The Team

STRATONAV (STRATOspheric NAVigation)

an experiment developed by a team of Italian students from Sapienza – University of Rome and Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna.

Federico Curianò

(Team leader, Project manager and Responsible for Mechanics)

Federico was born in Rome (Italy) in 1991. He took his bachelor degree in Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome. He was interested in the projects concerning space systems and space surveillance developed by S5Lab (Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory) at Sapienza – University of Rome and he worked there in 2015 at his bachelor thesis developing the structural mock-up and back-up solar panels of the nano-satellite URSA MAIOR for the QB50 project. At the end of his bachelor experience, he was involved into the vibrating and environmental testing campaigns and in the integration of URSA MAIOR flight model. Now he is a master student in Space and Astronautical Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome and he is part of the research team of EQUO project (EQUatorial Observatory) concerning space debris observation and tracking. For the academic year 2015/16 he won a laboratory scholarship offered by his university to be part of the S5Lab research/working group. Federico is responsible for the project management, the project planning and he is the responsible for the mechanics due to his background and his huge attitude to hands-on activity.

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Federica Angeletti

(CAD designer, Responsible for FEM Analyses and Structural Testing Campaign)

Federica was born in Rome (Italy) in 1992. She tookher bachelor degree in Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, in 2014. She is interested in space systems mechanical design and FEM analysis and she increased her knowledge of MSC Patran/Nastran/Adams suite developing a thesis work on structural optimization of a launcher in composite materials. She has learnt how to use CATIA core tool and ANSYS software performing structural analysis and dynamic response simulation on URSA MAIOR Nano-satellite for the QB50 project. She was involved in a Concurrent Engineering conceptual study at ASI – Italian Space Agency – as Thermal Control System designer of the IKUNS CubeSat. She participated in the Pre-4th Mission Idea Contest in Tokyo with the project HORUS, an Earth Observation nano-satellite constellation, as responsible for both structural design and analysis. She is currently an MSc student in Space and Astronautical Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome and she has chosen the internal branch regarding “Satellites”. Federica is the CAD designer and she is in charge for FEM Analyses and Structural Testing campaign due to her strong knowledge of CAD and FEMo.

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Lorenzo Arena

(Electronics Designer and Developer)

Lorenzo Arena was born in Palermo (Italy) in 1989. He took his Bachelor degree in Aerospace Engineering in the University of Palermo, discussing a thesis on “A BEM formulation with NURBS functions for potential and quasi-potential flows”. In 2014, he took his Master degree in Astronautical Engineering in Sapienza University of Rome, discussing a thesis on “A GNC testbed for agile small satellite attitude control using FPGA-based Variable Speed Control Moment Gyros”. He is currently involved in a Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Space Engineering at the same University. His research interests span from mathematical modelling and BEM analysis to analog and digital electronics, programming, control theory and space systems. He is in charge of designing the CubeSat URSA MAIOR for the QB50 project, led by Von Karman Institute of Fluid Dynamics. He developed and tested all the electronic boards of the satellite. Lorenzo is responsible for the design and the development of the experiment electronics.

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Tommaso Cardona

(Onboard and Postflight Software Developer)

Tommaso was born in Bologna (Italy) in 1987. He earned his MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna with a thesis titled “Tracking, photometry andspectroscopy of space debris: the Malindi, Loiano, Las Campanas and Cerro Tololo observation campaign results” (2013). In 2009 he partecipated in the BEXUS-9 campaign with the COMPASS team. In 2012 he spent a six-month period at the Astronomy Department of University of Michigan as visiting scholar with a fellowship from University of Bologna. Since 2015, he is member of Italian delegation at Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) – Working Group 1. Moreover, he has been rapporteur for the “Space Debris Removal Technologies” session of the “Space Debris Symposium” at 2015 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Jerusalem. Tommaso is currently a Ph.D Student in Aeronautics and Space Engineering at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of Sapienza – University of Rome and he is in charge for the optical observation of space debris for the Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory (S5Lab).
Tommaso is responsible for the development of the experiment software.

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Lorenzo Frezza

(Ground station development support)

Lorenzo was born in Rome in 1994. He is currently a BSc student in Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome and he is attending the last semester before graduating. He worked during his last year of high school in the ESA project “Zero Robotics” with the Team Democrito, which placed second in Europe in the project finals and during his first year at university, he continued to supervise the team. This project gave him the opportunity to come in contact with ESA experts and to get a first glimpse at the workload surrounding these projects. Furthermore, he learnt how to develop a fair knowledge of the programming language “C” and Java by means of other projects. In his free time he develops applications for the Android platform and has worked with the Raspberry Pi, using it, for example, as an FM transmitter controlled by a custom-made smartphone app. For his BSc thesis (5 CFU) he has been referred to the STRATONAV by Professor Fabrizio Piergentili (relator of the thesis), one of the endorsing professors of the experiment.
Lorenzo Frezza is offering support for the ground station software development and is goind to collaborate with Marcello Valdatta, the team member in charge for the experiment Ground Station management.

