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WHATEVER YOUR ORBIT IS....
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www.redcatdevices.eu
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“RedCat devices opens an analog window for space microcontrollers” BY EDITORIAL STAFF
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Above: Ingenuity, the Mars Helicopter of the Nasa Mars 2020 mission, will team up with the Perseverance rover. Below: the surface of the Red Planet seen from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Credits: NASA.
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The summer of Mars by Fulvia Croci and Giulia Bonelli @ASI_spazio
«Three probes were launched towards the Red Planet opening the new era of Martian exploration»
The summer of 2020 is undoubtedly the season of Mars. In the space of a few weeks, three probes were launched towards the Red Planet, and they will reach it at the beginning of 2021. These are Hope, a weather probe from the Arab Emirates, Tianwen-1, the first Mars attempt with orbiter, lander and rover by the Chinese, and Mars 2020 by the NASA, which carries the Perseverance rover with it. Since ancient times, Mars has been fascinating generations of explorers: from the ‘60s until today, several missions coming from several different countries have attempted a rendezvous with the Red Planet. Among these countries, the Americans are the only ones feeling at ease and boast a history studded with several successes in the field of robotic exploration, with seven rovers landed from the mid-1970s until today (two of them are still operational) and only one unsuccessful attempt, the Mars Polar Lander, where contact was lost during the entry into the Martian atmosphere. After a period with a few missions – in the time frame ranging from the 80s to the 90s –, in the 2000s Mars has once again become one of the main targets for the majority of space agencies. 2003 saw the arrival of the Nasa Spirit and Opportunity rovers, whereas in 2008 it was the turn of Phoenix, followed in 2012 by the famous Curiosity, still active today. The last one, in chronological order, was Insight in 2018, which is studying the inside of Mars. Europe has also reached Mars, obtaining important scientific successes in 2003 with the Mars Express mission and in 2016 with the Exomars Tgo, which is revealing the mysteries of the Martian atmosphere, even if in both missions the Beagle 2 and Schiaparelli landers weren’t able to arrive unharmed to the Martian soil. The future of the exploration of Mars is entrusted to the Mars Sample Return project, a set of NASA and ESA missions which will collect samples of soil to bring back to Earth in 2031. The Perseverance and Rosalind Franklin rovers will be the forerunners of the ESA mission scheduled for 2022.
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PERSEVERANCE, THE NEW USA ROVER
The launch of NASA’s Perseverance rover marked the closing in style of the Martian summer, at least in terms of departures towards the Red Planet. After a few postponements, the Mars 2020 mission was successfully launched on July 30th, at 1.50 pm (Italian time), from the Cape Canaveral space centre, aboard an Atlas 5 rocket. The scheduled launch window was until August 15th, after which the alignment of Mars with our planet would have no longer been favorable. But the US agency’s team won this race against time, honoring the name chosen for the rover which is now flying aboard Mars 2020: Perseverance, an idea by a 13-year old boy selected among over 28.000 proposals. After its long journey, Perseverance should hit the Martian soil on February 18th, 2021. The chosen landing site is the Jezero crater, a huge basin which once hosted a Martian lake – the ideal site for the formation of ancient forms of life. The purpose of Perseverance, which will be the new champion of the NASA’s Martian astrobiology, is to find them. Heir of Curiosity, the rover is equipped with a full set of new scientific instruments. There will be also an Italian instrument aboard, the Asi-Infn LaRA micro-reflector. Similar to the micro-reflector on the NASA’s InSight lander, LaRA will allow to add important tiles to the knowledge of the Red Planet. And for the first time we will be able to hear the real sounds of Mars. In fact, Perseverance will be able to hear, thanks to two microphones installed on board. Another record is due to the second, precious load of Mars 2020: Ingenuity, a Martian helicopter which will fly over the Red Planet and test a technology which has never been experimented before on another planet. The last goal of the mission will be to bring back home a piece of Mars, using a drill installed on Perseverance which will collect a set of samples. The project is to recover the samples with the next mission, and bring them to the laboratories on Earth by the 2030s, the same period when it is expected to send the first astronauts to Mars: a goal for which Perseverance represents a milestone.
