LARES satellite and separation system.

The LARES satellite for the study of the Lense-Thirring effect predicted by Einstein general relativity has been launched on the 13th of February 2012 and injected in the nominal orbit with high accuracy. The Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA) provided the main support to the mission, ASI on the LARES system side and ESA on the launch vehicle side. An important requirement of the satellite was the lowest possible value of the surface-to-mass ratio. This is indeed related to the possibility to reduce the effect of classical surface perturbations on the satellite motion. That was achieved by constructing the highest mean density orbiting body in the solar system, that implied the use of a non conventional material for space. The experience acquired on the bulk tungsten material used for LARES, during the manufacturing of breadboards, improved the knowledge on the machining of this material that was never used, at least as a main component of a satellite and with this dimension, in the aerospace field. The knowledge acquired suggested some improvements in the manufacturing strategy for the Flight unit resulting in even tighter tolerances than in the demonstration unit. Also for the LARES separation system an unconventional design was adopted since no protruding parts were acceptable on the satellite surface. In the paper some detail on the manufacturing processes of LARES satellite will be reported and the final design of the separation system will be described along with some other relevant particular issues. Copyright © (2012) by the International Astronautical Federation.