After two years of cruising to the Didymos system, Milani, as the other cubesat Juventas, will be deployed from its mothercraft in a cautious manner, Margherita explains: “It will be partially deployed, exposed to outer space while still interfacing with its deployer, for a period which is in the order of days during which a complete system checkout is performed.”

Upon successful checkout completion, release will follow, at a maximum velocity of 5 cm/s. Any faster ejection would expose Milani to the risks of leaving the Didymos system before the initial, critical propulsive maneoeuvre is executed.