Space brings people together: with a title which evokes the claim of the Italian participation in Expo 2020 Dubai (“Beauty brings people together”), the memorandum of understanding between the Italian Space Agency and the Commission for our country’s participation in the next Universal Exposition has been presented this afternoon.
The event, held at the ASI auditorium in Rome, was attended by the undersecretary to the Prime Minister with mandate for space affairs, Bruno Tabacci and, joining from Houston, by the European Space Agency’s astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, as well as the president of the Agency Giorgio Saccoccia and the General Commissioner for Expo, Paolo Glisenti.
With this agreement, the Italian Pavilion and the ASI commit to a cultural and scientific partnership on the topics of space and aerospace, with a specific focus on Earth observation systems and the impacts in terms of environmental sustainability. The agreement involves initiatives during the exhibition period, which will start on October, 1st, and the participation of the ASI, with some young researchers attending the international events organized by Expo Dubai and the participating countries.
The Italian Pavilion will be a hub to share knowledge and increase expertise, which will promote innovative educational models to be shared on the international stage of the Universal Exposition: this will be done also by means of joint initiatives between universities and specialized training schools that offer Master’s Degree courses in the space sector.
Expo Dubai is, in fact, an important comparison opportunity between students, teachers, researchers and industry on the solutions to support training and multi-disciplinary skills for space infrastructures and data, with applications also in the field of navigation systems and telecommunications.
The Memorandum of Understanding also aims at boosting expertise and technologies in the sector of space exploration and Earth observation, with the purpose of representing in an integrated manner the potential, skills and excellence of the Italian system, also by activating new cooperation models and international partnerships. A specific focus will be given to the national monitoring capabilities on our planet, thanks to the first and second-generation COSMO-SkyMed satellites and the national PRISMA hyperspectral satellite.
Space will be a key topic within the calendar of events of the Universal Exposition, in particular during the relevant theme week, scheduled for October 17th to 23rd, when plenty of examples in several Pavilions will deal, among the others, with the topics of space exploration, governance and jurisdiction related to the sector.
Expo 2020 Dubai is an important opportunity for Italy to create synergies and partnerships in the field of scientific and cultural diplomacy and enhance our country’s plurality of excellences during the events which will be held throughout the semester, as well as by means of facilities within the Italian Pavilion’s exhibition itinerary. In fact, visitors will be able to observe closely the robotic drill of the ESA’s 2022 Exomars mission, which will look for evidence of present and past life within Mars’s subsoil, and the hydrogen atomic clock, the core of the European Galileo navigation and satellite positioning system.
These are cutting-edge space technologies, made in Italy by Leonardo and developed thanks to the ASI’s vision, which over the years has invested in key sectors for the development of highly competitive national skills, in Europe and around the world.
