TESTS ON THE PRISMA SATELLITE
Angelantoni Test Technologies is proud to have contributed to the mission of PRISMA, a satellite launched to study the Earth using spectroscopic techniques, entirely designed and built in Italy for the Italian Space Agency. The ACS GALILEO Large Thermal Vacuum Chamber space simulator was used to carry out environmental tests on PRISMA’s advanced hyperspectral electro-optical instrumentation, built by Leonardo and installed in the Testing Laboratory at their plant in Campi Bisenzio (Florence).
PRISMA satellite from tonight is in orbit around the Earth: ACS contribution to the mission
PRISMA is an Italian Space Agency’s satellite demonstrator. National industries and many Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) contributed to its design, launch and data receipt. Using the VEGA launcher, it took off from the European base of Kourou in French Guyana at 2.50 am GMT+1, on March 23rd 2019.
PRISMA will complete the current Italian Space Agency offer of Earth Observation space segment, now primarly based on the Synthetic Aperture Radar of COSMO-SkyMed constellation. Thanks to its hyperspectral innovative optical sensor, PRISMA is able to acquire images of Earth surface to see the chemical and physical composition and provide information for several applications.
Angelantoni Test Technologies is proud to have contributed to this specific aspect of the mission, thanks to its TVC named "GALILEO Large Thermal Vacuum Chamber" installed at Leonardo's Florence premises, where environmental tests were carried out on the hyperspectral electro-optical instrumentation.
The TVC, equipped with independently themoregulated shroud, thermal plate and decontamination plate, has a useful internal volume of about 17 m3 and a temperature range of -193/+150°C. The chamber reaches the High Vacuum performance of <10-6 mbar in 3 hours.
"We expect an impulse to the research and development of Earth observation applications based on the ability of hyperspectral data to provide information on the chemical-physical characteristics of the observed areas", explained Piero Benvenuti, ASI extraordinary commissioner, in an interview with the journal Le Scienze, "Precision agriculture, study and control of vegetation, atmospheric pollution, monitoring of coastal waters, analysis of soil properties and control of urban areas are among the sectors that will benefit from the information obtained by the hyperspectral products of PRISMA".
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One of the most important archeological discoveries of this century is certainly “Ötzi”, the mummy from the Similaun glacier. The mummy is almost 5500 years old. An entire museum was established to house Ötzi in Bolzano, and here Angelantoni Industrie reproduced the climatic conditions of the Val Senales glacier.