Argotec grows and presents the new Space Factory: it will be in the former Burgo paper mill designed by Niemeyer
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In the slides that David Avino shows to tell the story of Argotec, his creature, there are the window of a basement (“I moved there when my son was still whining, from down there I spoke to NASA with a twisted pair telephone”) and four square windows, the abandoned guardhouse of a building. He shows them from the small stage set up in the control room of the current Turin headquarters, in the historic industrial complex of Barriera di Milano, where 140 people now work on the development and construction of satellites and space experiments. In here, the only grizzled head stands out, and it is precisely that of Avino: the average age of engineers and technicians is 30, the environment looks like the giant version of a garage crammed with nerds in white coats. The last image he projects is that of the headquarters to come, and it looks like a spaceship.
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The circular architecture, the facade that alternates solids and voids, light and shadow, the former Burgo di San Mauro paper mill in Turin seems to be able to take off at any moment. It is there that Argotec will move its space factory in less than a year. To produce one satellite a week and meet the orders that the company founded by Avino in 2008 obtained to build constellations of their micro satellites. From the beginning, the founder’s vision (who worked for ESA in the human flight sector) was supported by the former astronaut Paolo Nespoli: “When I was little, I said I wanted to be an astronaut – he told me – they said ‘good, good, study’, but behind their backs they thought I was crazy. They looked at David the same way. You have to dream of something that doesn’t exist.”
In addition to that of Avino, the only grizzled head belongs to Gianmarco Reverberi, even if he is only 32 years old. With his colleagues he is in front of the electronic systems that control the satellites produced by Argotec, the test graphs are scrolling on the computers. Biagio Cotugno, on the other hand, is the space operation manager of LiciaCube and Argomoon, the two probes that have flown with NASA, he talks about how the satellite takes shape in the clean room, behind transparent glass. He’s 30 and judging by the faces, he’s not the youngest. Here we scout directly among university students.
The 12 thousand square meter Space Park
The former Burgo paper mill is an architectural jewel, reinforced concrete modeled in sinuous volumes by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, which covers over one hectare of land at the foot of Superga. The new production center will be located there with “7,000 square meters dedicated to production – explained CEO Avino – which we will move there in less than a year. We could have filled a concrete field, but it would have been a mess”. The new headquarters will be called “Space Park” (a reference to Apple Park in Cupertino, California). Inside, architects and designers will have to arrange the volumes of a large 1,000 square meter clean room for the production of the probes, and 300 square meters of laboratories and the control room, which is used to control the probes and the experiments launched on board the International Space Station. While 1,200 square meters will be dedicated to hosting research and startup incubators. “Argotec remains with its feet firmly planted in the Turin area, recovering a factory and also solving an urban planning problem – acknowledged the president of Piedmont Alberto Cirio – as did Cartier which now produces its jewels here. Space is the vocation of the city and the Region continues to support”.
The total investment for the new production and development center is 25 million. Twenty from internal resources, Avino specified, five from the Pnrr, through the ASI, for the program that envisages the creation of a space factory spread throughout the country and of which Argotec represents an excellence. The satellites that will form part of the Earth observation constellation will be born in the former Burgo paper mill Made in Italy, Iris, and those who will go into lunar orbit. With a new conception to complete one a week: “It will be the first plant in Italy that introduces automation for the assembly of small satellites – explained Diego Carubelli, head of industrial operations – which employs co-bots that learn from interaction with technicians”.
Recapitalization and new BoD
Avino took advantage of the occasion to anticipate some corporate news. First of all, the new Board of Directors which will take office next autumn thanks to the consultancy of Francesco Profumo, president of the Compagnia di San Paolo, to identify key figures in the sector of institutional relations, business and the space economy, with particular attention to the sectors of Defense and the US market, where Argotec will invest 4.5 million for a new production plant in Maryland. And above all the capital increase, 50 million, which in the next 3-5 years will lead to the listing of Argotec on the stock exchange. Finally, in 2023, the company expects to double its turnover compared to 2022 (reaching 20 million euros), to then reach 50 million euros in 2024.
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From coffee to lunar internet
Argotec has already been the protagonist of the business in orbit and in deep space for years. In 2015 Samantha Cristoforetti was the first to drink an espresso (Isspresso, with a very appreciable branding idea) on board the International Space Station (ISS). It was Argotec who brought the first coffee machine up there, in collaboration with Lavazza. One of the main businesses of Avino’s company is in fact opening the way to space for companies that weren’t born to reach that high. It provides services, such as preparing meals for astronauts, and continues to work on research and development for new ideas to fly.
Their Hawk microsatellite platform, born here as a modular architecture for satellites and probes, to be equipped with payloads, different tools depending on the type of mission, is as big as a shoebox, and NASA loved it. So much so that Argotec has given wings to two of its satellites in as many adventures far from the Earth with the American Space Agency.
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Or, for example, to bring the “internet” to the moon and also to Mars. Andromeda is the project for a constellation of satellites around the Moon to provide telecommunications and navigation service. Many will be needed to create a reliable network and provide connection and position to robots and astronauts, without interruptions, in order not to compromise the mission. Andromeda’s small satellites will take shape here, in the new Italian space factory.
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