiful, of course, and not being able to go there was a shame somehow, but it wasn’t my home. Then he lifted his helmet as a trophy. Because I’m Chandra from the Dark Side! His eyes met with ours. And my home is here! In turn we lifted our helmets, spontaneously, and we yelled his words back. He seemed to waver, waiting for us to have enough, and right after he said: Now let’s stop talking, it’s time to get out! There was another scream of liberation. Everyone tied their helmets and we headed towards the airlocks. And as soon as I got out and (finally) saw it, I saw the oceans, the continents, the swirling clouds, and all that shiny blue, all I could think of was that, yes, earthlings were down there. But here…there’s US here! But now let’s stop talking, it’s your turn to get out, my fellow Chandras from the Dark Side! Are you afraid?” Alessandro Vietti is an engineer and was born just in time to see the conquest of the Moon. He’s the author of several short stories published in different anthologies, and he published the novels Cyberworld (1996), Il codice dell’invasore (1999), Real Mars (2016) awarded with the Premio Italia 2017 awards as the best Italian sci-fi novel.
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FOR BEING WITH US DURING THIS EXTRAORDINARY YEAR
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NSE EUROPEAN EXPOFORUM
ALSO ITALY HAS ITS SPACE ‘EXHIBITION’ by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
What was lacking in the Europe of space was a dedicated, international event in Italy, even more so after the latest Ministerial Council in Seville. France has the Le Bourget exhibition, England has the Farnborough exhibition and Germany has the Ila in Berlin. Italy didn’t have any exhibition…until now. Our country couldn’t obviously replicate these international exhibitions, whose main focus is aeronautics: such exhibitions are rooted in history, they alternate on an annual basis, therefore competing with these events wouldn’t have made any sense. Therefore, Italy chose the most innovative option, i.e. space economy. Yes, because until three years ago there was just a dedicated exhibition on space economy in Colorado Springs, recently followed by the SpaceCom in Houston and, now, by the New Space Economy European Expo Forum in Rome, the first space exhibition to be organized in Italy. The event was jointly launched and organised by Fiera Roma and Fondazione Amaldi; the latter is the result of an applicative research project carried out by the Italian Space Agency and the Hypatia Research Consortium. The forum, whose first edition was attended by the main stakeholders in the space sector (from the management of space agencies to members of the government and representatives of regional institutions and companies), marks a significant moment for space in Italy, especially in view of the results obtained by the Italian delegation during the latest ESA Ministerial Council in Seville. According to Asi president Giorgio Saccoccia, the forum shouldn’t be seen just as a place for insiders, but also as a tool for general disclosure. We didn’t have such a place in Italy, and now we can introduce our world to everyone, an ecosystem within which the public and private sector offer new business models and global challenges. Our goal is to engage the different stakeholders in the space sector, from agencies to local institutions, companies and the world of university and research.
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ALTEC ITALIAN EXCELLENCE
SPACEGATE OF THE NEW SPACE ECONOMY by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
The ExoMars 2020 prototype in the Altec laboratories in Turin, home of the mission control center.
To make the most out of the opportunities offered by the New Space Economy, Altec operates with leading role the SpaceGate project, acting as European “customer counter” in offering turnkey services for flexible access to a wide range of platforms and endto-end services for payload and experiments. From the customer’s need of a just a few minutes of microgravity conditions with repetitive access, to medium-long duration scientific missions; from access to human space flight platforms for extended duration missions, to the possibility of post flight recovery for experiments and payload. The services offered by Altec start with customer support since the early stages of concept and study of experiments/payloads system feasibility. Subsequently the service carries out the payload and experiments design and development, with related integration, verification and testing, up to the execution of the on orbit operations, the recovery and data processing. Testing activities are supported either through in-house facilities and/or by exploiting a network of partners covering all needs for ground testing. Altec is home to the Rover Operations Control Center, which includes a Mars Terrain Simulator and a Mars & Moon Terrain Demonstrator dedicated to research and development activities, elements that even though outfitted for the ESA ExoMars Program, represent strategic assets to support the European exploration activities. «Altec plays a key role in the implementation of the New Space Economy and we proudly plan to execute the relevant services with standing out passion and motivation» said Fabio Massimo Grimaldi, Altec President. «Altec’s twenty years long experience in supporting customers’ payload and experiments accessing to space – says Vincenzo Giorgio, Altec CEO – and the variety of solutions offered through partnerships of the company will allow all customer requirements to be met through a unique interface, the SpaceGate».
