On Saturday, March 15, 2025, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the HERMES-SP (High Energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of Satellites – Scientific Pathfinder) satellite constellation was launched aboard the Falcon 9 rocket as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-13 mission. The HERMES constellation, consisting of six 3U CubeSat nanosatellites, was deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit at approximately 510 km altitude, where the satellites will be gradually released.
HERMES Scientific Pathfinder is an international project conceived under the leadership of Dr. Fabrizio Fiore from the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, funded by the Italian Space Agency and the European Commission. The nanosatellite constellation aims to precisely locate X-ray and Gamma-ray emissions from high-energy cosmic transients, such as Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and the electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave events.
GRBs will be detected and measured using advanced X-ray and Gamma-ray spectrometers installed on each nanosatellite. The HERMES spectrometers, the result of decades of research by the Italian research consortium REDSOX, achieve high energy resolution thanks to the use of semiconductor drift detectors. These detectors were invented in 1982 by Prof. Emilio Gatti from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering – Politecnico di Milano, together with Pavel Rehak from Brookhaven National Laboratory. Additionally, signal-processing microelectronics were designed, developed, and characterized at Politecnico di Milano’s Semiconductor Devices and Integrated Circuit Laboratory under the leadership of Prof. Giuseppe Bertuccio, in collaboration with the Integrated Microsystems and Sensors Laboratory at the Department of Industrial and Information Engineering – University of Pavia, directed by Prof. Piero Malcovati.
Furthermore, a research group led by Prof. Fabrizio Ferrandi from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering – Politecnico di Milano contributed to the development of onboard software in collaboration with the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology. In particular, the Architecture group was involved in defining requirements and implementing the onboard computer software for the nanosatellites. Additionally, for functional verification of the flight software, the start-up Blue Signals—founded by Prof. William Fornaciari and Prof. Davide Zoni—was also involved.
