Officina Stellare

Space Factory

"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science."
Edwin Hubble
Astronomer

When it all started

Officina Stellare  was founded in 2009

by Riccardo Gianni (President), Giovanni Dal Lago (Chief Executive Officer) and Gino Bucciol (Chief Business Development Officer). They were later joined by Fabio Rubeo  in 2012. 

But it all started almost decade before with a small, smart company called Astrotech, one of the very first online astronomy e-commerce for expert amateurs ever. A successful intuition which paved the way to today’s Officina Stellare.  

Today, Officina Stellare S.p.A. is a leader in the design, development and delivery of complex opto-mechanical systems and instrumentation for both Ground and Space-based applications. The company operates as a vertical integrator where precise, state of the art designing, manufacturing, integration and testing are performed in-house with granular accuracy. We are based in Sarcedo (VI), Italy, and are listed on the Euronext Growth Milan market at Milan Stock Exchange.

The Company stands out from the international panorama for the entirely in-house availability of the know-how and processes necessary for the design, manufacturing and commissioning of its products and systems for both series and full custom solutions.

Driven by our engineering and MAIT teams and enabled by our internal large optical manufacturing and testing facilities equipped with most advanced technologies, Officina Stellare develops full in-house solutions, with remarkable cost and development time savings for our end-customers. Officina Stellare gathers together professionals stemming from a variety of engineering domains, from aerospace to mechanics, from optics to electronics, computer sciences and astronomy.

Combining top-level technical-scientific skills in very different areas with flexibility and time-to-market actions, is one of the most significant and specific strengths of Officina Stellare. From specifications drafting to final acceptance tests, OS guarantees maximum efficiency of the supply chain and risks management.

Acquisition of complex technologies and core-team partnerships help us to shape our offering with complete, self-standing solutions and better serve the market.

Officina Stellare has grown rapidly in recent years, generating its revenues in the Scientific Research, Earth Observation,  Aerospace, Laser Communication, SSA/SST and Defense sectors.

Never a name was more appropriate...

If literally translated “Officina Stellare” means “star workshop”. By this name, we wanted to recall a place where accurate manufacturing is carried out, where assembly, measurement and testing are performed with granular accuracy and passion, a place where innovative solutions are investigated everyday. It is thanks to all these passages that complex opto-mechanical systems are designed to become research grade scientific instruments  for a large variety of applications.

“Officina Stellare” is therefore a place where skilled engineers and experts forge complex high technology opto-mechanical instrumentation for scientific use, both for Ground and Space-based applications.

Officina Stellare is graphically represented by two of the Pleiades stars sketched by Galileo Galilei in his masterwork, the “Sidereus Nuncius”, published in in 1610. One of those stars was finally visible thanks to Galileo Galilei sensational invention: the telescope. Our logo has a clear reference to the firm’s mission: expanding people’s knowkledge of Space and the Universe thanks to more and more advanced scientific instruments.

“Our world. Your Space”: Our passion for science, technology, research and innovation, to shape a better knowledge and awareness of the Space and the Universe we live in.

An ambitious challenge

The firts Italian Space Factory

OS aims to create the first Italian “Space Factory” – a plan focused on the development of aerospace technologies to consolidate its position in the New Space Economy. This includes the increase of our capabilities and supply of products to companies (B2G and B2B) and development of goods and commercial applications to be placed directly on the market under the OS’ (B2C) brand.

Over the next five years, our goal is to continue deepening our positioning on the market to become a leading player in the development of opto-mechanical systems for applications related to the New Space Economy. In order to achieve that goal OS will mainly focus on competitive applications through the industrialization of the production process.

Careers at OS

Whether you are at the very start of your career or a qualified senior looking for a new, challenging job opportunity, we’d like to hear from you. 

GO TO CAREERS

OS' Assets

Officina Stellare facilities

Officina Stellare manufacturing and integration facilities are equipped to serving customers from optical components manufacturing to systems integration. Some of Officina Stellare’s facilities and assets are listed hereunder:

Internal opto-mechanical design capabilities:

  • Custom design of complex opto-mechanical systems; 
  • Optical design Zemax – OpticsStudio; 
  • Mechanical design (ANSYS, Solidworks); 
  • Simulations (Thermal, Starylight)
  • System Engineering.

Internal optical manufacturing capabilities:

  • Custom manufacturing of complex opto-mechanical systems; 
  • Glass shaping and CNC light weighting, grinding, pre-polishing and figuring of sherical and aspherical surfaces for mirrors and lenses up to 1.6 meter diameter;

Assets:

  • Optotech MPC-501 CNC deterministic polishing for diameters up to 850 mm (planar, spheres, aspheres, freeform)
  • DMG Mori 125 CNC precision machining of glass substrates for freeform griding, shaping (freeform generation, mirror light-weighting) and light weighting up to 1600 mm in diameter,
  • Optotech MPC-1501 CNC Deterministic Polishing for diameters up to 1600 mm
  • ISO 7 clean room
  • DEA lota 1203 CMM: 1320x970x610 mm measurement range, 6+10L/1000 µm accuracy, automatic/motorized/indexed head, fully featured software;
  • Thermal-Vacuum Chamber: available volume Ø700×1000 mm, temperature range from -60 to +150°C, vacuum level <1-5 mbar, equipped with IR lamp for localized heating gradients or increasing chamber temperature up to 150°C. Vacuum level <1×10-5 mbar
  • ISO 5 area

Internal Assembly, Integration and Verification capabilities:

  • Precision stabilized optical benches. 
  • TVAC chamber /700x1000mm, -75/+150°C, 1z10e-6 mBar)
  • SHAKER IMV A30/SA3HAM: 30 kN pk, 30 kN rms random, max acceleration during sine: 90G, max load 400 kg, max shock speed 2.5 m/s, DAQ 16 channels.
  • Instron Traction Machine 34TM-30: up to 30 kN force for testing materials (selected mainly to characterize adhesive bonding, some tests can also be carried on CFRP materials)
  • 4D Technology PhaseCam 6000 vibration insensitive interferometer
  • Zygo DinaFiz 4” vibration insensitive, high accuracy, interferometer
  • TriOptics Interferometer uPhase
  • Agilent and Jasco spectro-photometer 190-2500 nm

Internal optical and mechanical metrological capabilities:

  • Interferometric and Shack/hartmann test based measurements
  • Interferometer accessories: null lenses, CGHs, reference spheres
  • Large auto-collimation mirrors up to 1.1-m diameter
  • Alignment stations equipped with alignment telescopes
  • External observing domes and retractile tent for on-sky tests
  • Large gimbal mounts

Sustainability - ESG

From R&D to manufacturing and quality control, Officina Stellare is one of the very few companies worldwide to have the full production lifecycle of telescopes, opto-mechanical and aerospace instrumentation in-house. 

Having oversight of the value chain enables the company to better manage risks, maximize efficiencies and reduce environmental impacts. 

Officina Stellare already has some initiatives in place to foster product innovation, reduce environmental footprint of its operations and sustain employee engagement. As the company’s operations are concentrated in one location, it has already taken concrete measures to maximize energy efficiency, guarantee product safety and safely manage hazardous waste.

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