You need means of transportation to move on Earth. You need means of transportation to move in space. Italy is at the forefront, both on Earth and in space.

Today, through the ASI and the Italian industry, Italy carries on a long and important research tradition in the field of space propulsion. The primary mission pursued by the ASI in the industry of space transportation aims at supporting the development and manufacturing of transportation systems which contribute to the strategic independency of the European access to space. Space transportation systems are complex by nature, and they require huge manufacturing and production capacities and the operational availability of targeted ground-based infrastructure. Because of this, they are manufactured by the ASI mainly through a European-level cooperation, within the ESA, and an international-level cooperation (with the Russian partners, in particular), accompanied by a strongly synergic and complementary national activity.

‣ ALL THE MISSIONS

ARIANE

ARIANE ‣

The Ariane programme refers to a set of launchers designed by the Arianespace consortium on behalf of the ESA.

VEGA C

VEGA C ‣

Vega C is the evolution of the current Vega launcher and is designed to increase its payload up to 2200 kg in low terrestrial orbit

VEGA

VEGA ‣

Vega is a project which was born in Italy and was subsequently adopted by the ESA. It’s a launcher which is capable of carrying a mass payload between 300 and 1500 kilograms  


SPACE RIDER

SPACE RIDER ‣

The Space Rider is a project of automated space vehicle, which can be reused for unmanned re-entry and is currently being studied by the ESA and mainly funded by Italy

ALTEC-VIRGIN GALACTIC

ALTEC-VIRGIN GALACTIC ‣

The Altec-Virgin Galactic agreement involves the manufacturing of an Italian spaceport in the area of Taranto-Grottaglie, for suborbital flight experiments

ARIANE 6

ARIANE 6 ‣

Ariane 6, in its different Ariane 62 and 64 configurations, is a new launcher which will debut in 2020 and will replace Ariane 5 in 2023

IRIS

IRIS ‣

Iris is the Italian propulsion system which, in 1992, orbited the Lageos-2 satellite through the Space Shuttle Columbia

ATV

ATV ‣

Atv was a space vehicle developed by the ESA, whose goal was carrying supplies to the International Space Station and bring the station back to the right orbit.

IXV

IXV ‣

IXV (Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle) is an experimental space vehicle, whose mission consists of assessing the ability to carry out a controlled atmospheric re-entry from a low terrestrial orbit

‣ News

WEDNESDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2024

Memorandum of Understanding signed between ASI and the Commissioner General’s Office for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka ‣

The protocol is intended to promote national excellence in technologies applied to the space and aerospace industries MORE...

TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2024

Listening to cochlear sounds to estimate intracranial pressure changes on the ISS ‣

New results from the ASI experiment Acoustic Diagnostics MORE...

TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024

JUICE’s RIME Radar Pings the Moon and Listens to Earth ‣

ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, launched the 14th April 2023, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of the state-of-the-art instruments MORE...

TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024

CUBESAT Training Course ‣

From October 28 to November 8, 2024 MORE...

TUESDAY 29 OCTOBER 2024

Working Group Africa Training of Trainer Program ‣

The event, organized by ASI in collaboration with KSA, ISPRA and the School of Aerospace Engineering of the University "La Sapienza", took place in Nairobi MORE...