About us

Learn about us and our mission to advance space propulsion technology

What we do

Our main activities include theoretical and applied research on space propulsion technologies. UniPi-SPL is involved in numerous projects funded by the European Union (EU), the European Aerospace Agency (ESA), the Italian Space Agency (ASI), and we are in collaboration with a wide network of academic and industrial partners.

The research group is made up of R&D engineers, research fellows, scholarship researchers, PhD and master thesis students. The Lab is managed and supervised by professors of the University of Pisa, with many years of experience in chemical propulsion, electrical propulsion, and turbomachinery for aerospace applications. Recently, the research group has been active also in the nuclear propulsion field.

The group offers several opportunities to students and recent graduates, following them during their master's thesis, PhDs, and post-graduate studies. Join your opportunities by consulting the proposed thesis and competition notices.

Our Heritage in Space Propulsion

Centrospazio and ALTA S.p.A.

Our research group builds upon a strong legacy in aerospace propulsion, tracing its roots back to Centrospazio, established in 1989 as the space research laboratory of Consorzio Pisa Ricerche (CPR). Centrospazio emerged from the expertise cultivated at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Pisa and was initially supported by leading industrial, academic, and governmental institutions.

Over the years, Centrospazio became internationally recognized as a center of excellence in advanced propulsion, particularly in electric propulsion. As its activities expanded towards industrial applications in the late 1990s, Alta S.p.A. was founded in 1999 to carry forward the commercialization of cutting-edge aerospace technologies. Alta played a key role in electric propulsion, cavitating flow research, green propellant rocket engines, and high-enthalpy aerothermodynamics, establishing world-class experimental facilities such as the Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility (CPRTF), the Green Propellant Rocket Test Facility (GPRTF), and the High Enthalpy Arc-heated Tunnel (HEAT). After 16 years of success, in 2015 Alta was merged into SITAEL.

Today, we continue to build upon this heritage, driving innovation in aerospace propulsion through research and technological advancement.

University of Pisa and the Aerospace Sector

The University of Pisa is a renowned and ancient School, the origins of which can be traced back to the early middle-ages. It was officially founded on September 3, 1343, by Clement VI with his Papal "In Supremae Dignitatis" bull. Upon the political unification of Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century, engineering disciplines were taught in Pisa within the Faculty of Sciences, before an independent Faculty was set up in 1913.

Pisa has long been intertwined with the aerospace sector, with its airport tracing its roots back to 1911, when the Antoni brothers established a flight testing field. Over the decades, the city has played a crucial role in military aviation, hosting key squadrons and the renowned 46th Air Brigade.

The first Aeronautical Engineering course was held in 1942, and some years later the Institute of Aeronautics was founded.

With the public university reform in 1980, the Institute of Aeronautics became the Department of Aerospace Engineering (DIA), responsible for the aeronautical and aerospace activities of the University.

In 2010 another reform made significant changes to the Italian university system, including the abolition of faculties and the transfer of their functions to departments. Following this reform, in 2012 the University of Pisa established the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering (DICI) through the merger of the previous departments of aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, industrial chemistry and materials science, mechanical, nuclear and production engineering, as well as part of the civil engineering department.