Journey to the heart of a satellite factory

As in those science fiction stories where the ice hides unfathomable mysteries, in Bariloche the cold and the landscape of snowy mountains They give that feeling that there is something more here than a city preferred by graduates and tourists.

Towards the east side, on the outskirts, about 12 minutes by car from the Civic Center and Epic Chocolates, a white vertical sign with green letters, at 4900 Luis Piedrabuena Avenue, says INVAP.

Viva It goes beyond it and it is like entering another dimension. A place with views of the Patagonian beauty of Lake Nahuel Huapi and where technology is the engine for satellite manufacturing, among other scientific proposals, such as the manufacture of radars and nuclear reactors. Where everything seems to work well, as if the Argentina of cyclical and endless crises had been left behind.

Inside are the invapaenses, as in Bariloche they sometimes call those who work in the company. They are part of a community of 1,700 employees who, according to CEO and general manager Darío Giussi, “are part of a mechanism in which everyone collaborates. If someone can sit down and design or launch an idea, it is because before there was another person who organized his workspace so that he can be comfortable. Here we act with audacity, resilience, sustainability, always thinking about what the next impossible goal will be.”

This explains the large number of group photos that appear like markers on different walls of the facilities. When they document the achievement of a satellitethey take a photo where everyone appears, from the project manager to the collaborators of all the areas involved.

On the walls there are also recognitions for physicist Conrado Varottowho was general manager from its creation, in 1976, until 1991, one of the references and inspiration for the invapaenses.

Everything related to satellites is developed in one of the ships of the complex, and that is where it is headed Vivawith the promise of having access to a rarely visited infrastructure by the press.

Before, Luis Genovese, manager of the Space Area, reviews the achievements of the state company in the field of satellites.

He does it in the appropriate setting: surrounded by scale models of all the satellites that our country managed to put into orbit. And the next ones: the ARSAT SG1 and the SABIA-Mar, which are under development.

In the hallways you can see scientists and technicians checking graphs and metrics on computers or manipulating the golden material that usually covers satellites: a insulation for thermal control and protection of the sensitive instruments that these devices usually carry.

The world in orbit is wide: satellites can be the size of a school lunch box (nanosatellites) or easily exceed 2,000 kilograms in weight.

As we advance towards the heart of the “satellite factory” we see sectors with greater precautionary and safety measures. “This is a building designed especially to carry out these activities. Here we assemble and integrate the satellites, and we also reproduce the environment that they will experience in space: we test them on Earth,” says Genovese.

At INVAP they work on two large lines of satellites, those for Earth observation, located in what is known as low orbit, at 600 kilometers, and made on behalf of the National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE). And those of telecommunications, further away, about 36 thousand kilometers, in geostationary orbitand which are managed by the company ARSAT.

“Our main task is the design, the orbit of the units produced in the country, and the integration of components acquired abroad. The entire satellite is assembled here, tested and from here it leaves for launch into orbit, from the United States or from French Guiana. After the launch, in which we actively participated, we continued supporting our clients, CONAE and ARSAT, deploying a team in the control center once the satellite is in orbit. And throughout its useful life, we provide support,” details the expert.

After listening to Genovese and seeing the scale models of the satellites that were made here: three that were integrated into locations that the company had in Villa Golf and six in the new facilities, we go directly to the place where they take shape.

To enter, you must first disinfect the soles of your shoes. Then an antechamber appears, where you have to put on special clothing, cover your shoes again, and put on sterile caps. The objective: not to contaminate and do not cause electromagnetic changes in the living room. Therefore, before entering, you rest your hand on a metal plate whose purpose is to eliminate electrostatics.

Dressed as to enter an operating room, then, a huge space appears, the dimensions of a mini basketball stadium, of very high walls, immaculate. It is known as a “clean room”, a unique infrastructure in South America.

Distributed in different sectors, metal pieces of various sizes rest on work tables. The largest ones attract attention, surrounded by insulation tapes, with some parts covered.

