Chiara Cocchiara is a participant in the 2025 European Leadership Accelerator hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Millennium Leadership Program. She is an aerospace engineer and senior innovation officer at the European Space Agency (ESA). Listed in Forbes 30 Under 30, she won the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Innovator Under35 Prize and ESA European Satellite Navigation Competition Prize for developing drone technology to save lives using Earth observation satellites. She also worked as a space expert for Boots, where she developed waterless skincare products for astronauts on long missions, which can also support communities in water-scarce regions. Driven by her dream of becoming an astronaut, she was selected as crew commander for a Mars analogue mission with the Mars Society and National Aeronautics and Space Administration experiments. Cocchiara speaks five languages and holds multiple degrees in aerospace engineering, an MBA, and a PhD in space economy. She has received awards such as the Society of Satellite Professionals International 20Under35 Promise Award and has been recognized as an International Astronautical Federation young space leader.