3 questions to... Marie-Bertille Mosnier, S-Cube member from 2018 to 2022
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Why did you join the S-Cube?
“I started launching rockets in junior high because there was a club run by Planète Sciences. I continued in high school, then in prep school. In July 2018, I became a volunteer in the Planète Sciences association for the quality control of student rockets. It was the first time I’d met S-Cube students. Two months later, I joined Supaéro and was called to join the S-Cube and even take charge of the two projects monitored by CNES for which they needed a project manager!”
What do you remember most about this experience?
“CNES directed us towards a project involving an orbital nanolancer, with the possibility of a SpaceX-style return. There was no budget, so it was a real challenge. We first came up with a solution using fine grids and fins to rotate the rocket without using the engines. The idea wasn’t taken up, but we did get €20,000 for trials the following year. Then there was Covid, but we went back to this project in 2021-2022 with a different angle of attack. A friend, Ruben Jaoui, a fluid mechanics student, had the idea of creating a calculator to avoid certain ranges of mechanical resonance that could impact the rocket’s balance and trajectory. We created this calculator for CNES, and in doing so demonstrated the high technical level of ISAE-SUPAERO students!”
What have your years at S-Cube brought you?
“When I joined the S-Cube, I was expecting to be involved in technical design, as I’d known it in the rocket clubs I’d attended in secondary school and in preparatory school.But I soon found myself involved in project management, which was completely new to me.In 2nd year, I became a project manager, i.e. a systems engineer with a global vision of the project.That taught me an enormous amount about technical management, team management and the human side of things.”