Space, all the American plans of the Turin-based Argotec
After the investment of 25 million euros in the SpacePark, a new headquarters in Turin where 52 small satellites will be produced per year, the Italian Argotec will also produce satellites in the USA. The US facility will initially focus on deep space communications
The Turin-based Argotec's space race also involves the USA.
On October 11, the Italian space company founded by David Avino announced plans to invest $25 million in a manufacturing facility in Maryland, US, that will employ more than 60 people who design, build, test and operate satellites , reports SpaceNews .
Based in Turin and with an office in Maryland, the SME is active in the production of small, highly reliable satellites and in the creation of comfort solutions for astronauts and future space tourists. In 2022 it was the only company in the world to have two smallsats operating in deep space, as part of the NASA missions, Dart and Artemis 1.
In Italy the company is also among the protagonists of the space Pnrr: Argotec has been awarded contracts both for the Space Factory, a strategic asset in the small satellite sector, and for the Iride programme, one of the most important European space observation satellite programs Earth .
In July, Argotec inaugurated its new SpacePark, a facility in Turin to produce 52 satellites per year (one per week), with the possibility of further increasing production in the future.
All the details.
NEW PLANT COMMUNICATED IN MARYLAND, UNITED STATES
So among the company's next steps is a new production plant in Maryland, where Argotec already has its headquarters.
“It's important to be close to our customers,” David Avino, CEO and founder of Argotec, told SpaceNews at the Space Economy Summit organized in Los Angeles by The Economist . “At the same time, we want to be a U.S. company.”
The first product from the new facility in Largo, Maryland, will be a software-defined radio, Spacenews explains. Argotec will work with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create a simplified version of the Universal Space Transponder-Lite radio for high-speed communications services in deep space. Following the prototype phase for the software-defined UST-Lite, Argotec plans to expand production for commercial customers.
Boasting a collaboration with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, for the future "we will also turn to commercial customers", said Avino.
NEW AMERICAN CEO
Argotec's new U.S. CEO is Corbett Hoenninger, former senior vice president of engineering at Sierra Space and former United Space Alliance flight controller and astronaut trainer.
WORK WITH ARGOMOON AND LICACUBE
In the last two years, Argotec has won recognition for two cubesats sent into deep space: ArgomoMoon and LICIACube.
Specifically, ArgoMoon participated in the Artemis 1 mission, the first of the Artemis program which will bring man back to the Moon. During the first test launch of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which took place on November 16, 2022, ten satellites were released, including ArgoMoon, the only European satellite. The goal of the platform was to take historic images of the mission and validate nanotechnology in deep space.
LICIACube, however, took part in DART, NASA's first planetary defense mission . This microsatellite is the only witness to the historic impact between a probe and an asteroid as well as the first Italian object to reach such a remote target in space (14 million kilometers from Earth). Furthermore, LICIACube is the only contribution requested by NASA outside the United States to the Dart mission. The satellite made by Argotec won the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' Small Satellite Mission of the Year award at the SmallSat conference in Utah in August.
THE FIRST CONTRACTS ASSIGNED TO ORGOTEC
Finally, as mentioned at the beginning, Argotec is one of the Italian companies involved in the space PNRR projects including the Iris constellation and the Space Factory.
Iride is the Italian satellite constellation that will be built by 2026, with the support of ESA and ASI. It is destined to become the most important low-orbit Earth observation satellite program.
Last December, ESA awarded the first two contracts , worth a total of 68 million, which involve the construction of 22 satellites. The first related to the development of 10 satellites (with the option for another 15) awarded to Argotec which leads the team made up of Officina Stellare and Rhea System.
Subsequently, Argotec was awarded the contracts for the construction of the Pnrr Space Factory together with Cesi, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Sitael and Cira. The Space Factory – indicates the ASI – represents a strategic asset for our country in the context of the manufacturing processes for small satellites. The objective is to strengthen the skills of the national industrial chain in the rapidly growing sector.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/spazio-tutti-i-piani-americani-della-torinese-argotec/ on Fri, 13 Oct 2023 07:29:28 +0000.