The Italian Aerospace Research Centre (Italian: Centro Italiano Ricerche Aerospaziali, CIRA) is a consortium established in July 1984 to promote the growth and success of the aerospace industry in Italy (its head-office is in Capua).
The majority of CIRA share capital is held by government organizations: the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the National Research Council of Italy (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - CNR).
[1] CIRA is developing spaceplane technology using its facilities for numerical simulation and ground tests, and has flown its first transonic flight test of a "flying test-bed" (FTB) vehicle dropped from a high-altitude balloon.
[2][3] This is consistent with the Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) plan of the European Space Agency.
[4] Since 2005, CIRA is a partner of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change (CMCC).