Raphaël Chevrier

Biography

A former columnist for the scientific press, notably for the astronomy magazine Ciel & Espace, Raphaël Chevrier defended a PhD thesis in physics at the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives in 2013. Since 2016, he has been working for Arianespace, the European space launch services operator, first as executive assistant to Executive Chairman Stéphane Israël, then in the business development division in charge of innovation topics and commercial offer management. Passionate about popularizing science, in 2018 he published his first book “Ca alors! Histoire de ces découvertes que l’on n’attendait pas” published by Librairie Vuibert.

Conference: How long does a space launch take?

Two years to build a satellite. Two months of launch preparation in French Guiana. Two hours aboard the rocket, engines firing. Fifteen years in orbit. The life of a satellite evolves in a relative space-time. At the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, years of work converge on the precise moment when Arianespace’s Technical Director gives the go-ahead for the synchronized launch sequence. With this instantaneous decision, there is no turning back, and the satellite’s fate is decided. Once separated from the spacecraft, the satellite is launched in a vast epic where the balance of costs, time and fuel is skilfully studied. How does time become a critical factor in weightlessness? [How can the rocket’s trajectory extend the satellite’s life expectancy in its operational orbit?] One thing is certain: space launches bring together in one decisive moment the past, present and future of every object that sets out to encounter the cosmos.