Roma 09 March 2016
Today, an installation by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to promote and illustrate the Italian contribution to the ExoMars Mission was inaugurated in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo. In addition to Finmeccanica Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Mauro Moretti, the ceremony was attended by the Italian Minister for Education, Universities and Research Stefania Giannini, ASI President Roberto Battiston, Thales Alenia Space Italia Chief Executive Officer Donato Amoroso and Telespazio Chief Executive Officer Luigi Pasquali.
The installation’s display monitors, will show live on Monday, 14 March the launch of the probe, which will take off from the space base in Baikonur, Kazakhstan towards Mars. Throughout March, videos and interviews will provide information on the mission and on its scientific, technological and industrial features, with particular focus on the prevailing Italian role.
During the event, Mauro Moretti emphasised “the pride of having a leading role in the mission with the Group’s technological contribution” and praising Finmeccanica’s commitment to the programme added, "Italy, with its scientists and its space industry has always been a leader in research and space exploration. Finmeccanica is involved since the Sixties in the major space programmes. After the success of the Rosetta mission, which saw Finmeccanica technologies landing on a comet, through ExoMars we are ready to bring our knowledge onto the Red Planet. Finmeccanica is at the forefront of this great challenge with all its technicians, women and men who are engaged daily in research and technological development, our country’s real engine of progress."
Finmeccanica plays a very important role in the Red Planet exploration programme. In addition to Thales Alenia Space, prime contractor for ExoMars and responsible for the entire design of both missions (2016 and 2018), Telespazio and the Airborne & Space Systems Division are also involved. The latter realized the drill that will perforate the Martian soil in the 2018 mission to a depth of two metres. It is a very advanced and innovative tool that will permit the search for water and possible traces of fossil or current life, as two metres of rock are the necessary depth to shield the cosmic radiation from outer space.