Aerospace technologies are strategic for science and the economy. Their development is supported by increasingly accurate and traceable to SI sensors and measurement systems. INRiM contributes to the sector’s growth through expertise gained in applied metrological research in optics and mechanics.
The sector dedicated to metrological research in the field of length measurements represents a key element in technology transfer towards space and aerospace applications. In close collaboration with space agencies and major industrial partners, INRiM contributes to projects aimed at developing systems with TRL levels between 6 and 7, ready to be engineered and deployed in space missions.
The group conducts advanced research in three main areas:
The development and validation of low-resonance-frequency space accelerometers with interferometric readout;
The implementation of optical metrology systems for monitoring the positioning and orientation of satellites and their subsystems;
The development of interferometric systems capable of measuring macroscopic displacements with absolute uncertainties in the picometer range.
Furthermore, it is equipped with facilities for the characterization and calibration of prototypes (e.g., star trackers) and flight instruments (e.g., interferometers for NGGM and accelerometers for BepiColombo and JUICE).