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TIANWEN-1,
THE DEBUT OF CHINA
China has also made its debut in the race to Mars. After being the first to explore the hidden side of the Moon with Chang’e-4, the Chinese space agency is now aiming at reaching the United States on the Red Planet. On July 23rd, 2020, at 6.41 am (Italian time), the mission Tianwen-1 was launched from the launching pad of the space centre in Wenchang, Southern China, aboard the Long March 5 rocket. The probe, equipped with 13 on-board instruments, will arrive into the Martian orbit in February 2021, while, at the moment, the landing on the Red Probe is scheduled for April or May. The mission is made up of an orbiter which will study Mars ‘magnetosphere, ionosphere and gravitational field, a lander and a rover. The latter, which weighs 240 kg and is 2 meters long, should land in the expanse of Utopia Planitia, where it will look for past or present forms of life. In fact, Tianwen-1 is the second Chinese mission designed for Mars. The first one was Yinghuo-1, sent in 2011 along with the Russian Phobos-Grunt probe; the mission failed due to not entering the correct Earth’s orbit, and it returned next year with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. If Tianwen will reach its goal, China will become the second country in the world to land a rover on Mars, a record that for now belongs only to the United States.
HOPE,
ARAB EMIRATES’HOPE The first of the three July missions departed towards the Red Planet was Hope – which was also the Arab Emirates’ first Martian bet. The weather probe detached from the launching pad of the Tanegashima space centre, in Southern Japan, on July 19th at 11:58 pm (Italian time), aboard a H2A rocket. Hope should fly over Mars at an altitude ranging from 20.000 km to 43.000 km, studying the Martian atmosphere thanks to a camera, an infrared spectrometer and an ultraviolet spectrometer. For now, things are going well: on August 17th, the Emirati space agency announced the success of the first Tcm1 trajectory correction maneuver. If everything keeps going as planned, in February 2021 – a period of intense traffic around the Red Planet, with the arrival of three missions – the Arab Emirates will also join the “Mars club” along with the United States, Europe, China, India and Russia.
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Technology gathering on the Red Planet by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
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TWO YEARS GO BY FAST
WAITING FOR EXOMARS by Francesco Rea @francescorea
The Rosalind Franklin rover will investigate the Martian soil in search of traces of past and present life. The control centre will be in the Altec headquarters in Turin.
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The Rosalind Franklin rover will have the task to investigate the Martian soil, looking for signs of past and present life. The control centre will be based at Altec headquarters in Turin. In the Martian summer we have just lived, two possible main characters were missing: Europe with the ESA and Russia with the Roscosmos (RKA). The Russian-European ExoMars mission was actually further postponed. The two agencies preferred to make sure that all the required tests for the mission were carried out, as such aspect wasn’t guaranteed due to the Covid-19 emergency. Obviously, this is the second postponement. Based on a first planning, the ExoMars mission should have started in 2018, but as the first part of the mission didn’t go so well, with the unsuccessful landing of the Schiaparelli lander, both agencies decided to act with utmost caution. As of today, the flight hardware needed for the launch of ExoMars has been integrated into the space vehicle. The Kazachok landing platform is fully equipped with thirteen scientific instruments, and the Rosalind Franklin rover, with its nine instruments, has recently passed the final thermal and vacuum tests in France. The last dynamic extraction tests of Mars parachutes have successfully concluded at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the main parachutes are ready for the two final high-altitude drop tests scheduled for March in Oregon, United States. The qualification of the propulsion system was conducted for the descent vehicle during the last month; a few environmental tests were run on it, and on the Exomars’ landing platform, in Cannes to confirm how the space vehicle is ready to withstand harsh conditions during its journey to Mars. The new plan provides for a launch between August and October 2022. Celestial mechanics dictates for relatively short launch windows (10 days each) every two years, during which Mars can be reached from Earth. ExoMars will be the first mission to look for signs of life down to a depth of two meters under the Martian surface, where the biosignatures of life may be exceptionally well preserved. This summer, Europe and Russia remained in the stands to greet the journey of the three probes, the American Mars2020, the Chinese Tianwei1 and the Emirati Hope, and will still be in the stands at the beginning of next year, when the three missions will have their rendezvous with Mars, and they will be surely rooting for them as there is no future in space without cooperation.
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The science fiction on Cinema and TV edited by Giornale dello Spettacolo
MARS AT THE MOVIES
THE FUTURE HAS AN ANCIENT BOND by Paolo Di Reda @ASI_spazio
In the year of Mars, it’s a new Netflix TV series to win the cinema race towards the Red Planet: from September 4th, the actress Hilary Swank, a two-time Academy Award winner, is the main character of “Away”, an original series which sees her in the role of Emma Green, a woman who’s the crew chief of a shuttle headed towards Mars. Family complications, with Emma having to stay away for three years, are added to the complications of this dangerous mission. “Passage to Mars”, instead, is a documentary which is now available on Prime Video and tells the true story of a 2000 miles journey undertaken by six men through the Northwest Passage, in the Arctic. A journey on Earth in prohibitive conditions, designed to prepare NASA’s astronauts for a future mission on Mars and recreate the atmospheric conditions of the planet. Another announced movie, which at least has in its title the planet which is target of the new exploration of space (the plot is still top secret) is “Un Natale su Marte” (“Christmas on Mars”), which sees the Boldi-De Sica duo back on the screens, under the direction of Neri Parenti. Beyond the news in the catalogues of TV platforms and motion picture distributions, cinema has a very old relationship with the Red Planet: the first movie talking about a space mission to Mars and the meeting with its citizens is the 1918 “Himmelskibet/ A Trip to Mars”, a Danish movie from the silent era, which inaugurated the subgenre of science fiction dedicated to space missions. The deep connection between cinema and Mars can be substantially divided in two genres: the first one focuses on the relationship with hypothetical inha-
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The actress Hilary Swank, a two-time Academy Award winner, the main character of the original Netflix series “Away”. Credits: Netflix.
