A talk with Simonetta Di Pippo
Moderated by Christian Köberl
How can space-based projects and technologies contribute to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
On the occasion of the publication of her latest book Space Economy. The New Frontier for Development, former Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Simonetta Di Pippo will talk about the opportunities provided by space economy in creating benefits for humanity and tackling climate change.
Satellites are critical to monitoring greenhouse gas emissions and different climate change indicators. Their measurements of air and sea surface temperatures, sea levels, as well as other space-based observations, reveal important consequences of a warming, changing world. In fact, according to the White Paper Global Future Council on Space. Space for Net Zero of the World Economic Forum, more than 50% of essential climate variables are measurable only from space.
However, gaps remain in modelling, mitigation and coordination. While hundreds of institutions conduct research into relevant climate change processes, an Earth Operations Centre has yet to be established that leverages space data and expertise to conduct multidisciplinary science and engineering research, inform decision-making and coordinate net zero efforts.
This event will be in English. Booking is required.
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Simonetta Di Pippo is Professor of Practice of Space Economy at the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan. Prior to joining SDA, she served as Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Director of Human Spaceflight at the European Space Agency (ESA), Director of the Observation of the Universe at the Italian Space Agency and led the European Space Policy Observatory. Throughout her career, Simonetta Di Pippo has been active in bridging the gender gap in STEM and the space sector: in 2009 she co-founded “Women in Aerospace Europe” and in 2017 she became a UN “International Gender Champion”. In 2008, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) named asteroid 21887 “dipippo” in honour of her contribution to space activities.
Christian Köberl is Professor of impact research and planetary geology at the University of Vienna. He is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, books editor for the Geological Society of America and co-editor of the journals Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and Meteoritics & Planetary Science. He is a recipient of the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society, its highest award for research related to impact cratering studies, the Meteoritical Society’s Service Award, and has received the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Culture Fist Class. From June 2010 to May 2020 he was Director General of the Natural History Museum in Vienna. In 2006, the asteroid 15963 was named “Koeberl” after him.