Sébastien Rouquette, head of experiments for the Alpha mission at CNES (National Center for Space Studies) hopes on franceinfo “than the media coverage made by Thomas Pesquet” these last six months allows the public to know that CNES activities “are useful to all”. With his teammates, the French astronaut will begin his return to Earth on Monday, November 8 at 8:05 p.m. French time. After six months in orbit on the International Space Station, it should land for the first time.
>> Thomas Pesquet’s return to Earth: follow the departure of the French astronaut from the International Space Station
franceinfo: In your opinion, the personality and the ability of Thomas Pesquet to communicate very widely, in the media or on social networks about what he does, contribute to the population’s curiosity for what is happening in the space ?
Sébastien Rouquette: We hope so. It is true that as we often say, we do not wait until Thomas Pesquet is in space to work, our activities are also carried out with other astronauts, and including with scientific experiments which do not exist. do not need an astronaut on board. Experiences for which we are in our control room, without any contact with the media and for which the population is not so aware of what is happening there. But there, it is true that there is a particular tone. I hope that Thomas’ media coverage, through his presence and his presence, serves our interest which is to let the public know that our activities are activities useful to all.
All the same, it remains difficult for the general public to measure the usefulness of this work, of these experiences, of these missions which take years of preparation …
Yes it’s normal. We don’t make bicycles. This is something that is difficult to explain to the public. Even we as engineers specializing in the preparation of experiments, we do not always understand very well what scientists do with the experiments that we prepare with them. We have to get out of the idea that everyone can understand what we’re doing with these experiences in space, and get out of the idea that we are an elite who fully understand everything that is happening on board. the ISS. No, we are an engineer, we develop these experiments, the astronauts operate them or are the subject of these experiments, but we do this on behalf of academic research which advances knowledge.
A concrete example of something that scientists will learn at the end of this passage of Thomas Pesquet in space?
We do not make a scientific revolution in six months of presence in space. But I could take an example from his first mission. We learned to use a new tool, an ultrasound machine remotely operated from Earth which is a tool for medical expertise, which is used to prepare our astronauts’ long-term trips, but which also serves on Earth, tools that ‘can be used in dramatic situations for example. There, we can have an expert who stays in his office and who uses this remotely operated ultrasound machine from his medical center to war zones, for example.