Nacer Chahat is an engineer for NASA at the Jet propulsion laboratory in California. At 37, he has just received an Award from American President Joe Biden. A consecration for someone who grew up in Agen.
“Excuse me for the delay, I was on a meeting with Space Originally from Agen, he is one of the 400 winners to have received, on January 14, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from Joe Biden, former President of the United States. It is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers early in their careers.
Passed through Théophile-de-Viau college and Palissy high school
“Over the last four years, there are only ten people from NASA who have been elected,” says Nacer Chahat, who had already received, in 2021, the IEEE Fellow award for his contribution to cubeSat and spacecraft antennas for interplanetary missions . A consecration for someone who “couldn’t imagine one day working for NASA. »
Having attended the Théophile-de-Viau college in Passage-d’Agen then the Bernard-Palissy high school in Agen, the mathematics enthusiast graduated from the Rennes Engineering School. He then completed a thesis at the Institute of Electronics and Digital Technologies. It was thanks to his research director who “had a contact at NASA” that he was then able to join, eleven years ago, one of the prestigious centers of the American space agency, Jet Propulsion. laboratory (JPL).
From Pasadena, California, the 37-year-old researcher develops new technologies that allow scientists to advance space research.
He notably worked on Ingenuity, the first motorized device to have made a flight on another planet, embarked by the Perseverance rover during the Mars 2020 mission. “I had to develop tools to be able to plan each flight of the helicopter and make sure it doesn’t get lost. It worked, since it survived more than 70 flights over two and a half years,” explains the engineer.
Then he collaborated with the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes) and Thalès in France as part of the Swot project, an Earth observation space mission whose objective is to probe surface waters and measure the changes in surface elevation of lakes, rivers, reservoirs and oceans.
With JPL, the engineer is currently working on the development of radars to land on the surface of the Moon and on Mars, in collaboration with the American company Space X, founded by Elon Musk.
A journey which commands respect, and which Nacer Chahat attributes in part to Pierre Roudanès, a high-ranking French judo player who was his teacher at the Passage-d’Agen judo school. “He’s the one who taught me mental strength. I saw him the last time I returned to Agen, two years ago. It was a very strong moment. He was so happy to see me again and proud of my journey. I told him that it was probably thanks to him, because it was this mental strength that allowed me to never give up. »
Another figure also meant a lot to him, Doctor Firouz, one of the former directors of JPL, who died in 2023. “When I received this award, he was the first person I thought of. He was one of my mentors, he helped me a lot, confides the scientist. When some people doubted, he would tell them, “Oh, don’t worry, I know Nacer well.” If he says he’s going to make it, he’ll make it. » It helped me a lot. »
But it is above all his parents, Algerian immigrants, that Nacer Chahat thanks above all. “They gave enormously, sacrificed so that me and my brothers and sisters could succeed. »
Proud to have reached this point today – but while showing great modesty – the engineer born in Angers wishes to encourage young people to think big. “Often, we convey the idea that people who work at NASA are geniuses. It’s a shame, because it gives young people the impression that it’s not within their reach. Although it is false. »
A beautiful message of hope for all Lot-et-Garonnais who dream, like Nacer Chahat, of reaching the stars.
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