Thales Alenia Space to lead
EROSS IOD, On-Orbit Servicing project
September 20, 2022
Thales Alenia Space, the joint
venture between Thales (67 %) and Leonardo (33 %),
and its Partners have been chosen by the European
Commission to lead EROSS IOD, a programme
dedicated to On-Orbit Servicing.
EROSS IOD (European Robotic
Orbital Support Services In Orbit Demonstrator) will
validate the technologies needed for robotic
in-space servicing operations, culminating in an
European pioneering mission by 2026.
This mission will demonstrate
satellite rendezvous, capture, docking, refuelling
and payload exchange
capabilities to drive major advances in space
robotics for future on-orbit robotic missions.
With the growing number of
satellites circling the Earth and the easier access
to space to answer the needs of global population,
from geolocation to connectivity, through weather
forecasts and environment monitoring,
Thales Alenia Space is devising
smart On-Orbit Servicing missions to directly manage
satellites while they are operating in space. The
goal is to extend satellite lifetimes while also
limiting space debris to enable better management of
the current and future space assets. On-Orbit
Servicing vehicles represent a real paradigm shift,
since future space systems will be able to undergo
maintenance and upgrades even in orbit.
By introducing unrivalled
system scalability and flexibility, they will be a
real game changer. Satellites as we know can
therefore be designed in a completely new way.
Thales Alenia Space is an
European leader in On-Orbit Servicing, a new
approach to space exploration based on smarter and
more innovative missions that contribute to a more
sustainable space as reflected in Thales Alenia
Space’s “Space for Life” vision.
This EROSS IOD program is under
Grant Agreement Preparation and expected to start in
January 2023.
Thales Alenia Space, a pioneer
in On-Orbit Servicing: Over the last six years,
Thales Alenia Space has led extensive R&D activities
for the Strategic Research Cluster (SRC) on Space
Robotics Technologies, part of the European
Commission’s vast Horizon 2020 research programme.
The first phase kicked off in
2016 with Integrated 3D Sensors (I3DS), a project
designed to develop a suite of sensors for robotic
missions involving a rendezvous in space with
another vehicle or object. The second phase was
EROSS in 2019, which used ground tests to validate
the technologies required for On-Orbit Servicing
operations. Thales Alenia Space won Etoiles de
l’Europe awards from the French Ministry of Higher
Education, Research & Innovation for both these
projects. For the third and last phase, which
started in 2021,
the EROSS+ project is gearing
up for an in-orbit demonstration, through the
preliminary design stage and maturation of the key
building blocks. The recently selected EROSS IOD
project builds on this experience to develop a one
of a kind European mission.
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