Tyvak International, European leader in small satellite solutions announced together with its project partners the successful achievement of Test Readiness Review of the Milani spacecraft. A critical component of the Hera planetary defense mission, Milani will be the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) first deep-space nanosatellite. Milani will also be the first nanosatellite ever to orbit an asteroid. Tyvak International is responsible for Milani\u2019s design, build, and mission operations. In this exploration, Tyvak International is joined by an excellent consortium of European industries and research centers from Finland, Czech Republic, and Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the world\u2019s first test of asteroid deflection, following the successful impact of NASA\u2019s DART spacecraft on asteroid Dimorphos, Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey turning the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defense technique. To achieve its objectives Hera will be utilizing new technologies from autonomous navigation around an asteroid to low-gravity proximity operations. Hera will be humankind\u2019s first probe to rendezvous with a binary asteroid system and Europe\u2019s flagship Planetary Defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Milani, named after Professor Andrea Milani, the pioneer of asteroid risk analysis who came up with the original double-spacecraft Don Quijote mission concept from which the DART-Hera missions were derived, is a companion nanosatellite of Hera, carried by the mothercraft along the journey to Didymos, and ultimately released in its proximity. Milani\u2019s instruments are the ASPECT hyperspectral imager (by VTT, Finland), the VISTA (Volatile In-Situ Thermogravimetre Analyser) dust detector, and the Navigation Camera developed by Tyvak International with the collaboration of Politecnico di Milano for Image Processing algorithms. Finally, laser reflectors (by INFN, Italy) will enable unprecedented gravity field measurements of the asteroid coupled with Hera\u2019s laser range finder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tyvak International is part of the Terran Orbital Corporation (NYSE: LLAP) (\u201cTerran Orbital\u201d or the \u201cCompany\u201d), a global leader in satellite-based solutions primarily serving the aerospace and defense industries. \u201cTerran Orbital is proud of Tyvak International\u2019s successful achievement of the Test Readiness Review,\u201d said Terran Orbital Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell. \u201cWe are honored by the trust placed in Tyvak International by ESA, and we look forward to continuing to design, build, deliver, and operate cutting-edge satellite solutions for missions, like Hera Mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been proud to be part of such a challenging mission and the Test Readiness Review is a crucial milestone for the program\u201d said Tyvak International\u2019s VP of Programs and Milani Program Manager Margherita Cardi. \u201cIn the last months we assembled the satellite and saw it taking shape day after day; It was a very exciting and emotional phase for me and the whole team\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdmiring the Milani spacecraft fully integrated brings lots of emotions that pay off the tens of thousands of hours of cutting edge engineering efforts,\u201d said ESA Hera Project Manager Ian Carnelli. \u201cTyvak International has proved unprecedented commitment to bring this project from blueprints to reality, we can\u2019t wait for the environmental test campaign to be completed and start testing with the Hera spacecraft. One step closer to Didymos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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