Annamaria PIRAS

Thales Alenia Space Italia • Director of LEO Programs

Annamaria Piras is currently the Director of LEO Programs Directorate in the Thales Alenia Space Domain of Exploration and Science. In the same directorate in addition to all Low Earth Orbit exploration (ISS exploitation, LEO Cargo return Vehicle, Cygnus and derived, etc.) and commercial stations are included also First Orion and Lunar exploration elements, namely all the European Service Module MPCV and their evolution. She has 35 years of experience in Space Exploration.

After classical studies, she achieved a doctoral level degree in Physics. She taught an international Master’s degree in Space Exploration organized by the Engineering University Politecnico di Torino, with contribution of Thales Alenia Space.

She is a member of International Astronautic Federation with an active role in the committees of Human Space Flight and Operations.

She worked for Thales Alenia space regarding all the Italian International Space Station Habitable Modules, passing from being responsible for flight and ground operations to the overall functional system engineering dept. and up to program management of Nodes initially, then MPCV, Cygnus and HALO and commercial Station.

She managed different operational departments, such as the end-to-end operations, mission analysis, Functional Integration and Failure Detection Isolation and Recovery department (including avionics, SW and harness).

When she was Program Manager, she worked on the international Space Station MPLM, Nodes 2 and 3 and Cupola, Cygnus, then on the Orion European Service module, then on Halo, the first lunar gateway station element, and finally Cygnus, the main commercial logistic element for the international Space Station.

Events

77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2026)

5 - 9 October 2026

Antalya, Türkiye

Participation: