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STEPS: Systems and Technologies for Space Exploration – final event

On 9th May, 2012 the final event of R&D project STEPS – Systems and Technologies for Space Exploration – has been held in Turin. STEPS has been financed by Piedmont Region in the framework of the Piedmontese Aerospace Platform using European funds.

Thales Alenia Space is the lead company and many partners, Vastalla included, have been part of the project; among them the Polytechnic of Turin, University of Turin, University of Eastern Piedmont and other 23 SMEs.

Vastalla has contributed to the project in two Work Packages dealing with issues in:

  1. Human Machine Interface;
  2. Engineering Multidisciplinary Support Tools.

For more info on Vastalla’s R&D projects go here.

STEPS project concluded successfully and it has been appreciated by Piedmont Region, European Space Agency (ESA) and Italian Space Agency (ASI).

STEPS demonstration in front of Piedmont's governor

In the image above Piedmont Region Governor Roberto Cota assists to the STEPS final demonstration at Thales Alenia Space’s Collaborative System Engineering (COSE) Centre in Turin. Vastalla presents the outcome of its activities.

STEPS Rover demonstration

In the image above the scaled Pressurized Rover, airlock included (on the rear) and part of the scaled Lander.

The demonstration has seen the Rover moving on the ‘Martian’ terrain specifically prepared at ALTEC premises. Turin-based ALTEC is the Italian center of excellence for the provision of engineering services to support operations and utilization of the International Space Station and other space systems.