In the classroom and in the laboratories the 7 astronaut candidates selected by the European Space Agency for the Basic Training. They study Fluid Science and Materials Science. Tomorrow they will be in the 'wind tunnel' in the Federician headquarters in via Claudio (at 11.45).
The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected, from over 23000 applications, 5 astronaut candidates and 11 reserves. The 5 candidates, Sophie Adenot, France, helicopter test pilot, Pablo Álvarez Fernández, Spain, aerospace engineer, Rosemary Coogan, Great Britain, Ph.D. in astronomy, Raphael Liégois, Belgium, PhD in neuroscience, and Marco Sieber, Switzerland, doctor, will join the European astronaut corps once they have completed the first preparation phase: Basic Training. The 5 candidates are also joined by John Mc Fall, ESA reserve astronaut selected for the feasibility study with the aim of understanding and breaking down barriers to astronauts with disabilities and Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Australia's first female astronaut candidate.
The course, which will last 12 months, will see them studying all branches of basic and space physics, biology, engineering, medicine and Earth sciences, also integrating courses in survival, diving, Russian language, leadership and team building in order to acquire the knowledge necessary for the future space missions to which they will be assigned.
The University of Naples Federico II has been selected to train astronaut candidates in Fluid Science, with Professor Raffaele Savino of the Department of Industrial Engineering, and Materials Science, with Professor Paolo Aprea and Engineer Luigi Sanguigno of the Department of Chemical, Materials, and Industrial Production Engineering. This is an important recognition of the quality of the faculty's teaching and research.
Since the beginning of 2023, professors have been busy preparing and certifying lessons to ensure the quality of the courses according to ESA and NASA standards.
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The Basic Training courses are held mainly at the ESA Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, and Federico II was selected, the only one among several European universities, to hold the lessons at the headquarters of the Department of Industrial Engineering in Piazzale Tecchio in Naples.
The choice was made by ESA for the reputation and long tradition of the School of Aerospace Engineering of Naples, particularly in the field of Space Science and Technology and Microgravity. During the first weeks of October, in addition to theoretical lessons, the astronauts will have the opportunity to carry out practical sessions in the laboratories that will also include the simulation of the critical phase of atmospheric reentry from space using the hypersonic plasma wind tunnel of the Department of Industrial Engineering of the University.
'The University carries out the training of future ESA astronauts. This week concludes a path carried out over several months, we had some visits from ESA delegations with whom we agreed on the training programs and verified that they respected the highest standards typical of astronauts for the future space missions to which they will be assigned - explains Professor Raffaele Savino -. In our classrooms we hold theoretical lessons, anticipating concepts that are then revisited in the laboratories, where practical sessions are held in which astronauts can train. An experiment is planned in our Wind Tunnel, the only one in Italy, which reproduces the conditions of reentry of space capsules, precisely to show them what the most important scientific and technological problems are.
The ESA delegation at Federico II will include, in addition to the seven astronaut candidates, Kris Capelle, Head of the Space Station Training Unit at ESA's Astronaut Centre, and engineer Luca Anniciello, Increment Training Lead and supervisor of the courses that will be implemented in Naples, who graduated in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Federico II.
“This week is part of an agreement that we have, as the Department of Industrial Engineering, with ESA - underlines Nicola Bianco, Director of the Department -. In particular, beyond the various projects we carry out and the scientific reports, this activity concerns the training of those who will be the future astronauts of the Agency, which has chosen only our University for external training, a choice which is the recognition of the value of our educational laboratories.
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