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Washington 15th December - The Italian Embassy in Washington, DC., hosted the "Italian National Space Day" on Thursday 15 December. The celebration was launched in 2020 by the Italian government, to commemorate the launch in 1964 of the San Marco I satellite program, which made Italy the third country in the world with a presence in space, after the United States and the Soviet Union. The event, organized in collaboration with ICE, Asi (Italian Space Agency) U.S. Space Foundation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and George Washington University, saw the participation of the main Italian and US leaders in the space sector.
"It's a special day for us. We want to underline the Italian expertise, experience and vision in a rapidly growing sector and draw attention to the main economic, commercial and social benefits that space can offer, both nationally and internationally", said the ambassador of Italy to the United States, Mariangela Zappia, in her address. The ambassador also recalled that Italy was "the first major European country to sign a bilateral agreement with NASA, and the first to join the Artemis agreements".
"Italy has a long history in science, exploration and space" said Chirag Parikh, Deputy Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, in his remarks, underlining that for the United States "Italy continues to be an indispensable partner in space cooperation in the civil, security and commercial sectors".
"Italy and the United States have a very rich history of collaboration. A key example is the Italian involvement in the International Space Station. It can probably be said that there would be no International Space Station without Italian participation. Research and leadership they displayed was incredible in every aspect of the technology that we've been able to observe on Earth, especially here in the United States," said Kelli Kedis Ogborn, VP of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at the Space Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1983, to offer information, educational programs, and collaborations in space exploration and the space-to-Earth industry that characterize the global space ecosystem.
The Italian National Space Day was attended by representatives of many American companies, including Blue Origin, SpaceX, Axiom Space, AWS, Sierra Space, Boeing, Virgin Orbit, L3 Harris, Virgin Galactic, Firefly, NASA and Rocketjet Aerodyne. The Italian aerospace industry and institutions were represented by Leonardo and its subsidiaries, Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, Avio, Argotec, Altec, RME, D-Orbit, T4i, Breton, Picosats, Space Factory, Astra Space, BluElectronic, AEREA , CEI Piedmont (Agency for Investment, Tourism and Export), Emilia-Romagna (Art-ER Attractiveness Research Territory Emilia-Romagna), CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center), Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Intesa SanPaolo.
"For Italy, the United States is one of the main partners and we are very interested in their market and I know that the United States is also looking at us, because we have a historical capacity in space. I think that in the future we will be able to collaborate, with great opportunities in the commercial market, which is a rapidly growing market for us, and the United States is a target for us," said Cristina Sgubin, Secretary General and General Counsel of Telespazio-Leonardo.
Washington D.C. 15 December 2022
1. Podium remarks, SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin O'Connell Founder and CEO Space Economy Rising, LLC:
"Our first challenge in long term space sustainability is to greatly improve space safety. To understand much better how objects behave in space. To greatly improve our understanding of space situational awareness, and to improve the precision, accuracy and timeliness of warnings to space operators."
2. Audience cutaways
3. Podium remarks, SOUNDBITE (English) Kevin O'Connell Founder and CEO Space Economy Rising, LLC:
"What do we need to do better? The first is that we need to help our publics understand much, much more about why and how space is important in their daily lives. Italy's strong commitment to space is demonstrated, of course, in its founding role, new met set in its role in the EU SST, its key role in NATO and of course as a signatory to the Artemis Accords."
4. Chemical and cold gas propulsion systems artifact display
5. Attendees mingling
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Cristina Sgubin, Secretary General and General Counsel of Telespazio-Leonardo.:
"And I know that U.S. Is looking at us because we have a very strong legacy and competition on space, historical competition of space. And I know that that US. are very interested in our competition because Telespazio as the teleports in Fucino, know who is the biggest of the world, the famous of the world. So I think that we can we can cooperate in the future."
7. Italian National Space Day signage
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Cristina Sgubin, Secretary General and General Counsel of Telespazio-Leonardo:
"At the moment we are trying to understand the what can we do on the satcom communication and we are trying to understand which is the real sector in where can we compete that with the American markets that that is bigger than than us. So we are very interested and the Leonardo is very interesting now especially in commercial in a new commercial market."
9. Attendees mingling
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Kelli Kedis Ogborn, VP of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at the Space Foundation:
"So Italy and the United States have a really rich history of collaboration, I think most critically demonstrated by Italy's involvement on the International Space Station. You could probably go as far and say that we would not have an international space station without Italy's participation. The research and leadership that they have shown has been tremendous and any trickle down technologies that we've been able to observe on Earth and especially in the United States."
11. Attendees mingling
12 . SOUNDBITE (English) Kelli Kedis Ogborn, VP of Space Commerce and Entrepreneurship at the Space Foundation:
"I would say that Italy's leadership in lunar space vehicle development, as well as what they are looking to develop in in-flight services and infrastructure, is going to be a really critical aspect to help supply and resupply the new commercial space stations coming online, as well as a lot of the lunar development and outpost."
13. Attendees mingling
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Chirag Parikh, National Space Council, The White House:
"The Earth observation capabilities of the Italian industry, of the Italian government, of academics is second to none. It is very important. It's very impressive. It leads to us being able to look at the data from space to earth and being able to help address issues from the climate crisis all the way to security. And that is really aligned with a lot of the efforts that we have under this administration to be able to use that data. And it's not just the manufacturers. It's not just the operators, it's the scientists, it's the academics, it's the industries. But most importantly, as my boss often says as well, it's about how do we provide the value of space to our citizens across our countries and around the world? And that's the most important part about taking that data, taking what we have in space and making it useful for the people who may or may not even know that space is important to them."
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Mariangela Zappia, Italian Ambassador to the U.S.:
"Italy has always been part of the small group of visionary players which have a say beyond our atmosphere, boasting not only a long space tradition, but also a comprehensive, full fledged supply chain of products and services that includes launchers, infrastructure, downstream services and nanosatellites."
16. Video message
"For us, it's very important to strengthen this sector because through this space policy, it's possible to work against climate change, is possible to increase the number of companies working in more modern sectors. For us, it's very important to work at European level. We are an important partner with the United States of America in this sector. They are our American friends. We need to cooperate more on this. This sector is crucial for the future."
17. Audience applause
STORYLINE
The Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C., hosted the "Italian National Space Day" on Thursday 15 December. The celebration was launched in 2020 by the Italian government, to commemorate the launch in 1964 of the San Marco I satellite program, which made Italy the third country in the world with a presence in space, after the United States and the Soviet Union. The event, organized in collaboration with ICE, Asi (Italian Space Agency) U.S. Space Foundation, U.S. Chamber of Commerce and George Washington University, saw the participation of the main Italian and US leaders in the space sector.
The Italian National Space Day was attended by representatives of many American companies, including Blue Origin, SpaceX, Axiom Space, AWS, Sierra Space, Boeing, Virgin Orbit, L3 Harris, Virgin Galactic, Firefly, NASA and Rocketjet Aerodyne. The Italian aerospace industry and institutions were represented by Leonardo and its subsidiaries, Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, Avio, Argotec, Altec, RME, D-Orbit, T4i, Breton, Picosats, Space Factory, Astra Space, BluElectronic, AEREA , CEI Piedmont (Agency for Investment, Tourism and Export), Emilia-Romagna (Art-ER Attractiveness Research Territory Emilia-Romagna), CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center), Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and Intesa SanPaolo.
16 December 2022
