How CSG stimulates research in French Guiana
By encouraging the use of Space technology to develop research and applications, CNES has stimulated the research sector in Guiana. Witness CNES participation in international networks for monitoring the planet. Several measuring stations have been installed on the CSG base as a contribution to global science programmes.
The development opportunities offered by Space technology
Space technologies contribute significantly to research in French Guiana. The possible advantages are huge. We need only look at the wide range of fields where they can be applied: telemedicine thanks to remote sensing and tele-transmission, fishing through fleet monitoring and tracking with the Argos system, the environment via satellite observation and many others.
In return, the experience gained with these techniques by research institutes can benefit the Space sector. CNES is able to call on skilled researchers and specialised laboratories to carry out various studies on its behalf. CNES has already commissioned studies on the flora, fauna and soils of French Guiana to ascertain the effect of launches on the environment. Modern telecommunications are a further example of Space technologies used in medicine.
CNES brings together the world of research and the wider community.
The relationship between CNES and Guianese research organisations is based on the sharing of technology and know-how. However, these exchanges are not limited to simple agreements between CNES and research organisations for study missions or the use of Space technologies.
CNES was one of the initiators of the Guiana Technopole, which encourages technological transfer for the benefit of local companies. The Guiana Technopole acts as a bridge between the worlds of research and the wider community, encouraging the development of new products and innovations. It also helps create partnerships between research bodies and other socio-economic players.
Amongst the achievements enabled by this technology transfer, projects from the following fields deserve special mention :
- health (through telemedicine),
- energy resources (with the production of electricity from wood waste),
- cosmetics (through the use of a local plant),
- telephony (creation of a call centre),
- agriculture (creation of a laboratory to study the biocontrol of fruit flies).
Monitoring the planet
CNES also participates in global monitoring networks by operating measuring stations, notably :
- a seismograph station.
- an observatory for magnetic field measurements.
- an infrasound measurement station.
- a radionuclide detection station.
Why should research organisations choose to install measuring stations at the Space Centre? There are three main reasons :
- The high security level at the Space Centre
- The expertise of the site personnel in physical measurements and equipment maintenance.
- The geographical characteristics of the Space Centre where some equipment can be installed in areas which are rarely visited in order to stop background noise from perturbing data acquisition.
Of course, these activities are far from being the Space Centre’s primary mission, but the very fact of participating in the monitoring of our planet contributes, indirectly, to Space programmes.
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