"GALILEO GALILEI" (GG) Pre Phase A Report,  ASI (1996)

This Pre-Phase A Report on the GALILEO GALILEI (GG) small satellite mission project results from a close collaboration of the GG scientists with the italian space industries ALENIA SPAZIO and LABEN under ASI (AGENZIA SPAZIALE ITALIANA) funding.

The scientific contribution to the report is based on work carried out by the italian national collaboration on GG (funded by ASI since 1994), the authors of a paper published by The Journal of the Astronautical Sciences (43, 219 1995) which has presented to the community of space science at large the mission concept "GALILEO GALILEI" Flight Experiment on the Equivalence Principle with Field Emission Electric Propulsion. Of them, those who have written this report were:

Anna M Nobili
Donato Bramanti
Giuseppe Catastini

LABEN has initiated to collaborate on GG in October 1995. PROEL, a division of LABEN in Florence has made its well equipped laboratories available for the payload prototype experiment GALILEO GALILEI ON THE GROUND (GGG). ALENIA SPAZIO has started its own investigation of GG after STEP had not been selected by ESA for the medium size mission M3 in April 1996. ALENIA SPAZIO was prime contractor for the industrial Phase A study of STEP in the competitions for both M2 and M3. The industrial contribution to the report comes from a large number of scientists and engineers who have shown personal interest in the project, deep understanding and imagination. The main contributors were:

Special thanks are due to Roberto Somma, Director for Studies & Technology Coordination at Alenia Spazio, who has made this report materialize. Financial support from ASI, albeit limited because of national financial difficulties in these years, has proved essential. Even more important was the close attention that ASI has shown in the potentiality of this project. We have tried to respond through the quality of our work. Overall, it has been an exciting experience.