Paolo Ferri is an Italian physicist who spent his entire career at the European Space Agency (ESA), in the field of space mission operations.

Born in Milano, Italy, on 3 September 1959, he received his degree in Physics in 1984 at the University of Pavia, Italy with a thesis in theoretical plasma physics applied to nuclear fusion.

1984 he joined ESA’s Science Directorate as a visiting scientist, working as duty scientist at the EXOSAT Observatory, located at ESOC, the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.^[1]

He moved to the field of mission operations engineering, joining ESA’s Operations Directorate, in February 1986. He worked as Spacecraft Operations Engineer on the EURECA microgravity mission, then as Spacecraft Operations Manager for CLUSTER, a 4-satellites scientific mission to study the Earth’s magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind and for Rosetta, the first space mission to rendezvous and land on a comet’s nucleus.^[2]

2006 he became Head of the Solar and Planetary Mission Operations Division, in charge of the operations preparation and execution for all ESA missions in the solar system, including Clusters, Ulysses,^[3] Rosetta, Venus Express, Mars Express,^[4] ExoMars,^[5] BepiColombo ^[6] and Solar Orbiter.^[7] As part of this role he was Flight Director of Rosetta. He also supported, in the role of Flight Director, in 2005 the launch and in 2006 the Venus arrival operations of Venus Express^[8] and in 2009 the GOCE mission to study the Earth’s gravity field.^[9]

2013 he was nominated Head of ESA’s Mission Operations Department,^[10][11] in charge the ground segment and operations of all ESA robotic missions assigned to ESOC and of the management of the operations of ESA’s worldwide ground stations network, ESTRACK.

He retired from ESA at the end of 2020.^[12][13] Rosetta was his most important project, which he followed for 20 years, in initially as operations manager, then as flight director and finally as head of the mission operations department. Through the preparation of the Rosetta mission, he and his team built up ESA’s ground infrastructure for the control of missions in deep space.^[14][15]

Since July 2016 he is Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and since April 2021 Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

He is author of several refereed papers in the field of space mission operations engineering, plasma physics and X-ray astrophysics.^[16]

October 2015 – Induction into the Hall of Fame of the International Astronautics Federation^[17] “For his outstanding achievements in the field of spacecraft operations and flight dynamics by successfully operating numerous ESA space science missions, maximising science return in close interaction with the investigators”.

December 2015 – Gold Medal for Team Achievement – Royal Aeronautical Society^[18] - Representing the Rosetta Team.

February 2016 – Laurel for Team Achievement – International Academy of Astronautics^[19] “The Philae Lander Team – representing the management team”

December 2020 – he was awarded the honour of Cavaliere of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic “for his contribution to space sciences and the activities of the European Space Agency”.^[20]

March 2023 – SpaceOps Lifetime Achievement Medal – “For being a life-long true ambassador and a recognised authority of space mission operations and international collaboration in the domain of space missions”.^[21][22]

September 2023 – Le Sfide di Marte, di Paolo Ferri (raffaello Cortina Editore 2023) Finalist at Trieste Next – Science Book of the Year – Special Jury Mention: “Per avere con scrittura scorrevole e accattivante unito divulgazione scientifica e racconto, piacere della scoperta e passione per il lavoro, e, contribuendo a rendere Marte meno misterioso, ha dimostrato che scrutare mondi lontani aiuta a guardare dentro di sé”.^[23]

• Il cacciatore di comete (in Italian). Bari: Laterza. 2020. ISBN 978-88-581-4125-0.
• Il lato oscuro del sole (in Italian). Bari: Laterza. 2022. ISBN 978-88-581-4972-0.
• Le sfide di Marte: Storie di esplorazione di un pianeta difficile (in Italian). Raffaello Cortina Editore. 2023. ISBN 978-88-3285-528-9.

• Escoubet, C. P.; Russell, C. T.; Schmidt, R., eds. (1997). "Cluster Mission Operations". The Cluster and Phoenix Missions. Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 475–485. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5666-0. ISBN 978-94-010-6389-0.. Coauthored with ^[who?].
• Schulz, R.; Alexander, C.; Boehnhardt, H.; Glaßmeier, K.H., eds. (2009). "Ground Segment and Mission Operations". Rosetta: ESA's Mission to the Origin of the Solar System. Springer. ISBN 978-0-387-77517-3.
• Uhlig, Thomas; Sellmaier, Florian; Schmidhuber, Michael, eds. (2015). "Interplanetary Operations". Spacecraft Operation. Springer Verlag. Bibcode:2015spop.book.....U. doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-1803-0. ISBN 978-3-7091-1802-3. Co-author of chapter 7.3 "Lander operations".
• Ley, Wilfried; Wittmann, Klaus; Hallmann, Willi, eds. (2019). "Satellitenbetrieb". Handbuch der Raumfahrttechnik (PDF) (in German) (5th ed.). Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. doi:10.3139/9783446457232. ISBN 978-3-446-45429-3. S2CID 159459209.
• Van Dick, R.; et al., eds. (2021). "Quando la pandemia raggiunse lo spazio siderale". Goethe-Vigoni Discorsi: un diario italo-tedesco (in Italian). Villa Vigoni Editore. ISBN 978-88-944986-3-9.

• ESA Masterclass - Paolo Ferri
• Tomás Saraceno im Gespräch mit Paolo Ferri
• ESA Flight Operations with Paolo Ferri
• IAC 2015 Highlight Lecture - The International Rosetta Mission
• ARD Alpha - Pioneer der Raumfahrt - Paolo Ferri