The ignition test of the second stage of the solid-propellant motor was successfully carried out in recent weeks at the horizontal static test bench for engine tests within the areas belonging to the Salto di Quirra Interforce Test Range (PISQ). Zephyr-40 intended for the aerospace launcher Vega-CThe test, carried out by AVIO SpA, effectively concludes a series of tests scheduled over time, which are essential for validating the performance of the new nozzle design, which has recently been revised.
The important success will allow, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), the launch of the Vega-C by the end of 2024.
This is the most advanced engine in the “Vega” family and is part of a fundamental project that ensures Europe's independent access to space and, with it, the ability to send satellites into orbit whose use has a direct impact on various areas of employment.
The Ministry of Defense and the Air Force, thanks to the availability of the sites present at the PISQ, adequately prepared to carry out engine tests in the aerospace segment in complete safety, ensure the satisfaction of the stringent test requirements of the national industry, promoting its development through a long process of planning, coordination and execution of the tests. This Defense-Industry partnership is the basis of a fundamental growth of the national technological sector and places the country system at the forefront of the main international forums, bringing out excellence in terms of knowledge, implementation capacity and scientific research.
These are situations that fit well with the consolidated synergies that the Defence and the Air Force have, for some time, started at the level of the Sardinia Region (not least the collaboration that led to the creation of the SPTF site – Space Propulsion Test Facility of AVIO), without excluding future areas of interest, always related to scientific research that is well underway in the Sardinian fabric, which may emerge in the common interest of the country's well-being.
The result follows the canons of such collaboration at various levels and represents a "social accelerator" capable of offering future and new development opportunities. Access to space is strategic precisely because of its inherent ability to promote study and technological research, as well as the consolidated collaborations between the Defense and the academic world. The engine test Zephyr 40 it ended, moreover, a few days after the closing of the Aerospace Festival, precisely to demonstrate the particular interest that the theme holds on the island and, in general, at a national level and in which the Defense and the Air Force are engaged on the front line.
CAMRAS ensures the territorial AM functions and liaison with the territorial/local bodies and administrations, guaranteeing the performance of garrison activities and constituting the natural link between the Armed Forces and local government bodies. It also collaborates with local authorities in the organization and management of public calamities as well as situations of need. To carry out its garrison functions, CAMRAS uses the RSSTA of Decimomannu as well as all the AM bodies located on the territory of the RAS.
Il Experimental and Joint Training Polygon of Salto di Quirra (PISQ), ensures the advanced integrated and multi-domain training of national and foreign Armed Forces, in addition to hosting the execution of experimental tests, tests and development of prototype and experimental systems and collaborating with national scientific and university bodies, foreign industrial entities and civil companies operating in the defense sector and beyond. It promotes the development of collaborations in the space sector and with the sensors located on its territory is an integral part of the European program for the monitoring of space debris called Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST).
