Italy awards $256 million contract for testing in-orbit robotic satellite servicing
The new colonial movement: The Italian Space Agency yesterday issued a $256 million contract to a partnership of several private European companies — most of which are Italian — to fly a mission testing a variety of in-orbit robotic satellite servicing capabilities.
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales of France and Leonardo of Italy, said the group is contracted to design, develop, and qualify a spacecraft capable of performing a range of autonomous robotic operations on satellites in low Earth orbit.
The company did not disclose details about these satellites or specifics about the mission, but said the servicer would have a dexterous robotic arm and test capabilities that include refueling, component repair or replacement, orbital transfer, and atmospheric reentry. The servicer will be launched with a target satellite, Thales Alenia Space spokesperson Cinzia Marcanio said, and both will be fitted with an interface for a refueling mission.
The partnership also includes the Italian companies Telespazio, Avio, and D-Orbit.
The significance of this deal is that Italy has gone outside the European Space Agency (ESA) to do it. For decades all European projects would be developed and flown through ESA. Italy appears to be have finally realized that it does not need that partnership, that in fact that partnership acts to hinder its own companies by requiring any mission to use companies from other nations. This deal instead keeps almost everything inside Italy.
We have seen a similar pattern in both Germany and the United Kingdom. The former has been working to encourage private German rocket companies, independent of ESA. The latter is doing the same in the UK, while also encouraging private British spaceports to launch those rockets.
These efforts strongly suggest that ESA’s monumental failure with the Ariane-6 — which is years late and will cost too much to fly — has been causing its member nations to rethink that partnership, and increasingly go it alone. ESA failed to provide them a competitive alternative for getting their payloads into orbit. They are now looking for ways to do it themselves.
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The new colonial movement: The Italian Space Agency yesterday issued a $256 million contract to a partnership of several private European companies — most of which are Italian — to fly a mission testing a variety of in-orbit robotic satellite servicing capabilities.
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales of France and Leonardo of Italy, said the group is contracted to design, develop, and qualify a spacecraft capable of performing a range of autonomous robotic operations on satellites in low Earth orbit.
The company did not disclose details about these satellites or specifics about the mission, but said the servicer would have a dexterous robotic arm and test capabilities that include refueling, component repair or replacement, orbital transfer, and atmospheric reentry. The servicer will be launched with a target satellite, Thales Alenia Space spokesperson Cinzia Marcanio said, and both will be fitted with an interface for a refueling mission.
The partnership also includes the Italian companies Telespazio, Avio, and D-Orbit.
The significance of this deal is that Italy has gone outside the European Space Agency (ESA) to do it. For decades all European projects would be developed and flown through ESA. Italy appears to be have finally realized that it does not need that partnership, that in fact that partnership acts to hinder its own companies by requiring any mission to use companies from other nations. This deal instead keeps almost everything inside Italy.
We have seen a similar pattern in both Germany and the United Kingdom. The former has been working to encourage private German rocket companies, independent of ESA. The latter is doing the same in the UK, while also encouraging private British spaceports to launch those rockets.
These efforts strongly suggest that ESA’s monumental failure with the Ariane-6 — which is years late and will cost too much to fly — has been causing its member nations to rethink that partnership, and increasingly go it alone. ESA failed to provide them a competitive alternative for getting their payloads into orbit. They are now looking for ways to do it themselves.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I wonder how much credit SpaceX needs to be given, not just for the obvious competition driving prices down, but also the “if a small private company can do this, it’s obviously not as hard and expensive to do a space program as we’ve always thought, and we can in fact afford to do it ourselves.”
The more entities in the space development market the better.
The more economies and their employees involved in making space resources Earth resources the better.
Everyone wins.
There’s a lot of stuff out there. It doesn’t involve ‘raping’ the Earth. Glad to not have to listen to those crazies much ever again.
David Eastman,
I’m pretty sure that is a major factor in the privatization of many of these space projects. Rocket Lab and Orbital Sciences (Orbital ATK) also showed that private actors can do launches and operations in space. With the reduction in the cost of access to space, many other companies are also showing that operating in space can be done well by private companies, independent of governmental organizations, such as NASA and ESA. Orbital Sciences, Rocket Lab, and SpaceX all showed that rapid development is key. Boeing’s Starliner showed that taking too long gives the competition the advantage.
Governments had severely limited what could be done in space, but these three companies are showing how much can be accomplished and how much less expensive it can be done. With countries such as UAE starting their own space programs that rely heavily on private commercial companies, the rest of the world’s countries are seeing that they may be left behind.
I think I got this link from this BTB site, perhaps from a commenter. It shows that Europe fears being left behind:
https://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/corporate/h-lag_brochure.pdf
About a decade ago, landlocked Luxembourg decided that it needed to get involved in space activities, and they encouraged space operators to come to their country for support and encouragement. There are many ways for countries to benefit from space, and various countries are seeking and sometimes finding ways that work for them.
Meanwhile, the once-great Russia is falling behind in space, counting on a reluctant China to help prop them up. China may owe Russia for giving them the technology to become a spacefaring nation, but China does not seem so eager to carry Russia very far.
With luck, Italy will join the list of great spacefaring nations.