Speaker

Fabio Caramelli is the Space Rider Programme Payload and Exploitation Manager at European Space Agency, based in ESA ESRIN site in Frascati (Rome).

Fabio core technical knowledge is satellite and launcher propulsion; he worked initially both at industry and at the Agency as propulsion engineer in the early years of his career and subsequently as propulsion manager in major projects, the latter role on ATV (Automated Transport Vehicle) and Vega launcher upper stage.

In more recent years, he joined the Vega system management team. In charge of the Vega Verta Programme missions preparation, he accompanied industry from project qualification to full commercialization of the launcher.

In this context, Fabio conceived, initiated, and managed until flight the SSMS (Small Satellite Mission Service) Project, to launch with Vega the first European ride-share mission, successfully delivering in Low Earth Orbit 53 Small Satellites on September 2nd, 2020. That mission paved the way of the currently ongoing commercialization of the SSMS service on Vega and Vega C launchers.

His role in Space Rider Programme is to deliver in orbit customer payloads and provide them an end-to-end service including in-orbit operations, reentry and retrieval, coupled with the challenge to prepare the commercial future of the project, preparing European industry to meet the growing in-orbit R&D and in-space manufacturing market.