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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.