MAIA: Air Quality, Aerosols and Human Health from Space

Two full days of thematic workshop at ASI Headquarters in Rome focused on scientific studies and application developments for air quality and public health monitoring with Earth Observation data.

 The MAIA (Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols) mission represents one of the most innovative international initiatives for studying air pollution from space. Developed in close cooperation between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and NASA/JPL, MAIA will utilize a multi-angle, multispectral, and polarimetric radiometer to characterize the size, composition, and quantity of airborne particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). The mission's scientific and societal objective is to correlate these high-spatial-resolution data with epidemiological effects on human health across major global metropolitan areas, marking a milestone for preventive medicine and environmental policies.

This workshop is part of a well-established path of national research and institutional collaboration that has seen ASI consistently committed to this field.

In this context, the Italian Space Agency is pleased to announce a workshop dedicated to the MAIA (Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols) mission, carried out in cooperation with NASA/JPL, to be held on October 14 and 15, 2026.

The event is aimed at the scientific and industrial community, institutional bodies, environmental protection agencies, and all stakeholders interested in Earth Observation science and applications for air quality monitoring and human health impacts.

The workshop will represent an important opportunity for discussion and updates on the mission's potential, as well as on the prospects for data utilization in various research and application fields.

The technical-scientific sessions will:

• Illustrate the current progress and status of the MAIA mission;
• Provide an overview of the state-of-the-art in using multispectral data for space-based aerosol monitoring, alongside the new opportunities offered by the MAIA Mission;
• Present the development of advanced networks and methodologies for near-surface PM and air quality estimation, leveraging the synergy between satellite and ground-based data;
• Report on public health risk assessments utilizing Earth Observation data.