Undersecretary of State Manlio Di Stefano: “great satisfaction for the signing of the Artemis Accords, a milestone that represents a tangible step forward 50 years after the first moon landing”.
The Artemis Accords, signed today on the Italian side by the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Hon. Riccardo Fraccaro with the Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Jim Bridenstine, and the representatives of the other Partner Countries (Australia, Canada, Japan, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom), follow the signature on 25 September of the joint declaration on the strengthening of bilateral Italy-US cooperation. It is a document of great importance for the future of the Italian space sector. It consolidates Italy’s place at the forefront of the new NASA Artemis space exploration programme.
Named after the Greek goddess of the crescent moon, Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister, the Artemis Programme aims to bring humans back to the Moon by 2024, with a view to the subsequent conquest of other celestial bodies (starting from Mars). The new space programme promoted by the USA is firmly based on international cooperation and aims to favour the exploitation of the resources of outer space, with obvious repercussions for the industrial activities of the participating countries.
Italy and the United States have collaborated in the space sector since 1964, with the first Italian satellite in orbit (San Marco 1), until the first Italian astronaut to visit space, Franco Malerba, in 1992. The collaboration with the USA is also evidenced by the bilateral agreement that has allowed the Italian industry to build more than half of the pressurised volume of the ISS Space Station and has made many Italian astronaut missions possible.
Great are the expectations that joining the Artemis programme brings to the Italian space sector, which has more than 200 companies, 7,000 employees and ten national technological districts, located in Piedmont, Lombardy, Lazio, Campania and Apulia region, with a total turnover of 1.6 billion a year.
“Space Diplomacy is a priority for Italy. It is a formidable tool for relations between States, with repercussions also in the political and commercial field – said Undersecretary of State Di Stefano – Our participation in the Artemis programme guarantees not only our international positioning but also our participation in this adventure of national industry. The result was made possible thanks to solid political and diplomatic coordination both in Italy and in the United States. Italian officials and diplomats have worked incessantly, in close collaboration with the Presidency of the Council of Ministers”.
