4 ISMIN students participate in CNES parabolic flight campaign!

After 12 months of development, Adèle Perdon and Baptiste Lefèvre tested their spatial balance system during a weightless flight of the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES). Developed with Mathieu Latournerie and Baptiste Massardier, this project on mass measurement in microgravity had been selected by CNES in January.

The students participated in the parabolic flight campaign from October 8 to 18 at the premises of Novespace, a subsidiary of CNES located in Mérignac.

“After a series of safety tests over 4 days with the Novespace team, we received authorization to board the experiment on the Airbus A310 0G on October 15.”

However, with only two seats on the plane, Adèle Perdon, project manager, and Baptiste Lefèvre, technical manager, were able to experience this exceptional adventure!

A. Perdon and B. Lefèvre in flight!
Rotating electronic system
Modeling of the mechanical system

Back to the origin of the project: the development of a prototype for a reliable and precise measurement and weighing solution.

Technical explanations!
“Our system has evolved significantly but has retained the principle of rotating the sample to measure its mass in weightlessness. We use a strain gauge sensor to which the centrifugal force of the weighed sample is applied. The sensor allows us to obtain a voltage in the microvolt range, which we analogically amplify before processing it on a microcontroller.”

What is a weightless flight?

The VP145 flight campaign is a CNES campaign consisting of one week of tests and 3 days of weightless flights. Each flight is a series of 30 parabolas (12 minutes of weightlessness in total), spread over 3 hours of flight.
During a CNES weightless flight, about forty people are on board, mainly researchers conducting fundamental physics or medical experiments.

Thanks to all project partners:

AUSY, sponsor company, Mines Saint-Étienne and the City of Gardanne, financial supporters, STMicroelectronics for the supply of electronic equipment, Novespace for technical expertise, the Georges Charpak campus teams and the Id-Fab prototyping space for their logistical and technical support, especially Roger Delattre during the project’s evolution.