ITALIAN NGO PROPOSES NEW COLLABORATION TO REALIZE

UNCLAS ROME 001027

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR OES/SAT AND EUR/WE (ADAMS/FETCHKO)
NASA HQ FOR A.D. SOFGE AND T.JENS FEELEY, PARIS FOR NASA
REP DR. J.DON MILLER, DEPT. PLEASE PASS TO NSF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPA KSCA IT
SUBJECT: ITALIAN NGO PROPOSES NEW COLLABORATION TO REALIZE
"MOON BASE ITALIA"


1. This is an action request. Please see paragraph 2.

SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST:
--------------


2. On March 4, Embassy Economic and Science officers met
with an Italian NGO planning a meeting in Venice on May 26-
27, 2005 to explore possible U.S.-Italian-EU-Russian
cooperation to design and construct a manned base on the
moon. The NGO, "Solidarity and Development," claims to
enjoy political support from members of the government, the
Italian scientific research community, and the powerful
defense industrial conglomerate, Finmeccanica. Following
the May invitation-only meeting to present the initiative
and discuss feasibility, Solidarity and Development
proposes holding a follow-on meeting in Washington in
October to refine technical requirements and agree on a way
forward. ACTION REQUEST: Please advise whether NASA or
other USG agency representative would be interested in
attending the May 26-27 meeting in Venice, or otherwise
exploring this initiative further. Please see comment,
para 11. Embassy Rome POC information is in para 12. END
SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST.


3. On March 4, Economic and Science officers met with
Francesco Mazzuca, President of "Solidarity and
Development," a technology and innovation NGO founded in
2001 to develop and present action proposals to
policymakers on a broad range of issues affecting modern
society. Mazzuca, a high-ranking advisor in the powerful
defense industrial conglomerate, Finmeccanica, claims to
enjoy Prime Minister Berlusconi's patronage for the
initiative in the form of support from his diplomatic
adviser, Giovanni Castellaneta. (NOTE: In fact, we agreed
to a meeting at the Embassy at the specific request of one
of Castellaneta's deputies. END NOTE) Mazzuca has
contacted the head of the Italian Space Agency (ASI),the
Minister of Education, Universities and Research, Letizia
Moratti, and influential scientific researchers about the
project. Dr. Walter Pecorella, Vice President of the
National Institute of Astrophysics, accompanied Mazzuca to
the Embassy meeting.

REVITALIZING U.S.-ITALY SPACE COOPERATION:
--------------
- "MOON BASE ITALIA"
--------------


4. Mazzuca explained that Solidarity and Development's
proposal builds on Italy's world-class national and
international space program, noted for successes such as
the San Marco satellite and participation in the
International Space Station and the Cassini-Huygens Saturn
mission. Inspired by President Bush's Space Exploration
Vision Program and High Frontier, Inc. Director Klaus P.
Heiss' draft paper "A Moonbase of Observatories,"
Solidarity and Development wants to launch an ambitious
international space exploration proposal to revitalize
Italy's special relationship with the United States and
maintain Italy's status as a major contributor to
international space exploration missions. Identifying new
areas for cooperation would also stimulate Italian research
and industrial activities, and the funding to make them
happen, something Italy badly needs to reverse declining
economic competitiveness and the sliding GDP growth rate
(1.2 percent in 2004). Solidarity and Development proposes
to hold two invitation-only workshops for Italian, U.S.,
European, and Russian scientists and government
representatives to discuss how to form an international
effort to construct a manned base on the moon. They have
named the initiative "Moon Base Italia."

VENICE MEETING MAY 26-27
--------------


5. Solidarity and Development will sponsor a two-day
invitation-only workshop for 130 participants to present
the "Moon Base Italia" initiative and identify areas
critical to mission success. Most of the speakers would be
American and Italian, but participants would also come from
Europe and Russia, primarily to listen. This first meeting
would seek to define the "take-off point" for the proposal


and elicit any "objections in principle" to moving forward.
Selected government and industry representatives and
scientists would address the following areas:

-- The type of base to design;
-- The type of transportation system to use;
-- The relationship between the moon base and other solar
system exploration programs, including how the project
would impact on the International Space Station operations;
-- Technical microsystems necessary for the mission;
-- Scientific and experimental objectives and activities
to pursue on the moon, along with anticipated technological
and industrial spin-offs; and
-- Preliminary economic considerations.


