Title: The Life of a Liquid Propulsion Engineer
Speaker: Francesco Di Matteo, ESA ESRIN
Date/Time: Thursday 4 July 2024, 1900 BST
Venue: Online and In-Person Audience at BIS Headquarters, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, Vauxhall, London, SW8 1SZ and
**Please note, our Speaker will be online, however we will still host an in-person audience at the BIS HQ in London if you wish to join us in-person**
Registration is now Closed
Francesco’s lecture encompasses the major aspects of space liquid propulsion for spacecraft and launchers from a very personal perspective. After a brief introduction of his background and experience, his presentation will cover the two major categories in which the liquid propulsion is divided: storable and cryogenic propulsion.
From the very basic concepts of the elements of rocket propulsion to the most up-to-date engineering modelling methodologies, and then deep into the real-life experience of ground test and launch campaigns – the aspects of what is commonly called “rocket science”- are presented here through the main programmes that he has been working on over the last 15 years: the Orion-ESM spacecraft and the VEGA launcher family.
Biography: Francesco Di Matteo gained his Masters Degree in Space Engineering from Sapienza University in Rome in 2008.
In 2012 he was granted his PhD in Space Propulsion technologies for his thesis on Modelling and Simulation of Transient start-up of liquid Rocket engines from Sapienza University in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the rocket manufacturer Avio.
Since 2009 he has been working in ESA, first in ESTEC (NL) as a propulsion systems engineer and then, in 2018, joined ESRIN (IT) as a liquid propulsion engineer. The major projects in which he has been involved include: IXV, CHEOPS, Cryosat, ORION-ESM and the VEGA launcher family.
