G.A.U.S.S. Srl is the only Company in the Italian panorama to have gained the experience of nine launches of differently shaped and sized satellites.
The Company business is mainly related to the design and realization of microsatellites, which are also intended as CubeSat, PocketQube and releasing platforms. These are often built by universities and research centers around the world, thus letting GAUSS be a small satellites launch provider.
GAUSS activities include structural design, realization and integration of the main subsystems and payloads and all the ground segment operations. GAUSS operates in the emerging industry of New Space technology.
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. The latter branch, in particular, follows a tradition pioneered at the Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale in collaboration with a number of international research centers.
The Company aims to form university and high school students, both in the national and international territory, giving them the chance of professionally grow in the aerospace and astronautical fields.
Services
The Company is expert in Launch Services, In-Orbit Demonstration and In-Orbit Validation, Satellite Design and Manufacturing, Mission Analysis, Ground Station management.
GAUSS can provide services in LEO orbits for any kind of micro, pico and nano satellites (LeanSats, CubeSats, PocketQubes and Tubesats). As a launch broker, it can help customers launching different types of small satellites (up to 40kg) using its UniSat releasing platforms.
Products
GAUSS offers several space products related to small satellites such as the following Satellites Subsystems: Onboard Computers (Abacus and Hercules), Radio UHF, Power, Structures, remote controlled Ground Stations and the Satellite Deployers GPOD (for CubeStas) and MrFOD (for PocketQubes).
UniSat Program
This project consists of the design, the building, the launch and the orbital management of microsatellites, including CubeSat, PocketQube and release platforms. From 2000 to date, the Group has built and launched nine small University satellites: UniSat- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, UniCubeSat-GG, EDUSAT, TuPOD whilst UniSat-7 is currently under development.
UniSat-5 was launched on the 21st of November 2013 and UniSat-6 on the 19th of June 2014. These two satellites had also the role of launch platforms for other smaller satellites.
The launch of next UniSat satellite, UniSat-7, is planned for 2020, in agreement with the Russian company GK Launch Services, operator of Soyuz-2.
GAUSS has realized the first nanosatellite entirely 3d-printed, the TuPOD, an innovative system, being at the same time a satellite and a deployer platform carrying aboard two smaller satellites, the TubeSats. The satellite/deployer has been launched by the International Space Station (ISS) in 2017.
GAUSS has had an agreement with the Russian-Ukranian company Kosmotras ISC for the launches with the Dnepr rocket from Baikonur (Kazakhstan) and Yasny (Russia) cosmodromes. Nowadays, GAUSS has an agreement with the Company GK Launch Services (established by ISC Kosmotras and Glavkosmos) which operates the launch vehicle Soyuz-2.
GAUSS has also collaborated with the Japanese Company JAMSS that offered launch services for nanosatellites from the International Space Station (ISS) using the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM-KIBO) of JAXA.
Space Debris Program
Its objective is satellites and space debris observation for the orbital analysis, determination of the life time and improvement of the knowledge of the space environment.
The observation of space debris is a very important activity because the knowledge of their spatial distribution allows us to predict the probabilities of collision with operative satellites and to plan the avoidance maneuvers consequently.
The observation campaigns are lead with the support of some astronomical observatories, national and international.
GAUSS has an agreement with the Keldish Institute of Moscow, to perform joint observations.
CastelGauss project: GAUSS has set a convention with the Municipality of Castelgrande (Province of Potenza, Italy) to run the Observatory of Castelgrande, with the purpose of using the new observatory dedicated to the optical observation of space debris and it is candidate to be the National Observatory for the Space Surveillance.
Space Biomedicine
GAUSS is on the cutting edge in the Space Biomedical Research field, due to GlioLab/GlioSat Biomedical Missions: studies aiming at testing in orbit the behaviour of glioblastoma cells. GlioLab/GlioSat precursor experiments have flown twice with the Space Shuttle during the missions STS-134 and STS-135.
Alere Flammam Program
It is for the dissemination of the space culture through the courses “Astronautics in the classroom”, targeting not only the upper secondary schools’ students, but also a wider public. It involves an itinerary in the Astronautics world starting from the Kepler’s laws and the law of universal gravitation of Newton, to get to orbital calculations programs and the times of visibility from the ground stations.
GAUSS cooperates with universities, national and international research centres, and industries such as: Stanford University (California, USA), CalPoly (San Luis Obispo, California, USA), Morehead Space University (Kentucky, USA), Keldysh Institute (Russia), ISC Kosmotras (Russia), GK Launch Services (Russia), Deimos Space (Spain), GMV (Tres Cantos, Spain), Dnepropetrovsk University (Ukraine), Brasilia University (Brasil), Yuzhnoye (Ukraine), KACST (Saudi Arabia), Kyev Polytechnic (Ukraine) and many more.