Igor Gai

Nautilus - Navigation in Space

Nautilus – Navigation in Space is the business solution built upon decades of experience in the space sector of two world-level Italian research groups, the Team of the Radioscience and Planetary Exploration Lab and the Microsatellites and Space Microsystems Lab of the University of Bologna and the Deep-space Astrodynamics Research & Technology (DART) Group of the Politecnico di Milano. Our experience covers, among others, orbit determination, GNC, mission analysis, GNSS navigation, ADCS, small satellites systems design and development. But, above all, our expertise is consolidated in interplanetary missions navigation, thanks to our involvement in several NASA and ESA planetary exploration missions. This, combined with our deep knowledge of small satellite platforms, represents the cornerstone of the Nautilus business idea. We aim at applying the Small Satellites philosophy to the Operational Ground Segment by privatizing deep space flight dynamics activities. Our goal is to offer to public or private customers cost-efficient and tailored flight dynamics services. This substantial cost reduction will drastically change the perception of deep space missions, opening a brand-new chapter in the New Space Economy.