Established in 2009 by the merger of Astrotech – the first creature of Giovanni Dal Lago and Gino Bucciol – with Auriga – the start-up of physicist Riccardo Gianni -, Officina Stellare (literally ‘stellar workshop’) is one of the world’s top producers of aerospace instrumentation. From the astronomical research, from which it comes, the company has expanded to video tracking systems for the defense sector and finally to the emerging and very promising sector of the space economy. Their products are appreciated by important customers that range from NASA and Kasi (Korea Astronomy and Space Institute), in the astronomy field, to the US Air Force and the_ Italian Aeronautics_, in the defense field, and even to prestigious universities such as MIT and Princeton University.
The Made in Italy telescopes are the results of a unique business model that allows the company to build and test all their telescopes in-house, as managing director Dal Lago and business development manager Bucciol said to Industria Italiana. Bucciol explained that a telescope is essentially made up of two parts the optical tube and the mirrors and lenses. Officina Stellare has two plants: one in the province of Vicenza, in Sarceno, where management, engineering, and testing are based and one in the province of Rovigo and one in the province of Vicenza, in Sarceno, where lenses and mirrors are produced.
This is one of the reasons for which they have been NASA suppliers since 2012, “what makes the difference, between us and to our competitors, is the know-how developed in the realization of optics”, continued Dal Lago. The production of the mechanical part is quite widespread, while the know-how to produce quality large optical products is quite rare.
Photos from the official website
Ilona Catani Scarlett