Press release 16th March 1999

MEGSAT-0 THE FIRST PRIVATE ITALIAN SATELLITE On 28th April the first satellite by MegSat of Brescia begins working

MegSat, the Space Division within the Meggiorin group of Brescia, is completing its work for the launch of MegSat-0, which will take place on 28th April 1999, aboard a vector Cosmos, from the Russian launch base in Kapustin Yar.

MegSat is a cube-shaped technological demonstrator, with a 45 cm side and a 34 Kg weight. It will run along a 580-Km high orbit with a 51° inclination, and will be used to transmit scientific and commercial data. The project engineers of the Italian satellite introduced a number of innovatory systems granting maximum levels as far as speed, quality of acquisition and management of data, which are drawn from technical and commercial service networks as well as from environmental monitoring and from scientific and technologic equipment working on the ground or on board.

Moreover, MegSat will manage its Microsatellites in a fully autonomous way, by its own ground station equipped in Brescia to be operational as from the first launch.

In 2000 the second space craft, called MegSat-1 and weighing more than 50 Kg, will be launched to a height of 1,000km in a near polar orbit with a 81° inclination.

It is the first action by an Italian entrepreneur, fully financed by private capital, concerning a multiple space program, on which Mr Meggiorin initially invested 5 million Euro. MegSat microsatellites have entirely been developed within the laboratories of Meggiorin group in Brescia. They are a concentrate of high technology. In them the advantages offered by electronic components miniaturisation and from the software package couple with a series of modular solutions that have been studied to grant the maximum exploitation of the volume available.

MegSat concentrated on lightening and simplifying systems on board and on the ground, so to remarkably reduce programs time and managing costs, and to offer final users a profitable and cost effective service. Therefore, MegSat can reach a wider number of users that could not afford satellite transmissions before.

MegSat can manage its microsatellites in a fully autonomous way; as a result, its services can be competitive as far as technology and price. Complete solutions can be offered to public and private customers all over the world.

MegSat space program aims at economical and managing optimisation of services both for environmental monitoring, by means of terminals with an autonomous telecommunication system working with solar power, and for remote reading and managing of meters (gas, water, electrical power, heat etc.) with undeniable advantages for final users and distributors. Meter-readers will not need to visit customers anymore, invoices can be issued for the real consume, plants and distribution can be optimised further to consume monitoring.

These are just some examples of possible applications, and they do not exhaust MegSat system potentiality, which is very versatile and can be adapted to many applications.

For further information, www.megsat.com, e-mail: info@megsat.it, MegSat via Triumplina, 30 25123 Brescia, Italy. Tel +39 030 370 700, Fax +39 030 300 320.