Collaboration agreement between AM and CNR on suborbital flight

(To air Force)
09/02/21

An agreement between the Air Force and the National Research Council was signed, in separate digital form, between the air brigade general Roberto Vittori and the director of the Engineering, ICT and Technologies for Energy and Transport Department, Emilio Campana.

The initiative, which is part of an increasingly inclusive collaboration between the Armed Forces and the world of public research, is part of the commercial agreement signed on 2 October 2019 between the Italian Air Force and Virgin Galactic, commercial operator of suborbital flight scheduled for 2021 at Spaceport America in Las Cruces in New Mexico (US).

The flight will be carried out on board the SpaceShipTwo by Virgin Galactic, designed to fly both passengers and payloads into space for tourism and research purposes. During the suborbital space flight, following the shutdown of the engine, the personnel will initiate the procedures to conduct the experiments in microgravity conditions. These conditions will allow to carry out multidisciplinary experiments, otherwise difficult to carry out, related to medicine, advanced materials, fluid physics, physiology.

Specifically, today's collaboration agreement provides for the use of highly specialized personnel from the AM and CNR in carrying out the experiments in order to acquire important technical, operational and logistical information. The experiments carried out will allow not only to increase the scientific knowledge of some phenomena in conditions of microgravity, but also to better characterize the context of suborbital flights, with a view to making them accessible to an increasing number of people in the future. They will also assist in the technical feasibility study to operate suborbital flights in Italy.

The gen. Roberto Vittori stated: “The signing of the collaboration agreement on suborbital flight is a further step in the well established and fruitful collaboration between the Italian Air Force and the world of research, in particular with the National Research Council. This activity takes an important step forward for the country system, to consolidate and increase the technological capacity to access and operate in the range that extends beyond traditional airspace, towards space itself. For our Armed Force, in particular, the growth of experience in this sector will allow us to acquire skills useful for guaranteeing the security of the country, even in the face of technological evolution of possible threats ".

“Aerospace is a strategic sector characterized by very rapid technological changes and involves national industries of great importance. The CNR - commented Eng. Emilio Campana - it therefore continues its mission of providing scientific-technological support to the country system, engaging its researchers in the development of new technologies and in carrying out advanced scientific research, in this case in close collaboration with the national defense institutions ”.

Image: Virgin Galactic