RAMSES

This revolutionary ESA’s space safety program, following the HERA mission, will monitor and accompany asteroid 99942 Apophis during its close flyby of Earth on April 13, 2029, providing critical data for the protection of our Planet from potential future impacts.

OHB Italia, as Prime Contractor, is leading a core team including OHB System and GMV. The target is to develop an innovative probe to conduct detailed scientific analyses on the changes the asteroid undergoes due to Earth’s gravitational influence.

RAMSES will be equipped with an advanced suite of scientific instruments, including two CubeSats that will be deployed to collect close-up data, providing a comprehensive “before and after” perspective and contributing to the scientific understanding of asteroid dynamics.

Under a programme of and funded by the European Space Agency. The view expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency

Features:

GENESIS

Genesis is a unique observatory that will measure the Earth from space with millimetric detail. The satellite will use for the first time in space history the main geodetic technologies simultaneously to map our Planet.
Genesis will orbit at an altitude of 6.000 km combining the major geodetic technologies on the same platform aboard a satellite: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI); Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Receiver; Satellite Laser Ranging (SRL); all synchronized by an Ultra-Stable Oscillator (USO), a high-precision compact instrument used to provide a stable frequency.

The Genesis mission is part of the FutureNav programme approved by the ESA Council at ministerial level in November 2022 in Paris.

The objective of the mission is to contribute to an updated global Earth model, the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF), with an accuracy of 1 mm and a long-term stability of 0.1 mm/year. This state-of-the-art spatial geodetic observatory, will allow the distortions in each method to be identified and overcome. This improvement will have a major impact on multiple navigation and Earth science applications, including the Galileo navigation system and the ‘precise orbit determination’ of all other space missions. OHB Italia responsibilities are: Project Management, System Engineering, Ground Segment, Procurement of launch services and two years of Satellite Operations

Under a programme of and funded by the European Space Agency. The view expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency

CONTRIBUTION TO
IRIDE CONSTELLATION

OHB Italia is developing 24 Eaglet II satellites for the IRIDE Constellation, a flagship Earth Observation program promoted by the Italian Government and coordinated throiugh the European Space Agency (ESA), with the support of the Italian Space Agency (ASI). As of today, 16 satellites are successfully in orbit.

Funded through an investment exceeding one billion euros, combining resources from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and national funding, IRIDE is conceived as a “constellation of constellations”, composed of satellites with heterogeneous technologies and capabilities.

OHB Italia is delivering a constellation of Eaglet II satellites, entirely designed, developed and integrated in-house. The satellites are supported by a dedicated Flight Operations Segment (FOS), enabling full control during the commissioning phase as well as throughout nominal operations.

Eaglet II represents a new generation of small Earth Observation satellites. Its primary mission is the acquisition of high-resolution RGB imagery using an advanced electro-optical payload, with low-latency X-band data transmission to ground stations. In addition, each satellite is equipped to collect and relay AIS (Automatic Identification System) signals for vessel tracking, ensuring persistent maritime monitoring and enabling rapid, targeted response capabilities.  The services generated by the Eaglet II Constellation will support a wide range of applications for the Italian public administration, Civil Protection and other authorities. OHB Italia is responsible for the end-to-end delivery, including satellite development, launch, in-orbit management and operations.

Under a programme of and funded by the European Space Agency. The view expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency

Features:

COMET INTERCEPTOR

It is a fast class ESA mission comprising three spacecrafts, with the target to visit a truly pristine comet or another interstellar object that has just begun its journey into the inner Solar System. It will offer a new insight into the evolution of comets as they migrate inwards from the periphery of the Solar System.

The mission comprises one main spacecraft and two small probes that will fly together towards a yet-to-be-discovered comet. The main spacecraft and the two probes will separate prior to arriving and intercepting the comet’s coma, each performing simultaneous measurements and offering the opportunity to proceed with science observations at multiple locations.

In addition, they will carry complimentary remote sensing and in-situ measurement payloads to investigate the comet’s nucleus, its outgassing and trailing materials and the plasma environment.

OHB Italia responsibilities as Prime Contractor include: Mission Analysis / System Engineering; Procurement; Satellite Integration; Testing for both Spacecrafts CI and Spacecrafts A; Scientific Instrument Interface; Engineering; Communication Subsystems.

Under a programme of and funded by the European Space Agency. The view expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency

SATURN

SATURN (Synthetic Aperture radar cUbesat formation flyiNg) is an innovative ASI technology demonstration mission designed to demonstrate a new approach to radar observation from space.

It aims to validate the concept of Cooperative Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) Swarms of SAR MicroSats, a breakthrough approach that replaces a single large radar satellite with a coordinated formation of smaller and simpler spacecraft.

The mission features a constellation of three 16U-class microsatellites, each equipped with a miniaturised Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument. By combining and synchronising the signals from each node of the swarm, SATURN can achieve radar imaging performance comparable to much larger systems, with greater flexibility, lower cost, and enhanced revisit capability.

This distributed architecture allows the constellation to observe Earth’s surface regardless of daylight or cloud cover, offering rapid and reliable monitoring for a wide range of Earth Observation applications such as environmental monitoring, disaster management, infrastructure surveillance, and climate research.

SATURN represents a major step toward the next generation of cooperative small-satellite radar systems, paving the way for scalable, resilient and cost-effective solutions in Earth Observation.

The industrial team is led from OHB Italia as Prime Contractor, the subcontractors are Aresys, ON AIR Consulting & Solutions, Airbus Italia.

Activity carried out under ASI contract.