Bernard Foing

Bernard Foing
A picture of a male squating next to a Martian lander. He is wearing a red styled tie over a white collared shirt. In the backdrop is a Martian landscape.
Born
France
Alma materEcole Normale Supérieure of Education & Technology[1]
Known forPrincipal Project Scientist for SMART-1
SpousePascale Ehrenfreund

Bernard Foing is a French scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA),[2] Executive Director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG)[3] and was Principal Project Scientist for SMART-1, the first European mission to the Moon.[4] He is also a research professor at the VU Amsterdam and at Florida Tech.[5]

Biography

Born in France,[1] Bernard Foing has a PhD in Astrophysics and Space Techniques.[6] He worked 3 years in Chile as an astronomer for the European Southern Observatory (ESO),[6] the French embassy, and as Professor of Astrophysics.[1] A researcher at French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) since 1986,[7] Foing obtained the Habilitation for direction of research in 1990.[7] At ESA since 1993, he is Senior Research Coordinator at the Research and Scientific Support Department.[6] He was president of ILEWG in 1998-2000 and now is their Executive Director.[6] Foing collaborates with his wife, Pascale Ehrenfreund of the German Aerospace Center, in some of his research.[8]

SMART-1

Foing is known as the father of SMART-1.[3][9] Serving as Principal Project Scientist from conception in 1996,[4] SMART-1 was the first European mission to the Moon.[10] SMART-1's goals were both technological and scientific.[11] First in a series of "Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology",[11] SMART-1 was used to test new state-of-the art instruments such as a solar-electric primary propulsion system.[12] SMART-1 also performed scientific observations of the Moon including determining the Moon's mineralogical composition and the presence and quantity of water in the craters at the Moon's south pole.[12] Launched on September 27, 2003,[13] SMART-1 entered lunar orbit in November 2004[14] and continued orbit until it was intentionally crashed into the lunar surface on September 3, 2006.[15][16] Said Foing, "SMART-1 data are helping to choose future landing sites for robotic and possible manned missions, and its instruments are upgraded and being flown again on the next generation of lunar satellites."[17]

Mars Express

Foing is an organic chemist for Mars Express,[18] a space exploration mission by the European Space Agency.[19] Launched on June 2, 2004,[20] Mars Express is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency.[19] Foing is also co-investigator of the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) for the Mars Express orbiter.[21] The HRSC is a high-resolution camera that can make full-color 3-D images of Mars's surface.[22] The camera can also zoom in for a closer look and may be helpful in identifying useful landing sites for future Mars missions.[22]

Bibliography

Foing has published over 400 articles, including 160 refereed papers, in lunar and planetary science and exploration, solar/stellar physics and astrobiology.[1] He edited 16 books and organized over 50 international conferences and symposia.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "MDRS: Crew 77 Biographies". The Mars Society. Archived from the original on 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  2. ^ "Synthesis of SMART-1 lunar results for future exploration | Lunar Science Forum 2009". NASA. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  3. ^ a b "Moon Seen as Laboratory for Life". Space.com. 3 April 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  4. ^ a b "Our 8th Continent, the Moon". Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  5. ^ "Bernard Foing - Personal Profiles - Cosmos". Retrieved 2021-04-14.
  6. ^ a b c d "SMART-1 Mission Operations and Lunar Results". China National Space Administration. Archived from the original on 2011-04-02. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  7. ^ a b "RSSD - Internal seminars 2006". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  8. ^ Ehrenfreund, Pascale (8 November 2011). "A Multiple-Choice Essay" (PDF). Astrobiology. 11 (8): 737–741. Bibcode:2011AsBio..11..737E. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0697. PMID 22007739. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  9. ^ Highfield, Roger (2008-04-17). "I'll grow marigolds on the moon, says scientist". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 2012-11-12. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  10. ^ "Europe probe arrives at the Moon". BBC News. 2004-11-16. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  11. ^ a b "ESA Portal - United Kingdom - SMART-1: the lunar adventure begins". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  12. ^ a b "ESA Science & Technology: SMART-1". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  13. ^ "SMART-1 Space Probe Slams into the Moon". Space.com. 3 September 2006. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  14. ^ Choi, Charles Q. (2007-09-17). "The enduring mysteries of the moon". USA Today. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  15. ^ "Spacecraft crashes onto Moon". Cosmos. Archived from the original on 2008-07-30. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  16. ^ "ESA - SMART-1 - Intense final hours for SMART-1". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  17. ^ "SMART-1's bridge to the future exploration of the Moon". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  18. ^ Perlman, David (2004-04-02). "Methane found in Mars atmosphere / Scientist offers a few theories for presence of gas exuded by life forms". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  19. ^ a b "Mars Express sees its first water". European Space Agency. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  20. ^ "Europe goes to Mars". BBC News. 2003-06-03. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  21. ^ "Bernard H. Foing". École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. Archived from the original on August 9, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
  22. ^ a b "Mars Express". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2009-08-30.