“Innovation and a sustainable future: we will be at Futuro Remoto with an exhibition where it will be possible to observe up close some of the results obtained in our centres: we will range from the wing developed within the AirGreen2 project to increase the flight efficiency of aircraft, to the thermal protections made of innovative ISiComp material for the first reusable European space transport system Space Rider, up to the model of a supersonic aircraft for air defence installed in the Cira PT1 wind tunnel where it was tested”.
Thus Sara Di Benedetto, researcher at the Italian Aerospace Research Center, anticipates the themes that will be at the center of “Flying high, flying fast, but with your feet on the ground”, an exhibition that will take place, as part of the XXXVII edition of Futuro Remoto (Naples, Città della Scienza), on November 24, 25 and 26.
CIRA develops cutting-edge technologies to increase the sustainability of air transport and achieve the challenging goals set by Europe for the coming decades. Thanks to innovative wings like the one illustrated by di Benedetto, and created as part of the European project AirGreen2, it will be possible to increase the flight efficiency of aircraft, thus reducing their energy needs and CO2 emissions. But this is not the only challenge that the Italian Aerospace Research Center is working on.
CIRA is in fact designing new ways of observing the Earth through the use of stratospheric platforms that, operating in proximity and persistence, will be able to offer a precision tens of times greater than that of current satellites. And CIRA's commitment to the search for innovative solutions also concerns other aerospace projects of great importance: the development of a suborbital aircraft called "Hyperion", to extend the air defense capacity and carry out micro satellite air launch missions, and the creation of the first reusable European spacecraft Space Rider, thanks to the special ceramic material ISiComp, developed in collaboration with Petroceramics and able to guarantee a safe return to Earth of the aircraft and its reuse for multiple missions.
Article published on November 18, 2023 - 11:56
