D-Orbit takes off with Iride, from Esa a maxi contract worth 26 million euros

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“How many people do we need? About thirty at least and as soon as possible: we still have to grow».

Obligatory choice that of Luca Rossettini, founder of D-Orbit, looking for other engineers to be able to keep up with incoming orders. Yesterday’s latest announcement, with the assignment of an order by the European Space Agency for the construction of a satellite that will be part of the new constellation Iris, one of the key projects on which the two billion funds are channeled Pnrr dedicated to space. Order worth 26 million euros (the main part is for D-Orbit, the sensor is instead made by another Italian company, MetaSensing) to supply a satellite capable of providing high-resolution images. Microwave technology that allows detection even at night or in the presence of clouds, an agreement that includes an option for an additional 24 million satellite.

«Looking at the institutional orders – explains Rossettini – this is the largest in our history: now we find ourselves with a backlog of orders of over 60 million, in just a few years everything has really changed for us».

A turning point materialized in 2020, with the first launch of Ion, a sort of “ferry” for space capable of housing multiple satellites by releasing them individually into their respective exact orbits, thus anticipating the start of their operation by many months. «The first launch was followed by two more in 2021, then three the following year. And now – adds Rossettini – in 2023 we think we can reach nine: word of mouth on the market has really worked”. The Como-based company, founded in 2011, has thus grown to its current size, reaching ten million in revenues last year, triple the previous year, with a workforce that exceeds 270 units and development prospects that continue to improve also thanks to the institutional orders, which follow the commercial ones obtained. The satellite dedicated to the Iris constellation will in fact have to be delivered by 2025, a rapid timescale made possible thanks to the already developed Ion platform.

Iride will support the Italian Civil Protection and other organizations in monitoring critical infrastructure, air quality and weather conditions.