"Italy has a significant proportion of small and medium enterprises in the space sector, encompassing all supply chains of the space industry. Italian corporations are looking forward to more cooperation with Korea."
On the 21st, at the event 'Italian Day of Space' held at the Italian Embassy in Yongsan, Seoul, Luca Maria Salamone, Secretary-General of the Italian Space Agency, emphasized the cooperation between Korean and Italian space corporations. Italian Day of Space was established to commemorate the day Italy launched its first artificial satellite, "San Marco 1," in 1964. With the launch of San Marco 1, Italy became the third country in the world to launch an artificial satellite.
Since then, it has played various roles in space development. It has carried out space exploration missions with NASA and has produced two modules for the International Space Station (ISS). Italy is actively cooperating with Korea in the space sector. Italian corporations participated in the production of Korea's communication satellite Mugunghwa 6A, and they are also involved in the Korea Positioning System (KPS) project.
Secretary-General Luca Maria Salamone noted, "Korean corporations are expected to have opportunities to visit Italy and discuss cooperation," adding, "Italian corporations are looking forward to more cooperation with Korea."
Italian corporations also expressed expectations for cooperation with Korean space corporations. Roberto Angelini, Engineering Director at Thales Alenia Space, said, "Our corporations have cooperated with Korea for the past few decades, and now is the time to consider the next steps," and emphasized that "Korea and Italy have not cooperated in space exploration and scientific missions."
He continued, "However, opportunities are now emerging," stating that "the door to cooperation is open in various fields such as building satellite systems for commercial stations and lunar exploration, and in Earth observation and communication."
Marco Brancati, Senior Vice President at Leonardo Space, stated, "Space infrastructure includes ground stations to receive and process satellite data," and mentioned they are looking for cooperation through Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Leonardo is Italy's largest defense company. Brancati added, "Satellite data services require related infrastructure including high-performance computers," expressing hope that "private cooperation for sharing remote data through GIS between Korea and Italy will also be possible."
Domestic corporations also responded positively to Italy's proposal for cooperation. Lim Dong-joo, Deputy Minister from Boryung, which has ventured into the space pharmaceutical business, remarked, "As human space exploration increases in the future, the importance of space infrastructure will grow," saying, "Although Korea and Italy could not collaborate during the ISS era, I expect that now we can work together."
The Deputy Minister indicated, "Boryung is investing in companies like Axiom Space and Intuitive Machines," suggesting they could collaborate with Italian corporations.
In addition to Boryung, representative domestic space corporations such as Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and Hanwha Aerospace attended the event to discuss cooperation with Italian corporations.
John Lee, head of the Aerospace Mission Division of the Korea Aerospace Administration, stated, "The two countries share common ground in scientific exploration, technological advancement, and international cooperation, so by building on these aspects, we can achieve greater results in the space industry."