Space travel? Not just for Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Soon they could also be possible from Italy. The Italian Space Agency has begun to take the first steps in this direction in 2018, thanks also to a close agreement with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic – who, on 11 July, became the first space tourist in history to fly beyond the Karman line – to organize tourist launches into space starting from the Italian territory.
The agreement between ASI and Virgin Galactic
To check in again early. And also for a real passenger list. But with this partnership, ASI, through its subsidiary Altec (Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company), plans to launch Italy’s first tourist space flight soon. The launch base will be the national spaceport in Grottaglie, in Puglia, and in the consolidation phase. So, is the Italian space system ready to face this business? David Avino, CEO of Argotec (aerospace engineering company engaged in the production of microsatellites for deep space and in the development of solutions to support the comfort of astronauts in orbit) spoke about it to time.news. In Italy we have the entire supply chain to think of a “space vacation” – he said -: we are equipped with systems for comfort, advanced space technologies, modules for staying in orbit. His company helped bring the first made in Italy coffee and food machine aboard the International Space Station (ISS). We shouldn’t stop and think about a suborbital flight of a few minutes – he added -, we should think of a “space tourist vacation” even for a few days.
Because Italy can play a leading role
The space industry, according to the forecasts of the investment bank Morgan Stanley, could catch up the value of a trillion dollars by 2040. For the moment reserved for a niche of customers who, thanks to billionaires like Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos, can push the sector towards a profitable future. The costs for a space launch are still very high, but if the trend continues, other companies, even smaller ones, will be able to enter the market and participate in the development. In this picture, Italy can also play a leading role: our country’s researchers can boast skills and experience and ASI always plays a significant role in the most important ESA (European Space Agency) missions. We have developed most of the housing modules (the structures in which astronauts live in orbit, ed) used by ESA and NASA: our skills make us a privileged interlocutor for many commercial partners, he said. Giorgio Saccoccia, president of ASI. Objective 2023. what he said Alessio Quarata, director of ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority) during the presentation of the annual report. The goal is to start with the experimentation for suborbital flights in 2023 in Grottaglie – he said -. It is about establish the rules for operations and trajectories, which we think may be ready by the end of the year to lay off. Today there is no national player, but there is already some international player that is emerging. The experimentation it would start off with point-to-point flights with scientific objectives.
The advantages for the territory
Increasing the space flight market also in Italy would be above all an opportunity also for the traditional version of tourism. A journey of just a few hours, a few days at the most, would bring tourists to stay in our country, compared to what other launch sites in the world could do, such as the Texas desert, from where Jeff Bezos departed with his Blue Origin, or New Mexico, starting point for Richard Branson. Italy has other alternatives to offer tourists in case they want to extend the pre or post space flight.