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Andrea Gianfermo

(Responsible for Thermal Analyses and Environmental Testing Campaign)

Andrea was born in Rome (Italy) in 1989. He graduated in Aerospace Engineering in 2015 at Sapienza – University of Rome. For his bachelor degree thesis he had a six-month internship at “Thales Alenia Space Italia” working on satellite thermal control using the Software ESATAN-TMS. In particular, he wrote a subroutine to simulate the behaviour of Phase Change Materials implementing them for satellite thermal control. In 2015 he attended the “Concurrent Engineering applied at Space Systems” course at ASI (Italian Space Agency) for the study of the CubeSat mission IKUNS (Italian Kenyan University Nano-satellite) where he was responsible for the Themal Design Analysis. Andrea is currently an MSc student in Space and Astronautical Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome, attending the internal branch in Space Remote Sensing, and he is involved in several projects related to space systems design at Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory (S5Lab). He has a strong passion for military history and wargames as well as for space and sci-fi. Andrea is responsible for the experiment thermal analyses and for the environmental testing campaign due to the expertise gained during his trainee at “Thales Alenia Space Italia”.

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Paolo Marzioli

(Responsible for Scientific Background, SED Editor and Webmaster)

Paolo was born in Rome in 1992. In 2014 he graduated in the BSc course in Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome. His bachelor degree thesis, titled “Power-by-Wire: Analysis of an Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator”, was an opportunity to develop and test a numerical model of an actuator and to study the behaviour of an Electro-Hydrostatic Actuator (EHA) in several flight conditions and study cases. Between June and September 2015, he worked at S5Lab (Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory) with an International Exchange Program student from INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées) Toulouse, Fabienne Valentin, to continue his studies on EHAs: Fabienne and Paolo, together with Tommaso Cardona and Professors Fabio Santoni and Fabrizio Piergentili, developed an hydraulic feedback control system numerical model for an EHA. Their work was also reported on a paper which is under review. Paolo is currently an MSc student of Aeronautical Engineering (Aeronautical Systems and Flight Transport curriculum) at Sapienza – University of Rome, with a curriculum focused on control systems for aeronautical applications, and he is also involved in several projects at S5Lab.
Paolo is responsible for scientific background, he is the SED Editor and the Webmaster due to his interest in air traffic control and navigational aids, as long as to his hobbies of writing, graphic layout designing, webmastering and image editing.

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Alice Pellegrino

(Responsible for Mission Analysis and outreach/fundrising/public relations)

Alice was born in Rome (Italy) in 1992. She graduated in the BSc course in Aerospace Engineering in March 2014 at Sapienza – University of Rome. Her bachelor’s degree thesis, titled “New Satellite Mission Concept for Arctic Monitoring” was carried out during a three-month trainee at ESRIN, the ESA’s centre for Earth Observation, where she worked into the ESA’s POLARIS project on the design of new constellations of satellites able to improve the current capabilities of monitoring the Artic region using SAR (Synthetic aperture radar) instruments. Between June and November 2015 she has a six-month trainee at SAB Aerospace in Benevento (Italy) working on the structural design of aerospace systems and subsystems. She is currently an MSc student of Space and Astronautical Engineering at Sapienza – University of Rome (Branch: Space Remote Sensing) and she is also involved in several projects at Sapienza Space Systems and Space Surveillance Laboratory as part of both the research group of EQUO project (EQUatorial Observatory), concerning space debris observation and tracking, and of URSA MAIOR nano-satellite development. Since July 2015, she is the Italian Student Representative for UNISEC (UNIversity Space Engineering Consortium) It aly.
Alice is responsible for the experiment mission analysis and for both the outreach fund-rising campaigns.

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Marcello Valdatta

(Responsible for Ground Station Development and Management – PostFlight Data Analysis)

Marcello Valdatta was born in Codogno (Italy) in 1984. He joined the Space Robotic research group of University of Bologna in 2009, working on a robotic arm controlled by Nintendo Wii. He continued his research in the space debris field and was part of the REDEMPTION team selected for the REXUS 12 (launched in 2012). In the REDEMPTION team, he was responsible for the mission design, the payload subsystems (including thermal and environment control, ground testing campaign), the outreach and procurements. He spent his ERASMUS PLACEMENT in 2012 in Lithuania, Vilnius, at the Space Science and Technology Institute (KMTI) developing, testing and piloting UAVs platform and avionic for civil and military use. In the early 2013 he won with his colleagues the European call “Spinner 2013” for founding a spin off. Marcello worked for 3 years in the spinoff named SPACEMIND, with focus on deorbiting system for CubeSat, and he was responsible for system engineering, mission design and testing. He is currently a bachelor’s student at the University of Bologna and the UNISEC/UNISON Student Representative for his University. In parallel to this, he has joined two different “Analgue Human Mars Mission” programmes, the HI-SEAS, held by University of Haw aii and sponsored by NASA, and a program held by Austrian Space Forum regarding a series of short Mars mission simulations. Marcello is also a plane pilot from 2002, and he holds the Glider Flight License and the Italian advanced Ultralight Flight License.
Marcello is responsible for Ground Station Development and Management – PostFlight Data Analysis.

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