bitants of the planet, often playing the role of invaders of Earth, and had its greatest fortunes during the 50s and the 60s, that is the most intense period of the Cold War. Titles such as the 1953 “The war of worlds” and “Invaders from Mars”, or the 1959 “The Angry Red Planet”, are samples from that period. It goes without saying that, since the exploratory mission of the Mariner, and especially Viking, probes excluded the possible existence of a Martian civilization ready to threaten our planet, this genre has gradually extinguished, with only two exceptions: the ironic 1996 “Mars Attacks!” by Tim Burton, and the 2005 remake of “The war of worlds” by Steven Spielberg, which uses the Martian invasion as an archetype of the fear of the other, in an America which is still deeply hurt by the Twin Towers attack. The other film genre on Mars tries to describe the life on the Red Planet and the human missions to reach it. Beyond the movies from the early days, we can add to the list titles such as the 1990 “Total Recall” by Paul Verhoeven and the 2000 “Mission to Mars” by Brian De Palma and “Red Planet” by Antony Hoffman, as well as the 2001 “Ghosts of Mars” by John Carpenter, a reading in a horror key. But the milestone of this genre is definitely “The Martian” by Ridley Scott, which was released in 2015, which successfully combines the topic of the risks related to the space missions to Mars with the extreme difficulties of living conditions on the planet for human beings. Also in this case, as for many science fiction movies, cinema had a really important role in anticipating and highlighting a few issues that science has to address and gave them a very wide echo chamber.
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The Crew Dragon capsule docks with the International Space Station; picture taken during the spacewalk by Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy on July 1st, 2020. Credits: Nasa Johnson.
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F
orty-five. So many years have gone by between the last and the very last splashdown of a US space capsule for human flight. But this is not a return to the past. During these 45 years, the space sector has evolved exponentially, especially in the last decade, and if George Bush Jr. had already expressed his hope for a return to the capsule in 2004, it was Barak Obama who made it possible in 2011, with the radical choice to abandon the Shuttle space vehicle and entrust the future of human flight for the low orbit to private operators, investing in deep space with the SLS-Orion system. Since that moment, until May 30th of this year, the United States and the NASA have put themselves in the hands of Russia and the Rka, the only connection with the Iss thanks to an effective and durable Soyuz. In less than 10 years, the world has changed and today we greet much more than the first NASA splashdown after 45 years and the return to Earth of the NASA’s astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, at 8.45 pm (Italian time) of August 2nd, 2020, we witnessed the end of an unprecedented test flight, performed by a private company, SpaceX by Elon Musk, which manufactured the space shuttle. The last time the NASA’s astronauts returned from space with a splashdown was on July 24th, 1975, with the arrival on the Pacific of the joint mission between United States and URSS known as Apollo-Soyuz. The crews of Mercury and Gemini, at the beginning of the mid-60s, parachuted into the Atlantic, whereas most of the next Apollo capsules arrived in the Pacific. The lone Russian “splashdown” was in 1976 on a partially frozen lake amid a blizzard following an aborted mission; the harrowing recovery took hours. Going back to making astronauts flying from the US soil allowed the NASA to regain its independence from the Russian Soyuz, which until recently was the only available taxi for the ISS. And it finally gave the go-ahead to
THE CREW DRAGON OPENS A NEW SEASON
THE TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURE IS THE EFFECT OF A CHANGE OF STRATEGY by Francesco Rea @francescorea
«The radical choice to abandon the Shuttle space vehicle and entrust the future of human flight to private operators»
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The Cupola. The ISS observation module was built in Italy
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a new paradigm of space history, namely commercial human flight. Demo2 was regarded as a test mission and the original plan was making it last for a maximum of two weeks. Eventually it lasted more than two months and highlighted the reliability of the SpaceX shuttles, including the splashdown. After the end of Demo-2, the NASA is focusing on Crew-1, the first fully operational mission in partnership with Elon Musk’s company. The launch is scheduled for October 23rd and will carry aboard the space house the members of the Expedition 64, Shannon Walker, Victor Glover Jr., Mike Hopkins from the NASA and Soichi Noguchi from the Jaxa. The Crew Dragon will actually become the second means of transport to the ISS in addition to the Soyuz, waiting for the public-private partnership in the space sector to allow going beyond low orbit. The launch date of Crew-1, scheduled for the end of October, will allow the crew to still be on the International Space Station when the SpaceX Crew2 will depart next spring. The first SpaceX operational mission will use a new Falcon9 booster and a Crew Dragon capsule, while the Crew-2 will be launched by reusing the Falcon 9 of the Crew-1 and the capsule Dragon will be the same as the mission Demo-2. Going back to the introduction, we also need to highlight that the Elon Musk element, his entrepreneurial approach and an unquestionable optimism on the results to come up have definitely contributed to the scientific and technological leap recorded in the sector. This is nothing new. If the natural evolution follows its plain and constant path, science, instead, is making important cognitive leaps. As explained well by a play with the scientist Giovanni Bignami as the main character: Natura non facit saltus scientia facit. SpaceX launchers are at the launch facilities on a monthly basis, either to test new carriers, such as the powerful Raptor, or to orbit satellites for themselves and for others. Only China seems capable to keep up with the private U.S. company.
