Italy-UK PARTNERSHIP

IN FOCUS | 11 www.italchamind.eu “crazy” idea of paving the expansion of the human-kind in space and became my D-Orbit co-founder. ICC: Your service line covers the entire lifecycle of a space mission, including deployment and decommissioning of satellites. Which are your most relevant products, and what are their roles? LR : All our products and services are important “bricks” for the future development of the space sector. However, fully aware to be among the pioneers of the new commercial space wave, we started since day 1 to liaise with potential customers and derive products and services that would enable D-Orbit revenue growth from their feedbacks. Today, our flagship service is ION (In-Orbit Now): the first orbital transportation system for small satellites. If we compare a container transportation boat to a space launcher full of satellites, ION is a small Fedex truck capable to autonomously move away from the arrival harbor in order to deliver the “packages” (i.e. the satellites) when and where their operators want, even in different orbits or at different altitudes. With our ION “cargo” satellite, the operators can deploy their satellites constellations saving up to 40% on launch costs and up to 85% on time to operations. ICC: Which space mission impacted the most to the history of D-Orbit and why? LR : The first important milestone was the Alice2 mission: our goal was for the most significant “brick” of our decommissioning systems and satellites to follow the most demanding space standards. We had a very limited amount of funding and even less time to be ready for the DNEPR launch in 2013. We learned how to optimise our internal processes and we understood how important the verticalisation process we had started was, as it let us keep control over time even more than over cash.  The second important milestone was D-SAT: quite an outstanding small satellite, fully redundant in its subsystems (usually typical of large and expensive satellites) while still within a mass of barely 5 kg, hosting a fully functional decommissioning system based on solid propellant motor. We really had to go through many barriers in order to launch it – or to be allowed to launch it. Eventually, after more than a year delay, we successfully sent it to orbit. D-SAT hosted three “payloads” from paying customers, all tested successfully. D-SAT became the reference technology for our current ION cargo satellite. ICC: D-Orbit is disrupting the space industry by redefining commissioning and decommissioning and creating value in the process. What does “sustainability” mean for D-Orbit? LR : Let me start from the word “biodiversification”. And let’s apply it to humans. We are used to biodiversify plants and even animals to secure their survivability in case of global diseases or natural disasters. Who is going to biodiversify us in these eventualities? We need to make sure we have an exit strategy as society, and exploitation of space and colonies in other planets is the direct consequence. However, as in the ancient times the Romans, once occupied a new territory, were creating roads and transportation systems in order to make the new conquest prosper, we need to create the same infrastructure in space, enabling the expansion of the human kind.  Sustainable society means durable society, a society able to consistently move into its future. A sustainable business has the same meaning: a business lasting forever. And in order to be as such, that business needs not only to avoid creation of problems, but it shall become the alternative solution. This is true for people, society and businesses. You can call it circular economy, sustainability or in whatever way… for me it is just common sense and a business that is not going to consider this simple concept in its roadmap is intended to fail sooner or later. ICC: What about the future? Challenges, ambitions and expectations? LR : D-Orbit has just started its journey in the business ecosystem. We are at the beginning of our roadmap towards our vision and many steps need to be accomplished. We are now focusing on helping small satellite operators to grow their business in the most effective and efficient way possible. Their success will help local business on Earth to flourish and the demand of space services will increase as well those of D-Orbit. · Photography courtesy of D-Orbit