Turin, Italy

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At a time when global interest in the Moon is rapidly shifting from scientific aspiration to economic and strategic priority, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) is playing a key role in supporting Italy’s involvement in the emerging Lunar Economy.

Through its funding call for scientific experiments to be developed for the lunar surface, ASI launched a major initiative to stimulate the creation of technologies and infrastructures that will be essential to a sustained human and robotic presence on the Moon. The goal is clear: to strengthen national capabilities in contributing to future lunar missions, whether scientific or industrial, by promoting solutions ready to be integrated into the payloads of upcoming international missions.

Among the winning proposals is the project "Cloud System for Wireless Energy Transfer" (DESIGN), officially included in the final list of selected projects. The project addresses a real and urgent challenge: enabling continuous power delivery during the long lunar nights, which can last up to 14 Earth days and render traditional photovoltaic systems ineffective.

The proposal, submitted and awarded by the Politecnico di Torino, is being developed in collaboration with Francesco Lopez, Anna Mauro, and Domenico Edoardo Sfasciamuro, founders of ORiS and experts in Wireless Power Transmission (WPT). Together, the team is actively working on designing a constellation of orbital systems capable of transmitting laser power directly to the lunar surface, enabling uninterrupted operations for scientific instruments, habitats, rovers, and in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) systems.

This initiative fits into a broader strategic context: the Lunar Economy. This is an emerging ecosystem where space agencies, industries, and startups are working to establish permanent infrastructure for lunar exploration and resource utilization. In this framework, energy is one of the most critical enabling assets, alongside communications and surface mobility.

With this project, our team is contributing to the technological foundation of a sustainable and interoperable lunar economy, opening the way for new opportunities in the space sector and future international collaborations.

 See the full list of selected projects on the ASI website
ASI Call – Projects for the Moon