Ioonos

IOONOS: Is space a calling for you?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: From the age of 10 or 11 I wanted to be an astronaut. I wrote to NASA, which answered, recommending me to take scientific studies in order to achieve my objective. I determined to become an engineer, which is still my basic profession, even if things can be expected to change and have indeed already changed. In Spain I completed ETSIA* at the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 6 years. My career path and reality then led me to what I do today, which gives me a great deal of satisfaction. Though I still dream of flying! (*Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Aeronáuticos)

IOONOS: Have you always had the sense of being a European?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: Since Spanish industry is stronger in aeronautics rather than space, I immediately set about looking to travel for my education. Thanks to summer courses and student exchanges between European universities, I left for Belgium and Sweden. And then in 2001, thanks to Erasmus, I went to Supaero for 6 months in Toulouse (France), speaking just Spanish and English! It was fantastic: what good luck to meet other Europeans, to compare our career paths, to have a great time, but above all we learnt a huge amount. At the end of my stay in France I visited the International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget and then sent in 3 CVs (curriculum vitae) with the emphasis on “Launchers” to companies that interested me. CNES contacted me straight away and at the end of 2001 I started working for the French Space Agency.

IOONOS: Could you explain to us what your work consists of?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: At CNES I work in the launchers department. My profession is determining the trajectory of launchers, which is the path to be taken from launch pad until going into orbit. You can always go straight like a car. But when defining a trajectory the objective is to optimise the launcher’s performance to put its load into orbit, and that’s not so simple. We are trying to get the best out of the launcher in terms of the objectives to be achieved.

IOONOS: Which launchers are you working on?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: I am working on missions that will be flying in a few months, such as Herschel-Planck, scientific satellites to be launched by Ariane V. So I deal a bit with Ariane, but mainly with the Vega project (a European launcher for small satellites, managed by the Italians). I am also working on preliminary drafts on preparations for the future within a European context.

IOONOS: What is an ideal trajectory?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: The trajectory is there for the mission’s success. A priori, the optimal trajectory is the one that will maximise the payload launched. But you can look to optimise other criteria, such as fuel consumption. Knowing the launcher configuration, its mass and propulsion features, you fix its optimal trajectory that must comply with various flight constraints (requirements), such as visibility to ground stations at certain phases, splashdown once the motor switches off or overflying earth (protecting the population). We have to penalise it to take the mission requirements into account. The launcher’s flight algorithm (navigation, guidance and control) should be following this trajectory from launch to put this satellite into orbit. We also have to take into account disturbances that might take place during flight, such as atmosphere, wind, aerodynamics, boost etc. The risk is to make an injection error on account of an insufficient amount of fuel, leading to early burnout. So the satellite has to compensate, and make use of energy to reach its final orbit, which might impact negatively on its life span. This will not wreck the mission, but it will not be optimal.

IOONOS: What are the constraints of the job?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: In the dialogue between space agencies and industrial companies we sometimes get difficult schedules, but the main constraint is commercial and political. Irrespective of the quality of the technologies that you can invent, you have to find clients to develop them. And our work, the future of our projects, depends on the ambitions of European space policy. In Europe access to space remains a priority, but manned flight is not.

IOONOS: What is the main interest you find in your work?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: The calculation of trajectories during a launcher’s development phase or test flights are a big motivator. When a major item is changed in a launcher, it cannot be guaranteed that it will behave like the previous launcher. But the big pleasure is the preliminary designs, where constraints take back seat to dreaming and invention. We rethink everything to imagine a further development of Ariane or Vega. For example, we think through new propulsion systems: helio-thermic propulsion (using solar light), launchers that are plane-launched, reusable ones etc. Sometimes there are surprises, new questions arise, and you really get the feeling of contributing to the future of the conquest of space.

IOONOS: Does being a woman in the space field and working outside your own country cause problems?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: Working in a country other than one’s own is not a problem, but you do have to make an effort to speak the language. The first 3 months in France were a bit difficult for me, but afterwards I managed; I would go over my grammar when I left the office. As far as being a woman is concerned, it seems to me that you always have to do more to be respected in your profession. At CNES there is equality and I have not noticed differences of treatment in French industrial companies. However, in Italy, the people I deal with are sometimes surprised to be working with a woman. Russian engineers fail to understand how we can carry out the same profession as them, especially if you are young, and they therefore assume we are just interpreters…

IOONOS: What advice would you give to young people who want to work in the space industry?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: Never close any doors, look at what is available in the various companies; there are many jobs and fields of activity, which one cannot even imagine. You have to make the most of your start and your energy to move forward prior to settling down in a profession.

IOONOS: Does space make you dream?

Amaya Espinosa Ramos: Journeys to the Kourou launch base remain one of my best memories: to feel the power of the launcher at lift-off gave me goose pimples! I still want to get onboard; if I cannot manage it now, I’ll pay for a space flight when I retire! For me, dreaming of space is really to encounter another dimension of life! I dream that a probe will detect other life or that we will be contacted…