Multiple Contracts in Diverse Areas Awarded to D-Orbit
Multiple contracts under the framework of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) have been awarded to D-Orbit. These contracts represent an opportunity for the company to take part in national projects that will mark historic milestones in the space sector, and cooperate with some of the most innovative Italian companies in the industry.
"This is a fundamental step in building an orbiting edge computing platform.”
Stefano Antonetti, D-Orbit
The four contracts from ASI and ESA run the gamut from Earth observation to in orbit servicing for a total of approximately 60 million euros ($65.7 million).
Details of the Multiple Contracts Awarded to D-Orbit
IRIDE, one of Europe's largest space programs for Earth observation, which was initiated by the Italian government to leverage national competencies and responsibility with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA), which will manage the project, and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). Under the €26-million (≈$28.5 million) contract D-Orbit will provide one SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellite and will manage its flight operations segment on behalf of the end user; the deal also includes an option for an additional SAR satellite, worth €24 million (≈$26.3 million). The SAR sensor will be implemented by MetaSensing, an Italian company specializing in advanced radar technologies.
D-Orbit is also prime for the “Optical Inter Satellite Link In Orbit Verification'' section of the IRIDE program. For this €6 million (≈$6.6 million) contract, D-Orbit will provide its orbital transfer vehicle, ION Satellite Carrier, to test the Optical Inter-Satellite Link (OISL), a low power high performance laser communication technology applicable to fields like Earth imagery, weather forecasting, global telecommunications, and internet services. The OISL will be implemented by the Italian space technology startup Stellar Project.
D-Orbit is also part of the consortium of companies led by Thales Alenia Space that signed a €235 million (≈$356 million) contract with ASI for the first national in-orbit servicing demonstration mission. The contract has been assigned to a temporary consortium of Italian companies; alongside Thales Alenia Space, which acts as prime contractor, the companies involved in the project are Avio, Leonardo, and Telespazio.
The mission will include two satellites and the related ground operation segments and will carry out various in-orbit demonstrations ranging from close inspection, repositioning, refueling, and deorbiting of spacecraft, to assembly of infrastructures and satellites in orbit. D-Orbit will manage all activities related to the target satellite platform, which is based on the company’s proprietary ION platform, and to the refueling system, with the transfer of a fluid from the servicer satellite and the target satellite.
Finally, D-Orbit won a contract of approximately €4.8 million (≈$5.26 million) with ASI for the In-Orbit Space Lab, a laboratory with a space segment in low earth orbit (LEO) with multiple assets and applications distributed among different payloads/technologies and/or orbiting platforms, and an Earth segment based in the Matera Space Center.
The project will be funded by the Complementary Fund (national investment) under the PNRR for an amount of approximately 7 million euros, with the involvement of the industrial partnership composed of Planetek Italia, D-Orbit, and AIKO.
The prime contractor for the In-Orbit Space Lab is Planetek Italia, an Italian company specialized in geo-informatics, space solutions and Earth observation that will manage the integration of the entire system and of the software environment, which will include an innovative Space App Store; AIKO, a deep-tech company focusing on the development of Artificial Intelligence software to increase the level of autonomy of space missions, will take care of the mission automation through its onboard software for data processing and provide its cutting-edge on-board payload data processing products. D-Orbit will be responsible for the manufacturing and launch of one ION Satellite Carrier, which will then provide the orbital infrastructure needed to gather and elaborate data in orbit.
"This is a fundamental step in building an orbiting edge computing platform,” said Stefano Antonetti, D-Orbit’s VP Business Development and Institutional Sales. “Our ION Satellite Carrier has been designed to be a key element of such an infrastructure and we’re proud to work alongside our partners and the Italian Space Agency, whose brave vision is allowing this project to become a reality.”
The implementation of these multiple contracts perfectly fits within the commercial roadmap of the Company, providing an opportunity to test their existing solutions in new environments as well as speed up the development of new technologies.
(Source: D-Orbit news release. Images from file)