Altec
Altec (Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company) is a public-private company owned by Thales Alenia Space and the Italian Space Agency (Asi), based in the corso Marche area of Turin, where the Aerospace City is taking shape.1 It is Italy's centre of excellence for engineering and logistics services supporting space operations and planetary exploration missions.1
Since 2019 Altec has run the Rover Operations Control Centre (Rocc), the control centre for the European Space Agency's (Esa) ExoMars mission, used for ground testing of the rover's systems; the company is also developing, with funding from Asi, a new Lunar Simulation Centre dedicated to simulating and testing robotic lunar exploration missions.1
On 12 October 2026 Altec signs a memorandum of understanding with ispace-Europe, a European entity based in Luxembourg, to explore possible forms of collaboration on lunar rover testing, mission simulation and operational training: in particular, the use of Altec's facilities by ispace-Europe will be evaluated for simulating rover operations in lunar-like environments, with functional testing of platforms and auxiliary devices, subsystem and system checks, and training and certification programmes for ispace-Europe's lunar mission team.1 Altec's chief executive Vincenzo Giorgio states that the agreement represents an opportunity to build on Altec's experience in planetary missions and strengthen the European ecosystem for lunar exploration.1
Sources
- TorinoOggi — 12 October 2026