The Italian Space Agency

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) was founded in 1988 to promote, coordinate and conduct space activities on the national territory. Operating under the control of the Ministry of Universities and Scientific and Technological Research, the Agency co-operates with many international and Italian entities which are active in the space sector, collaborating also with the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministries.

ASI's main headquarters are located in Rome, Italy. The Agency has also two operational centres, located in Matera and Trapani in Italy, and the space centre /Luigi Broglio/ located in Malindi, Kenya. The government of Italy devotes special attention to earth observation programs. ASI is carrying out the implementation of a sophisticated dual-use (civilian/military) Earth observation satellite system, COSMO-SkyMed, dedicated to natural disasters prevention and safety.

Staff involved

Ing. Laura Candela

Experienced in remote sensing from satellite, with most recent experience and expertise in EO services for Civil Protection end-users. She is responsible of development of National Focal Point development. She・s working on design and development on application related to risk domain (floods, landslides, nowcasting of precipitation) as Program Manager and has conducted several application projects and architectural studies related to natural risks management. She's now involved in three VII FP project, LINKER, SAFER and DORIS. Main Role: Contact with End Users for SLA updating in WP2, Responsible of Task 2.3. System service validation in WP7. Responsible of Task 7.5

Dr Brunella Castelli

Dr Brunella Castelli, EU research project expert - She is actually working at ASI in the Strategies, National and International Relations Unit. Before joining the Agency, she worked for several years at the International Relations Dept. of the National Research Council (CNR) in Italy as contract research manager for EU research projects, being also NCP of the Human Resources and Mobility Programme under FP6, and Seconded National Expert (END) by the EC, DG Research (2004-2005) in charge of the coordination of the European Network of National Contact Points (NCPs). Main Role: Contribution to WP1.