To celebrate the second Italian National Space Day, the Italian Embassy in Stockholm hosted a bilateral meeting on Italian-Swedish cooperation in the aerospace sector: an opportunity to discuss recent developments and the important result of Italian space research represented by the launch of the Mini-IRENE capsule from the Swedish Esrange base in Kiruna, the only spaceport existing today on the European continental territory.
The event was introduced by Ambassador Vinicio Mati who addressed his greetings to the Italian and Swedish representatives of important companies in the field of research and aerospace industry: the Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA), the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), Leadtech, Euro.Soft and ALI S.c.a.r.l., recalling the strategic value of this sector not only for scientific aspects and research, but above all on the economic level to improve the quality of our lives and that of future generations.
“Cooperation with Sweden in this area – underlined Ambassador Mati – has started more than ten years ago and reserves great possibilities” adding that “The launch of Mini-IRENE is a token of our country’s ambitions in the field of aerospace, a strategic sector for Italian research and high technology companies. This event is the latest result of Italy’s long-lasting collaboration with Sweden. It began with the development of instrumentation for the extraordinary BepiColombo mission, Europe’s first mission to Mercury, and continued with several scientific missions with balloons launched over the Arctic Circle.”
The event, open to the public and moderated by the Scientific Attaché of the Embassy, Augusto Marcelli, continued with presentations by both Italian and Swedish experts. Over seventy researchers and experts in the field attended the event, which was followed by a more specialized discussion attended by ASI representative Marta Albani. We talk of strategic participation because Italy – through the Italian Space Agency and its national programs, the bilateral cooperation such as Artemis and the participation in multilateral projects – is one of the few countries that has a space and aerospace sector characterized by a complete chain of products and services. Our scientific community coordinates highly sophisticated instruments in all ESA’s Solar System space exploration missions and in many missions by NASA and other international agencies.
Augusto Marcelli recalled that “the meeting was conceived to highlight an important result of Italian space research accomplished together with Sweden: the Italian Mini-Irene capsule was launched and recovered with the contribution of Swedish expertise and their extraordinary ability to intervene on the ground”. This collaboration represents an important opportunity for Italian space research and for the satellite industry. Most of Sweden’s space activities are included in ESA’s programs and funding for the Esrange base, which is preparing to launch into high orbit. Cooperation between the two countries is crucial. The launch of Mini-IRENE is a proof of it, as well as the agreement involving our radar satellite COSMO SKYMED, the multiple collaborations for the launch of balloons in the Arctic, some European projects and several industrial collaborations active for many years. The developments of the Esrange base will certainly make this partnership much stronger.
The Italian Law for the coordination of the policies of the Ministries relating to space programs, the government guidelines, and the contribution of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, testify as this event does that space is a strategic sector in order to maintain the role of Italian excellence in space research, technological abilities and innovation.
