Last week, from May 5 to 10, the 12th IAA Small Satellites for Earth Observation Symposium took place in Berlin. The COMPASS team was represented by Cristiano Contini, who presented the paper he wrote with Camilla Colombo: “Attitude and orbital dynamics fine coupling for high area-to-mass satellites”, about the possibility to exploit natural perturbations to control constellations of small satellites promoting Earth sustainability, without the need of a propulsive system.
During the 5 days conference, the challenges related to Earth observation current and future activities carried out exploiting small satellites were addressed. At the first edition of the Symposium, small satellites were considered just toys, while today they are valuable tools to enhance human life on Earth and protect our planet.
The six Student Paper Competition finalists had the honor to present their work, and Cristiano Contini was awarded the second prize as best student paper. A great success for COMPASS team, PoliMi and DAER! A special thanks goes to the EU/ERC, which funded the research, and the IAA Committee for the great opportunity and unforgettable experience. We hope to come back to Berlin next year to present new ideas about the future of small satellites Earth observation starting from the ones shared during the Symposium.