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Boeing stays on the ground As we know, SpaceX is not the only company selected by the NASA within the Commercial Crew Program. Also Boeing signed a contract with the U.S. agency for the carriage of American crews from and to the International Space Station by means of its Cst-100 Starliner. Boeing, that in theory should have had its test flight for human crew this year, same as SpaceX, has actually suffered a significant setback. After failing to dock with the Iss during the last unmanned test flight, conducted in December, the NASA started a series of investigations to understand what went wrong. A hard hit for Boeing, since in case of a positive outcome the company might have been able to conduct its first manned test flight already this year. In early July, after completing two important reviews related to last December’s unsuccessful test flight, Boeing, supported by a team of NASA experts, started anyway to work on the capsule ahead of the second test flight, fully borne by the company and planned for the end of this year. After seven months of investigations, the NASA officials have actually declared they have identified 80 corrective actions that will have to be applied to the capsule, with special attention to the integration of systems and development and testing of the on-board software. It’s still too early to estimate a date for the first manned flight. For the time being, Boeing is determined to continue its project within the Commercial Crew Program, hoping to be able to launch the first manned Starliner already from the spring of next year.
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The watchful eye of Copernicus, the world’s largest Earth observation data provider, sets a thoughtful gaze on the air polluPROTECTING THE EARTH FROM SPACE tion. The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere is reaching never before seen levels, highlighting the need to monitor the source of emissions. This is why the Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring will become Europe’s highest priority satellite mission. The CO2M mission objective is to measure for the first time the atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activity specifically, to reduce the current uncertainties on the estimates of emissions from the fossil fuels combustion. The data collected will be a unique and independent source of by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio information that the EU will use to assess the effectiveness of policy measures and to track their impact on the decarbonisation of Europe and to achieve national targets for reducing gas emissions. An important step forward for the mission was the contract for the construction of the first two satellites, signed last July, between ESA and OHB, leading a consortium, in which Thales Alenia Space will provide the measuring instruments, the near-infrared spectrometer and the short-wave infrared spectrometer, which will measure carbon dioxide emissions. Thales Alenia Space, with its key role in the CO2M mission, faces one of the greatest challenges of humanity: protecting the environment and reducing CO₂ emissions, which is the main reason for the rise in global temperatures. According to the UNEP (UN Environment Agency) report Emission Gap 2019, released in November last year, the world will reach an average temperature rise of 3.2 degrees since the pre-industrial levels, with increased risk of extreme climatic events, as we approach the end of this century. Protecting the environment today becomes a strategic goal for the present and the future of our planet, and satellite missions will be fundamental to acquire new knowledge and make the more sustainable choices, fully reflecting the aspiration of Thales Alenia Space, ‘Space for Life’.
