This three-day international conference organised by the Air and Space Academy (AAE) will take place at Politecnico di Torino, with the support of this university, of the Italian Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIDAA) and of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).

Dedicated to Space exploration, automated as well as manned, the purpose of the conference is to focus on a few important themes underpinning Space Exploration rather than trying to embrace the full scope of activities, with the aim of providing useful input to agencies or other bodies in charge of building programmes.

Several keynote speeches given by leading personalities will address exploration purposes and policies. Introduced by an overview of the current state of play of scientific knowledge and technical progress, seven sessions will examine aspects often under-represented in space policies but fundamental for most exploration projects.

1.       Philosophy and cultural motivations

2.       Dream missions (featuring four prizewinning projects selected by SGAC)

3.       The first step: towards an environment-friendly approach to Lunar exploration

4.       Flying machines

5.       Going faster (and further)

6.       Water: our quest for “oases” in the Solar System

7.       Human-robots collaboration

Each theme will be followed by a Q&A session, and a wrap-up session, moderated by SGAC, will aim to tease out the various ideas that have emerged during the conference, with the participation of the audience.