The new Italian constellation of Earth observation satellites
will be called
Iris , destined to be the most important in Europe.
The name, proposed by an Italian school, was communicated by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti in the link organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).
The name was selected by Cristoforetti herself with colleagues Luca Parmitano and Roberto Vittori, among the over a thousand proposals submitted by over a thousand Italian schools, in the 'Space for Ideas' competition, organized by the ministers of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition and of 'Instruction.
The name 'Iride' was selected from the
1,061 proposals
received
from 638 schools
.
The winners come from
provinces of Alessandria
,
Messina
,
Piacenza
and
Varese
and their award ceremony is scheduled for next June 1st.
The construction of the future Italian satellite constellation is expected within five years with the support of ESA and ASI, thanks to the resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr).
According to the programs, the Ministry of Innovation and Digital Transition announced, the constellation will also support the Civil Protection and other administrations to combat hydrogeological instability and fires, protect coasts, monitor critical infrastructures, air quality and weather conditions.
Finally, it will provide analytical data for the development of commercial applications by startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and industries in the sector.
Colao, with the PNRR we are relaunching strategic ambitions
"Thanks to the huge resources of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan we can relaunch our strategic ambition on space, in collaboration with ASI, ESA and all the institutional actors involved, to make Italy a leading player in the sector", said the minister for Innovation and Digital Transition, Vittorio Colao, on the occasion of the announcement of the name 'Iride'.
"I am very grateful to all the students who took part in this competition. A participation - continued Colao - which shows us the enthusiasm and passion of the new generations towards the space sector. We want to continue to stimulate innovation, support the research and above all create valuable job opportunities in this area, where the
White, the name Iride
gives identity to a great result of research
It gives "identity to an enormous result of European and in particular Italian research": this is how the Minister for Education, Patrizio Bianchi, commented on the result of the competition in which the schools gave the name 'Iris' to the future great constellation of satellites Italian for Earth observation.
"Thanks to this activity with the schools - he continued - we have experienced first hand their interest and enthusiasm in the study of disciplines such as physics and mathematics, fundamental for understanding what our sky has become today".