THALES ALENIA SPACE ON BOARD THE ESA COPERNICUS CO2M MISSION
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INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER MANFREDI
RESEARCH, THIS IS THE TURNING POINT by Simone Collini @ASI_spazio
Italy invests 1.4% of its GDP in research and development, a percentage which is lower than the European average (2%) and equal to not even half of the 3% target that was set 20 years ago in Lisbon. Minister Manfredi, is this trend sustainable? What are we doing and, in perspective, what will we still have to do to reverse the trend? It’s clear that, at a time of significant economic and industrial changes such as the one we’re living, we need to invest more in research and specialized training courses. Some measures have already been taken, starting from the 1.400.000.000 € allocated through the “Decreto rilancio”, with a 3-year plan. This is a turning point, because on one side we have decided to allocate significant resources to these industries, and on the other side we want to ensure consistency and clear perspective to researchers thanks to our planning. Also the way the Recovery Fund will be used can help to reach a turning point? The turning point is necessary because otherwise, at a key time like this, the competitiveness of our country would be too badly damaged. Because of this, the instrument of Recovery Fund will have to be used for a significant investment in the fields of research and university. We need a strong digitalization, projects to develop high-level skills, a research plan on new sectors, and we also need to enhance the competitiveness of the industrial system. As regards our industrial system: we talked about the poor investments in research and development in the public sector, but don’t you think that perhaps also the private sector should do more in this respect? There is no doubt. The poor investments are due in part to the structure itself of our industrial system, made up of small companies that often are not too familiar with research and technology. We are working to promote the strategic value of research and human capital, because these two elements go hand in hand: the tax credit for research and the “Patent box” are two instruments that have persuaded companies to invest more in these two sectors. Furthermore, we are working to push universities, research centres and industry towards a stronger cooperation, by creating also systems of permanent partnership to guarantee a mutual benefit. We are thinking of a mix of public and private research laboratories and other measures that can guarantee a higher level of contamination.
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Going back to the Recovery Fund: the 209.000.000.000 € allocated to us should mostly be used to make Italy “greener” and “more digital”. Where do you start, considering that during the lockdown we have experienced that whole areas of the country are not even reached by the broadband? Such a thing is not acceptable for a country like ours that wants to be modern and competitive. It’s clear that we need to guarantee a high capacity network, capable of getting everywhere. In this respect, the government is working to get to a single network that doesn’t leave anybody out. Furthermore, we must work on very high capacity networks, that will need continuous upgrades. To make an example, we have the Garr, the network connecting all universities and research bodies, which is very competitive as of today. In a few years, should it remain as is, it would no longer be competitive, and we can’t afford that. Then we need to imagine what will be the evolution of networks and invest on high and very high performance. There is a third point that we need to address: digital skills. Nowadays we have a strong gap in this sector and I think that we must take action also in the field of university education, in order for everyone to acquire digital skills, regardless of their specialization. By now everyone, be it physicians, lawyers or someone else, uses artificial intelligence and big data. We are talking about skills that, by now, are transversal and everyone must possess them. Therefore, I think we must carry out a reform of the university systems. Speaking of system reforms: the National Agency for Research was launched at the end of 2019. For how it was presented, it’s a body whose purpose is to enhance the research carried out by universities, public and private bodies and research institutes. Eight months after its launch, the Agency has fallen off the radar: what happens? It was established by law, but is not yet activated because we need to preliminarily define its tasks.
«If we want to compete with other countries we need to invest more in research and specialized training courses”»
Someone thinks that it must coordinate the policies related to research, whereas someone else thinks that it must directly fund strategic projects. These are two different models and we need to understand which one is the best with respect to Italy’s needs. To do so, the Agency must be assessed within an overall research strategy that we have started to build in our country and that has been impacted by the pandemic. Covid-19 has further strengthened an idea that we already had: we need more and more research networks cooperating with each other, both on a national and an international scale, and multidisciplinary projects and programmes which are capable of facing increasingly complex issues. To make it happen, we definitely need organizations that can act as strong coordinators without creating further levels of bureaucracy. We need several things, except from further bureaucratic superstructures.
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«We are an excellence in the aerospace industry and we will keep adopting policies aimed at strengthening this Italian primacy»
Also the Italian Space Agency, a body supervised by your ministry, is facing a process of internal reorganization: are there any measures that the government may adopt to further strengthen Italy’s role in the sectors of aerospace and Space economy? We are already recognized around the world as an excellence in these sectors, and we will keep adopting policies aimed at strengthening this Italian primacy. In particular, we must take action as regards a specific point: Space economy consists in space technologies, but also in using the resources deriving from them. Let’s think of satellite data: we are really good in this sector, we have high-level analytical skills, but we fall down when it comes to taking advantage of this wealth of data. Therefore, we need to develop not only the scientific skills that we have, but also the business initiatives that can use the data generated from science to guarantee new services to the society. The Italian Space Agency is conducting an internal assessment to understand what can be the best organizational model to meet such requirement. We are considering the fact that this work is very important for the world of research, since all the applications come from there and therefore we can’t lose the connection with the research system. On the other hand, however, we need to find the correct balance with respect to a national policy which has its specificities and must also act within the scope of Europe. So far, we have talked about research: let’s now talk of researchers, subjects in the flesh who, unfortunately, are often forced to move abroad to keep working. What is the government’s strategy to reverse this trend? We have to face two critical issues. The first one is about opportunities, that is recruiting programmes for young researchers that are consistent and continuous over time. And, from this point of view, the 6000 jobs as a researcher in the next two years are a first very clear signal. The second critical issue are salaries, which should be more in line with the rest of Europe for Italian researchers, and the access to research funds. In this respect, just to make two examples, we have strengthened the possibility to access to research funds and have allocated € 550 million for the Prins, Programs of national relevance. Speaking of national relevance: in your opinion, what is the importance of scientific divulgation within society, in addition to scientific research? It’s extremely important. Today, one of the big challenges in our country involves the need to work on the citizens ‘scientific awareness. In a fast-evolving technological society, the presence of qualified citizens with a greater scientific culture, who are not only able to use but also to understand modern technologies, helps the country to be more competitive at an international level. As a ministry, we will work so that researchers can give their essential contribution in the laboratories, but also work in the society to create information, generate a greater culture and awareness of the value of research.
