Welcome to Centrospazio

Centrospazio is a space technology laboratory set up in 1989 in the outskirts of Pisa. Founded and directed by Prof. Mariano Andrenucci, Centrospazio was established as a part of Consorzio Pisa Ricerche (Pisa Research Consortium), jointly formed in 1987 by the University of Pisa, the National Research Council (CNR) and the Italian Institute for Public Enterprise (IRI). Through the consortium scheme Centrospazio retains a close link with the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Pisa, sharing part of its personnel and resources and serving as a top-level laboratory for graduate students and researchers. On the other hand, Centrospazio's own staff can be tailored to the needs of ongoing activities, and its own separate administration gives it the possibility to undertake contracts and interact with industrial counterparts and funding bodies with the promptness and the flexibility of a private enterprise.

Centrospazio's facilities are primarily intended to perform experimental activities requiring simulated space vacuum. However, it hosts a variety of other activities ranging from theoretical and computational studies to other types of space oriented experiments not involving vacuum simulation. Centrospazio's premises are located in an industrial estate for the development of small to medium sized businesses, about 10 minutes distance from the city centre, main railway station and the airport.

Since its opening Centrospazio has been primarily active in the development of electric propulsion systems. Ongoing projects include the following major electric propulsion categories:

Magnetoplasmadynamic Propulsion (MPD),
Arcjet Propulsion,
Field Emission Electric Propulsion (FEEP),

and, more recently,

Hall thrusters (Closed Electron Drift Propulsion).

In addition, vacuum facilities available at Centrospazio are also exploited in other fields, such as material testing and aerothermodynamics. Other areas of current involvement include theoretical and computational studies on chemical and electrical propulsion systems, turbomachinery dynamics and cavitation, computational plasma physics, orbital mechanics, and system studies related to a variety of space applications.

MPD | Arcjet | FEEP | Hall thrusters | Cavitation | Aerothermodynamics
Computational Plasma Physics | Orbital Mechanics | Staff | Facilities | Other electric propulsion sites
Consorzio Pisa Ricerche homepage

CENTROSPAZIO
Via A. Gherardesca, 5 - 56121 Ospedaletto, Pisa, Italy
Tel: +39 050 985097 / 985072 - Fax: +39 050 974094
E-mail: centrospazio@cpr.it

These pages are maintained by Salvo Marcuccio.
Last modified: March 10, 2003