In the EARS project, we design a reusable small satellite and develop the related critical technologies. The reusable spacecraft is intended to de-orbit in a controlled manoeuvre to deliver its products and results back to the Earth after several months in orbit, thereby enabling innovative research that would benefit from the space environment, especially from microgravity conditions.

Thanks to its conceptual approach, EARS leverages on a SmallSat modular architecture in order to guarantee the maximum flexibility and the possibility of continuously upgrading the system over time. The EARS satellite uses an inflatable/deployable heat shield and a precise landing parafoil, with the objective to reach unprecedent level of payload volume and mass ratios for a reusable system.

The innovation of the EARS platform is to integrate a powerful and flexible green propulsion system, an innovative deployable/inflatable heat shield, and all the other subsystems in a very tight package inside a SmallSat, thus obtaining a small reusable system with top class payload volume fraction and versatility.

The long-term vision of the EARS project is a family of small satellite platforms that can be launched and reused frequently at a very competitive price without polluting the environment and wasting resources, both in space and on Earth.