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ITALIAN TECHNOLOGY FOR AEROSPACE
REDCAT DEVICES OPENS AN ANALOG WINDOW FOR SPACE MICROCONTROLLERS by Editorial Staff @ASI_spazio
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [870365]
RedCat Devices (RCD), is an italian consolidated and esteemed entity in the international space market thanks to its high expertise in developing semiconductor memories and analog devices for aerospace and nuclear science. Now RedCat is focusing its efforts on H2020 MORAL Project, started on January 1st 2020 and funded by the European Union’ Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n. 870365), in the framework of critical technologies. The MORAL goal is to develop a completely European, ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) free microcontroller for space applications, just for small satellites, flight control and payload computers for the purposes of mission control, earth observation, navigation, satellite house-keeping and many other applications (www. moral-project.eu). The MORAL 32-bit microcontroller SoC goes beyond the state-of-the-art in many ways. Besides standard peripherals and interfaces, we are the first to integrate rad-hard ADC/DAC macro blocks onchip, as well as a large 512 KB rad-hard SRAM module. Since ADC/DAC do not require high frequency for this specific application, a significant number of bits can be achieved making leverage on some very tailored RHBD (Radiation Hardening by Design) techniques. Edge-less transistors (ELTs), in fact, represent the best solution for avoiding channel border effects under irradiation (charge trapping by TID) but the main drawback is represented by the difficulty of making stacked (and matched) transistor pairs (building blocks for operational amplifiers, current mirrors, etc…). This limitation can be avoided with RedCat Devices proprietary methodology using DogBone shaped transistors (DoBo MOS) where channel border is increased with respect to the core channel. It is the first time in Europe a microcontroller is equipped with rad-hard ADCs and DACs. «Equipping a satellite with a microcontroller where ADCs and DACs are resilient to ionizing radiations is like opening an analog window in a fully digital world (the microcontroller) made of bits and bytes and this is what we are aiming to do in MORAL Project» summarizes the CEO of RedCat Devices Mr Cristiano Calligaro.
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E.AMALDI FOUNDATION
THE PRIMO SPACE FUND WAS BORN by Francesco Rea @francescorea
Interview with the Maria Cristina Falvella, President of the E. Amaldi Foundation. How was the Primo Space fund born? What is its core idea? In the past, Italy distinguished itself for being a farsighted and brave forerunner for several successful initiatives in the field of space. Now the pioneering stage is over and we must look at space as an enabling sector with a high socioeconomic impact, which is no longer under the sole responsibility of the institutions, but is open to marketing and privatization. This process started in the USA almost 20 years ago, when space economy didn’t exist yet and space was regarded as a frontier domain, too challenging and risky for private investments. Until today, in Italy we were lacking the financial skills to identify the potential of high-tech companies in sectors with a significant technological risk. In fact, despite the innovation and quality of the proposed products, several companies in Italy aren’t capable of surviving in the long run due to the methods with which they face the first stage of development and the inclusion in the industry system. The idea of the Primo Space fund was born from an initiative of the E.Amaldi Foundation to support those companies which offer innovative solutions in the space sector, contribute to their growth and competitiveness in the national ecosystem and, above all, promote the effects of the investments for space also to the advantage of those who do not work in this sector, by identifying new reference markets, which all have a global reach, for innovative products and services with a high added value. What is the role of the E.Amaldi Foundation? The E.Amaldi Foundation plays a role of great responsibility: it sponsors the Primo Space fund and is the technical-scientific advisor that will asses the potential of the companies which are candidates for funding, also by scouting for low-TRL technologies (Technology Readiness Level, it’s the parameter which measures a product’s technology readiness, ed.). The E.Amaldi Foundation supports and promotes the research applied to the technological transfer in the space sector, as a tool for development of new business models for the aerospace. Space has a natural global reach, and benefits from broad-spectrum skills which promote growth and effectiveness in settings which are very different from each other and, apparently, unrelated. Thanks to the experience gained in its laboratories, the Foundation can support the access to private finance, accompany the transformation process of start-ups into small and medium-sized enterprises, support the inclusion of the most innovative companies in the national supply chains and promote the so-called cross-fertilization.
