Rouages: “Thanks to our work, nanosatellites built in Montpellier are generating scientific data in orbit”
Romain Briand and Ezéchiel Pinède are a mechanical engineer and a systems engineer, respectively, at the University of Montpellier Space Center (CSUM). Both are part of the incredible team effort that enables the CSUM to launch its nanosatellites into space. They tell us about their mission in the video series“Rouages,”produced by the University of Montpellier. Action!
Not just anyone can enter the University of Montpellier Space Center. Once we’ve passed through the entrance to the Saint-Priest campus and the building’s front door, we meet Calypso Alcalde, the communications officer, who leads us to today’s two main guests. Just enough time to notice the logos of the Van Allen Foundation’s many corporate sponsors displayed in the lobby, and we’re already on the second floor, heading to the control center where Romain Briand—a mechanical engineer who has been at the space center for seven years—and Ezéchiel Pinède—a systems engineer who joined the team two years ago—are waiting for us.
The interview begins against a backdrop of screens displaying the movements of nanosatellites on a world map. As the longest-serving member of the team, Romain agrees to kick things off. Concise and precise—two qualities essential to his profession—he sums up his role in two sentences.“I’m a mechanical engineer specializing in the assembly, integration, and testing of nanosatellites so they’re ready to be delivered to the launch vehicles [‘to the rocket,’ clarifies Calypso Alcalde, careful to ensure the vocabulary is accessible to everyone] and thus ready to be launched into orbit. When we talk about nanosatellites, we’re not talking about manufacturing but about assembly.” ” It’s meticulous work that the engineer carries out first in the workshop and then in the cleanroom. The two spaces, located on the ground floor of the building, are quite different.
From the workshop to the cleanroom
On one side is a modestly sized room lined with a multitude of tools, including the famous tweezers mentioned by Romain Briand:“They’re small tweezers, like those used for plucking eyebrows, that allow us to pick up the screws needed to assemble the nanosatellites.” Along the walls, in fact, we see hundreds of compartments containing thousands of small screws and other microelectronic components, all perfectly cataloged, labeled, and organized, ready to be used to assemble the nanosatellites, several prototypes of which are visible on the workstations (listen to our report on flatsats with Pablo Boizeau of CSUM, at 20:45 into the recording).
On the other side, behind a glass partition, lies a 200-square-meter space occupied by a few workbenches spaced far apart, with not a single unnecessary item in sight. “This room has a controlled environment, meaning we monitor the temperature, humidity, and particle levels so we can assemble our flight models and conduct our tests.” ” To enter, you must prove your credentials: a hairnet, lab coat, shoe covers, and a mask—here, even the slightest speck of dust or the tiniest hair is an enemy to be eliminated (listen to our report on satellite assembly with Romain Briand at 19:45 into the recording).
Groundwork
Ezéchiel Pinède’s workplace is the control room where we’re filming our video. The systems engineer tells us its proper name: the ground segment. Having worked at CSUM for just over two years, his role lies“at the intersection of various fields of expertise. “My daily routine involves maintaining a broad overview of all projects to coordinate technical activities and ensure the successful development and in-orbit operations of the various satellites.” From this room, where he spends half his time, Ezéchiel Pinède operates the satellites that the CSUM has in space.
The screen, located just behind him, shows us four of them moving in sync with the Earth’s rotation on a world map. On other screens, tables and graphs are less easily discernible; Ezéchiel Pinède also shows us photos in which we can recognize the blue outline of our planet.“This is where we receive all the data transmitted by the nanosatellites, and this is also where we send them remote commands,” explains the engineer. For this latter operation, he uses the MCC, the mission control center, a sort of radio connected directly to space.“It’s with this tool that I can communicate in real time with our satellites.”
Reaching for the stars
As you can imagine, neither of these two engineers ended up in the space industry by chance.“I earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in Montpellier,” says Romain Briand. “I’ve always loved space, and working at the University of Montpellier’s Space Center was almost a given for me.” Ezéchiel Pinède’s path began in a similar way with a mechanical engineering degree at Polytech Montpellier, “which I wanted to supplement with an additional year in a specialized master’s program Space Systems Development which I completed through a work-study program thanks to the Van Allen Foundation.”
Both of them enjoy working with cutting-edge technology on a daily basis as part of a multidisciplinary team.“Thanks to our work, nanosatellites built in Montpellier are generating scientific data in orbit” ( see “Avant nous le déluge,” 2022, LUM No. 16), says Romain Briand, who last June was able to fulfill a childhood dream just before the launch of Ariane 6 in Kourou, carrying Robusta 3A, the CSUM’s eighth nanosatellite:“I got to sign the Ariane 6 fairing with my own hand!”
" In just a few years, we have witnessed the development of satellites from the initial concept through to in-orbit operations, throughdesign and production,”enthuses Ezéchiel Pinède, for whom the most intense moments are “when we hear the satellite’s signal for the last time in our clean room, and when we receive the first signal from space.”