“Growing” Earth and Pleiades: here they are photographed by the LICIACube satellite a 14 million kilometers away from Earth. These are the first two photos in history taken by an Italian satellite in the deepest space. Never had an Italian mission gone so far. LICIACube is the ASI microsatellite built by the Turin-based Argotec, which is participating in NASA’s first planetary defense mission.
The goal is to divert the course of an asteroid to defend the Earth. “Seeing that micro satellite built in our laboratories in Turin go so far, was a great satisfaction. Because even if you have worked so hard and done many simulations, in space it is always the first time. Space is mysterious and unpredictable” he comments David Avino, founder and CEO of Argotec. “The images we obtained have great scientific value. They show that thanks to high technology LICIACube was able to take very high quality photos even in an extremely hostile environment. Turin Mission Control Center – continues Avino – we monitored all phases of the mission, validating not only the work carried out in recent years, but also processes capable of predicting every variable. We proved that what we were saying was true. Argotec and ASI are writing an important page of the Italian space “concludes Avino.
Meanwhile, LICIACube is only at the beginning of its mission. In the next few days he prepares for a maneuver never tried before. He’s on his way to the asteroid to take photographs of the impact with the Dart probe. Which will take place on September 27th at 1.14 am And, on the same day, Argotec will be on board another very important mission, Artemis 1. The first that will bring man back to the Moon.