Leonardo, through its subsidiary Telespazio (67% Leonardo and 33% Thales), inaugurated the new LEOP control room (Launch and Early Orbit Phase), the technological core for delicate activities, at the Fucino Space Center in Abruzzo yesterday. orbit and satellite test.

The ceremony was attended by Riccardo Fraccaro, Undersecretary of State to the Prime Minister's Office for Space, the Military Councilor to the Presidency of the Council, Admiral Carlo Massagli, the President of the Italian Space Agency, Giorgio Saccoccia, the CEO of Leonardo, Alessandro Profumo, and the Coordinator of Leonardo's Space Activities and CEO of Telespazio, Luigi Pasquali.

"The continuous investment in technologies, capabilities and infrastructures to guarantee safe and effective space operations, in light of the strong growth of the sector, is an indispensable factor to consolidate Leonardo's leadership in satellite services," said Leonardo's CEO. Alessandro Profumo. "Leonardo - he added - through Telespazio is the only private operator in Europe able to manage the LEOP phase of a satellite mission, but not only:

we are among the most innovative companies in the marketing of services for institutions, companies and citizens from navigation, to geo-information, to the security of territories and infrastructures ".

Up to fifty thousand telemetric parameters that indicate the status of the satellite is the order of complexity that is managed during a LEOP activity, with a performance requested during this type of operation close to the "zero tolerance of errors".

Luigi Pasquali, Coordinator of Leonardo's Space Activities, added: "from 1996 to today Telespazio has successfully carried out operations to put some of the most important international satellites into orbit, many of them with Leonardo technologies on board. From Fucino we are managing the preparatory activities for the launch into orbit and control of the first satellite of the Italian constellation COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation, which will be launched on the next 50 December. The new hall will also be a strategic asset for electrically propelled LEOPs, which will become increasingly important in the coming years ".

Leonardo's role in COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation goes beyond the launch of the satellite. In fact, the company also provides stellar attitude sensors for correct positioning in space, while the energy required for satellite and instrument operation is guaranteed by eight sophisticated photovoltaic panels. Different control and distribution units will transform sunlight into energy and will manage it maximizing its efficiency to power the systems and subsystems on board. After COSMO-SkyMed, the "Piero Fanti" Center will manage the launch of the EUMETSAT European meteorological satellites in the 2021.

The "Piero Fanti" Space Center of Fucino is the most important civil teleport in the world. With an area of ​​370.000 sqm and 170 antennas, in addition to the LEOP room, the center has rooms dedicated to controlling the network of ground stations and flight dynamics, equally important activities in the management of a satellite mission. All facilities are manned by h24 and are able to manage multiple space missions simultaneously.

What is a LEOP

The LEOP (Launch and Early Orbit Phase) is one of the most critical phases of a satellite mission and includes all the activities carried out by the control center from the moment of satellite separation from the rocket up to its positioning in the final orbit. For a typical geostationary mission, this requires a series of orbital transfers whose propellant consumption is typically close to half the satellite mass. The performance required during this type of operation is close to the "zero tolerance of errors", since the duration of the operational life of the mission depends on the residual propellant on board at the end of the LEOP.

The major criticality of LEOP operations depends on the fact that a technologically complex object such as the satellite is operated in flight for the first time after the launch phase, which in turn involves considerable environmental stress, both mechanical and thermal. It is therefore essential to be able to intervene promptly with the actions necessary to safeguard the mission.

For geostationary satellites (whose orbit is at 36 thousand kilometers from Earth), a LEOP lasts on average 10 days, but its preparation can last even several years. A time necessary to allow highly specialized personnel to develop all the phases, times and procedures necessary to transfer the satellite from the release orbit to the final one.

The current satellites are highly complex systems whose management requires dedicated teams, h24 committed, each specialized for a given subsystem. During a LEOP it is necessary to monitor and interpret about fifty thousand telemetric parameters that signal the status of the satellite.

The most important phases that characterize a LEOP phase are:

1. first acquisition of telemetry through the antennas of the Ground Station network after separation from the launcher;
2. initialization and configuration of the propulsion system;
3. positioning towards the sun and opening the solar panels to allow the supply and recharge of the internal batteries;
4. the different Apogeo maneuvers (from 3 to 5) to pass from the highly elliptical and inclined release orbit with respect to the Equator to the geostationary one at 42.168 Km from the center of the Earth which has the particularity of having the same period of earth revolution (24 hours);
5. reaching the target longitude and entering the nominal mode, with the communications antennas facing the ground, the panels completely open and all the subsystems active.

Leonardo: inauguration of the new control room for the launch of satellites at the Fucino Space Center of Telespazio