The STEPS Approach for the Design and the Verification of Vision Based Planetary Precision Landing

Space systems technology & validation are characterized by long development times and high costs due to the complexity of design and the reliability sought after. One of the main aims should hence be to reduce times and costs of multi-disciplinary interactions while improving their effectiveness.Looking for a major leap ahead in this direction, Thales Alenia Space, started specific initiatives as part of the STEPSproject. STEPS ( istemi e ecnologie per l' s lorazione Spaziale) is a research project co- financed by PiedmontRegion and firms and universities of the Piedmont Aerospace District, aims at supporting the research and innovationactivities in the Space Exploration domain.STEPS is a three years technology research project (started in December 2008) with TAS Italia as Prime with 28partners (the three Piemonte Universities - PoliTO; UniTO; UniPMN, ALTEC, one research institute and 23 PiemonteSME).