The Italian Space Agency - ASI - is increasingly in symbiosis with NASA's objectives. The two space agencies have entered into an agreement for the launch of Artemis, the program that aims to bring humans back to the moon by 2024.
The president of ASI, Giorgio Saccoccia, and the administrator of the NASA, James Bridenstine, signed in Washington, the "joint statement for cooperation in space exploration". The agreement strengthens the exchange between the two agencies, building on the capabilities for long-term bilateral cooperation in the Artemis program. Satisfaction was expressed by the undersecretary to the presidency of the council, Riccardo Fraccaro, who holds the strategic delegation for the coordination functions of the policies relating to space and aerospace programs and who chairs the ad hoc interministerial committee (Comint) the control room of the Italian space.
So he commented on the agreement Fraccaro:
"With the initialing of the joint declaration between ASI and NASA, the cooperation already in place is further extended and above all it is put in black and white that, in the next mission to land astronauts on the Moon, the technology used for ground exploration will be Italian. As a government, we are particularly proud of this achievement. The leadership role of Italy in space. The agreement between ASI and NASA will make it possible to strengthen existing bilateral relations both on a scientific level and on human exploration, starting from the Artemis program. Italy already provides a decisive contribution to international space programs, in particular with the technological and scientific contribution to the International Space Station and with the experience we can boast in the development of pressurized modules. And the renewed alliance between the two agencies also paves the way for bilateral cooperation for a long-term program of human exploration on Mars. Strengthened by these results we will work to maximize the benefits of cooperation with NASA with the aim of making the aerospace sector the driving force for the development of our country ”.
Italy is fully present in the sector with Thales Alenia Space Italia, the result of the joint venture between Leonardo and the French company Thales.
In addition to the pressurized modules produced for the International Space Station, we are also protagonists in the ExoMars mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) which will be Italian-led and will lead to the exploration of the planet Mars.