Camilla Colombo

Prof. Camilla Colombo is Full Professor at Politecnico di Milano. She joined PoliMi after 10-year research experience in UK as PhD, postdoc and then research fellow at the University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde, and then the University of Southampton. At Politecnico di Milano, within the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology, she leads the COMPASS research group composed of 17 researchers, postdoc, and PhD researchers. Her research, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Research Council (ERC) and the Italian Space Agency, focuses on modelling and mitigation of space debris, mission analysis and design, and space traffic management. She is delegate for the Italian Space Agency at the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee and at the UN-mandated COPUOS Science and Technical Subcommittee Space Mission Planning Advisory Group for asteroid deflection missions. Moreover, she is involved in several committees leading with space traffic management and space sustainability, among which the one established by the International Astronautical Federation. She is responsible for the AIDAA working group on Sustainability. In 2019 and 2020 she was selected as top scientist under 40 by the World Economic Forum for her work on Space Sustainability. She was awarded in 2015 a Starting grant by the ERC on the COMPASS project for the 'Control of orbit manoeuvring through perturbations for applications to space systems' and in 2023 a Consolidator grant by the ERC on the project GREEN SPECIES that will develop a 'Robust control of the space debris population to define optimal policies and an economic revenue model for sustainable development of space activities'. Camilla is leading the development of the ESA operational tool THEMIS for tracking the health of the space environment and assessing the impact of missions in space.