The Consulate General of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, in collaboration with ISSNAF (Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation), celebrated, last December 10, the 2024 Italian Space Day, commemorating the launch of San Marco, the first Italian satellite launched into orbit on December 15, 1964, which led Italy to be one of the leading countries in the international space scene.
For the occasion, the Italian Cultural Institute hosted a round table that highlighted Italy’s contribution to space exploration, with particular attention to the recent missions to Europa (one of Jupiter’s satellites) and Mars. The speakers involved in the panel discussion were Alessandro Rettura, scientist and systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who currently works on the Europa Clipper mission; Stefano Cappucci, a thermal systems engineer at Relativity Space and former thermal systems manager for the JPL-NASA Ingenuity Mars mission; and Francesco Grilli, Vice President at Qualcomm Technologies, who oversees satellite communications and location technologies. The discussion was moderated by Emmy Award-winning producer and journalist Jeremy Spiegel.
Following the panel, the Consulate General and the Cultural Institute hosted a Christmas reception “under the stars” with a live jazz performance by the Luca Alemanno Trio.