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«The E.Amaldi Foundation supports and promotes the research applied to the technological transfer»
And what about the ASI? The Italian Space Agency is the point of reference of the space sector at a national level and, since the beginning, it realized the importance of promoting the national industry also in the context of the New Space Economy at an international level. In fact, the ASI is a founding partner of the E.Amaldi Foundation with the Hypatia Consortium, and has contributed, also through other initiatives, to create the conditions our country needs to compete at a global level within the New Space Economy. How were the partners selected? How will the fund work? Will there be any funding bids? The Fund was set up thanks to the trust of public and private investors who believe in the potential of the space sector and operate at an international level: the European Investment Fund (EIF), CDP Venture Capital SGR, Compagnia San Paolo, Luigi Rossi Luciani S.a.p.a, Banca Sella and Primomiglio SGR. In particular, Primomiglio, with a team of very high-level experts, will manage the selection process and the relationship with the investors. Primo Space will invest in technological spin-offs, start-ups and small and medium sized enterprises which are able to propose innovative solutions both in the upstream and in the downstream segments. It’s not about the typical bids to assign public funds or grant policy. The new entrepreneurs of space will have to face the risks and opportunities of alternative finance, by proposing effective solutions in a sector that isn’t indexed yet and is still regarded by several people as a frontier domain. Space economy is growing exponentially and the economic perspectives for the next decades are into the 18 figures. What is the state of the Italian space industry in this context? Italy has always invested in the space sector as an essential tool for growth in a dynamic and modern society and, in the last decades, has consolidated itself at the forefront in all the scientific and applicative domains. Thanks to this commitment, today Italy is one of the few countries in the world to boast a complete supply chain in the space sector, from the research to the manufacturing of satellites, to the launchers, in-orbit operations, ground-based acquisition, processing of satellite data and development of state-of-the-art integrated applications. An industry of more than 200 companies, several of them globally-engaged, with about 7000 employees distributed throughout the national territory, and which registers a continuous increase of new start-ups (about 30% per year in the last 5 years). It’s an ideal condition for the investments of venture capitals on technological innovation and on a new interdisciplinary approach which promotes, through the technological transfer, a paradigm shift in the use of the space sector as a tool for growth, development and social emancipation. It’s no coincidence that the first venture capital fund, financed also with European Union funds and entirely dedicated to space, was born in Italy.
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AN INCREASINGLY CROWDED LOW ORBIT
ASTRONOMY AND SATELLITES, INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE by Giulia Bonelli @giulia_bonelli
Tomorrow’s sky will no longer be the same. The big constellations of bright satellites in low orbit will radically change the observation of the sky in the optical and infrared bands, with a noticeable impact for the astronomers all over the world. This is what emerges from a new report produced as a result of the Satcon1 virtual workshop, organized from June 29th to July 2nd by the NOIRLab and the American Astronomical Society. The report, with the contribution of over 250 scientists, engineers and satellite operators, has just been delivered to the U.S. National Science Foundation. «The recent technological developments for astronomical research, in particular the cameras with wide visual fields installed on the big optical infrared telescopes – says Connie Walker, co-president of Satcon1 – are happening at the same time as the fast deployment of several thousands of LeoSats by companies which are launching new space-based communication technologies». The LeoSats are small telecommunication satellites placed in the Earth’s low orbit, as part of wide satellite constellations. The most famous, and also the first to cause a discussion between astronomers, is SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. In May 2019, when Elon Musk’s company launched its first batch of 60 Starlink satellites, observers from Earth were able to see, at the moment of release, an unprecedented parade, similar to a train moving in the sky. Despite being evocative, the show immediately worried the scientific community, especially since Musk’s ambitious programme involves bringing 12.000 satellites, which might even become 30.000, into orbit. The purpose is to guarantee a broadband Internet coverage on a global scale.
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The C2109Y4 Atlas comet in the sky of Czech Republic lost in the traces of the Starlink satellites. Credits: Zdenek Bardon.
