Dr Leonardo Barilaro is a Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at MCAST (The Malta College of Arts, Science & Technology) and is developing research boosting new projects in the field of hypervelocity impacts and aerospace structures.
Leonardo Barilaro is a pianist and aerospace engineer, he graduated from the Music Conservatory in Italy and with a PhD in Sciences, Technologies and Measurements for Space (STMS) at the University of Padua in 2011, the focus of his research concerned new techniques to study the space debris risk and mitigation. During those years he had the opportunity to take part in an exchange program at Cranfield University (UK) and in the REXUS/BEXUS Programme of the European Space Agency, with the S.C.R.A.T. Experiment. In 2010 he won the Best Student Paper Award at the Aeroballistic Range Association (ARA) congress with a study about impact damage and ballistic limit equations for flexible multilayer meteoroid and debris protection shields. He also pursued for a period academic work as a post-doc researcher at CISAS, Center of Studies and Activities for Space (Italy). His technical background is mainly in mechanical measurements for engineering, constructions and structures, fluid dynamics and aerospace systems, with an extended experience in simulations (FEA). He also acquired industrial experience working 5 years for multinational corporations like Maserati, SIT Group and Methode Electronics, being part of the Research and Development teams and developing new products. He joined as Researcher the Institute of Aerospace Technologies team at the University of Malta for 4 years, working on the development of an innovative interface for a multi-purpose detachable pod for a new type of gyroplane and on the Design of Experiment for a novel software tool used by Air Traffic Control to reduce airlines operation costs and carbon emissions. In 2018 he worked on a project to design a kinetic energy recovery system for a landing aircraft, he was also involved in creating a collaboration with Oxford University and the University of Padova for the development of a calorimetric detection system for hypervelocity impacts. During 2019 he developed the BEA project, the first multi-drone system in the world to support and monitor the safety of divers. He joined The Malta College of Arts, Science & Technology (MCAST) in 2020 and currently is carrying out research to develop the first hypervelocity impact facility in Malta, designing a single-stage light-gas gun to test materials and subsystems for aviation and aerospace applications.
Dr Leonardo Barilaro is the author and co-author of 12 academic papers and took part as a speaker in international conferences like the European Conference on Space Debris, Hypervelocity Impact Symposium and the ESA PAC Symposium. Recently Leonardo took part in the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Dubai.