6. Solidarity and Development, together with American
representatives, if they are interested, would organize the
May workshop and choose the speakers. The Europeans and
Russians would participate on "technical matters." The
Venice meeting would seek to define a cooperative structure
among the United States, the EU, and Russia, in which Italy
would have a coordinating role to implement the project.
Three committees would be formed (Steering, Scientific, and
Organizing Committees). Mazzuca provided only a sketchy
idea of who would be represented on the committees, but we
noted he had included USG agencies in his preliminary
suggestion for Steering Committee participation.

WASHINGTON FOLLOW-ON MEETINGS IN OCTOBER ?
--------------


7. Solidarity and Development also proposes a two-day,
follow-on workshop in Washington in October, 2005. Italy
and the United States would organize the meeting and choose
the speakers. The Washington workshop would review the
findings of the Venice meetings, answer any "objections on
principle" expressed in May, and settle on a way forward in
all the critical areas: technical, organizational and
political. Mazzuca noted that Solidarity and Development
would work with the Italian Embassy and Finmeccanica's
Washington office on meeting logistics.

INSPIRATION FROM U.S. DRAFT PROPOSAL
--------------


8. Mazzuca has been in contact with Klaus P. Heiss,
Director of High Frontier, Inc., and author of a major
economic feasibility study for the ISS in 1971. In
response to President Bush's Space Exploration Vision,
Heiss has written a draft document entitled "A Moonbase of
Observatories: The First Sustained Human Base Outside
Earth at the South Pole of the Moon by 2020 with Private
and International Participation." This appears to be the
inspiration for "Moon Base Italia." The draft recommends
that the USG (NASA) establish a "Lunar Enterprise
Development Company" on the Intelsat model, to attract
substantial private sector participation in all
technological and scientific activities of the project.

UNCERTAIN ROLES FOR ITALIAN/EUROPEAN
- SPACE AGENCIES
--------------


9. Emboffs queried Mazzuca on the Italian Space Agency's
participation in "Moon Base Italia." He replied that ASI
would certainly have a role, and that he had spoken with
ASI President Dr. Sergio Vetrella to urge ASI involvement.
Mazzuca also assured us that he had spoken personally with
the head of the European Space Agency (ESA),but that Italy
intends to take the lead to move the proposal forward
rapidly, rather than rely on the more time-consuming ESA
process.

POLITICAL BACKING AND FUNDING
--------------


10. The deputy to Berlusconi's diplomatic advisor
emphasized that Mazzuca is well connected politically with
the Union of Christian Democrats of the Center (UDC),the
small centrist partner in the government coalition.
Mazzuca is science and technology advisor to both Marco
Follini, UDC Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, and to


Rocco Buttiglione, UDC President and the Minister for
European Union Policies. Mazzuca himself expressed
confidence during our meeting that, if the initiative went
forward, "Moon Base Italia" implementers would have the
political backing to secure GOI funding in the form of "ad
hoc" appropriations to the general budget. There is
precedent for this in recent years. Extra-budgetary
funding has supported Italian participation in the Cassini-
Huygens Saturn mission and the ALMA (the Atacama Large
Millimeter Array) Project, an international partnership
among the United States National Science Foundation,
Canada, Spain, and the European Southern Observatory to
construct the world's largest and most sensitive radio
telescope in Chile.

COMMENT
--------------


11. Emboffs were not familiar with Solidarity and
Development until Mazzuca was referred to us by the Prime
Minister's office -- not a bad introduction. However,
given Mazzuca's political ties to one of the partners in
the government, and based on his management position in
Finmeccanica, we believe his NGO's effort to stimulate
discussion of a possible role for Italy in the next stages
of U.S.-led international space exploration is serious and
deserves consideration. END COMMENT.


12. Embassy welcomes contact with the Department, NASA or
other USG agencies interested in this proposal. Rome POC
is EST Counselor Jill Byrnes, at unclassified e-mail
"ByrnesJF(at symbol)state.gov. Telephone: (country code
39) 06-4674-2691. Fax: (39) 06-4674-2398.
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2005ROME01027 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED