Mar 8 2007
From The Space Library
The Italian Centre for Aerospace Research (Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali—CIRA) announced that it had successfully tested a prototype of an unmanned space vehicle (USV). On 24 February, CIRA had conducted a drop test of the torpedo-shaped craft from Tortolì Airport in Sardinia, releasing the USV from a balloon at an altitude of 21 kilometers (13 miles). The USV, named Castore, had reached a speed of Mach 1.05 in 70 seconds, and had successfully performed a nose-up maneuver at transonic speeds. However, following the successful test, the first-stage parachute had failed to deploy, causing the craft to split into three pieces. When the USV had crashed into the sea with too much force, one of the pieces of the craft had sunk. Gennaro Russo, USV Programme Manager and head of the Space Programmes Office at CIRA in Capua, Italy, stated that CIRA would use insurance money to rebuild Castore.
Agence France-Presse, “Italy Tests Prototype of Unmanned Space Shuttle,” 8 March 2007; Tariq Malik, “Italian Firm Hails Test of Unmanned Spacecraft Prototype,” Space.com, 12 March 2007, http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/070312_usv_droptest.html (accessed 1 February 2010); Stuart Clark, “Uncrewed Space Plane Passes First Key Test,” New Scientist, 12 March 2007.
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