Sapienza Aerospace Student Association #

About this page
For the content of this page, we have directly involved the association discussed, which corresponds to their presentation of it.

SASA - Sapienza Aerospace Student Association was founded in 2012 as a Student Branch of the AIAA - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (the first in Italy) later becoming a Cultural Association and Student Association at Sapienza University of Rome.

According to its statute, SASA is a free association of people managed and operated on a voluntary, apolitical, nonpartisan and non-profit basis, and was established with the purpose of promoting aerospace culture, and in particular:

Create a place for discussion on scientific, engineering and technological issues;
Make educational offerings more engaging;
Facilitate and promote entry into the world of work;

To carry out its statutory objectives, the Association, initially formed by a group of students and professors of aerospace courses, has opened up to the entire public, including non-university students, and has begun to involve other fields such as business administration, marketing and the legal sector. In this way SASA quickly became a point of reference in the university environment and in the aerospace sector in the city of Rome, increasing more and more the educational value of its activities.

Today SASA organizes and promotes scientific conferences, publication of articles, workshops, projects, laboratories, inter-university competitions, social activities and much more.

In addition, through its Teams, it has participated in international competitions in the field of aerospace for years and offers highly professionalizing experiences. Through these activities and especially through networking opportunities, SASA positions itself as a link between Universities and the world of Work, building a meeting place and a ramp to companies and realities in the Aerospace sector.

SASA is currently the largest student association by membership in Italy.

Flight Team #

The Sapienza Flight Team or SFT is composed of students from different faculties of the university. It brings together young people from Aeronautical, Mechanical, Management and Computer Engineering united by the desire to get involved and accept new fides.

It was born in 2009 when a group of students, flanked by Prof. Guido De Matteis, set out to proposed to create and manage an extracurricular project that could give them a way to express their passion for designing and realization of radio-controlled aircraft. One of the main intentions of this group was and is to develop model aircraft, quadricopters and helicopters in the same way as occurs in any any industry in the field, that is, through a study of the aircraft but also on the feasibility of the project. Over the years, the project has achieved excellent results in the international competitions in which it has participated, results that have contributed to the team’s name by leading numerous students, initially from Aerospace and Aeronautics but later also from other faculties, to join the team. Precisely because of this enthusiasm and interest shown by all the students of the university, the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering decided to sponsor the project.

In 2012, the Sapienza Flight Team joined SASA (Sapienza Aerospace Student Association). After many years as a competitor in the Design Build & Fly competition, organized by AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), the team decides to take up a new challenge and enters the Student Unmanned Aerial Systems (SUAS) competition in 2019.

The team consists of six departments. Each one deals with a specific mission and plays a key role in achieving the goals.

Tech Team #

The Sapience Technology Team is involved in the design and construction of Rover prototypes. Projects are entirely developed in the team, both in terms of software programming and physical implementation through the interaction between various subgroups, each with specific skills. In fact, the team is composed of students from different fields (aerospace engineering,artificial intelligence and robotics, electrical engineering…) from both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. This makes it possible to make the most of the skills possessed and to develop others through collaboration among different subgroups.

The team also provides a pathway, the hardware and software academy, in which new, less experienced members can acquire the skills needed to work on a first rover and in subsequent years can continue the pathway in the team by joining the groups involved in building the main rover.

Rocket Team #

The Sapience Rocket Team was founded in 2018 by three aerospace CAD students. The team focuses on designing, building, testing and launching prototype solid-propellant sounding rockets or model rockets. Currently, the Sapienza Rocket Team is the largest in SASA, counting more than 200 members.

A key part of the SRT is the Training Academy, a course designed for younger members where they will have the opportunity to learn the basics of rocket modeling through the creation of a solid-propellant rocket.

The team consists of 8 departments:

Structures: deals with CAD design of prototype components, conducting FEM structural analysis and machining composite materials;
Recovery: is divided into Re-entry, which deals with the sizing and manufacture of the re-entry system, and Expulsion, which makes and tests the ejection systems;
Propulsion: currently conducting the SRT research and development project, which is to build a hybrid propellant endoreactor;
Mission Analysis: develops proprietary pre- and post-launch simulation and analysis scripts and models;
Control System: develops the active control system to preciously follow the desired trajectory by simulating the response of the active control surfaces;
Avionics: Deals with the development of on-board software and electronics that regulate the operation of all components of the rocket-probe during flight;
Aerodynamics: deals with modeling aerodynamic forces and the interaction of our prototypes with the environment during launch through theoretical analysis, CFD simulations, and wind tunnel testing.

Space Team #

The Sapienza Space Team is a team of undergraduate students with the main goal of giving students hands-on experience applying theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom to real space engineering projects.

To ensure the best team dynamics, students from different levels of education and different fields of study such as Engineering, Physics and Economics are involved.

Since 2012, the team has been designing space missions and simulations in their entirety: from writing feasibility studies to producing and testing prototypes, developing software and performing environmental testing.

The team is divided into five departments:

Mechanical SubsystemDesign: deals with manufacturing, integration and testing of the structural component of prototypes, as well as aerodynamic and orbital analyses;
Flight Software Subsystem: develops the autonomous flight software and manages communication with the ground station
Ground Software Subsystem: develops the ground station and the software dedicated to it;
Electrical and Sensor Subsystem: handles PCB development and they select and configure the sensors, antennas and radio;
Social and Management: they manage the team’s website and social pages, writing and documenting events and organizations.

Join the Association #

🚀 What you have read interested you and would like to know how you can join? For further details, such as open opportunities in SASA’s administration or teams, you can visit the dedicated page 😉