Italy took part in the 62nd session of Committee for Peaceful Uses of Outer-Space Affairs, which was held in Vienna on 12-21 June 2019. The opening of the session featured a special event organized by the United States and dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969.
The Italian delegation, led by Ambassador Maria Assunta Accili and also composed of representatives from the Italian Space Agency as well as Sergio Marchisio, Professor at La Sapienza University of Rome, actively contributed to the plenary’s work.
The Italian delegation took the floor several times during the Committee, highlighting the strengths of the national space industry and reporting on some important results achieved in the space research and exploration sector. In particular, the following initiatives, inter alia, were presented: the PRISMA mission, on orbit since last March and equipped with one of the most powerful hyperspectral instrument in the world; ArgoMoon, a nanosatellite project developed by the Italian engineering company ARGOTEC, the only one selected by NASA among Europeans companies to be embarked on the inaugural flight of the Space Launch System / Orion Exploration Mission-1; the launch, next October, of the second generation of COSMO-SkyMed satellites; the Beyond mission, which next July 20 will bring the Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano to the International Space Station.
The 62nd session focused widely on to the long-term sustainability of outer space activities. In this regard, after several years of negotiations within a working group, the adoption of the preamble and the 21 guidelines marked a significant success. At the same time, and under the Vice Presidency of Ambassador Accili, negotiations on the “Space2030” Agenda and its implementation plan advanced, with a view to strengthening the contribution of space activities to the achievement of sustainable development goals.
On the margins of the Committee,the Permanent Mission organized a presentation event for Avio, a leading Italian company in aerospace propulsion, in order to underline its strong global competitiveness, its numerous international partnerships and its emerging collaboration with the United Nations Office for Outer-Space Affairs. The event helped underline the growing role of the private sector in the exploration and use of outer space.
