The new network was built by e-GEOS (Telespazio/ASI) and is set to provide up-to-date, high-precision geodetic information through the signals generated by the satellite navigation systems

22 November 2021

Construction of the New National GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Frame Network of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has been completed. This infrastructure is of vital importance in providing up-to-date, accurate geodetic information for the scientific community and professional and entrepreneurial operators. The new network was built by e-GEOS, a company belonging to Telespazio (80%) and an investee of ASI (20%).

Through the use of latest-generation technologies, 46 stations distributed evenly across the Italian peninsula will enable the acquisition of signals generated by all the global satellite navigation systems, such as the US GPS, the Russian GLONASS, the Chinese Beidou and, above all, Europe’s Galileo.

ASI’s GNSS network, which was designed and developed to provide indispensable support for the global geodetic networks (such as the International GNSS Service IGS and the EUropean REference Frame EUREF), will produce data for the management of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF). What’s more, it will make a variety of products and services possible: from determining the orbits of GNSS satellites (with an accuracy to the nearest centimetre) to time-synchronising them (better than one nanosecond), useful both for applications on-site as well as to support satellites equipped with GNSS receivers.

The new network will enable ASI and e-GEOS to intensify and fine-tune the joint scientific and operational development under way for the last 25 years at the ASI Space Centre in Matera in the field of meteorology, as well as the study of climate change and space weather. Specifically, the network will enable the provision to the national supply chain - from research centres to SMEs, universities and major corporations - of products and services that are useful for developing innovative, high-precision positioning applications, which can be implemented in a wide variety of sectors: from professional applications to those in the field of precision farming.

In order to contribute to scientific activities, some stations in the new GNSS network have been installed in particularly significant locations where purpose-designed structures are already present. These include, for instance: the ASI Space Centre in Matera, home to the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory MLRO and a VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) antenna whose data are used for accurate space geodesy measurements; ASI’s new SDSA (Sardinia Deep Space Antenna) operations base in San Basilio (Cagliari), where the Sardinia Radio Telescope SRT built by INAF can be found - a versatile instrument for radio astronomy, geodynamic studies and space science; the European Gravitational Observatory EGO in Cascina (Pisa), which plays host to the large VIRGO interferometer built to detect gravitational waves; as well as several Italian Air Force bases, home to weather stations.

According to Giuseppe Bianco, ASI’s project manager, “Construction of the New National GNSS Frame Network is the result not just of the major effort on the part of ASI and e-GEOS to implement it, but also of the extensive contributions of all the bodies and institutions which today host the new GNSS stations. The entire programme will make it possible to provide innovative information in the Geodesy sector, which sees the Matera Space Centre as the focal point”.

Some stations are located, among others, at the Air Force General Staff HQ, INAF, EGO - VIRGO Centre in Cascina (Pisa), the Municipality of Castelgrande (Potenza) and the Municipality of Isnello (Palermo), the Consorzio per la Bonifica della Capitanata (Land Reclamation Consortium), the Sardinian Water Board and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, the Libero Consorzio Comunale (Municipal Free Consortium) of Agrigento, the Astronomical Observatory of the Autonomous Region of the Aosta Valley and the Clément Fillietroz-ONLUS Foundation, the Lilio di Savelli Astronomy Park (Crotone), the Autonomous Province of Trento and Trento University, the University of Molise and Sannio University.

All the data acquired by the “New National GNSS Frame Network” will be received, processed and stored at ASI’s Space Centre in Matera and provided to all interested users.

Photo Credit: ESA

‣ News

WEDNESDAY 14 FEBRUARY 2024

Ready, set, go! Euclid begins its dark Universe survey ‣

ASI - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Today, ESA’s space telescope Euclid begins its survey of the dark Universe. Over the next six years, Euclid will observe billions of galaxies across 10 billion years of cosmic history. Learn how the team prepared Euclid in the months after launch for this gigantic cosmic quest. 

MORE...

SATURDAY 01 JULY 2023

EUROPE’S EUCLID MISSION LIFTS OFF ‣

The successful launch of the satellite marks the beginning of a mission designed to observe billions of galaxies and uncover the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Italy's decisive contribution to Euclid was made possible through the effort and expertise of the Italian Space Agency, the National Institute of Astrophysics and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics MORE...

WEDNESDAY 08 NOVEMBER 2023

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN ITALY AND SOUTH KOREA ON COOPERATION IN THE USE OF OUTER SPACE FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES ‣

Teodoro Valente, President of the Italian Space Agency, and Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT of South Korea, signed a MoU in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella and the President of the Republic of South Korea, Yoon Suk-yeo MORE...

WEDNESDAY 14 JUNE 2023

Teodoro Valente is the new president of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) ‣

Following the appointment of its new president, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has also designated a new Board of Directors MORE...

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER 2022

THE PARTICIPATION OF THE ITALIAN SPACE AGENCY IN THE 73RD INTERNATIONAL ASTRONAUTICAL CONGRESS IN PARIS ‣

The space showcase par excellence takes place in Paris from September 18th to September 22nd, 2022, and precedes the next European edition, which will take place in Italy with IAC Milan 2024, organized by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and hosted by the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA), the ASI and Leonardo

MORE...