CV

PhD and Early Stage Researcher

Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

• Artificial intelligence for enhanced optical navigation techniques around small-bodies.
• Mission analysis, image processing, and GNC design of the Milani mission. Team leader of the GNC group for the Milani mission.
• Marie Skłodowska Curie ESR13 of Stardust-R, the European Training Network on asteroids and space debris.
• Thesis on Data-Driven Image Processing for Enhanced Vision-Based Applications Around Small Bodies with Machine Learning, cum laude.

M.Sc. in Spaceflight

Delft University of Technology Delft, The Netherlands

• Specialization in space exploration, transfer orbit profile.
• key courses on Mission Geometry and Orbit design, Planetary sciences, Astrodynamics I & II, Space Project, Microsatellite engineering.
• Thesis on the Extended Tisserand–Poincaré graph for multi-body trajectory design in the patched CR3BP model.
• Final grade of 9.5/10 Cum Laude. Manuscript available at TU Delft repository.

B.Sc. in Aerospace engineering

Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

• Key courses on Fundamental of Space Missions, Applied Numerical Analysis, Theoretical Mechanics, Automatic Control.
• Final grade of 106/110.

PostDoctoral Associate

University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America

• Lead Scarabaeus development, OD tool for EMA mission.
• Artificial intelligence for enhanced optical navigation techniques around small-bodies.

Visiting researcher

Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz (DFKI), Bremen, Germany

• Visiting researcher under the supervision of Dr. Marko Jankovic and Shubham Vyas.
• Visual digital twin of an analog crater facility for data-driven applications.
• Dataset generation with a Vicon-drone camera setup. Pose and visual labeling of the images with a digital twin.

Visiting researcher

University of Arizona (UoA), Tucson, Arizona

• Visiting researcher under the supervision of professor Roberto Furfaro.
• Deep-learning and convolutional extreme learning machine methods for precise optical navigation in the proximity of a small-body.
• Recurrent neural networks and reinforcement learning for autonomous close-proximity operations.

GNC project engineer

GMV, Madrid, Spain

• GNC project engineer of the HERA mission, a technology demonstration mission to visit the Didymos binary system.
• Design and testing of the visual based navigation strategy for the proximity operation phases of the Hera mission for phases A and B1.
• Incremental testing and validation campaign using higher fidelity models. Model-in-the-loop (with PANGU), software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop (responsible for the optical facility testbench and robotic facility simulations).

Visiting researcher

ISAS/JAXA, Sagamihara, Japan

• Visiting researcher under the supervision of professor Yasuhiro Kawakatsu.
• Member of the trajectory design teams of EQUULEUS CubeSat and DESTINY smallsat missions.

Internship

Airbus Defence and Space, Friedrichsafen, Germany

• Mission and spacecraft design of 𝑁𝐸𝑂𝑇𝜔𝐼𝑆𝑇, a low-cost impactor demonstration and characterization mission on Itokawa. Part of the NEOShield-2 project, supported by the European programme H2020.
• Focus on the flyby trajectory and formation flight design, high level assessment of a tracking strategy, and system engineering design of the flyby module.

• ASI (Italian Space Agency) Scholarship for 74th IAC and 21st SGC
• 5 scholarships provided to Italian researchers to participate to the 74th IAC and 21st SGC in Baku, Azerbaijan.

• MDPI travel award 2023
• Award to take part in international conferences in the aerospace community in 2024

• Progetto Roberto Rocca
• Scholarship provided to fund 6-12 months of research stays at MIT for 5-6 Politecnico di Milano PhD students every year to increse cooperation between the two universities.

• Erasmus+
• Grant provided with the aim to increase the mobility of students within the EU, sustaining them while experiencing other cultures

• Excellence award
• Registration in the national record of Italian excellences after graduating with 100/100 'cum Laude' from Scientific and Technological high school Luigi Galvani