This text is part of the special Acfas Congress notebook
At the initiative of three fervent researchers, a conference will bring together second year French-speaking expertise in space exploration, to propel a local momentum in a field in turmoil.
Impossible to remain indifferent when talking with the scientists behind the organization of the conference Canada’s science and engineering contributions to space exploration. The passion of Pooneh Maghoul, Myriam Lemelin and Marie-Josée Potvin is contagious, as is their vision for the future. “We want a Canadian presence in space exploration,” says the first, who is an associate professor at Polytechnique Montréal.
To achieve this, they are increasing the opportunities for meetings between players in the sector. They both participated in the creation of the Astrolith research unit at the beginning of the year. And in May, speakers from many backgrounds will come together to talk about their work. And this, from the Canadian Space Agency to industry representatives, including Natural Resources Canada and, of course, various professors and students in the field.
This second edition of the conference set up by Pooneh Maghoul and Marie-Josée Potvin is led by Myriam Lemelin, associate professor at the University of Sherbrooke. “There are a lot of space exploration activities planned in the coming years,” she emphasizes. We can think of the VIPER and Lunar Rover Missions, which aim to search for water ice on the South Pole of the Moon and the rover Perseverance, who is looking for traces of life on Mars. There is also the telescope James Webbwhich goes back into the past by examining the Universe, or the OSIRIS-Rex mission, which offers us “a better understanding of the formation of the solar system and the appearance of life on Earth” — just that.
Collaborative mission
“In space exploration, we often have similar goals and methods, but we each work on missions separately,” specifies the person in charge of the conference. Except that projects move quickly and there is rarely room for error. Hence the relevance of coming together and sharing knowledge. “In our sector, people in science work on their own and those in engineering on the other,” she continues. We wanted to bring people from various fields together. »
Pooneh Maghoul also sees several advantages in collaboration across disciplines, which, according to her, manage to understand each other despite their “different languages”. The first edition of the conference served to create unique encounters. “It was a great success because we had access to many original perspectives, which you rarely find in conferences. »
This ease of communication could be explained by the use of French in meetings. “As the French-speaking community is quite small in Canada, it allows us to combine engineering and science,” believes Myriam Lemelin. His colleague adds, expressing the wish to “break down the walls between fields” and ensure that French speakers are “more active in the space field”.
The idea clearly has merit, because the enthusiasm is already there: “the people I speak to are motivated to get involved in the conversation,” rejoices the organizer. Another success, according to her: the presence of students at the activity, for whom a place was made to allow them to communicate their research. “The next generation is here and they want to get involved! » Participants will therefore be entitled to a multidisciplinary conference which will also bring together people at various stages of their careers.
Next stop: the Moon
To reflect global priorities in space exploration, the day will be divided into two themes: lunar exploration in the morning and “beyond” in the afternoon. “A lot of things are on the agenda in the coming months and years regarding lunar exploration, so we have a lot of angles to talk about,” explains Myriam Lemelin.
It is a safe bet that participants will leave this day full of a feeling of grandeur, both intimidating and exhilarating. “To succeed, we need the point of view of a diversity of people and specialties,” says Myriam Lemelin enthusiastically. Or, as his colleague reminds us: “These missions are more important than each individual. They will change the fields of engineering and science. ” Nothing less.
“There are a lot of space exploration activities planned in the coming years”
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