THE INSTITUTE PARTICIPATES IN THE ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION OF THE AEROSPACE ECOSYSTEM
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Invited by stakeholders in aviation and space at the start of this academic year, Marie-Hélène Baroux, Deputy President and Head of Sustainable Development, spoke about the climate and its stakes, as well as the training programs and research at ISAE-SUPAERO dealing with the issues of sustainable development.
As a participant in the virtual seminar "CO2 Emissions Reductions in the Aviation Sector" organized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the third edition of the La Tribune Space Forum, the Institute was able to discuss and present its research and training programs in the area of energy transition and observation of the Earth for climate for decision-makers in the aviation and space sectors.
The purpose of this international ICAO seminar was to find solutions for sustainable fuel use, with the participation of industries, institutions and research organizations specialized in the environment to discuss and present their work for implementing innovative solutions.
For this year’s conference, “What are the stakes for the coming decade in the space sector in France and in Europe”, the La Tribune Space Forum was organized to discuss the issues of space in the service of planet Earth and an impact study on COVID-19 in the sector. This is another area for which Marie-Hélène Baroux took part in the roundtable discussions on the climate and its stakes alongside Corinne Mailles, Deputy President at Telespazio, supplier of satellite services and applications, and Marc Pontaud, Scientific Director at Météo France.
She presented the Institute’s expertise in optical sensors for climate observation satellites and the fight against global warming.
The LARGO7M sensor on board the Korean KOMPAT2 satellite for the observation of the oceans is a concrete example of this. It was developed under a CRISTAL agreement carried out with AIRBUS.
As part of this partnership, the Institute has developed Chairs covering several scientific research fields. These Chairs are in tune with the topics at the ICAO forum, “stimulating and implementing innovation in the reduction of CO2 emissions in the aviation sector”.
SUSTAINABLY ISAE-SUPAERO
The CEDAR Chair was developed with AIRBUS to implement air transport solutions that help reduce our ecological footprint. It thus contributes to increasing awareness and training for future aviation engineers on the subject of sustainable development for air transport by integrating a more comprehensive environmental engineering approach. The DAHER Chair, signed in 2019, develops research on the design and certification of light aircraft using hybrid electric propulsion. In the area of propulsion, the AEGIS Chair seeks to consolidate innovative concepts in propulsive architecture to equip the next generation of aircraft.
The creation of these Chairs was also made possible thanks to the ISAE-SUPAERO Foundation, whose raison d’être is to speed up innovative projects that contribute to a sustainable world.
STUDENT ENGINEERS THINKING “OUT OF THE BOX”
Sustainable development is a subject that increasingly resonates with students at the Institute in this complicated context. For Deputy President Marie-Hélène Baroux, “They have a key role to play and the Institute provides them with skills and areas for creativity to achieve this. They are increasingly involved, they are totally committed and are ready to change things.” The school is also adapting to deal with these challenges and new demands, making changes to its training programs.
Programs are being developed for this, such as the Environmental Engineering Certificate in the third year, developing an approach to aircraft design throughout the product life cycle, a study of eco-mobility, eco-design and air transport economics.
“We want our students to be players in change! This is a powerful, large-scale movement and our students are on the move in civic actions, participating in low-tech contests, creating student associations such as Supaero4Earth, and developing projects such as Solarboost” (a mobile bicycle tricycle concept with an electric motor powered by solar panels).
“Our Alumni are also involved alongside the SUPAERO DECARBO association in the Climate Fresco which all first-year engineering students take part in, and support the ISAE-SUPAERO Foundation,” said the Head of Sustainable Development at these forums.
This year’s target is to train 100% of our students on the stakes of climate change.
AFTER INVENTING AND DEVELOPING AIR TRANSPORT, THE AVIATION SECTOR NOW NEEDS TO DECARBONIZE IT. THIS IS A NEW CHALLENGE THAT CALLS FOR AMBITION COMPARABLE TO EARLIER CHALLENGES. NEW AIRCRAFT WILL HAVE TO BE INVENTED TO MEET THIS CHALLENGE, AND IT WILL TAKE ALL THE TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVITY OF OUR ENGINEERS TO DO SO
THE SKY IN THE SERVICE OF THE EARTH
More and more students are turning to the space sector out of an interest in sustainable development in space. One-third of our R&D budget is dedicated to research activities dealing with space for the development of nanosatellites and new multispectral sensors, among other projects.
The research groups at the Department of Electronics, Optronics and Systems (DEOS) are working to produce sensors that provide ever-greater precision, are radiation resistant, and provide high performances in terms of data gathering. This research is carried out in collaboration with the industries in the sector. This field is also the subject of Chairs such as SAC lab, Nuclétudes, etc.
There are strong challenges facing this sector in order to retrieve ever more data and to orient the space sector toward a data economy. Sensors are remote eyes used to monitor the Earth and detect the changes at work. Greater precision is needed for more modelling to predict climate changes due to human activities.
Students also take part in programs for testing new technologies in space through scientific missions from the design phase through to the launch of nanosatellites, such as EntrySat and EyeSat, experimental CubeSats put into orbit in collaboration with CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) in 2019.
ISAE SUPAERO is home to the control center for the CSUT (Centre Spatial Universitaire de Toulouse).
THE EARTH OBSERVATION PRIZE
It was perfectly legitimate for Marie-Hélène Baroux to present the Earth Observation Prize to KERMAP, a company specialized in observation for land use management, the environment and agriculture. KERMAP has also launched a website open to the general public that can find key figures on urban vegetation in communities around France with just one click – a good example of complex management and analysis of satellite data.
This prize was awarded by a jury of scientific experts in research and industrialists in the space field, including Laurent Joly, Deputy Director of Research at ISAE-SUPAERO.