About me

I want to work on the systems that let people stay in space.

I’m Riccardo, an Italian aerospace engineering student based in Boulder, Colorado. I am pursuing a dual master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and Engineering Management at CU Boulder.

Riccardo working on a small electronics assembly — My engineering interests have always included hands-on work.

Why habitats and life support?

The ISS is one of the achievements I admire most. Knowing that people continuously live outside Earth makes the possibilities of space exploration feel real to me.

I am interested in how humans live in extreme environments, and how engineering can make those environments more habitable. Space brings together questions about the crew, technology, resources, and the reliability of the systems that support life.

At the Italian Space Agency, that interest became work on lunar habitation technologies and power sizing. At CU Boulder, Bioastronautics gives me a way to look more closely at the human requirements behind the engineering.

I am especially interested in CO₂ removal and water and oxygen recovery. I would also like to understand how technologies developed for space could help people in difficult environments on Earth.

Education

Technical depth in human spaceflight, alongside the management of engineering work.

University of Colorado Boulder · August 2026–present

M.S. Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Focus on Bioastronautics.

Current project: YUE free-flying habitat preliminary design.

University of Colorado Boulder · August 2026–present

M.E. Engineering Management

Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program.

Pursued as part of my dual-degree studies.

University of Bologna: bachelor’s studies in Aerospace Engineering. My bachelor’s thesis extends the lunar power-system modeling I began during my ASI internship.

How I work

I like understanding the whole system.

I enjoy asking how a choice in one subsystem changes what the others need to do. My ASI work developed that perspective, and leading the ten-person YUE team is giving me more experience in making decisions across disciplines.

Aurora Rocketry gave me a different kind of feedback: the satisfaction of seeing a board work, and the consequences when a component was not verified before integration. I want to keep both sides of engineering close together—analysis and actual hardware.

Long term, I would like to build an engineering company. For now, I want to learn from experienced teams and contribute to the design, integration, and testing of systems used on real missions.

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