The European Space Agency and Ferrari have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) aimed at harnessing space technologies to drive innovation, enhance performance and promote sustainability.
The luxury sports car market is playing a role in the transformation of the overall automotive sector, influenced by technological advancements, changing clients’ preferences and ongoing regulatory changes. This new collaboration will focus on supporting new space applications in the key areas of route optimisation, logistics, supply chain sustainability and safety. By sharing knowledge and leveraging their collective resources and expertise, ESA plans to facilitate innovation across the luxury sports car sector in collaboration with Ferrari.
Ernesto Lasalandra, Ferrari’s Chief Research & Development Officer, said, “We are extremely pleased to work together with the European Space Agency on this initiative to explore potential new developments for sports car applications. By leveraging innovative applications and data-driven insights, we can find solutions that can inform future technology.”
The collaboration announcement comes ahead of ESA’s ‘Space for the Sports Car Sector – Efficiency, Safety And Sustainability’ funding opportunity which opens on 28 June 2024 which Ferrari is supporting. Successful proposals which address the various use cases of interest developed together with Ferrari have the potential to have the Italian company as a pilot test user.
Davide Coppola, Head of Space Applications Initiatives Section at ESA, said “This is a very exciting new collaboration with the potential to really drive innovation and sustainability at the top end of the luxury automotive market. By combining expertise from across the space and sports car sectors we are confident that we can facilitate pioneering technologies which will benefit the entire sector and beyond.”
For companies interested in finding out more about this funding opportunity, a webinar call by ESA and Ferrari will take place on 26 June at 14:00 CEST. Registration details are available here.
Maria Zaretskaya, Business Development & Partnerships Officer at ESA, said “We’re looking forward to working together with Ferrari to enable the development of innovative space-based applications and services for the sports car sector which will unlock significant business opportunities for European Industry’’.
About Ferrari
Ferrari is among the world’s leading luxury brands focused on the design, engineering, production and sale of the world’s most recognizable luxury performance sports cars. Ferrari brand symbolizes exclusivity, innovation, state-of-the-art sporting performance and Italian design. Its history and the image enjoyed by its cars are closely associated with its Formula 1 racing team, Scuderia Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula 1 history. From the inaugural year of Formula 1 in 1950 through the present, Scuderia Ferrari has won 245 Grand Prix races, 16 Constructors’ World titles and 15 Drivers’ World titles. Ferrari designs, engineers and produces its cars in Maranello, Italy, and sells them in over 60 markets worldwide