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10 YEARS OF E-GEOS
OUR EYES ON EARTH by Massimo Claudio Comparini @massimoc_square
La joint venture tra Agenzia spaziale italiana e Telespazio, società Leonardo e Thales, ha compiuto dieci anni.
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Watching the Earth from space is by definition a borderless view, the wonderful images taken by astronauts from the Cupola, the amazing “window” on board the international space station, and the Earth’s shots the observation satellites take from low orbit give back all the beautiful texture of our planet. Earth Observation from space is today the most important instrument to monitor and to understand the planet evolution from global scale to local insights with un precedent spatial resolution and, in perspective, very high temporal resolution. Thinking about how to celebrate e-GEOS 10th Anniversary, and its global approach to the market, it appeared natural to address the importance of a global dimension of our business and of today’s and future challenges in the geospatial domain. This is the concept to have a global High Level forum on the Geo Information evolution in the Digital Era with players, partners, customers from all over the world presenting their solutions, views and to stimulate a debate about the future. A kind of state-of-union the geospatial domain where e-GEOS plays today a global role with the entire ecosystem. More than 80 C-level prominent managers from all around the word come in Roma for the event having three tracks of in depth discussions and round tables with global operators, new space players and Information driven, data analytics and IT large consultancy companies working with EO space data and active in the domain. The panels included large corporates like Airbus, Maxar and of course e-GEOS/Telespazio for a discussion about the evolution of space and ground infrastructures, emerging new companies mostly working on the concept of new mini/micro satellite based constellations and the industries, large and emerging, making possible the shortest dissemination and delivery time of Earth Observation data through ground and IT technologies including emerging Ground-as-a-service architectures. A broad and complete panorama to address what is going to happen in the next two/three years, many systems are planned to be deployed from now to 2023, and how the generation and use of EO data will continue to grow and at which rate. The evolution of big space programs like Copernicus in Europe and the contributing national missions like Cosmo Skymed
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and Cosmo Second generation, the launch of new micro-satellite based constellations generating huge amount of timely and fresh data, and finally the progress in the generation of new algorithms, mostly AI-driven, to extract information for a wide range of users will represent the most important challenge in the next years. Not only a technology evolution but also a change in the business models. This is has been largely debated with many hints on the priorities to support a further market uptake ahead. Particularly interesting in this respect it has been the debate with new companies in the data analytics domain and IT players in order to understand how we are going to address the information generation and delivery specially to new communities like insurance, risk management and fintech enterprises. The High Level Forum has been greatly enriched by the presence of all European Institutions giving examples of the work e-GEOS and the partners make for them, the active role in the R&D activities funded by ESA and the European Commission through Horizon 2020 and the services daily delivered to untrusted entities like EU Satellite Center, EMSA, Frontex and JRC. It clearly emerges how it is important the public-private partnership and how through it Europe plays today and will play in the future a leading role in the Earth Observation and Geospatial domain. The Forum ended with an Institutional track and the messages from Gianni De Gennaro, President of Leonardo company, Giorgio Saccoccia, President of Italian Space Agency, and Luigi Pasquali, Telespazio’s CEO, introducing the last round table with the CEO of Leonardo, Alessandro Profumo, and the government representatives including Admiral Carlo Massagli, Prime MInister cabinet for space policy, the government under-secretaries Tofalo, defense, Morassut, environment, and Bonaccorsi, culture and cultural heritage. A final look from the institutional perspective to complete a full day of messages for the future of Earth Observation in support to our society and the citizens.
