Space

 

  

Applied research on microsatellites is carried out at SpaceLab at system and subsystem level. Recent activities include:

  • design of the EXCITE 16U CubeSat mission, recently carried out in collaboration with several research teams of the Engineering departments of UniPi and a group of high-tech SMEs. EXCITE is intended to perform In Orbit Demonstration / In Orbit Validation (IOD/IOV) of five technologies: a “green” monopropellant thruster by UniPi/DICI; Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT) by Aerospazio Tecnologie; Pulsating Heat Pipes by UniPi/DESTEC; a commercial GPU-based demodulator for Internet-of-Things signal collection from orbit by MBI; and a re-configurable S-Band antenna integrated in the spacecraft structure by UniPi/DII;
  • development of deployable, low mass, low cost solar panels for microsatellites based on carbon-fibre substrate;
  • implementation and refinement of an integrated trajectory-onboard energy management simulator for microsatellites;
  • design and implementation of an algorithm for the design of trajectories enabling multiple asteroid visits with a single small satellite launch.