The History of Sounding Rockets and Their Contribution to ... - ESA

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4.3.6 Early Italian sounding-rocket activities
In Italy, space research is overseen by the Committee for Space Research (CRS), which is an advisory body
of the National Research Council (CNR). The Secretariat for Space Activities (SAS) of that Council is the
executive body for all its sponsored space programmes.
After ESRO terminated its programme, Italian national sounding-rocket activities were terminated earlier
than those of the other larger ESRO/ESA Member States. The reasons for this might have been that auroral
research was not possible from the sounding-rocket base in Sardinia and that solar/celestial astronomical
studies were more effectively performed by satellite experiments.
However, the extension of the well-equipped military rocket base at Salto di Quirra on the island of Sardinia
to provide, from 1960 onwards, for civil scientifi c sounding-rocket launches also, resulted in a large number
(140) of national launches in the 1960s. In 1961/1962, eight cooperative US/Italian campaigns were carried
out using American Nike-Cajun and Nike-ASP rockets. These cooperative fl ights were used to release
sodium vapour at altitudes of 80 to 200 km into the upper atmosphere. The illumination of these vapour
clouds was used to measure upper-atmosphere winds via ground photography.
Italy’s national sounding-rocket activities peaked in 1963/1964 when 119 rockets (mainly Arcas, Robin-
Sonda and Marquardt 200/C rockets) were launched to altitudes of between 60 and 280 km.
Under the ESRO sounding-rocket programme, about 40 Italian experiments were fl own in the period 1966
to 1972 from the ranges in Sardinia, Kiruna and Woomera. These experiments had various scientifi c objec-
Preparation of a Centaure sounding rocket for launch from Salto di Quirra in Sardinia (I) in July 1965