Enrico Palermo is an Australian mechanical engineer, businessman and the Head of the

Australian Space Agency The Australian Space Agency is an agency under the Australian Government responsible for the development of Australia's commercial space industry, coordinating domestic activities, identifying opportunities and facilitating international spac ...

. He was the former President of

The Spaceship Company The Spaceship Company (TSC) is a British/American spacecraft manufacturing company that was founded by Burt Rutan and Richard Branson in mid-2005 and was jointly owned by Virgin Group (70%) and Scaled Composites (30%) until 2012 when Virgin Gal ...

, which develops and manufactures spaceplanes for

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company i ...

, and the former Chief Operating Officer at Virgin Galactic, whose

VSS Unity VSS ''Unity'' (Virgin Space Ship Unity, Registration: N202VG), previously referred to as VSS ''Voyager'', is a SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It is the second ''SpaceShipTwo'' to be built and is part of the V ...

is undergoing flight trials to become the world’s first passenger spaceplane.

Education

Palermo holds two degrees from the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

(UWA): a

BEng A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university. In the UK, a Bache ...

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

(2002) and a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

and

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

(2000). At UWA he was a Clough scholar and a member of the University’s Cooperative Education for Enterprise Development (CEED) Program, for which he completed a thesis in

mine planning Mining is the Extractivism, extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein (geology), vein, coal mining, seam, quartz reef mining, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of ...

for

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, a ...

. He won a scholarship to the

Space Studies Program The International Space University (ISU) is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications for peaceful purposes, through international and multidisciplinary education and research programs. ISU was f ...

at the

International Space University The International Space University (ISU) is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications for peaceful purposes, through international and multidisciplinary education and research programs. ISU was f ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, graduating in 2006.

Business career

After graduation Palermo worked for

Woodside Energy Woodside Energy Group Ltd (formerly Woodside Petroleum Ltd) is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. Woodside is the operator of oil and gas production in Australia and also Australia's largest independent dedicated oil an ...

as a mechanical engineer. In 2005, he became a business analyst at a UK-based engineering firm, where he specialised in

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

s. He joined Virgin Galactic as an operations executive in 2006, becoming one of the firm's first ten full-time employees. He was the technical liaison between Virgin Galactic and its then-partner

Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to develo ...

. He also drafted the business plan that established The Spaceship Company and became that firm's first employee. Palermo was General Manager of The Spaceship Company between 2016 and 2018, and its President from 2018 to 2020. He joined Virgin Galactic as its Chief Operating Officer in 2020. He was also involved in Virgin Galactic's high- mach, sub-

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since in ...

commercial winged vehicle projects. In 2019, Palermo and

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

donated to the

Smithsonian Museum The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

the engine used in the VSS Unity’s first spaceflight. On 13 November 2020, the Australian Prime Minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (; born 13 May 1968) is an Australian politician. He served as the 30th prime minister of Australia and as Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 2018 to 2022, and is currently the member of parliament (MP) for t ...

announced that Palermo would lead the Australian Space Agency from January 2021, replacing inaugural Head Dr. Megan Clark.

Personal life

Palermo was born in Perth, Australia. He lives in Adelaide, Australia with his wife Nadia, whom he met studying at Chisholm Catholic College. The couple has two children. At university Palermo became involved with

Formula SAE Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by SAE International (previously known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE). The competition was started in 1980 by the SAE student branch at the University of Texas at Austin after a ...

, a student design competition to develop a Formula-style racing car. Palermo started off working on the car's electrics and engine before taking part as a driver in the competition's 2001 season. He has twice been a finalist judge for Google’s Science Fairs. In 2014 he was invited to deliver the Warren Centre Innovation Lecture, ''Beyond Earth''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palermo, Enrico 21st-century Australian engineers Australian aerospace engineers 21st-century Australian businesspeople Businesspeople in aviation Aviation pioneers Space advocates The Spaceship Company University of Western Australia alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people