Italian military mulls smaller GEO satellites so it can launch them on Vega rockets

LONDON — The Italian Ministry of Defense may use two satellites to replace a single existing satellite so that it can use the Italian-led Vega C or Vega E rocket, according to a defense official.

Lt. Col. Luigi Mauro, head of the Italian Ministry of Defence’s Satcom Systems Section, said the Italian government approved last year a replacement for Sicral-1B, a 3,000-kilogram military communications satellite that launched on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket to geostationary-transfer orbit in 2009.

Rather than grow in size as Italy did with the 4,400-kilogram Sicral-1B satellite that launched in 2015 on an Ariane 5 rocket, Mauro said the ministry is looking at ways to shrink down to two lighter satellites that would fit on a smaller Vega-series rocket.

If Italy takes this approach for the Sicral-1B replacement satellite, known as Sicral-3, “it will be that we will have to split the project into two satellites,” he said.

The two satellites would have a mass between 2,000 and 2,300 kilograms, he said, though a final decision has not been made.

Mauro did not explain how such a mission would enable a satellite to reach geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the Earth, since Vega C, which debuts next year, is optimized for up to 2,300 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

A slide from Lt Col. Luigi Mauro, head of the Italian Ministry of Defence’s Satcom Systems Section's presentation. Credit: SpaceNews/Caleb Henry
A slide from Lt Col. Luigi Mauro, head of the Italian Ministry of Defence’s Satcom Systems Section’s presentation. Credit: SpaceNews/Caleb Henry

Vega C and Vega E are next-generation launchers under development by Avio of Colleferro, Italy. Vega E will not be ready until around 2024, which is the same year Italy wants to launch the Sicral-3 satellite or satellites, if not earlier, Mauro said.

Mauro said research and development work for Sicral-3 is ongoing. The satellite’s purpose is to continue services from Sicral-1B that are in ultra-high frequency, super-high frequency and Ka-band, with the Italian Navy driving demand for an increase in Ka-band, he said.

Italy has four military communications satellites in orbit: Sicral-1 and Sicral-1B, which are fully Italian, and Athena-Fidus and Sicral-2, which are joint satellites with France.

Mauro said Italy wants the Sicral-3 program to deliver improvements over previous satellites in identifying ground-based interference, managing the distribution of capacity and to enable the use of smaller ultra-high frequency terminals.