Simonetta Di Pippo, the astro-diplomat who prepares future space generations

Above the winds of war, space does not stop. And while the fate of so many international collaborations accuses the political instability of the Earth, beyond the sky there is a certainty: in about fifteen years space will become a trillion economy. Its impact will not only affect directly connected areas, but will affect almost every aspect of our life.

“After more than 35 years in the sector, it still excites me, because every day is different from the previous one”. It is significant that Simonetta Di Pippo says it, one who not only knows space affairs, but has been managing them for a lifetime. Roman, born in 1959, with a degree in astrophysics at La Sapienza, Di Pippo, the first and only woman to do so, directed the Human Flight programs of the European Space Agency (until 2011), then, for eight years, the Office of United Nations for Outer Space Affairs – “they called me an astro-diplomat,” he says. Since March you have been director of the Space Economy Evolution Lab, or SEElab, the SDA Bocconi laboratory founded in 2018 by Andrea Sommariva (who passed away in August 2021) to study the extra-atmospheric economy and its economic implications. And to prepare the new generations to manage them, another testimony of the expansion, certain, of the sector.

“Already today, the space economy is the backbone of the economy of the future – underlines Di Pippo – SDA Bocconi has a strategic vision of it and has embraced my idea of ​​developing the sector from an educational and research point of view in a multidisciplinary, cross -cutting and interconnected. I think it is an unparalleled combination: it will allow us to develop SEElab as a national, regional and global center of excellence, through the strengthening of the collaborations already started by Sommariva and the launch of others that are very strategic from the point of view of the synergy of skills. At the same time, it will allow us to educate future leaders in the sector with a unique approach ”.

And with a crucial role, given that the professionalism of the space is being built, better, being invented day after day. This is not rhetoric: soon the orbits closest to the Earth will become areas of commercial exploitation, with bases dedicated to the development of drugs, new materials, entertainment. The satellites, increasingly smaller and more numerous – in 2020 alone 1283 were launched, a record – will be responsible for safeguarding the planet, telecommunications and mobility. Even the most pervasive declination of the internet, the IoT, will be “spatial”.

Transforming this technological potential into a production system will require a major effort to rework entire chains of skills. “Space companies are hungry for experts” confirms Di Pippo. “The Italian industrial fabric needs trained young people, to whom I would say that space is a competitive world, very sectorial on the one hand, but where, at the same time, action is taken on a broad spectrum. It is necessary to know how to manage contingent situations and keep an eye on medium-long term strategic issues, in order to understand their developments in advance. The challenge, in fact, is to educate the future generation in a transversal way “.

It is the drama of the moment that gives reason to those who have been the voice of UN extra-atmospheric diplomacy for years. It is inevitable to ask, with regard to the medium-long term vision, how the war will be reflected beyond the atmosphere: “I am a profound supporter of international collaboration and the instrument of space diplomacy it should be used to its full potential, especially at this time ”. A moment in which, as demonstrated by the suspension of joint missions such as the Russian-European ExoMars or the blocking of “passages” aboard the Soyuz rockets, space risks returning to a conflictual garrison: “on the International Space Station astronauts of different nationalities are dependent on each other and cooperation is essential for their very survival. I hope that this approach is maintained by all partners and that the ISS remains an example of space diplomacy, where we work for the common good. Of course, if today we had a system capable, for example, of doing the boost of the Station, a proposal that I had put on the table when I was driving the Human Flight of the ESA, we would have a more important, if not crucial, political role “. A strategic lesson for students? “We start from an observation: in just ten years the space has changed profoundly. Today there is much more commercial interest in the low earth orbit, and a growing interest in the exploration of the solar system, namely Moon, Mars, asteroids. The role of the ‘private’ astronaut appears on the scene. These facts reaffirm the strategic centrality of the sector, at a political and economic level. Future leaders will have to know how to manage this convergence and preparing them is an essential challenge for the sustainability of the sector and the economy of tomorrow. A challenge that I wanted to take up together with Bocconi “.