Spacewalks, Money Talks

Italian Space Program – An interview with Giovanni Caprara about his new book A History of the Italian Space Adevnture published by Springer. The book covers the history of the Italian space program. Check out the book here   https://amzn.to/3bwc5aL

How did you become interested in studying and writing on the subject of your book?

I have always been fascinated by space exploration and for this I studied engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. Furthermore, I always liked to write and tell about the achievements in the cosmos. Italy already in 1964 launched its first scientific satellite “San Marco” becoming one of the first countries engaged in space exploration. Italy has a long history that deserved to be written and known internationally.

What is the book about and what major themes do you focus on?

The book tells the evolution of research conducted in Italy in the field of rockets, scientific and application satellites and inhabited modules. The word rocket was born in Italy during the clash in the 14th century between the Republics of Venice and Genoa. And Venice won thanks to the use of rockets. Then there were the great masters of fireworks in the sixteenth century and in the nineteenth century the construction of the first rockets for the Savoy Kingdom began. In 1923 the first experiments also began in Italy. In the 1960s, the San Marco satellites and the space base at the Equator began to be built in front of the coast of Kenya from where they were launched thanks to the collaboration with NASA which supplied the Scout rocket. And Italy also launched American and one English satellites. Then telecommunications satellites were built, the inhabited modules for the shuttle and the space station and finally also the European Vega rocket.

How does the book differ from other books on this subject?

This is the first book that tells the whole story of Italian space activities starting from the first ideas on rockets arriving at today’s Space Economy and participation in the space station around the Moon and the exploration of Mars. Everything is told through the characters who were protagonists.

Furthermore, the Italian activities are included in the context of the main international activities in order to understand the relationships and the evolution followed

Did Italy manufacture its space hardware in-country? If not, what international partners has it worked with to procure its hardware?

Certainly the Italian space industry is made up of large groups such as Leonardo but also of some other companies with the ability to create complete systems and components for satellites.

There are about 250 Italian space companies surveyed. Numerous satellites have been built entirely in Italy since the 1960s: from the five San Marco satellites to study the atmosphere to the astronomical satellites BeppoSax and Agile to study X and gamma sources in the universe to the telecommunications satellites Sirio, Italsat, and Sicral for Defense. And CosmoSkymed for Earth observation.

Together, the inhabited modules for the ISS are produced, now those of the Gateway lunar station and also the Vega and Vega-C rockets which carry up to 2500 kilograms in low orbit . Then parts of European satellites and probes are produced. There are numerous scientific instruments designed and built in Italy and present in NASA probes such as Cassini. Italian industry is the leader of ESA’s Exomars program for Mars.

What resource materials did you primarily use for your research?

I have followed Italian and international space activities since their inception and as the science and space editor of Corriere della Sera, the most authoritative, widespread

and oldest national newspaper. I wrote about the various events by meeting and interviewing the characters who were protagonists both in projects both in politics.

I also consulted public and private archives and studied the projects carried out in their evolution.

Did you discover anything in your research that surprised you?

Several things surprised me when searching for my book. The first is the curiosity and creativity of the protagonists. The second is the determination with which they followed their projects which seemed impossible. Such as the construction by Professor Luigi Broglio of the La Sapienza University of Rome and Air Force officer of a space base at the Equator from which to launch satellites again in the 1960s. A real feat for which he managed to convince politicians to finance it, then successfully accomplished it. And since then it has been a crescendo also creating a space industry today competitive at an international level.

Does the Italian academic system produce enough of its own space scientists?  What are the major countries that foreign scientists come from o help with the Italian space program?

Right now universities train all scientists and technologists which Italy needs.  There are some scientists from other European countries who work in Italy and there are numerous scientists from other countries (USA, China, Europe, Russia) who collaborate with Italian scientists in space experiments embarked on probes and satellites of various countries.

Who have been some of the major sponsors of the Italian space program through the years either financially or politically?

The Italian space programs are funded by the Italian Space Agency ASI. Today, space activity is politically coordinated by an inter-ministerial committee headed by the Prime Minister. Some programs are funded by the defense ministry and now other ministries such as economic development also contribute.

What do you hope readers will get from this book?

My hope is that readers will fuck through the book a precious Italian space reality both in knowledge and in the production with which to collaborate. Almost half of the inhabited modules of the ISS space station were built by the Italian industry. And in Europe it is the guiding country of the Martian programs.

Did you have any difficulties in finishing or publishing and how did you overcome those?

The writing of the book was a magnificent adventure in which it was interesting to face the inevitable difficulties. I started writing books on space from the early eighties and some have also been translated in the United States as well as in France and Germany. I have overcome all the difficulties thanks to direct relationships with the protagonists of space activities and thanks to the discovery of political documents that have helped me to clarify the meaning of some decisions and the evolution of projects.

 What is your current or next writing project?

Now I am busy preparing a book on the history of international space exploration. In the course of my activity I have had the good fortune to know personally and have had an epistolary relationship with some great characters such as Hermann Oberth and Wernher von Braun and other protagonists of world history. In addition, I teach at the Politecnico di Milano “History and evolution of space exploration”.

Where can people find you online?

Of course, you can find me on Wikipedia, on ResearchGate and on social Linkedin and Twitter.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Name: Giovanni Caprara

Bio: On Wikipedia there is my biography

Position and specialty: science and space editor Corriere della Sera and Milan Polytechnic

Project: I am writing a book on the history of world space exploration which will be released in early 2021

Links of interest

Check out the book here   https://amzn.to/3bwc5aL

https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319739861

https://twitter.com/giovannicaprara

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tags: space, space history, science, space program, space exploration, space commercialization, technology, exploration, Italy, Cassini