April 25, 2017

CNES and CERN sign cooperation agreement

Tuesday 25 April in Geneva, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Frédérick Bordry, Director for Accelerators and Technology at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, signed a framework scientific cooperation agreement aimed at fostering synergies between missions and competencies in each of the agencies’ respective domains of excellence.

CNES and CERN have thus put on a formal footing their plan to develop a long-term partnership in shared areas of interest, particularly in measurement of radiation and its effects on electronic components, which are critical both to particle accelerators and space missions. This first-of-a-kind cooperation will pave the way for new joint areas of research, some of which are already under study.

The two agencies are contributing to a European working group that is drafting a technical note and a roadmap aimed at identifying, defining and pursuing new joint developments seeking to use optical fibre to sense radiation, temperature and mechanical stress.

CERN and CNES are already working together on a number of engineering and science projects like the Eyesat student nanosatellite developed by CNES for its Janus project. This satellite’s radiation sensitivity will be tested in conditions representative of the space radiation environment using CERN’s CHARM irradiation facility (Cern High energy AcceleRator Mixed field facility). Another nanosatellite supported by CNES’s Janus project is NIMPH, which is set to carry a CERN payload designed to measure the radiation environment in orbit and compare it with results obtained with CHARM.

After the signing of the agreement, Jean-Yves Le Gall commented: “CNES is proud to have signed this framework agreement today with CERN that reflects our two agencies’ complementary areas of interest. The RADECS1 2017 international conference that we will be organizing closely together in October in Geneva will give us the opportunity to present the results of our collaboration.”

1 RADECS (Radiation Effects on Components and Systems) is the annual conference that brings together the world’s scientific community working on the effects of radiation on electronic components and systems, an area of study that has a major bearing on space mission success.

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Contacts
Pascale Bresson   Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39    pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
Fabienne Lissak    Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37    fabienne.lissak@cnes.fr
Press office           Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 76 88   cnes-presse@cnes.fr

cp060-2017_-_accord_cadre_cnes_cern1_va.pdf (pdf - 213.9 KB)
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