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Today, slightly more than one year after that first launch, SpaceX’s “fleet” boasts over 500 samples, orbiting at 550 km altitude above our heads. One Web satellites, which will shortly be more than 100 (and the company aims at launching 48.000 of them into orbit), are also joining the Starlink satellites. Considering just Starlink and OneWeb, we are actually talking about something to the tune of 80.000 satellites, which will crowd the low orbit in a few years. It’s clear that such matter deeply concerns astronomers, who are discussing more and more the impact of mega satellite constellations on the observations of the sky (we recently talked about it with Piero Benvenuti, at Incontri Ravvicinati). The new report drafted by Satcon1 is the last piece of this ongoing debate. The document identifies, first of all, the scientific programmes which are most damaged by the future LeoSat constellations, that is those requiring observations in the twilight, such as the search for asteroids and comets. During this part of the day, the Sun is below the horizon for the observers, but not for satellites at hundreds of kilometers of altitude, which are still illuminated. The issue is mostly about constellations at the highest altitudes, such as OneWeb constellation, which will orbit at 1.200 km. These satellites can be visible all night long during the summer and for most of the night during the other seasons; this leads to serious consequences for observations with optical telescopes. The first recommendation by Satcon experts to companies is to plan, in the future, the launch of satellites at orbital altitudes not higher than 600 km. Another proposal is to jam the satellites or use sun visors to shade their reflecting surfaces. SpaceX is working on this solution, with the development of the VisorSat sunvisor. And since the coexistence between astronomy and satellites is more and more necessary, there is no shortage of recommendations for scientists in the report. The main recommendation is to use softwares that allow to minimize, or even eliminate, the effect of satellite trails during the processing of the astronomical images. Finally, a recommendation for everyone: making orbital information on satellites more and more accessible and accurate, in order to better select the portions of the sky at which pointing telescopes and demonstrate that the openness and dialogue between the different stakeholders of space is the best strategy to make science and progress move forward at the same time.
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THE NEW BOOK BY PATRIZIA CARAVEO
ECONOMY AND THE CONQUER OF THE SKY by Giuseppina Pulcrano @jupulcra
Crediti: Gerald Bruneau.
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Il Cielo è di tutti (The sky belongs to everyone) was written by the well-known Italian astrophysicist Patrizia Caraveo, for the series Le Grandi Voci by the Dedalo publishing house. In this new work, the author confesses her love of a lifetime: astronomical science, its role in the history of humanity and how it has always inspired scholars and pagan religions. The Sun and the stars keep rising and setting, the Moon doesn’t stop its ballet around the Earth. Everything has remained unchanged, except from our civilization’s attitude, which has initially elevated the teaching of astronomy to the ranks of a raw material and today, while appreciating the great discoveries, has reduced it to the ranks of a maid of geography, the same science that has allowed us to understand the universe and its mysteries. A schizophrenic attitude, says Caraveo. The web sites talking about astronomy, and the NASA itself, obtain millions of connections, but in fact the human race has lost its visual contact with the night sky. Given such considerations, Caraveo goes into a clear analysis between costs and benefits of the technological progress. If, on one hand, technology has allowed us and will allow us to progress, to do business and, subsequently, to generate wealth, on the other hand we will need to take account of the impacts of its evolution. In the near future we will live in smart cities where, if we do not take account of the importance of giving back to humanity the vision of a night sky, we risk losing that visual contact due to an excess of illumination. While appreciating the importance of Elon Musk’s and SpaceX’s constellation of Starlink satellites, the author highlights how relevant and diriment is to find a point of mediation between the excessive luminosity of the satellites of this constellation (especially the first ones; at a later stage SpaceX has promoted solutions to mitigate their effect) and the subsequent light pollution and the need to guarantee a fast Internet connection in every corner of our planet. Il Cielo è di tutti is also a short lesson of basic astronomical physics, which leads an unexperienced reader to understand the critical need to observe the phenomena of the Universe through different lenses. The use of all the bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, from the radium to the gamma rays, has allowed to conduct important space missions to reveal new knowledge. According to the scientist, all the technological and scientific progress from which we benefit today can’t prevail on the scientific relevance of ground-based sky observations, also in the presence of a space economy which will be worth more than 1100 billion dollars in 2040. If the conquer of space, particularly in low orbit, is rightly not meant to stop, it’s absolutely necessary to find satisfying solutions for everyone, based on the agreements between scientists and entrepreneurs. The ONU, and in particular the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), may play a key role in this mediation between science and space economy. In fact, a meeting has been scheduled for next October, during which the sensitive topic of how to make sure the sky continues to be an opportunity for everyone, with the due mediations, will be addressed.
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YOUR PARTNER FOR YOUR SPACE
WE DELIVER WHAT IS EASY TO SAY BUT HARD TO DO Corso Marche, 79 | 10146 Torino - Italy
info@altecspace.it | www.altecspace.it global science - 31
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SPACE FOR LIFE WE BELIEVE IN SPACE AS HUMANKIND’S NEW HORIZON TO BUILD A BETTER, SUSTAINABLE LIFE ON EARTH
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