The Italian SITAEL and Virgin, historic agreement for rockets

Italy is now one of the greatest successes of its industrial history: the Apulia company SITAEL has signed an agreement with Virgin Galactic for the construction of rockets that will send tourists in the space take off from the Taranto-Grottaglie spaceport.

SITAEL is an important reality not only for the aerospace district of Puglia, but for all of Italy: among its many projects, we recall that he developed the first fully electric microsatellite in collaboration with the 39; European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has developed and tested the prototype of an electric propeller for satellites, which uses air rather than fuel, in collaboration with the European Space Agency and Polish QuinteScience.

SITAEL is so well inserted in the international context that he has collected the According to Richard Branson. His Virgin Orbit owner of Spaceport America in New Mexico, is working on the launch of the satellite SITAEL with the electric propulsion of which we spoke above. An agreement preparatory to that signed today, as told in an interview with Tom's Hardware Nicola Zaccheo, CEO of SITAEL :

"The truth is that at the beginning we were the ones to choose Virgin Orbit because the satellite we are talking about will be launched this year with LauncherOne: we were their first commercial customer, we started as customers, knowing that we have seen that we have consolidated know-how in various At this point, we began to talk seriously about joint programs for the future: the agreements signed today are both a very important step for us and for them: the fact is that both companies are private and they are quickly understood things are done, I really like Virgin's pragmatic approach, which is also in our DNA and allows us to not waste time thinking about systems maxim um and leave and beat him ".

The launch thus looks like the first of a long series of works that together see the two Italian-American companies. In fact, the first of two agreements signed today provides that even the next SITAEL satellites will take off from "Spaceport America".

The agreement we were discussing at the beginning is considering the development of a spacecraft built by The Space. Spaceship Company (also by Virgin Galactic), specifically designed for the future Grottaglie Spaceport, which will integrate the technological and industrial contribution of SITAEL and other Italian aerospace companies, and which will be badembled in Puglia.

Bring Richard Branson's tourists into space. A wise choice, given that the factory is located a short distance from the site from where it will take off afterwards, thanks to the mediation and the involvement of the Italian Space Agency. When the spaceport agreement was in negotiation. ASI 's number one, Roberto Battiston, had promised that this would bring significant business opportunities for the country system and Italian companies, and today' s signature is proof of that.

Nicola Zaccheo explained to us the benefits that this agreement will bring to Italy not only from the industrial point of view but also from the induced and international prestige: "these agreements are not made alone". there is not already an armature, and it has been fundamental. "On the one hand, we are considered, without false modesty, among the main players in the so-called New Space Economy worldwide. . There is this environment in Puglia which is an exceptional conjuncture between the excellent Polytechnic of Bari, research institutes, industries. with great pride that an operation like this will also allow to raise businesses in crisis If on one side there are still excellences, there is no way to do it. we have big problems and Iende in difficulty in Puglia. With an operation of this type, it is also possible to revive people who work in different sectors, but with adequate training operations, they are "reconvertible" in other sectors, even if it is a bad term to use. Then there is the presence of an important spatial district, a region very attentive to support this type of investment;

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"We consider this agreement extremely important because it completes the chain of our activities, adding a very important piece to our industrial development We are ambitious and have always thought that we would never be satisfied with just small satellites Ambivamo to manage the entire production chain: satellite, launch, ground services up to the applications that will arrive This agreement is an important part of our roadmap. "

ASI, whose president Roberto Battiston was present at the signing of the agreement, speaks about 39, a long-term partnership, what do you mean? • What are the terms of development that you have accepted?

"In this agreement, we have not defined precise time terms because we are at an early stage, with Virgin Orbit we are now defining a business plan and products Together with Virgin Galactic, we are talking about development roadmaps that are already taking years to come, such a groundbreaking system allows the realization of infrastructure, systems and integration over several years. this case also, we decided not to set a time limit, the only thing we said is that we, Altec, and Virgin Galactic will try as soon as possible to create an agenda that we will call Italian Agenda, because of abroad, they must come here with us to seriously invest in our country, and

When the first rockets for space tourism takes off Will they be from Grottaglie?

"Today we have set ourselves the date of 2021 but I have not been totally in agreement because I am used to tightening deadlines. then we agreed that this term would be a "worst case". From here 2021, we hope to launch the first space tourist of Grottaglie. Also because the first Virgin Galactic flight of the United States is scheduled for January 2019, Virgin has already invested in the development part, we can try to shorten the time. "