Developed by Tyvak International, Milani is designed to visually inspect and detect dust on the Didymos asteroid after the DART impact. It will be launched aboard the ESA's Hera mothercraft in late 2024. As a vital part of the Hera planetary defense mission, Milani will be one of ESA's first deep-space nanosatellites and among the first to orbit an asteroid. Tyvak International is fully responsible for the design, construction, and mission operations of Milani.
"Just a few months ago we delivered Milani to the ESA and now it has completed the intense campaign of system level testing with Hera, along with the ground segment, and ensured the validation of all the interfaces and the end-to-end communication prior to the launch. We are very proud of the work done so far and the successful completion of the Qualification and Acceptance Review," Margherita Cardi said.
"Today we formally declared Milani qualified for flight. This is the result of extremely skilled professionals who invested extensive engineering, design, manufacturing, and testing hours. The ESA is grateful to every single member of the Tyvak International team for leading a complex European consortium in record time for this historical mission. I can't wait to see the scientific wonders delivered by this technological marvel. With exploring a new world traveling over 400 million kilometers from our planet, sci-fi is becoming reality," stated ESA's Hera Project Manager Ian Carnelli.
The Tyvak International team is currently preparing for the launch campaign activities scheduled for September 2024, in anticipation of the launch in October 2024.
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