The New Space has landed in Rome, and more precisely at the Aviator’s House. Today an intertwining of agreements and contracts has opened the way for Italy to the new space economy, starting with the commercial future of the International Space Station. Protagonists are the Aeronautica Militare, the National Research Council (CNR) and Thales Alenia Space (the joint venture between the French company Thales and Leonardo), to which the American company Axiom Space has awarded the contract to build the first two pressurized modules for the future role of the orbiting station, 400 kilometers from our heads. It is the result of a synergy-country that follows the tradition of the national space, under the banner of the privileged relationship with the United States, already fruitful precisely for the ISS,THE CONTRACT WITH AXIOM
Axiom Space was selected in January 2020 by NASA to build the commercial space station that will come to life after the decommissioning of the current ISS. In June last year it was the Texan company that chose Thales Alenia Space for the pressurized modules of its project. Today the actual contract has arrived, for 110 million euros and two modules that will host a maximum of four people each. It was signed by Massimo Comparini , CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italia and the president and CEO of Axiom Michael Suffredini. Scheduled to be launched respectively in 2024 and 2025, the two elements will initially be docked to the current ISS, giving life to the new orbital segment of the “Axiom station”. They will be connected to Node 2 of the current station (also built by Thales Alenia Space), expanding its habitability and use. Once the ISS ends its operational life, the Axiom segment detaches itself, starting its experience as an “autonomous trading post”. It will be the new hub of humanity in Earth’s orbit, scientific laboratory and residential infrastructure. THE ITALIAN OBJECTIVES
“The important contact signed today with Axiom Space confirms the positioning of Thales Alenia Space as the main industrial player in the New Space ecosystem, both for private and public missions,” commented Comparini. “With the development of more than 50% of the habitable volume of the ISS, our company has marked the history of orbital infrastructures from the very beginning”. Based on “this unique legacy, we are pioneers of the future of human presence in low orbit,” added the manager. We already look beyond. “We are pushing the boundaries of space exploration and laying the groundwork for the Lunar Gateway and the Moon’s surface ecosystem that will lead manned exploration missions to the Red Planet by 2030.” THE COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION
“We have brought together an elite of experts at Axiom to build and manage the world’s first commercial space station, and Thales Alenia Space fits in precisely in this context as a partner,” explained Suffredini. The deal, he added, “confirms that primary facilities for next-generation space destinations will be built by experts and will serve as the core of the first manned space module ever assembled in Houston.” The program is already in a “detailed design” phase. The four radial bulkheads for the first module were recently developed in the Thales Alenia Space plants in Turin, intended to provide the structure to which the coupling mechanisms and hatches will then be connected. The welding activities of the primary structure of the first module will start in September 2021,THE AGREEMENTS
Italy will participate in the adventure as a “system”. The signing of the contract arrives on the sidelines of the one on two agreements with the military Air Force. The first with the CNR, signed by General Alberto Rosso and Professor Maria Chiara Carrozza. The second with Thales Alenia Space Italia. They are “aimed at enhancing the knowledge and skills of the Air Force in the aerospace sector and in particular in human space flight”, a sector in which the Armed Force is competent for “operational management and experimentation in microgravity”. The agreements are part of a broader framework of synergies that the Air Force is developing with the world of institutions, industry and scientific research which strengthen cooperation between public and private realities, underlining the role of excellence acquired by Italy in the international aerospace sector. THE PARTICIPATION OF THE AIR FORCE
The collaboration with Axiom will also involve personnel from the Air Force who, during a training cycle at the Axiom headquarters in Houston, Texas, will provide support for the analysis, design, engineering and implementation of the modules. On the subject, the agreement between the Air Force and the Emilia Romagna Region arrived in May. It was explained then that “in the framework of the collaboration, the cosmonaut lieutenant colonel Walter Villadei, identified by the Air Force, will train at the Houston aerospace pole “. More: “During the specialization at NASA through the delegated company Axiom Space, the Italian officer will also cover the functions of liaison for the industrial development activity with the Emilia-Romagna research bodies who intend to develop a direct cooperation project with US space operators “. THE VOCATION OF THE BLUE WEAPON “Space and the natural dimension of our armed force, a fundamental resource for Italy that must be protected, valued, protected and defended”, General Alberto Rosso
said today. “Research and enhancement, including commercial, of Space must be tackled together thanks to a virtuous collaboration between public and private, a synergy between institutions, a shared responsibility with the world of industry that allows us to fully exploit the skills of Italy”. More: “International collaboration, with the United States for example, between institutions and with the world of industry is the added value to allow the country to grow”. BEYOND AXIOM
The collaboration of the Air Force with private entities of the New Space Economy is not really a novelty, a sign of the recognition given by the Armed Force of the evolution undertaken by the space sector. As expressed by the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, General Alberto Rosso: “Commercial initiatives give institutions a more innovative perspective, from which there is to be learned, and it is essential to guarantee a virtuous collaboration between public and private; in Italy we have skills and technology niches that must have nothing to envy to the rest of the world “. Three specialists of the Blue Army will bring a series of research payloads to the threshold of space on Unity,Richard Branson . INNOVATION AND RESEARCH
The agreement between the Air Force and Thales Alenia Space Italia is added to the agreement between the Armed Force and the CNR, signed by General Rosso and the president of the CNR, Professor Carrozza, aimed at strengthening the already established program of collaboration in the context of opportunities for experimentation in microgravity related to commercial space flight and the new frontiers of exploration. As illustrated by Professor Carrozza: “Experimentation in microgravity makes it possible to isolate processes otherwise masked by the earth’s gravity; the scientific innovation underlying the development of the New Space Economy will make it possible to transform new discoveries into technology “. Among the central points of the agreement there is also the cooperation between the Italian academic world,
