A long career at the European Space Agency (ESA), today she is the first woman to head the Earth Observation programs at the helm of the Esrin center in Frascati: we are talking about Dr. Simonetta Cheli, this month's guest of honor at the our virtual living room. To understand why the remote sensing sector is considered strategic for our country and for the future of the planet, we asked you a few questions on the subject, to which you answered from your privileged point of view.
Dr. Cheli, there is a long way from legal-economic studies at Yale University to space observations at ESA. Can you tell us about the origin of your involvement in Space?
Since high school I had a particular attention towards international relations, an interest that led me to study foreign languages with passion, today I speak five. As soon as I was able, I became a supporter and volunteer of some international bodies and organizations, such as Amnesty International, the Council of Europe and UNESCO.
During my university years I studied Law and Economics at Yale University and subsequently I graduated in Political Science, with a specialization in International Law, at the “Cesare Alfieri” University of Florence.
At that time I wrote a thesis on international space telecommunications law, which led me to conduct research at the United Nations in New York. After completing my studies, I worked for a period in Brussels, at the European Commission in the Cabinet of the Commissioner at the time in charge of culture, audiovisual and telecommunications. After this experience I joined ESA, where I have been working for thirty years; I held various roles within the Earth Observation Programs Directorate, including that of Head of the Strategy, Program and Coordination Office, Head of the Coordination Office and Head of the Public and Institutional Relations Office.
In your next role, as a citizen of planet Earth, is there one challenge that you more than others want to accomplish?
Surely a very important challenge, in my small way, is to provide contributions to the issue of the climate crisis. Today Space is an essential tool to support this problem, I strongly believe in this. I also believe in the need to unite the scientific - technological world with the political one, which deals with the development of regulations, guaranteeing compliance with them.
Today Space is already used to monitor the implementation of agreements such as the Paris one on temperature containment or on the monitoring of CO2 of anthropogenic origin. In fact, satellites can provide essential information for understanding the state of health of our planet.
Through them it is possible to record the earth's temperature as well as the rise of the seas, the situation of the forest covers and the melting of the ice. Our satellites scan the oceans, atmosphere, winds and ice, helping us to collect information in a super partes way.
One of my roles will be to ensure the easy availability of the collected data, in order to make them usable to all those who express the need, so that they can be used to the fullest.
In our daily lives we are immersed in the goals of space research (one for all, the GPS). Can you see the “next frontier” of space from your privileged observatory?
In my sector, that of the environment, remote sensing, meteorology and climate, the next frontier will be to use the data available to us by integrating digital technology, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. This in order to allow a rapid processing of the available data and an ever easier access to them by the end user.
In this context, we have recently launched an initiative which has the objective of reconstructing, through the analysis and processing of large volumes of data, forecasting models on the climate and on natural disasters.
The goal, therefore, is not only to understand the state of our planet today: we want to contribute, through our data, to future projections on specific issues.
Observations of the Earth from Space are also important for those who, like INGV, study the "heart" of the planet. Indeed, the INGV Space Earth Observation Center is the structure dedicated to the planning and coordination of activities relating to space and aerospace in the sectors of interest to the Institute, Earthquakes, Volcanoes and the Environment. Is there a natural event that, seen from space, has particularly fascinated you?
We have been collaborating with INGV for many years and one of the activities that particularly struck me was the monitoring of Etna from Space, during the recent eruptions. These are phenomena that have a great impact.
Also on the occasion of the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma, the "eyes" of Sentinel-2 recorded the event, and the data collected was made available to the authorities and the scientific community. These, in fact, have proved to be extremely useful for understanding the path of the lava and helping the Spanish authorities to assist the evacuation operations.
From your privileged point of view, how do you perceive the participation of Italian public research in the new European space programmes?
Traditionally the Ministry of Research and University was the contact person for the Italian Space Agency ASI and for ESA in Italy, today the sector is much broader and works through a structure that brings together 12 ministries under the Presidency of the Council of Ministers . Space today has a strong strategic - political as well as scientific value.
In Italy there are various ministries, and therefore the sectors of competence, which collaborate in space activities and with ESA.
It is no coincidence that ESRIN is located in Frascati, This city. in fact, it represents in Italy, together with Rome, a research pole where there are national bodies such as ENEA, with which we have been working for years for the use of satellite data, the INFN with which we collaborate for the transfer of large volumes of data and archives, without forgetting the activities carried out with the Monte Porzio Observatory and the Italian Space Agency.
The network between ESA and the Italian academic world is very close. In fact, the Agency collaborates in the remote sensing sector with the universities of Bologna, Padua, Milan and Naples. I think close collaboration between research and academia is essential; moreover, the scientific world benefits a lot from the fact that the data is totally open.
During her career, she was also Head of Communications and Institutional Relations at Esrin in Frascati. Communicating science is essential. But it is equally essential to do it well because a "bad communication" can have multiple negative repercussions. What is the advice that, most of all, you feel like giving to scientific research communicators?
Surely to communicate science well you need to use simple language, putting the interlocutor first, having clear characteristics. This also applies when speaking of complex themes, such as spatial ones: the language must always be appropriate to the public to which it is addressed. Today we have many channels available, including the traditional press, websites, social media. This means having a variety of tools and products available which, if used well, allow you to reach a large pool of people, including young people.
To conclude, the female presence in the scientific fields of STEM subjects is still around 20%. The Nobel Prize sees the presence of women in a very low percentage. Despite the promotional actions at an international level, let's think for example of the World Day of Women and Girls in Science, this index is struggling to rise. In your opinion, what would it take to push the numerical ratio towards equilibrium?
I think we have to start from the basics, that is, from schools and universities.
It is necessary to try to approach and encourage girls to approach STEM topics, also through the organization of information days.
Surely in recent years there is a positive trend in this sense. In Esa today there are around 30% of women managers, a number in line with that of the other international bodies with which we collaborate.
Furthermore, in the last selection of astronauts, one in four participants was female: a much higher female presence than in the past. Female models in the space are today more present and it is easier for a young girl to imagine herself in certain roles; but motivation must be stimulated right from the start, from school, just when STEM subjects begin to be proposed.