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Paolo Ferri is an Italian physicist who spent his entire career at the European Space Agency (ESA), in the field of space mission operations.
Born in Milano, Italy, on 3 September 1959, he received his degree in Physics in 1984 at the University of Pavia, Italy with a thesis in theoretical plasma physics applied to nuclear fusion.
1984 he joined ESA’s Science Directorate as a visiting scientist, working as duty scientist at the EXOSAT Observatory, located at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany [1] .
He moved to the field of mission operations engineering, joining ESA’s Operations Directorate, in February 1986. He worked as Spacecraft Operations Engineer on the EURECA microgravity mission, then as Spacecraft Operations Manager for CLUSTER, a 4-satellites scientific mission to study the Earth’s magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind and for Rosetta, the first space mission to rendezvous and land on a comet’s nucleus [2] .
2006 he became Head of the Solar and Planetary Mission Operations Division, in charge of the operations preparation and execution for all ESA missions in the solar system, including Clusters, Ulysses [3] , Rosetta, Venus Express, Mars Express [4] ,ExoMars [5] , BepiColombo [6] and Solar Orbiter. [7] As part of this role he was Flight Director of Rosetta. He also supported, in the role of Flight Director, in 2005 the launch and in 2006 the Venus arrival operations of Venus Express [8] and in 2009 the GOCE mission to study the Earth’s gravity field. [9]
2013 he was nominated Head of ESA’s Mission Operations Department [10] [11] , in charge the ground segment and operations of all ESA robotic missions assigned to ESOC and of the management of the operations of ESA’s worldwide ground stations network, ESTRACK.
He retired from ESA at the end of 2020 [12] [13] . Rosetta was his most important project, which he followed for 20 years, in initially as operations manager, then as flight director and finally as head of the mission operations department. Through the preparation of the Rosetta mission, he and his team built up ESA’s ground infrastructure for the control of missions in deep space. [14] [15]
Since July 2016 he is Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and since April 2021 Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
He is author of several refereed papers in the field of space mission operations engineering, plasma physics and X-ray astrophysics. [16]
October 2015 – Induction into the Hall of Fame of the International Astronautics Federation [17] “For his outstanding achievements in the field of spacecraft operations and flight dynamics by successfully operating numerous ESA space science missions, maximising science return in close interaction with the investigators”.
December 2015 – Gold Medal for Team Achievement – Royal Aeronautical Society [18] - Representing the Rosetta Team.
February 2016 – Laurel for Team Achievement – International Academy of Astronautics [19] “The Philae Lander Team – representing the management team”
December 2020 – he was awarded the honour of Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic “for his contribution to space sciences and the activities of the European Space Agency”. [20]
March 2023 – SpaceOps Lifetime Achievement Medal – “For being a life-long true ambassador and a recognised authority of space mission operations and international collaboration in the domain of space missions”. [21] [22]
September 2023 – Le Sfide di Marte, di Paolo Ferri (raffaello Cortina Editore 2023) Finalist at Trieste Next – Science Book of the Year – Special Jury Mention: “Per avere con scrittura scorrevole e accattivante unito divulgazione scientifica e racconto, piacere della scoperta e passione per il lavoro, e, contribuendo a rendere Marte meno misterioso, ha dimostrato che scrutare mondi lontani aiuta a guardare dentro di sé”. [23]
The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) serves as the main mission control centre for the European Space Agency (ESA) and is located in Darmstadt, Germany. ESOC's primary function is the operation of uncrewed spacecraft on behalf of ESA and the launch and early orbit phases (LEOP) of ESA and third-party missions. The Centre is also responsible for a range of operations-related activities within ESA and in cooperation with ESA's industry and international partners, including ground systems engineering, software development, flight dynamics and navigation, development of mission control tools and techniques and space debris studies.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 22-member intergovernmental body devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,200 people globally as of 2022, ESA was founded in 1975. Its 2024 annual budget was €7.8 billion.
Aerobraking is a spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an elliptical orbit (apoapsis) by flying the vehicle through the atmosphere at the low point of the orbit (periapsis). The resulting drag slows the spacecraft. Aerobraking is used when a spacecraft requires a low orbit after arriving at a body with an atmosphere, as it requires less fuel than using propulsion to slow down.
A gravity assist, gravity assist maneuver, swing-by, or generally a gravitational slingshot in orbital mechanics, is a type of spaceflight flyby which makes use of the relative movement and gravity of a planet or other astronomical object to alter the path and speed of a spacecraft, typically to save propellant and reduce expense.
