The Italian-Astronaut Personal Eye (I-APE) experiment foresees the construction of a micro-aircraft for space application, usable both inside and outside of orbiting vehicles, to support ISS crew IVA (Intra-Vehicular Activity) and EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) operations. The I-APE experiment requires experimentation on orbit in three distinct logical phases:
Phase 1 - Testing of a device called I-APE Exp 0, of similar weight to the end device, and equipped with the parts necessary for power and one axis control.
Phase 2 - Review of the micro-aircraft for space application for use inside orbiting vehicles, called the I-APE Exp 1.
This is a first example of micro aircraft with three-axis attitude control, remotely controllable by the astronaut and able to carry as payload a colors micro camera with good resolution to transmit real-time the acquired images.
Phase 3 - Micro-aircraft review in the final version, known as I-APE.
The testing of this version will be referred to the possibilities offered by the agency, subsequent to the mission of reference for Phase 2. I-APE is also equipped with thrusters that can operate both in microgravity and during EVAs.