(Boursier.com) — Thales Alenia Space, a joint company between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), signed a contract with the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to develop the communications subsystem for the international Mars mission I-MIM (International Mars Ice Mapper). This contract, which concerns Phase B1, following Phase A previously awarded to Thales Alenia Space in 2021 and successfully completed in 2022, has a total value of approximately 22 million euros.
The I-MIM project is a mission carried out in partnership with the Italian (ASI), Japanese (JAXA), Canadian (ASC), and American (NASA) space agencies, which concerns the development of a Mars orbiter responsible for detecting and measure the extent and quantity of water ice present in the low and mid-latitude regions of the Red Planet, where it would be possible to plan the first human missions to the surface of Mars.
Thales Alenia Space will develop an innovative antenna for deep space that will connect fixed or mobile infrastructure on Martian soil with Earth, in order to transmit radar images and scientific data collected on board.
Thales Alenia Space benefits from long-term expertise in the design, assembly, testing and integration of large antennas for deep space exploration missions, such as the Cassini-Huygens probe which had the mission of exploring Saturn and its moon Titan, or even BepiColombo, currently on its way to Mercury.
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