Emilia-Romagna, mission to NASA Objective all-round alliances
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«We were welcomed at NASA and by Axiom as if we were an official state mission, even if we were leaving from Emilia-Romagna, and we had confirmation that in the space economy there are enormous opportunities for contents, rather than containers, for our manufacturing companies. It’s not important to have worked in aerospace before, it’s important to move as a team and push the accelerator on research to play as a forerunner». Thus Andrea Pontremoli, CEO of Dallara Automobili, comments on the results of the week in Houston, Texas, thanks to the institutional mission organized by the Giunta Bonaccini, with a large delegation of companies, universities, research centers, as well as representatives of Mimit (present Deputy Minister Valentino Valentini) and the Ministry of Defense (Colonel Gaetano Fabrizio Tavano).
From the Via Emilia to Texas
A journey to forge alliances between the industrious Via Emilia and the ninth economic power in the world (that would be Texas, were it a nation unto itself) also in the field of life sciences and supercomputing, not only in aerospace, where the Region moves in the wake of the 2021 agreement with the Ministry of Defense and the Italian Air Force to actively participate in the space explorations launched at the Houston Pole, supported by astronaut (and engineer) Walter Villadei in training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to test the “Made in Emilia” solutions on the next trip to the ISS (International Space Station).
The distinction between containers and contents of space stations and spaceships, on the moon and – in the future for Mars – is the point on which Pontremoli insists the most, because now that NASA, the United States Space Agency, has gone from producing technology to a certifying body of productions entrusted to private individuals (Axiom, SpaceX but also Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic for suborbital tourism) we can and must start working on products (and services) to put inside the “boxes” that will travel beyond the ‘atmosphere, in the role of private suppliers and sub-suppliers of private partners, all certified by NASA, a nice mark of quality. Many are at work on the containers, starting with Thales Alenia, which is building the first two modules of the private space station for Axiom to be hooked up to the ISS by 2025, «but very few of us are working on the contents – remarks the CEO of Dallara – and instead the development of products for space imposes such constraints and constraints (the absence of water and gravity, the need to recover all waste) as to generate fundamental innovative solutions even on earth». In November, the Dallara Automobili, Barilla, Technogym and GVM Care & Research brands will also be part of Axiom’s AX-3 mission to the ISS for the first space tests entrusted to Colonel Villadei. «We, together with the CNR – explains Pontremoli – will experiment with light alloys to understand the behavior of composite materials and how to repair them in the absence of gravity; Barilla, on the other hand, will work on astronauts’ nutrition to calibrate the taste and nutrition of pre-cooked foods; Technogym will study machines and solutions to train the human body». While the spin-off of the private healthcare group from Romagna GVM Assistance is finalizing the agreement with Axiom, the start-up IppocraTech VST and a Norwegian partner «to test in an extreme environment a device that measures, monitors and transmits in just a few seconds the main parameters of human health to the medical centre, identifying and isolating any anomalies: this is the beginning of the health care of the future on earth», explains Andrea Masina, CEO of GVM Assistance.
There are also well-established names in the region active in the aerospace economy, in the “container” segment. Like the Ravenna-based group of Curti mechanical machining and automation which, with the Aerospace division, has been operating for over 40 years in components for the defense and aeronautical industries. Or the Bolognese Poggipolini, which often goes to Houston, because the demand for critical screws and fasteners in titanium and steel alloys is exploding and right here it is finalizing an acquisition to directly control the aerospace market.
However, it is on the “contents” that the greatest chances of accelerating innovation can be glimpsed today. The cosmetics industry, for example, in space can simulate premature aging and the response of creams and sunscreens against very strong ultraviolet radiation. «We have only seen the tip of the iceberg – comments the director of Confindustria Emilia-Romagna, Luca Rossi, returning from visits to NASA, Axiom and other excellences of the American aerospace economy such as Spaceport, Intuitive Machine, Nanoracks – and we return with the awareness of having a manufacturing up to the challenges posed by that world and that there will be enormous potential to increase know-how and reputation, but the institutions must unite around the companies to create a system and a critical mass».
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