G.A.U.S.S. Srl (also known as GAUSS Srl) is an Italian limited liability

private company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

specialized in the development and launch of small satellites, CubeSats and

PocketQube A PocketQube is a type of miniaturized satellite for space research that usually has a size of 5 cm cubed (one eighth the volume of a CubeSat), has a mass of no more than 250 grams, and typically uses commercial off-the-shelf components for ...

s. The company name is an acronym for "''Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems''". The company's small satellites are used as launch platforms for third-party

satellites A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...

. As a private company, it has successfully launched two small satellites, UniSat-5 and UniSat-6. G.A.U.S.S. Srl business is mainly related to the design and realization of microsatellites, which are also intended as CubeSat,

and releasing platforms. Several universities and research centers around the world have launched their satellites through the company's UniSat launching platforms, thus letting G.A.U.S.S. being a small satellites launch provider. G.A.U.S.S. Srl activities include structural design, realization and integration of the main subsystems and payloads and all the ground segment operations.

History

G.A.U.S.S. Srl was founded in 2012 and it originated from the university of Rome research group, GAUSS, established at the Laboratory of

Astrodynamics Orbital mechanics or astrodynamics is the application of ballistics and celestial mechanics to the practical problems concerning the motion of rockets and other spacecraft. The motion of these objects is usually calculated from Newton's laws of ...

of the chair of Applied Astrodynamics held by Professor Filippo Graziani from 1978 to 2010. It is based in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. G.A.U.S.S. Srl CEO, Filippo Graziani, is a professor of

and member of the

International Academy of Astronautics The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) is an independent non-governmental organization established in Stockholm ( Sweden) on August 16, 1960, by Dr. Theodore von Kármán, and recognized by the United Nations in 1996. The IAA has electe ...

, with over thirty years of activity at the School of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” along with the two co-founders and his former students, Chantal Cappelletti e Mauro Pontani. The Professor has carried on didactics and training alongside the traditional teaching – mainly focused on the theory and the development of the individual technical capabilities – such as methodologies aiming at developing synthesis planning abilities and able to put into practice what they learned from the theory in a group work, a must in the industrial and research activities. The scientific and educational mission of the company is also very important: several experiments are boarded on the microsatellites, ranging from space debris observation instruments to space biomedicine. G.A.U.S.S. Srl is also active in the research regarding

Space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, or space garbage) are defunct human-made objects in space—principally in Earth orbit—which no longer serve a useful function. These include derelict spacecr ...

. The company's objective is the satellites and space debris observation for the orbital analysis, the determination of the life time and the improvement of the knowledge of the space environment. The Company recorded an astrographic image of the Tiangong-1 Chinese Space Station on March 31, 2018, which had an extensive media coverage and was broadcast by several Italian and international TV News during the station's descent last phase.

Satellites

From 2000 to date, G.A.U.S.S. throughout all of its history as university laboratory group, and then private company, has designed, built and launched eight microsatellites: UniSat-1, UniSat-2, UniSat-3, UniSat-4, UniSat-5, UniSat-6,

UniCubeSat-GG UniCubeSat-GG is a Miniaturized satellite built by the Sapienza University of Rome. It was launched into Low Earth Orbit on the maiden flight of Arianespace's Vega rocket on 13 February 2012. The launch was a multi-payload mission shared with LARE ...

EDUSAT EduSAT is an Italian microsatellite which was launched in August 2011. The satellite was built and is operated by the Sapienza University of Rome in conjunction with the Italian Space Agency ASI, and is primarily used for educational outreach an ...

. UniSat-4 failed to reach the orbit, as the

Dnepr Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea * Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand * Dnepr (rocket), a 1999 space launch vehicle *Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to: *Dnieper, a river ...

launcher failed 86 sec after launch. G.A.U.S.S. group has launched the CubeSat

onboard the

VEGA Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...

maiden launch on February 13, 2012. UniSat-5 is the first satellite designed, built and launched by G.A.U.S.S. Srl, the company that inherits the experience gained with the UniSat program at the School of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. The spacecraft was inserted into a near-SSO orbit with an altitude of 634 km at 07:25:48 UTC. The launch of UniSat-5 satellite, boarded on the

rocket, took place on November 21, 2013, from Yasny cosmodrome in Russia, marking an historical event in the world of CubeSats and nanosatellites. UniSat-5 boarded four CubeSats and four

s. UniSat-6 was launched on June 19, 2014 at 21:11:11 CET from

Dombarovsky Cosmodrome Dombarovsky (also given as Dombarovskiy and Tagilom) is a military airbase northwest of the village of Dombarovsky, near Yasny in Russia's Orenburg Oblast. Operated by the Soviet Air Forces and later by the Russian Air Force, it hosted fighter i ...

at the Yasny launch base on board a

rocket from the company

Kosmotras The International Space Company Kosmotras or ISC Kosmotras (russian: ЗАО Международная космическая компания “Космотрас”) is a joint project, between Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, established in 1 ...

, in Russia, and it entered into Sun Synchronous orbit 16 minutes later. Communications with ground controllers were acquired 90 minutes after launch when passing over Italy. The satellite transmits a data beacon at the frequency in the

Amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

band of 437.425 MHz, and it has several sensors onboard. Data is downloaded by the G.A.U.S.S. Srl groundstation at the company headquarters in

UNISAT-7 was launched in March 2021. The mission had previously suffered several delays caused by the switch of the launcher, from a

rocket to a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle. G.A.U.S.S. Srl deployers used in the UniSat launch platform are built to conform to the CubeSat standard. The satellites are then placed in

Sun Synchronous A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

Low-Earth Orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

, as the launch platform itself.

Satellite List

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.gaussteam.com Aerospace companies of Italy Aviation in Italy Manufacturing companies based in Rome

History

Satellites

Satellite List

See also

References

External links