Italian Space Agency

Italian Space Agency
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana

Headquarters in Rome
Agency overview
Formed1 January 1988; 36 years ago (1988-01-01)[1][2]
JurisdictionItalian government
HeadquartersRome, Italy
Employees200
Annual budget€2.0 billion ($2.1 billion) in 2020[3]
Agency executives
  • Teodoro Valente, President
  • Luca Vincenzo Maria Salamone, General Manager
Websitewww.asi.it

The Italian Space Agency (Italian: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ASI) is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy.[1][4] The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospace research and technology.[4]

Nationally, ASI is responsible for both drafting the National Aerospace Plan and ensuring it is carried out. To do this the agency operates as the owner/coordinator of a number of Italian space research agencies and assets such as CIRA as well as organising the calls and opportunities process for Italian industrial contractors on spaceflight projects. Internationally, the ASI provides Italy's delegation to the Council of the European Space Agency and to its subordinate bodies as well as representing the country's interests in foreign collaborations.

ASI's main headquarters are located in Rome, Italy,[5] and the agency also has direct control over two operational centres: the Centre for Space Geodesy (CGS) located in Matera in Italy, and its own spaceport, the Broglio Space Centre (formerly the San Marco Equatorial Range) on the coastal sublittoral of Kenya, currently used only as a communications ground station.[6] One further balloon launch base located in Trapani was permanently closed in 2010.[7] In 2020, ASI's annual revenues budget was approximately €2.0 billion[3][8] and it directly employed around 200 workers.[4]

  1. ^ a b Asif Siddiqi. "International Space Agencies". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Archived from the original on 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  2. ^ Known as the "Italian Space Research Program" from 1959 to 1988.
  3. ^ a b "PARTE PRIMO SPACE, IL PRIMO FONDO ITALIANO CHE INVESTE NELL'ECONOMIA SPAZIALE" (PDF). Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Italian Space Agency". European Commission - CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Service). Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  5. ^ "Contacts Archived 2017-09-08 at the Wayback Machine." Italian Space Agency. Retrieved on February 27, 2016. "Via del Politecnico snc 00133 Rome, Italy"
  6. ^ "The San Marco Project Research Centre". Centro di Ricerca Progetto San Marco - University of Rome "La Sapienza". Archived from the original on 1996-12-20. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  7. ^ "Base Luigi Broglio, Trapani". StratoCat. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  8. ^ "(Ri)Nasce il gruppo interparlamentare dello spazio". 25 June 2019.