Mars Express is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The Mars Express mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally referred to the speed and efficiency with which the spacecraft was designed and built. However, "Express" also describes the spacecraft's relatively short interplanetary voyage, a result of being launched when the orbits of Earth and Mars brought them closer than they had been in about 60,000 years.
Rosetta was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft performed flybys of Earth, Mars, and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins. It was launched as the third cornerstone mission of the ESA's Horizon 2000 programme, after SOHO / Cluster and XMM-Newton.
The Italian Space Agency is a government agency established in 1988 to fund, regulate and coordinate space exploration activities in Italy. The agency cooperates with numerous national and international entities who are active in aerospace research and technology.
Venus Express (VEX) was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency (ESA). Launched in November 2005, it arrived at Venus in April 2006 and began continuously sending back science data from its polar orbit around Venus. Equipped with seven scientific instruments, the main objective of the mission was the long term observation of the Venusian atmosphere. The observation over such long periods of time had never been done in previous missions to Venus, and was key to a better understanding of the atmospheric dynamics. ESA concluded the mission in December 2014.
The European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid in Spain is the ESA's centre for space science. It hosts the science operation centres for all ESA astronomy and planetary missions together with their scientific archives. Past and present missions represented at ESAC include Akari, BepiColombo, Cassini–Huygens, Cluster, Exomars, Gaia, Herschel Space Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope, ISO, INTEGRAL, IUE, James Webb Space Telescope, LISA Pathfinder, Mars Express, Planck, Rosetta, SOHO, Solar Orbiter, Venus Express, and XMM-Newton.
The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a Sun-observing probe developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) with a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contribution. Solar Orbiter, designed to obtain detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and the nascent solar wind, will also perform close observations of the polar regions of the Sun which is difficult to do from Earth. These observations are important in investigating how the Sun creates and controls its heliosphere.
The European Space Tracking (ESTRACK) network consists of a number of ground-based space-tracking stations belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The stations support various ESA spacecraft and facilitate communications between ground operators and scientific probes such as XMM-Newton, Mars Express, BepiColombo, Gaia. Similar networks are run by the USA, China, Russia, Japan, and India.
Spacecraft operating in the inner Solar System usually rely on the use of power electronics-managed photovoltaic solar panels to derive electricity from sunlight. Outside the orbit of Jupiter, solar radiation is too weak to produce sufficient power within current solar technology and spacecraft mass limitations, so radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) are instead used as a power source.
Cebreros Station is a European Space Agency, ESTRACK radio antenna station for communication with spacecraft, located about 10 km east of Cebreros and 90 km from Madrid, Spain, operated by the European Space Operations Centre and INTA. A 35-metre diameter antenna that receives and transmit in X- and Ka-bands is located at the site. Station code is "CEB". 20 kW CW High Power Amplifier (HPA) it was created by Rheinmetall Italia SpA (Italy). The monitoring and control system was implemented by Microsis srl (Italy).
The Satellite Control and Operation System 2000 (SCOS-2000) is the generic satellite Mission Control System (MCS) software infrastructure developed and maintained by the European Space Agency (ESA/ESOC) in collaboration with European industry and deployed for missions such as Radarsat 2, XMM-Newton, INTEGRAL, Cryosat, Mars Express, Venus Express, GOCE, Herschel, Planck, Rosetta, Cryosat-2, Galileo, MetOp, LISA Pathfinder, SWARM, Gaia, SENTINEL spacecraft, EXOMARS orbiters, METEOSAT Third Generation, Aeolus, BepiColombo, SOLO or EUCLID. Upcoming missions that will deploy SCOS-2000 include MetOp-SG and EarthCARE.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to space exploration.
Susan McKenna-Lawlor is an Irish astrophysicist. She is an emeritus professor of experimental physics at Maynooth University, having formally retired in 2000.
Telespazio Germany GmbH is a European aerospace company, founded in 1978. The company provides consulting, technology and engineering services in aerospace missions for ESOC, EUMETSAT and the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Stephan Ulamec is an Austrian geophysicist, born in Salzburg on January 27, 1966, with more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and several participations in space missions and payloads operated by diverse space agencies. He is working at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne. He is regularly giving lectures about his publications in aerospace engineering at the University of Applied Sciences: Fachhochschule FH-Aachen. Main aspects of his work are related to the exploration of small bodies in the solar system.
