On 31 January and 1 February 2024, tests related to the experiment were carried out on board the International Space Station “ISOC services for ISS”. The Colonel Walter Villadei Indeed, for the first time remotely and autonomously, it tested the possibility of monitoring the emergence of any threats caused by orbital debris and evaluating the relevant emergency manoeuvres. This is thanks to the capabilities of the ISOC software, a platform designed to meet the needs of strategic knowledge of the space environment, known internationally as “Space Situational Awareness”.
Owned by the Air Force and developed by Aerospace Engineering Group (GIAS) ISOC is the result of a cross-functional collaboration between the Armed Forces, the aerospace industry (Leonardo), and universities (University of Naples and Politecnico di Milano), stemming from the Flight Experimental Department (RSV) of the Aeronautical and Space Experimentation Division (DASAS).
“The tests were a success, and they repaid us for the months of hard work”, commented Captain Engineer Alessandro Panico, serving in the Experimental Flight Department and Project Manager of the programme.“It was great teamwork, and we are aware that everyone can be proud of this success. Many contributed, with their choices, their directions, or simply by putting passion into their daily work, which characterises the GIAS's operations and which we have also brought into our collaboration with industrial and academic partners, as well as with colleagues from the Automated Information Systems Department (ReSiA) and with those from the National Centre for Aerospace Meteorology and Climatology (CNMCA).”.
The experiment represents a fundamental first step towards astronauts and payloads themselves gaining autonomy from the support of ground segments, with a view to intensifying the exploitation of low Earth and cislunar orbits, as well as with the prospect, not too distant, of interplanetary travel.
The test will also contribute to the systematic study of the correlations between space weather events and anomalies encountered during navigation, such as, for example, the GPS/GNSS signal coverage index or malfunctions in electronic equipment.
The Italian Air Force, through the Centro Space Situational Awareness (CSSA) of the Aerospace Operations Command In Poggio Renatico, it contributes to the exercise of functions such as the identification of objects present in orbit and the monitoring of space debris, so-called “debris”, also due to collisions in space between various types of assets (in this case, we speak of “Fragmentation”). Among other tasks, there is also so-called “Collision Avoidance”, meaning the prediction of possible collisions between satellites or with debris, in order to manoeuvre assets in case of a high probability of impact; and the so-called “Re-entry”, meaning the prediction of the time and place of ground impact of objects falling from space.
