Logo of Gauss Group and logo of GAUSS Srl
The Group of Astrodynamics for the Use of Space Systems, GAUSS Srl (Gruppo di Astrodinamica per L’Uso dei Sistemi Spaziali Srl) is a limited liability Company based in Rome, carrying on the more than ten-year-old tradition of the Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale in the field of microsatellites and evolving from a merely didactical dimension to an innovative company reality.
The Company, founded in 2012, originated from the University research group, GAUSS, established at the Laboratory of Astrodynamics of the chair of Applied Astrodynamics held by Professor Filippo Graziani from 1978 to 2010.
The Professor has carried on didactics and trainings with a teaching methodology aiming at developing synthesis, planning abilities and the capability to put into practice what learned from the studies in a group work, a must in the industrial and research activities. Hence, this Company benefits from the experience gained by its founder Professor Filippo Graziani, member of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), in over thirty years of activity at the School of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Rome “Sapienza” and that of the co-founder and his former student, Chantal Cappelletti. The current group includes a number of permanent collaborators, some young graduates and consultants for the various themes of space systems.
Since the early nineties, activities of designing, ground testing, integration, launch and ground operations have been managed by GAUSS members at the Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale, where the UniSat Program started under the supervision of Professor F. Graziani. The first microsatellite, UniSat, was completely manufactured by the University students and launched in September 2000. It was followed by UniSat-2 (December 2002), UniSat-3 (June 2004), UniSat-4 (July 2006), EduSat (August 2011), UniCubesat-GG (February 2012).
GAUSS prepared and launched UniSat-5 (November 2013), UniSat-6 (in June 2014) and TuPOD (December 2016). UniSat-7 is planned to be launched in 2019-2020.
GAUSS Srl has innovated the idea of launch provider, making the UniSat satellites themselves launcher platforms as well as carriers of fixed payloads.
- Historical insight written by Professor F. Graziani on the occasion of the 80° anniversary of the School of Aerospace Engineering: “DALL’AERONAUTICA ALL’ASTRONAUTICA – APPUNTI PER LA STORIA DELLA SCUOLA DI INGEGNERIA AEROSPAZIALE” (PDF in Italian and in Latin)