In recent weeks, the ignition test of the second stage of the Zefiro-40 solid propellant engine for the Vega-C aerospace launcher was successfully carried out at the horizontal static bench for engine tests within the areas belonging to the Salto di Quirra Interforce Polygon (PISQ). The test, carried out by the AVIO SpA Company, concludes, in fact, a series of tests cadenced over time, which are essential to validate the performance of the new nozzle design, recently revised.
The important success will allow, according to the European Space Agency (ESA), the launch of Vega-C by the end of 2024.
It is the most advanced engine of the “Vega” family, 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 reflection in various areas of use.
The Ministry of Defence and the Air Force, thanks to the availability of the sites present at the PISQ, adequately prepared for the safe performance of engine tests in the aerospace segment, 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 Defence-Industry combination is the basis of a fundamental growth of the national technological sector and places the country system at the forefront in the main international forums, bringing out excellence in terms of knowledge, implementation capacity and scientific research.
Cases that are well reconciled with the consolidated synergies that the Defense itself 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 rather than started in the Sardinian fabric, which may emerge in the common interest of the country’s well-being.
The result follows the canons of this 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 test of the Zefiro 40 engine ended, moreover, a few days after the closing of the Aerospace Festival, precisely demonstrating the particular interest that the issue has on the island and, in general, at a national level and in which the Defense and the Air Force are engaged in the front line.
The C.A.M.R.A.S. ensures the territorial AM functions and liaison with the territorial/local authorities and administrations, guaranteeing the performance of activities of a garrison nature and constituting the natural link between the Armed Force and the local government bodies. It also contributes with local authorities to the organization and management of public disaster situations as well as situations of need. In order to carry out its oversight functions, the C.A.M.R.A.S. avails itself of the R.S.S.T.A. of Decimomannu as well as all the A.M. bodies located in the territory of the R.A.S..
The Salto di Quirra Joint Experimental and Training Range (PISQ) ensures the integrated and multi-domain advanced training of national and foreign Armed Forces, as well as hosting the execution of experimental tests, tests and development of prototype and experimental systems and collaborating with national scientific and university bodies, foreign industrial realities and civil companies operating in the defense and non-defense sector. It fosters the development of collaborations in the space sector and with sensors located in its territory it is an integral part of the European program for the monitoring of space debris called Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST).
Follow us on our Telegram channel