The
Propulsion and Space Laboratory
 The majority of the Department’s research activities in the aerospace propulsion and space
technology are carried out at Centrospazio, an independent laboratory set up in 1989 on the
outskirts of Pisa within the framework of Consorzio Pisa Ricerche, a non-profit technology transfer
organization comprising the University of Pisa among its members. Through the Consortium
scheme, Centrospazio maintains close links with the Department, and hosts its own permanent
research staff together with a considerable number of undergraduate, graduate and Doctoral
students. The research staff are led by a group of senior researchers, all of whom are Faculty
members of the Department.
 Centrospazio is specifically equipped with vacuum chambers for space simulation and propulsion
testing, and a number of special facilities specifically intended for experimental activities in
aerospace propulsion and space technologies. The vacuum chambers available allow experiments
under a wide range of conditions in terms of ultimate vacuum (down to 10-9 mbar), pumping speed
(up to 1000 m3/s of Xe) and useful test size (up to 2 m dia.). Major facilities include the pulsed
High Enthalpy Arc-heated Tunnel (HEAT) and the Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility
(CPRTF), which have been specifically designed and built for aerothermodynamic experiments in
high-enthalpy hypersonic flows and for the analysis of rotordynamic forces and unsteady flow
phenomena in scaled turbopumps for rocket propellant feed systems, focusing on cavitating
conditions under fluid dynamic and thermal cavitation similarity.
Centrospazio also hosts a 50 kWclass
miniturbine, used for experimental studies on hybrid automotive propulsion and combined
cycle power generation.
For additional information:
Centrospazio, 5 Via Gherardesca, 56121 Ospedaletto, Pisa - Italy
Tel: +39 (050) 985072/985097 - Fax: +39 (050) 974094
e-mail: centrospazio@cpr.it.
Homepage:http://www.centrospazio.cpr.it
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