Conquering Space and the Earth, once again

When you think of Space, Turin is the answer: Politecnico’s Aerospace and Telecommunications schools have long pioneered space research. Their activities embrace upstream, i.e. the design and construction of components and facilities, satellites, launch vehicles, and space stations, and downstream, which focuses on using data from satellites and developing innovative and beneficial applications for our beloved Earth. A multidisciplinary activity involving various departments and research centers, in collaboration with numerous leading companies in the sector (such as Thales Alenia Space Italia and Argotec) and with national and international space agencies (ASI, ESA, and NASA). Turin is also home to the Città dell'Aerospazio (Aerospace City), an initiative promoted by Piedmont Region together with public and private partners, which will host laboratories coordinated by Politecnico for the research and development of technologies in the field of next-generation aircraft. With one eye on exploring the skies and the other on Earth, the extended partnership Space it up was launched in 2024, funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Ministry of University and Research (MUR). It brings together 33 partners and is chaired by Erasmo Carrera, Professor of Aerospace Structures and Aeroleasticity at Politecnico.

“We mainly produce, as some say, the iron,” explains Erasmo Carrera, emphasizing Italy's long-standing tradition in the construction of space components, from pressurized modules for the International Space Station to the pressurized rover for NASA's Artemis mission. In Turin, this tradition operates through an expertise ecosystem that involves Politecnico and a network of companies in the sector, which are capable of designing and manufacturing high-quality components for space exploration, a field that has gained considerable momentum in recent years.

This was also evident at the highly attended International Astronautical Congress (12,000 delegates) held last October in Milan under Professor Carrera's direction as President of the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Politecnico also played a leading role in the event, contributing with over 320 scientific papers and various stands where visitors could learn about its research and training activities in the field of aeronautics and astronautics.

In this turbulent time, Politecnico di Torino is playing a leading role. As Carrera explains, the main challenge in the space sector is undoubtedly the renewed interest in returning to the Moon and colonizing it, also in view of a future exploration of Mars. In particular, the University is collaborating with Thales Alenia Space on the construction of the pressurized rover for NASA's Artemis program, which will take humans back to the Moon. This time, the plan is to live there and initiate a series of research and application activities that will focus on exploiting frozen water deposits, primarily in polar regions, as well as minerals that may be useful in situ and, in the future, could also be transported to Earth. “It is essential to understand that this research, while certainly costly and unlikely to yield immediate results, actually holds enormous potential for us,” explains Carrera. “This has always been the case – think of the development of the GPS for Earth navigation – and it will still be true once we experiment with agriculture and similar activities in a hostile environment such as the moon, which will probably enable us to develop new techniques that can be reused on our planet.”

All this is generating a great deal of research and experimentation to equip the Moon with something that until now has only been available on Earth, namely satellites in lunar orbit that will one day enable “pioneers” to navigate on the Moon and communicate freely with our planet. The Artemis program also envisages the launch of a new space station, “Lunar Gateway,” in collaboration with private companies, which will be able to host teams of astronauts and serve as a hub for missions to the Moon, paving the way for its gradual colonization over the coming decades. Unlike the current International Space Station, which orbits 400 km above Earth and which NASA plans to decommission in 2031, the new one will follow a highly eccentric orbit around the Moon, 'skimming' the lunar South Pole at a distance of approximately 1,500 km, before continuing its journey to 70,000 km from the lunar North Pole. There it will then go back, completing an orbit in a week, also to minimize communication blackouts with Earth. The new lunar station is a collaboration between ESA and other space agencies, such as the Japanese one, but also involves major private companies. Way smaller than the International Space Station, Lunar Gateway has two main modules, one for propulsion and the other for living quarters. I-Hab, as the housing module is called, weighs ten tons and has a volume of ten cubic meters, and is produced in Turin by Thales. Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano was also involved in its design and tested its habitability with his virtual avatar.

One of the most fascinating challenges faced by Politecnico is the creation of inflatable structures, which allow large modules to be transported into space, folded inside the carrier rocket and then inflated in orbit. These structures offer numerous advantages in terms of habitability and space for astronauts, but require the development of innovative materials with specific properties, explains Carrera, such as the ability to contain oxygen, withstand space debris, and ensure protection from fire.

Politecnico di Torino boasts internationally recognized excellence in the field of satellite navigation, playing a leading role in the development of the European positioning system Galileo, which, with its 30 satellites orbiting at approximately 23,000 km from Earth, allows us to move with extreme precision on our planet.

Fabio Dovis, Professor at PoliTO Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, member of the ESA GNSS Scientific Advisory Group and of European Commission Signals Task Force for Galileo Second Generation, highlights Italy's contribution to the design of Galileo signals, which has enabled Europe to achieve independence in the field of satellite navigation from the US GPS, Russian Glonass, and Chinese BeiDou systems.

However, the growing dependence on satellite navigation systems, not only for civilian applications but also for critical infrastructure and defense systems, exposes us to new vulnerabilities. Interference activities and hostile attacks, such as spoofing (generating fake signals to deceive drones or autonomous vehicles, for example) or jamming carried out by special electronic devices capable of disrupting or inhibiting satellite positioning, can compromise the functioning of these systems, with potentially critical consequences. Dovis mentions that interference activities are becoming increasingly frequent, with possible implications for maritime and air safety.

Sabotaging satellite signals affects not only spatial location but also time. Many land-based networks, such as the electricity grid, rely on time synchronization. If this is manipulated, networks can collapse, causing significant damage to the system.

Research at Politecnico therefore focuses on developing effective countermeasures to mitigate these threats, such as identifying and locating sources of interference and using cryptographic keys to protect signals. Such is the case of the addition of new signals and services to Galileo, which offers greater accuracy and resistance to such attacks. This research is crucial for ensuring the safety and reliability of these technologies, which play an increasingly important role in our society, not only in land navigation but also in communications. The University is actively engaged in research on 5G and 6G networks and the digitization of services, as demonstrated in the PNRR RESTART project.

Among the many initiatives involving innovation in the field of satellite navigation and communication, the flagship project SPACE4YOU, funded as part of the NODES – Nord Ovest Digitale e Sostenibile (Digital and Sustainable North-West) innovation ecosystem, is also worth mentioning. Coordinated by Fabio Dovis and his colleague at DIMEAS, Sabrina Corpino, the project aims to create a distributed laboratory dedicated to “small satellites” and the new space economy. The aim is to promote the open exchange of knowledge and technology transfer between academia and businesses, accelerators, and incubators in the aerospace ecosystem.