Lily Blondel Canepari

I am a PhD candidate specializing in alternative, greener propulsive solutions for future space missions. With a background in Physics and a specialization in Plasma Physics, I have worked on space plasma interactions for the Rosetta mission at an ESTEC-YGT and later as a data scientist at CERN, analyzing anomalies detected by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) instruments.

Fascinated by space exploration and breakthrough technologies, I chose to focus on propulsion, dedicating my PhD to developing sustainable solutions for future space missions. Now, as a postdoctoral researcher in the EIC-GreenSWaP project, I am working on a possibly game-changing technology: enabling spacecrafts to launch carrying only water and using solar energy to convert it into efficient propellants—directly in space. This could be a step toward orbital fuel stations, transforming how we approach in-space logistics and sustainability!