The first seminar of the Committee for Space Exploration of the Order of Engineers was held in Rome, on a very important topic because the intentions of the organizers were to rationalize the national technology and its applications in the field of aerospace.

This summer – let’s remember – a qualified Vega C rocket was launched from the European space base Kourou, in French Guiana: a conveyor, Italian by design and construction, produced at the AVIO factories in Colleferro.

Vega C is an important launcher: Vega C is 35 meters high, has a mass of 210 tons and can take on about 2,200 kg. The satellites are in a polar orbit of 700 km. These are the characteristics that give Italy great autonomy in terms of its position in orbit. In addition, the new Avum+ liquid-fuel engine allows the rocket to deliver payloads on three different orbits and direct the final stage into a re-entry orbit so that it burns up in the atmosphere without leaving debris.

And among its payloads, the most massive – a nickel ball less than half a meter in diameter – LARES2, the second satellite created to accurately measure the drag effect of inertial systems (frame drag), generated by currents of mass-energy is the rotation of the body with mass, predicted by The general theory of relativity. He was his principal investigator Ignazio Ciuffolini From the Enrico Fermi Research Center in Rome. Satellite project manager Antonio Polozzi from the Faculty of Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering while the relevant realization and qualification models were supervised by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Frascati and Padua. The separation system, the device that launches the satellite into orbit, was produced by OHB Italia.

To address these issues with deep mastery,Simon Perotta From the Italian Space Agency, teachers of the Aerospace Engineering School of La Sapienza in Rome Stefano Carlotta And the Claudius Paris. And the Valerio Casale from Avio. Institutions, universities and industry: a tripod upon which serious and informed communication is based, free from harmful self-celebrations.

Investigating these topics and elaborating their meaning scientifically is very useful: these are the considerations made at the end of the work by engineers registered in the system, by students of the School and Engineering courses of the University of Rome, by professionals and by experts in the field. About eighty people in person and remotely.

The realization of such advanced studies and cutting-edge technology capable of providing autonomous access to space – albeit for pieces of up to two tons of cargo – or a little more – makes the country one of the most reliable in terms of training and for the most demanding applications.