SITAEL, Italy’s leading space company, and a wholly privately owned part of Angel Holding, which also develops high technology for the railway, aviation, and digital mechatronics sectors, has signed a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) to supply four PLATiNO satellites with hyperspectral optical instrumentation made by Leonardo for the IRIDE Earth Observation Constellation.

The PLATiNO Hyperspectral constellation, which will aim to capture images of Italy and the Mediterranean area with high accuracy and a high refresh rate, will enable a wide range of applications useful to citizens and Public Administrations for environmental monitoring, water, soil, and air pollution as well as the prevention of fires and in general the risks associated with hydrogeological disruption, such as landslides and floods. The constellation will be an observation network to help counter the effects of climate change, an increasingly important activity in the overall vision of environmental sustainability, and a strategic driver of the Space Economy.

The four PLATiNO satellites will be made at SITAEL’s Mola di Bari plant and will embark on Leonardo’s latest generation hyperspectral optical instruments in Campi Bisenzio, Florence.

PLATiNO is a modular satellite platform made for the Italian Space Agency, which is allelectric, multifunctional, and adaptable to different missions: With its compact size, it has unique targeting performance and maneuvering agility as well as enables a variety of missions both in high-resolution Earth Observation and telecommunications, including optical. The electric propulsion, made by SITAEL with 100% Italian and proprietary technology, makes the PLATiNO product compatible with low orbits and extends each mission duration with minimal propellant consumption.

The hyperspectral PLATiNO satellites, whose construction will take 100 highly specialized engineers and physicists and 3 years of work, will begin operation in 2026. The PLATiNO program-developed by SITAEL together with Thales Alenia Space (a joint venture between Thales 67% and Leonardo 33%), Leonardo, and Airbus Italia through a technology development contract with the Italian Space Agency (ASI)-activates an important space business ecosystem in Italy, with large companies and more than 20 SMEs involved in its implementation, for a product made entirely in Italy.