The School of Aerospace Engineering of Sapienza University of Rome is one of the oldest academic institutions in the world in the field of aerospace engineering. Since the 1960s, the School's activities have been concentrated in the space field. Professors and technicians of the School designed and built the San Marco satellites, thanks to which in 1964 Italy became the third nation in the world to put its own satellite into orbit. This important result is witnessed by the systems and technological structures that are still accessible at the School's headquarters. In line with this heritage, since 1997 the School has started an education process that actively involves the students of the School in the design, construction and launch of microsatellites. Thanks to the results obtained with UniSat satellites and other more recent satellites like Edusat, Unicubesat-GG and Tigrisat, the School has become a worldwide reference institution in the space field.
The School offers a Special Statute Degree in Aerospace Engineering for students with an engineering degree obtained at the end of 5 years of university studies or an equivalent foreign qualification.
The aim of the School is to train aerospace engineers by combining the study of theory with laboratory activities and technological development. The basic idea is that "to be an aerospace engineer you first need to be an engineer". Therefore, the aerospace engineer should be specialized in one of the various branches of engineering with additional training in the space sector. In fact, to operate in the aerospace sector, it is necessary to bring the basic knowledge of the various branches of engineering to a higher level so that we can face the difficult challenges posed by the space environment.