The team from the CNRS Hubert Curien Laboratory at Jean-Monnet University (major element of Saint-Etienne research into the use of lasers) led by Sylvain Girard (associated with the Exail company, CNES, and CERN) at the “Lumina” point, a tool for measuring exposure to radiation in space. Radiation against which astronauts are less protected than that suffered on Earth thanks to the latter’s magnetic field: the further away we are, the more we are exposed. The Laboratory worked in close collaboration with iXblue and CERN to develop this technology intended to measure radiation on board the ISS for the first time in microgravity using a fiber optic dosimeter. Lumina is in fact made up “an optical fiber, the same one used in our internet networks, which has the particularity of darkening when exposed to radiation. So, if the optical fiber becomes dark, we will know that solar particles have passed through there, with great precision”.
Tested in 2021 in the ISS by Thomas Pesquet
As a reminder, in 2021, after numerous laboratory tests, Lumina was sent aboard the ISS (the International Space Station), to monitor in real time the nature and dose of radiation received by the station and its occupants. , in order to be able to better protect them in the future during space flights. This was one of the 200 scientific experiments tested by French astronaut Thomas Pesquet during his space mission that began in April 2021 on the ISS and ended in November (as commander for the last month). The results of the work carried out, among others, in Saint-Étienne were presented by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the famous American space agency in this article, underlined on its networks, yesterday, the Jean- Monnet.
Other results showing Lumina’s ability to detect the South Atlantic “anomaly” (an area known to be more subject to radiation) and certain solar storms were recently published by Martin Roche, CNES/Exail doctoral student at the Hubert Curien laboratory. . “Enriched by these first successes, the team is working on future space projects, in particular the continuation of research with the ISS as well as the instrumentation of nanosatellites”adds Jean-Monnet University.
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