Terran Orbital names Margherita Cardi vice president for Europe
Terran Orbital announced on Sept. 17, 2026, the promotion of Margherita Cardi to Vice President of European Operations & Head of Strategic Programs. In the expanded role Cardi will serve as the senior-most operational leader for Terran Orbital’s European organisation, overseeing local functions and departments in Italy and reporting directly to Peter Krauss, President and CEO of Terran Orbital and Managing Director of Tyvak International.
Peter Krauss said Cardi "has been an important part of Tyvak International almost from the beginning, and she has grown as a leader alongside the organization." Krauss added that Cardi understands the company’s customers, programs and people, and that she has proven capable of leading complex missions and building relationships with institutional partners.
Cardi joined Tyvak International in 2016 as the company’s third employee. Over the past decade she has held positions across systems engineering, program management, business development and executive leadership. Prior to her promotion she served as Vice President of Programs and Business Development, a role in which she led Program Management, Business Development and Systems Engineering for the Italy-based organisation.
During her tenure Cardi has been centrally involved in programs that support European institutional customers. The SpaceNews announcement highlights her involvement in securing contracts with the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency and commercial customers. One of the specific programs cited is Milani, the CubeSat developed for ESA’s Hera planetary defense mission. Cardi served as Milani Program Manager and led the spacecraft’s development and delivery for the mission.
Hera is scheduled to arrive at the Didymos binary asteroid system in late 2026, with the Milani CubeSat expected to be released in early 2027 to support Hera’s investigation of the asteroid pair. Terran Orbital’s release frames Cardi’s promotion as part of the company’s continued effort to strengthen its European operations and to execute complex, multi-stakeholder missions for major institutional customers.
Terran Orbital is identified in the announcement as a Lockheed Martin company and a global supplier of satellite-based solutions primarily serving aerospace and defense customers. Tyvak International, the company through which the Italy-based organisation has operated, has grown from a small team to a company executing missions for Europe’s space agencies over the past 10 years, according to the release.
Cardi’s progression from the third employee in 2016 to the senior operational leader in Europe reflects broader trends in the continental space industry: growth of small-satellite development capabilities in Italy, increasing involvement of commercial suppliers in institutional programs, and closer industrial ties between U.S.-headquartered prime contractors and European subsystem and spacecraft integrators. The promotion also exemplifies the role of program managers who bridge engineering, customer relations and execution to deliver on time-sensitive mission needs such as deep-space CubeSats.
Looking ahead, Cardi’s remit includes oversight across Italy-based operations and strategic programs. Her responsibilities will encompass maintaining relationships with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, and shepherding programs from development through delivery. The Milani CubeSat remains the most concrete near-term mission in the announcement, with its release in early 2027 timed to support Hera’s close-range science at the Didymos system.
Cardi’s elevation also signals Terran Orbital’s intent to consolidate decision-making for European activity under an experienced leader familiar with both technical execution and institutional procurement. That dual capability is increasingly important as European agencies pursue complex constellations, cross-border industrial partnerships and a mix of commercial and sovereign capabilities.
For Italy’s domestic space sector, the promotion underscores the presence of experienced program leadership able to win and manage major European contracts. Cardi’s decade at Tyvak International and her stewardship of Milani provide a clear example of how small teams can scale to meet deep-space and institutional requirements.
Terran Orbital’s announcement is the primary source for this report. It provides the timeline of Cardi’s career at Tyvak International, her new title and reporting line to Peter Krauss, and cites Milani and the Hera mission as key programmatic highlights tied to her leadership.
