Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.a. Con Unico Socio

Stefano Ferroni

Antonia Simone

Marco Nebiolo

Giorgio Fasano

Mario Pessana

Enrico Gaia

A connection unit comprising two female connectors configured to be connected to respective circuit branches of a fluidic line and a coupling element for coupling the connectors together and establish a fluidic connection between the circuit branches, wherein the connectors are provided with first, normally closed sealing elements to define a sealing termination of the circuit branches when the connectors are disconnected from each other; the coupling element includes a double-male connector separable from the female connectors and provided with a pair of shanks that can be coupled to the respective female connectors and a control element movable between a first position where the coupling element can be coupled to the connectors in a mechanical pre-coupling condition without fluidic connection between the female connectors and a second position where the shanks of the double-male connector engage the respective female connectors and establish a fluidic connection therebetween.

Connection units for quick connection/disconnection fluidic lines

An on-orbit servicing spacecraft includes an engagement system to engage a space vehicle or object to be serviced or tugged, so as to form a space system, and an electronic reaction control system to cause the spacecraft to rotate about roll, yaw, and pitch axes to control attitude and displacement along given trajectories to cause the spacecraft to carry out given maneuvers. The electronic reaction control system includes (i) a sensory system to directly sense physical quantities or allow physical quantities to be indirectly computed based on sensed physical quantities, including one or more of position, attitude, angular rates, available fuel, geometrical features, and on-board systems state, (ii) attitude control thrusters mounted so as to allow their positions and orientations to be adjustable, and (iii) an attitude control computer in communication with the sensory system and the attitude control thrusters and programmed to receive data from the sensory system and to control, based on the received data, positions, orientations, and operating states of the attitude control thrusters so as to control attitude and position of the spacecraft. The attitude control computer is programmed to cause the spacecraft to carry out a given mission including an engagement step, in which the engagement system and the attitude control thrusters are controlled by the attitude control computer to engage a space vehicle or object to be serviced or tugged, and one or more operating steps, in each of which the attitude control thrusters are controlled by the attitude control computer to meet one or more requirements established for the operating step.

End-to-end on-orbit servicing

A supporting frame for aerospace applications comprises a plurality of rods, which are arranged along two bases substantially parallel and opposite each other, and along two sides, which are substantially parallel and opposite to each other and are coupled to each other via the two bases; the rods are coupled to each other in a mutually rotating manner by nodes so as to be able to configure the supporting frame between a deployed operating condition and a compacted operating condition; the nodes are spaced apart from one another in the deployed operating condition and are each hinged to at least two of the rods; in the compacted operating condition, each of the nodes is placed side by side with two adjacent nodes so as to form, together, two supporting members arranged at opposite longitudinal ends of the supporting frame and each being ring-shaped.

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Turin, Italy

Stefano Ferroni