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ON NATURE ASTRONOMY
ROSETTA CONFIRMS, WE ARE SONS OF THE STARS by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
A plume of dust from Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. Credit: ESA/ Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/ UPD/LAM/IAA/ SSO/INTA/UPM/ DASP/IDA.
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An accurate work aimed at the review and improvement of the quality of data on the surface composition of 67P Churyumov Gerasimenko comet nucleus, collected by the Italian spectrometer VIRTIS aboard the European space mission Rosetta, allowed to detect, for the first time on this kind of celestial object, clear traces of aliphatic organic compounds and chains of carbon and hydrogen atoms. The distribution and type of materials detected thanks to VIRTIS reinforces the scenario of comets and asteroids coming from the extreme borders of the Solar System and even likely to have acquired the organic material that we now observe from the interstellar medium. The work, published in the latest issue of the magazine Nature Astronomy, was guided by a team of researchers from the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). The researchers reviewed some million spectra collected by VIRTIS (Visual, Infra-Red and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) to obtain the most accurate infrared “vision” of those materials which are present on the surface of the 67P comet nucleus. Under the scientific responsibility of the INAF Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology (with Fabrizio Capaccioni as PI), the VIRTIS spectrometer was designed by Leonardo in Campi Bisenzio (Florence) with the contribution of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This work made it possible to highlight also the faintest traces of compounds which, so far, had remained in the shadows. «Our complex and accurate analysis returns a composition of the comet similar to what can be observed in the interstellar medium» says Andrea Raponi from INAF in Rome, the first author of the study. «Furthermore, the results reinforce the idea that dynamically different objects such as comets or asteroids, coming from the coldest regions of the Solar Systems, have similar compositions». Therefore, the data review allowed to unequivocally discover the presence on the comet nucleus of aliphatic compounds similar to simple organisms which are commonly present in bitumen, waxes, paraffins and fats. It’s the first identification of this first type of solid organic compounds on a comet nucleus, and it’s also the first remote identification, without the risk of altering a sample during its measurement. The nucleus material thus appears to have similar characteristics to the diffuse interstellar medium, suggesting a continuity between these two environments and providing an evolutionary link bridge: the organic compounds present in the interstellar medium which have been captured in the primordial cloud from which the Solar System has formed remain trapped in the coldest and most peripherical regions in small objects, such as asteroids and comets. Such celestial bodies have remained unaltered and, impacting on planets including the Earth, may have provided the organic material at the base of the so-called “bricks of life”.
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COOKED IN THE FIRST ISS’ EXPERIMENTAL OVEN
SPACE COOKIES, FIRST BATCH by Manuela Di Dio @ASI_spazio
Return to the Earth for the first cookies cooked in Space. Fresh from the oven, these candies were wrapped and landed on the Earth’s soil aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule. The cookies were cooked in the first International Space Station’s experimental oven by astronaut Christina Koch, but no one has eaten them yet. A team of scientists will test this delicacy baked in microgravity. “We made space cookies and milk for Santa this year”: with this tweet the NASA astronaut, and chef for a day, had commented on her cooking experience. Baked just before Christmas, the prototype cookies are five in total. They were cooked one at a time in the Zero G Kitchen and Nanoracks oven, designed to work in microgravity. While designing the first space oven, which was launched into orbit last November, some precautions had to be taken, such as the need to prevent dough from fluctuating during baking. What’s the recipe of this delicacy? It’s a ready-made chocolate chip cookie dough, provided by DoubleTree by Hilton, a Hilton Worldwide hotel chain. This cooking experiment goes hand in hand with the research aimed at making the future long-duration trips to Space more comfortable, such as the studies on the creation of space gardens with bioregenerative systems or to make space coffee or wine. In the meanwhile DoubleTree has made known that they will share the results of the analysis within a few days and they will disclose whether the cookies can still be eaten after a return trip from the Iss. In the meanwhile DoubleTree is selling limited-edition tins of chocolate chip cookies.
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WE BRING A NEW DIMENSION TO YOUR HORIZONS
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