9 satellites came from INVAP, some weighing almost 2,900 kilos and the SABIA-Mar will also come from here, the new gem invapaensewhich will be launched in two years and whose solar panels are already in this “clean room” to be assembled when the time comes.

Unfolded, the panels will occupy around 40 square meters. That explains why this assembly place It’s so spacious.

Leaving the “clean room” behind, the technological surprises continue. After designing and combining the pieces, it is necessary test the satellite. Know if its parts will withstand the hostile conditions of space.

Like those wind tunnels, to which F1 cars are subjected, another large high-quality tech infrastructure appears on the scene.

It is the High Technology Testing Center (CEATSA). Javier Chielens, project manager of ARSATSG1, comments: “Satellites have components with very high resistance to radiation. But if you think in terms of computing capacity, perhaps any of the latest cell phones has a greater capacity. What a satellite has is very high reliability. He launches himself and, for example, in five years, absolutely nothing can be done to him. Therefore, in the event that one part fails, another comes into play.”

Engineer María Emilia Martini, head of the SABIA-Mar project, nods when Chielens elaborates on the resistance of the satellites. And he tells what the one under his monitoring will be like: “The objective of the SABIA-Mar mission, our next satellite, is to study the color of the sea because this gives us healthiness, that is, it tells us how healthy our sea is. In turn, this data has many applications in relation to the information it gives us about climate change. “The sea is one of the great absorbers of carbon dioxide.”

Martini also comments that this project is unique of its kind, and that it has the support of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).

INVAP, which means Applied Research, was not always here, in these buildings with infrastructure that at times remind us of some NASA headquarters.

In the ’70s, when it was founded, it was distributed in different places in the area, in Villa Golf, 40 minutes from the center, and also in unoccupied spaces in hostels out of season.

It was born almost in the style of several mega technology companiesin the “garage”, which later remained as a memory of the early days.

Javier Chielens, project manager of ARSAT SG1, was born in Bariloche in 1976, just when the company was founded. He is the same age as INVAP: 48 years old. He studied engineering in Buenos Aires, at the UTN Avellaneda headquarters, and when he finished he returned to the South and wanted to work in this place that he saw grow.

“INVAP was born as a spin-off from the National Atomic Energy Commission. Its first version emerged in a room at the Balseiro Institute. As it is a company from Río Negro, the idea was to make its headquarters in the area where it was born, that is why it is in Bariloche,” says Chielens.

“When INVAPya was important, it did not yet have a physical infrastructure, but the company had already acquired three pieces of land here, in the east of the city, because everything was growing in this direction. At that moment there was nothing, it was a steppe landscape, a foothills, with forested pines. In that scenario all this grew,” recalls Sebastián Clasen, deputy general manager of Processes and Systems.

Chielens and Clasen remember when there were only two buildings in this place, no landscaping, and dust flew every time vehicles approached. They also saw when the cranes worked to build the “clean room” with specifications that were later checked by NASA itself, which wanted to be sure that everything would be OK to do. collaborative projects.

Precisely, the crew members of a NASA mission, STS88 of the Shuttle Endeavor, commanded by Bob Cabana (in charge of launching the Argentine SAC-A satellite in 1998), visited the INVAP headquarters some time before that event to make closer contact. They left an autographed photo and an inspiration that still flies over today.

Clasen says: “They, from NASA, told us that they saw that we were doing things well, in the style of how they started, in the ’60s, with that spirit.”

Today INVAP is a state company that invoices about 200 million dollars annually. 35 percent comes from its exports, of high technological value. Among its high points is the manufacture of the first telecommunications satellites in Latin America. The SG1, in development, will be another important step in its history.

Observation measures, which aim to measure soil surface moisture and have vital information for the management of natural disasters, such as fires, floods or earthquakes, also continue to progress. “Are from an entirely national development“Very few countries have mastery of this technology,” Genovese proudly remarks.

In the surroundings of INVAP, hares are now running around. Nahuel Huapi continues lying on your right, with mountains outlined with snow in the background. Out with Nature, in with Technology. A powerful mix: we are like in orbit.