Editeur
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Date de parution
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00:00:00
EAN/ISBN
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Thématique
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Sciences & techniques - Technologie des transports, communications
Adhérent
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Beauchesne Éditeur
Présentation de l'éditeur
About two decades separate the launch of Sputnik (1957) and the creation
of the European Space Agency (1975). These two dates are considered to
mark the beginning and end of the early history of Italy in space.In the wake of the Sputnik shock, Italy became involved very early on in a
remarkable effort in space affairs. Thanks to the brilliant work of the
physicist Edoardo Amaldi and aerospace engineer Luigi Broglio, Italy
began, in the late fifties, its effort at building up national space
institutions and at the same time cooperated in the creation of European
space organisations while fostering bilateral cooperation with the USA.The history of the 'stop and go' development of the two major national
programmes, the San Marco project and SIRIO project, which defined the
sixties and seventies, is reconstructed, following the parallel growth of
Italy's involvement in the scientific and institutional activities of
European bodies.For the first time, relations between science, the military, politics and
economics are explored, in order to understand why the "Italy of records"
- the nation which became the first country, following the USA and USSR,
to place in orbit a national satellite, operated by an all-Italian team -
failed to live up to this promising start.The development of a national aerospace industry and of dedicated
infrastructure, such as the equatorial launch base and telemetry and
tracking ground stations, represents very constructive results from the
pionneering phase of the Italian enterprise in space. Nonetheless, the lack
of a coherent space policy prevented Italy from exploiting space activities
in such a way that they led to industrial innovation and economic
development.
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