The Italian Center for Aerospace Research (CIRA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a 1.3 million Euros agreement for the manufacturing and launch of the technology demonstrator platform Mini-IRENE (Italian Re-Entry nacelle).

The Capsule main goal is to test an innovative, compared to those of the actual spacecraft, deployment and thermal protection systems by 250 km altitude suborbital mission.

The particular umbrella shape of the Mini-IRENE allows, after the return into the atmosphere, a stable parachuted flight and a low speed impact landing, without equipping the capsule with further deceleration systems.

The main partners of this project, coordinated by CIRA and financed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), are the ALI SCARL, a consortium of companies located in the Campania region, and the University of Naples Federico II. CIRA is also responsible of the qualification of the thermal protection system and of the structure of the Mini-IRENE capsule in the Scirocco Plasma Wind Tunnel and in the Space Qualification Laboratory. The ALI consortium is responsible for the design, manufacturing and integration of the Mini-IRENE capsule and of its most critical components as far as the atmospheric re-entry is in concern.

The launch of the capsule is scheduled for June 2018 at the launch base located in Kiruna in Sweden with the support of the SSC, Swedish Space Research Center.

This challenging project, which will be dedicated to the Italian scientist Luigi Gerardo Napolitano, is an expression of the Campania region spatial vocation, as witnessed by the presence and of universities, research excellence center like the CIRA and Small and Medium Enterprises represented by the DAC, the Aerospace District of Campania.