On the occasion of National Space Day 2025, the Embassy of Italy in Kuala Lumpur and University Putra Malaysia (UPM), in collaboration with the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), co-organised a seminar entitled ‘From starlight to atmospheres: how space missions reveal the nature of an alien world’, held by INAF Scientific Director Isabella Pagano. The seminar brought together over 60 students and lecturers from the Malaysian university, as well as representatives from the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA).
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Raffaele Langella highlighted that the presence of an INAF delegation in Kuala Lumpur “represents a further step forward in strengthening Italian-Malaysian scientific cooperation, including in the aerospace sector”. The consolidation of bilateral cooperation in this area was also the focus of the fruitful meeting between Ambassador Langella and the Malaysian Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Chang Lih Kang, on 4 December.
At the end of the seminar, the Embassy, INAF and Putra Malaysia University organised a technical meeting also involving representatives from Kebangsaan Malaysia University (UKM) and the Malaysian Space Agency (MYSA) with the aim of deepening dialogue and exploring new forms of scientific cooperation between Italian and Malaysian institutions in the fields of space research, astrophysics and aerospace engineering. Together with Isabella Pagano, Marco Feroci, Director of the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Planetology (IAPS), and Andrea Bianco, Head of Technical Management Unit B “Innovative Enabling Technologies”, also took part in the technical meeting.
In addition to the important impact of the initiative in the academic field, it should be noted that the INAF delegation’s mission to Kuala Lumpur received significant media coverage (click here to read the interview by the Bernama).
