Aeritalia Space Systems Group, Turin, Italy

Aeritalia has been involved in European space programs since the early 1960's. Space activities grew to the point that in 1984 Aeritalia established a separate Space Systems Group (SSG), located in Turin. Today, SSG is involved in dozens of projects, some of them jointly with NASA and U.S. aerospace companies. Here, several of the major projects, such as the Tethered Satellite system, HIPPARCOS, Columbus Pressurized Module, Italian Research Interim Stage, and others are briefly described.