Claudio Maccone

Claudio Maccone is an Italian astronomer, space scientist and mathematician. In 2002 he was awarded the "Giordano Bruno Award" by the SETI League "for his efforts to establish a radio observatory on the far side of the Moon." In 2010 he was appointed Technical Director for Scientific Space Exploration by the International Academy of Astronautics. Since 2012, he has chaired the SETI Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics. He obtained his PhD at the Department of Mathematics of King's College London in 1980. He then joined the Space Systems Group of Aeritalia (now called Thales Alenia Space) in Turin as a technical expert for the design of artificial satellites, and got involved in the design of new space missions. In 2009 he published the first scientific book ever about the “FOCAL” space mission to 550 Astronomical Units capable of exploiting the Sun as a magnifying gravitational lens. He has published five textbooks and over 100 scientific and technical papers, most of them in "Acta Astronautica" and “International Journal of Astrobiology”.