Are seventy italians, the first to land in French Guiana for a space mission Covid-free. The Italy of phase two, then, with the launch of the Vega carrier built by Avio in Colleferro, it starts again from the european base of Kourou to the Equator, bringing into orbit a record number of 52 nanosatelliti. The foundation had suspended activity at the beginning of march according to the directives of the government of Paris, which is “overseas territory”. Throughout Guyana the active cases of Covid-19 are only a couple of dozens. “In a month we work to arrange shipment in order to protect our technicians, the environment, and the colleagues, where they will work according to restricted rules of safety,” explains Giulio Ranzo, ceo of Avio.
Emergency and protocols
The group before leaving was in isolation, controlled with the pads, and when it landed the other night at the airport of Cayenne with a private flight Alitalia (it was the first arrival of an Italian air) has started a quarantine period of fifteen days. Then they will begin the operations in the base. All are isolated in a hotel reserved for them where there is personal and in which they face autonomously the tasks and needs. The airplane has brought so also everything needed for survival, including coffee, in addition to 12 thousand masks. The organization of the shipment took place with the collaboration of the ministry of Defence, which has specialists with adequate inter-ministerial Committee for the policies in the area of the Presidency of the Council and of the ministry of Foreign affairs. To ensure the health and safety a medical specialist accompanies the group by checking it closely and seamlessly by following established protocols. Avio, among other things, to help the disaster-coronavirus has donated 250 thousand euro, both in the hospital Spaceport that of Colleferro.
base in French Guiana
In the town of guyanese live a hundred of the one thousand employees of Avio involved in one of the five plants (the others are in Italy and France) where they produce the various parts of the rockets. The transfer of the seventy Italian also includes technical societies national D-Orbit and Temis related to nanosatelliti that the Vega will orbit, allowing the start of the launch campaign, which will conclude around the middle of June when it is scheduled to leave. “In a climate almost of adventure reminiscent of the early launches that took place in Guyana, to the edges of the amazon forest, thirty years ago,” admitted Giulio Ranzo. The Vega rocket will, in fact, the first to leave from the base of the european space agency Esa, from where you launch the carriers, Soyuz and the large Ariane-5 satellites, telecommunications. Vega, this will be the sixteenth mission, due to the intervention to the stage of the vector, which has prevented the attainment of the orbit in the fifteenth flight, after a sequence record the international of 14 successful launches. The return in the space represents a new step forward in technology because in the notch 52 nanosatelliti are transported in a system that will distribute them in the cosmos according to the needs thanks to a dispenser and an innovative carbon fibre designed by Avio and made from Sab Aerospace in Benevento. The nanosatelliti are of various nations: from a satellite for the Internet of things in the american society of Coils to another canadian that detects the emissions from the localized greenhouse gases, for example, of a factory. There is then an israeli, and still others from different countries devoted to scientific research or Earth observation. The milanese D-Orbit test also a kind of minitaxi-orbital to place the nanosatelliti in precise locations.
programs
A mission, therefore, very rich, which proceeds in parallel with the preparation of the new version is more powerful Vega-C with the capacity to transport up to two thousand kilograms, whose first flight is expected by the end of the year or beginning of next depending on the schedule of the launches became crowded after the interruption due to coronavirus. “Avio has on the front a program of very intense work for a dozen of rolls until the first months of 2023 — note Giulio Ranzo —. And in the meantime we are developing the third version of the Vega, And supported by Esa the european that will have even a higher stage to methane by allowing the transport of loads more thinking”. All producing economic benefits in a sector that is avant-garde. “The precious transport capacities Vega guarantee Europe a competitive advantage in the space — adds Riccardo Fraccaro, undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council with delegation to the Policies for the space. And in Italy, strengthens the Space Economy with the launch of satellites, and technologies of the national supply-chain of Smes with a positive impact in terms of applications and services for all citizens”.
