Speaker
Description
In-Orbit Servicing (IOS) is rapidly emerging as a strategic capability for ensuring the sustainability, resilience, and operational continuity of space assets across institutional, commercial, and defence domains. Within this context, Leonardo S.p.A. is positioning itself as a key European system integrator, leveraging its expertise in space robotics, optical payloads, and complex mission architectures to enable next-generation servicing capabilities.
Leonardo’s roadmap for IOS development is structured around a progressive and complementary set of national and European programs, each contributing to the maturation of critical technologies and operational concepts. The Italian IOS PNRR mission represents the foundational step, focusing on the in-orbit demonstration of core capabilities such as autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations, robotic capture and berthing, and initial in-orbit maintenance tasks in Low Earth Orbit. This program enables the qualification of key subsystems and the validation of end-to-end mission scenarios, establishing a solid technological and industrial baseline.
Building on this foundation, European collaborative initiatives such as ISOS and eRASE extend the scope towards more complex, scalable, and service-oriented architectures. These programs aim to enhance interoperability, standardization, and modularity, fostering the development of a European ecosystem for IOS. They also address advanced use cases, including refuelling, life extension, debris mitigation, and multi-mission servicing platforms operating across different orbital regimes.
A key element of Leonardo’s strategy is the convergence of these initiatives into a coherent long-term vision, where technologies matured at national level are progressively integrated into European frameworks, enabling higher Technology Readiness Levels and operational readiness. This approach supports the transition from demonstration missions to sustainable, service-based business models, while reinforcing European strategic autonomy and reducing dependency on non-European technologies.
The roadmap also emphasizes the integration of enabling capabilities such as autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, secure communications, and cyber-resilience, which are essential to operate in increasingly complex and contested space environments.
This presentation will provide an overview of Leonardo’s IOS roadmap in Europe, highlighting the synergies between PNRR, ISOS, and eRASE programs, and illustrating how these initiatives collectively contribute to the realization of a robust, scalable, and competitive European In-Orbit Servicing capability.