ASI: Call for tenders for Italian satellite constellation in September

The first step will be the implementing decrees of the new framework law on space that came into force last June, the second is a call for tenders to launch the design study for the development of an Italian constellation of satellites for secure telecommunications. In both cases, Italian Space Agency (ASI) president Teodoro Valente reconstructs, a passage is planned between September and October. "As the Agency, we have carried out a preliminary feasibility study presented to Comint, which has given us the task of comparing ourselves with other administrations and the main Italian industrial players. In September, we will publish a call for tenders for a Phase A study, of industrial architecture, which will last six months, at the end of which we will make decisions on the programme."

This is one of the most important industrial aspects of the law and should represent an opportunity for the entire Italian industry, not just the big players. "We have introduced in the call to be published the condition of involving the national supply chain as much as possible and also using existing infrastructure or infrastructure nearing completion, I am referring to the use of space factories.

All this as a crucial step for the sector approaches, the Ministerial Council to be held at the end of November in Bremen, during which Italy will reaffirm its specific weight in the European aerospace sector. In concrete terms, this will involve underwriting the budget for the next three years' activities of the European Space Agency and the individual countries. Italy is the third subscribing country after Germany and just behind France, with a contribution in 2022 of just under 3.1 billion. "We are working to confirm Italy's high level of ambition, the preparation process is underway and we will have an outcome by mid-November at the latest," explains Valente.

On the project to develop a Made in Italy galaxy of telecommunications and security satellites, there is a rough economic quantification, which still remains confidential, 'but the preliminary assessment of time and costs is one of the things done by ASI and will be the basis for the next call for tenders,' explains Valente. Italian industry is not starting from scratch, on the contrary, thanks to sector operators such as Leonardo, Thales Alenia Space Italia, Sitael, Telespazio, and Ohb Italia among others. The role of supply chains and SMEs is one of the key issues for the future development of the sector in Italy, so much so that Confindustria has set up a Technical Group on Aerospace.

'Right now,' explains Giorgio Marsiaj, Confindustria's delegate for Aerospace, 'there are many opportunities for growth in the sector, which is also linked to defence and security. For the Space Economy in particular, this is a market that is destined to develop and on which our companies can do much and well. Now is the time to lay the foundations to keep our companies, the big players and the supply chain competitive'.