ALPHA is going to space!

Next 13^th at 13:13: save the date, ALPHA is going into outer space.

ARCA Dynamics, an Italian new space company providing space traffic management services will launch its ALPHA mission on-board VEGA-C maiden flight and land at approximately 15 times the altitude of the International Space Station (ISS), on the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO).

ALPHA is a 1U CubeSat mission, designed and developed by a team of Italian SMEs led by ARCA Dynamics, a space company providing enabling technologies for Space proximity operations.

The main goal of this In-Orbit demonstration (IOD) mission is demonstrating radiation hardened technology: a novel integrated Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) including an innovative reaction wheel by ARCA, a deployable deorbiting sail by NPC Spacemind, and other subsystems such as an EPS by H4-Research, and an OBC and telecommunications module by Apogeo Space (former GP Advanced Projects).

The mission of ARCA Dynamics and its partners is to design and develop these innovative technologies with the goal of improving space exploitation sustainability by tackling two sensitive topics: sustainable production, by using non-toxic and green materials, and sustainable operations, by aiming at missions that are both near zero-footprint, safer and better trackable than other state-of-the art technologies.

The chosen orbit is a further important factor. At this altitude, 6.000 km circa, ALPHA will be in an extremely harsh radiative environment, called the inner Van Allen belt, where the Earth’s magnetic field traps harmful solar wind and cosmic rays radiations.

The CEO of ARCA Dynamics, Daniele Luchena, comment on the upcoming mission “in our sector we hold our breath until the launch is done. In our case, we worked hard for achieving all the mission goals not only for the benefit of our company, but because we believe that our technologies will play a role in the future of geopolitics and the welfare of peoples. The increasing access to space resources is increasing the pressure in this field, making those companies and those countries who will manage to create the most innovative and most sustainable solutions the future leaders of space-based solutions.”