“The space agencies that took part in the exhibition (ASI, ESA, NASA, ISRO, ISA), the India Partner Country and 20 foreign delegations gave the event an international profile, which was our main objective” said Paolo Dalla Chiara, president of SAT Expo Europe at the end of the event.

“Particular satisfaction – continues Dalla Chiara - comes from the number of B2B meetings, that were over 2000, and held in the B2B Meetings Area, and which saw the participation of 243 company representatives (210 suppliers, 43 buyers and 39 exhibitors) and over 160 between industries and institutions from 20 foreign countries (Algeria, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Morocco, Holland, Palestine, Russia, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United States, England, Uzbekistan and India).

This confirms the fact that the event stands as a candidate – continues Dalla Chiara – for being a natural location for the demand and offer of Space services and applications. A step – points out Dalla Chiara – that has been widely encouraged due to support from the Istituto ICE (the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, and also due to the fact that this year, for the first time, an important role was performed by SMEs for Italian Aerospace Enterprises (ASAS, AIPAS and AIAD) who made SAT Expo Europe their official event. On this standpoint – added Dalla Chiara – in addition to having widened its reach, SAT Expo Europe has also organically involved the main actors from the aerospace sector, from the top players (Finmeccanica Group, EADS ASTRIUM, Eutelsat and Skylogic) to interested institutional bodies up to new technology incubators”.

The event, sponsored by the President of the Italian Republic, the European Commission and the President of the Council of Ministers, received the institutional collaboration of the Municipality of Rome.

SAT Expo Europe 2010 got off to an outstanding start at the Campidoglio in Rome with the presentation of ISRO (the Indian Space Research Organization) to over 70 company representatives and more than 15 newspapers.
Again on Wednesday 3rd, in the afternoon, Mediterranean space agencies presented their programmes for development, research and cooperation in the Pietro da Cortona Hall at the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The deputy mayor of Rome, Mauro Cutrufo, who participated in the meeting, declared that the meeting promoted by SAT Expo Europe, in collaboration with the Municipality of Rome, has the merit of “re-launching core activities of the Italian aerospace industry and particularly those in the Latian region, which serves as a hub for all those activities that in Rome could be connected to proposals for new advanced technology and their diffusion in emerging countries”.

Thursday 4th February the inauguration of SAT Expo Europe at the Rome Trade Fair saw the presence of two important institutional figures: the Deputy Minister Adolfo Urso and the Vice President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani, who took part in the Conference on the EGNOS European navigation programme.

Mr Urso, reaffirmed that “the Institutions and the Italian Government are engaged in encouraging the internationalization of Italian industry and for this operation the aerospace sector, which is the seventh largest in the world, has a key role that includes the fundamental function of establishing the natural arrival point for advanced research and innovation”. Such support was also confirmed by Vice-President Tajani.

Earth Observation played the main role on the second day of the conference dedicated to the European programmes and the BMM (BlueMassMed) project.

The excellence of the solutions offered by the Italian industry in the Earth Observation programmes characterized the intervention of Massimo di Lazzaro, the Senior Vice President of Thales Alenia Space, who, due to his proven experience in the COSMO Sky-Med programme by ASI (the Italian Space Agency), was chosen as prime contractor by the ESA for the construction of the satellites Sentinel 1 and 3, which is an integral part of the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) programme. This European programme is already partly in operation, and as Thomas Beer from the GMES office of the ESA recalled, it is financed for 72% by the ESA and for the remaining part by the European Commission”.

Mr Di Lazzaro particularly highlighted the need by the aerospace industry to be able to count on the continuity of financial commitments from institutions, without which he affirmed, “competitiveness in acquired know-how could be lost in a short time”. From this point of view, Mr Di Lazzaro considers of indubitable worth “the use of ASI (Italian Space Agency) investments, which thanks to various programmes such as COSMO-SkyMed, have enabled Thales Alenia Space, and specifically, its Italian member, to become a centre of European excellence for the large-scale production of T/R (Transmit/Receive) modules as concerns volume capacity, performance and the technology adopted”.

Interoperability of the GMES system, an institutional programme that confirms the will of the European Commission to work towards a coordinated policy for the environment, the safety of citizens, meteorology and climate change, is the issue focused on by Claudio De Bellis, the head of sales at Elsag Datamat, a group company of Finmeccanica that elaborates and uses data collected from satellites taking part in the GMES programme.

The recipients of the demand for the open availability of data from different satellites that participate in the project, which is feasible on a technical level, whose recipients are European Institutions and single member states, which are summoned to also decide on the future property of the space sector of the pan-European project, a decision that carries considerable operational responsibility.

The fact is, that GMES as a European project requires substantial technical coordination, which presupposes perfect political agreement between the Institutions involved.

The third day of the event ended with the collaboration of the “Sapienza” University of Rome on the subject of scientific education for research progress in aerospace and for university training aimed at new professions in the Space sector.

Universities and the ASI (Italian Space Agency) are actively engaged in this role, offering specialization Masters that are increasingly pertinent and similar to the proficiency required and necessary for the aerospace industry, and for which, foundations also, such as the Space Academy are providing active commitment.

An important workshop meeting on international NASA – ASI cooperation illustrated different research missions that were carried out, and still are, by the NASA and the ASI side by side. The participation of Roberto Somma from Thales Alenia Space and Andrea Cisbani, Vice President of the Payloads for Earth Observation segment of SELEX Galileo, companies both belonging to the Finmeccanica Group, explained how this collaboration has on the one hand requested the Italian Industry the supply of extremely sophisticated equipment and devices, and on the other, enabled the development of acquired space know-how for the companies involved. The Italian industry, which has produced more than 50% of the habitable volume currently in orbit, has been extremely active in the Space sector as concerns telecommunications, sensor systems and measuring devices, and has often enabled direct collaboration between Italian Universities and NASA Laboratories.

The SAT Expo Europe 2010 also hosted the conference on “Space, an opportunity for SMEs” by EADS ASTRIUM, a meeting between the ASI and ESA Space associations and the Aerospace Industry. The workshop meeting highlighted the important opportunities offered by the aerospace industry to Small and Medium Enterprises.
Renewal by Telespazio of the lease agreement for two satellites managed by Eutelsat Communication regarding professional video contributions and for other Rai (Italian state owned public service broadcaster) broadcasts was announced during the event.

The two 72 MHz transponders were hired on a multiyear basis on the satellites ATLANTIC BIRD 1 belonging to Eutelsat and W3A. Both satellites provide Italian coverage for the gathering needs of national news and to support RAI requirements for the constant broadcasting of news, sports and special events over Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.