Today and tomorrow the third Italian edition of SpaceUp will be held in Pisa, the "non-conference" which, in addition to hosting selected speakers from the space sector, will offer participants a wide freedom to interact and propose topics to be discussed during the 'event.
The SpaceUp was organized for the first time in San Diego in the 2010 and since then there have been numerous editions throughout the year all over the globe. In Italy the editions of Rome (2015) and Milan (2016) were held. It is defined as "space unconference", meaning the participants are warmly invited to discuss various topics related to space. The event is open to all lovers of the sector, so there will be around 100 individuals among students, amateurs, researchers, professors and company representatives. They will also be present as professional speakers:
- ing. Dario Kubler, of the Microchip company, will deal with the use of computers in the Apollo missions;
- prof.ssa Simona Gallerani, professor of the Scuola Normale di Pisa, will exhibit the use of telescopes for the observation of galaxies and quasars formed immediately after the Big Bang;
- prof. Franco Frasconi, a researcher at INFN, will explain the revolutionary measurement of gravitational waves;
- prof. Mariano Andrenucci, of the Sitael company, will deal with electric propulsion;
- Dr. Elena Grifoni Winters, current ESA Head of Cabinet.
The aims of the event are the dissemination of culture and scientific research in an active way, thanks to the direct involvement of the participants and the creation of new relationships between the world of industries and the academic world at international level.
Participants are called to hold short conferences, called T minus 5 (T-5), and / or debates, called Session Grids. The first ones will take place in the main hall with prefixed rules: it will slide a slide every 20 seconds for a total of 5 minutes. The session grids are parallel sessions whose character is decided by the participants themselves as they can be debates, round tables et cetera.
At the moment the event enjoys the patronage of ESA and ASI, AIDAA and the municipality and the province of Pisa; has as partners Space Generation Advisory Council and United Italy for Science. Among the sponsors, in addition to the University of Pisa, there are SpaceDys, International Space University, AIPAS, Alma-Systems, Tuscany Space and Business Exploration.
