It is possible to imagine a house on Mars today. The red planet is in fact preparing to host the machinery necessary to produce what is necessary for future human settlements. And the transfer mission will start from Sardinia.
The Aerospace District of Sardinia (Dass) presented the “ Space manufacturing in-situ ” project, financed by the Ministry of University and Research with 4 million euros, this morning in Rome. Collaborators include the Research and Development Center for higher education in Sardinia ( Crs4 ), the University of Cagliari , the Italian Aerospace Research Center ( Cira ), the Ali Consortium , Avio and Lead Tech .
The patent - fully owned by DASS - was granted about ten years ago in Europe, China, the United States, Russia, Japan and India and "is also considered positively by the ISECG, the International Space Exploration and Coordination group, which brings together all the main world space agencies», explains the president of the District Giacomo Cao, also sole administrator of CRS4 . The project makes it possible to follow up on a broader proposal called " Small mission to Mars " already under the attention of the Interministerial Committee for Space and Aerospace Research Policies (Comint) and the Italian Space Agency.
The goal of the mission is to send a probe entirely designed and built in Italy to the surface of the red planet by 2031, inside which specific scientific and technological payloads (payloads) will be housed. "Made in Italy" the Vega E launch vehicle, managed by the Avio company, will also be Italian.
Sardinia, with the CRS4 and the Aerospace District, "confirms itself as a protagonist in research, high technology and innovation at a national and international level", underlines the governor Christian Solinas while for the rector of the University of Cagliari "the project is prominent. We are proud to be able to contribute to a challenge of this impact in the international scientific community".
(Unioneonline/vf)