Roadmap
PHASE 1 - COMMISSIONING
As soon as ION SCV Daring Diego reaches orbit, our spacecraft operations engineers will establish a bidirectional communication channel and start the launch and early orbit phase (LEOP), neutralizing the rotation imparted by the launch vehicle during separation, correcting the attitude, testing the satellites' subsystems, and preparing for the next phases.
PHASE 2 - COMMERCIAL PHASE, HOSTED PAYLOAD DEMONSTRATION
Once concluded the commissioning phase,
ION SCV Daring Diego
will start the commercial phase of the mission, which will consist in the deployment of the hosted satellites and the in-orbit demonstration of the third-party payloads hosted onboard.
Throughout the mission,
ION SCV Daring Diego
will deploy satellites for several clients, including the IAC, TUBerlin, and Infovention. The OTV will also perform in-orbit demonstration of payloads from TRL11, Zenno Astronautics, Privateer Space, as well as of a payload named RECS, a collaboration between the Politecnico di Milano and D-Orbit. Finally, onboard the OTV are also two 6P PocketQube satellite deployers by Alba Orbital, which will release in orbit four PocketQubes from different commercial and research entities.
PHASE 3 - DECOMMISSIONING
At the end of the mission, the platform will join the fleet of IONs already in orbit and operated by the company. At the end of its life, the spacecraft will be decommissioned in compliance with the Space Debris Mitigation guidelines. The pressure vessels will depleted from leftover fuel and oxidizer, the battery charging system will be deactivated, and the batteries will be completely discharged. The spacecraft, now inert, will enter a decommissioning trajectory that will bring it to burn up upon atmospheric re-entry within a few years.
