The Fucino Space Centre is the largest teleport in the world for civilian uses used for the control of artificial

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s, for telecommunications and for hosting, television and network services

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...

. Located in the

Fucino The Fucine Lake ( it, Lago Fucino or ) was a large endorheic lake in western Abruzzo, central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the northwest to Ortucchio in the southeast, and touching Trasacco in the southwest. Once the third largest lake in I ...

plain in

Abruzzo Abruzzo (, , ; nap, label=Neapolitan language, Abruzzese Neapolitan, Abbrùzze , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; nap, label=Sabino dialect, Aquilano, Abbrùzzu; #History, historically Abruzzi) is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy wi ...

within the municipal area of

Ortucchio Ortucchio is a ''comune'' and town in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. See also *Castello Piccolomini (Ortucchio) Castello Piccolomini (Italian for ''Piccolomini Castle'') is a Middle Ages castle in Ortucchio, ...

, near

Avezzano Avezzano ( or ; nap, Avezzàne, label=Neapolitan language, Marsicano ) is a city and ''comune'' with a population of 40,819 inhabitants, situated in the Abruzzo region, province of L'Aquila, Italy. It is the second most populous municipality in th ...

( AQ), it is named after the engineer Piero Fanti, first director of

Telespazio Telespazio Spa is a European spaceflight services company founded in 1961. It is a joint venture owned by Leonardo (67%) and Thales Group (33%) headquartered in Rome. Telespazio provides services that include the design and development of space s ...

, and managed by the same company consisting of two joint ventures, the

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Leonardo Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname. The given name and surname originate ...

(Finmeccanica) for 67% and the French

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

for the remaining 33%.

History

The beginning of the history of Telespazio Spa coincides with the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the company and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

which took place in January 1962 and made it possible to participate and develop projects relating to the

Telstar 1 Telstar 1 was a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962. It was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. Telstar 1 remained active for only 7 months before i ...

and

Relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

satellites.Telespazio S.p.A.
/ref> With the granting of the exclusive license by the

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications may refer to: * Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Bangladesh * (1949–1998) * Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan) (1946–2001) * Ministry of Posts and Telecommu ...

, the construction of the first plants used for the experimentation of satellite telecommunications between Europe and the United States was started, in a favorable territory from an orographic and electromagnetic point of view. The experimentation began at the end of 1962 through some small antennas of the radio link installed on three mobile vans parked in the Fucino plain in the locality of Cintarella, in the municipality of Ortucchio. Following the positive outcome of the experimental phase, the first antenna was established in 1964 which became the symbol of modern industry at a time when the historic

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or beets into white refined sugar. Many cane sugar mills produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it more colour (and impurities) than the white ...

in Avezzano was progressively dismantled, which represented the first industrial-type initiative launched in territory of

Marsica Marsica is a geographical and historical region in the Abruzzo, central Italy, including 37 ''comuni'' in the province of L'Aquila. It is located between the plain of the former Fucine Lake, the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, the plai ...

. In 1965 the Fucino space station was opened to satellite communications with the modification of the first small experimental antenna which was adapted for primary

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ data collection, collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic data transmission, transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Gr ...

and

remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

services. On 6 April 1965, the first commercial telecommunications satellite was launched with which the commercial telephone and television service between the

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

station in the United States and the newly formed Fucino station, still equipped with a small parabolic antenna, began on 28 June, 1965 9.14 meters in diameter, which could only operate on weekends also due to the limitation of the first commercial satellite sent into orbit, the

Intelsat I Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird for the proverb "The early bird catches the worm") was the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit, on April 6, 1965. It was built by the Space and Communications Group of H ...

. In 1966 the first large 27-meter satellite dish was erected in the Fucino and entered service in August 1967, a few days before the official inauguration of the space center on 28 September, which was also attended by the head of the Government

Aldo Moro Aldo Romeo Luigi Moro (; 23 September 1916 – 9 May 1978) was an Italian statesman and a prominent member of the Christian Democracy (DC). He served as prime minister of Italy from December 1963 to June 1968 and then from November 1974 to July ...

. This operation was followed by numerous other collaborations in the field of satellite telecommunications and television services with international space agencies and started thanks to the national and international network of space centers and teleports. In March 1985

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on a visit to Telespazio sent a message of peace from Fucino to all the workers of the world before continuing his Abruzzese visit to the city of Avezzano. Among the most important projects that came into operation in the Fucino space station are the command and control of a segment of the

COSMO-SkyMed COSMO-SkyMed (COnstellation of small Satellites for the Mediterranean basin Observation) is an Earth-observation satellite space-based radar system funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Ministry of Defence and conducted by the It ...

satellite system, the Argo project, reserved for emergency communications with fixed and mobile stations available to the Department of the

Civil Protection Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

to prevent serious accidents or natural disasters and to deal with emergencies and the

Galileo Positioning System Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that went live in 2016, created by the European Union through the European Space Agency (ESA), operated by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), headquartered in Pr ...

, a structure for navigation, control, satellite positioning and management of about 40 earth stations.Il Centro
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

*
Official website
{{Thales Group Ortucchio Thales Group joint ventures Leonardo S.p.A. 1962 establishments in Italy 1965 establishments in Italy