Le site de vulgarisation scientifique de l’Université de Liège. ULg, Université de Liège

André Monfils, pioneer of the Liege space optics programme.
7/13/11

At the Astrophysics Institute of Liège, the experiments group for distant UV (ultraviolet light) or Optics and Space Physics department was set up under the direction of André Monfils. It was a dynamic team of young researchers who became involved in three programmes that were proposed at COPERS (European Preparatory Commission for Space Research) for its first five-year plan of activities with rocket-probes and satellites. These included:
-the study of a cloud of ammonia formed by a rocket probe in the atmosphere;
-the launch of a UV spectrograph in a polar Aurora;
-the UV mapping of the sky by satellite.

COPERS gave rise to ESRO in 1962, the European Space Research Organisation which became operational in March 1964 and was to become the basis of the ESA (European Space Agency) ten years later.

The first objective of the Space Physics and Optics Department within the scope of its capability was the UV spectroscopy of polar auroras thanks to rocket probes launched from the Esrange centre in Kiruna (Sweden). This team of pioneers of the European programme for rocket probes endured a lot of initial problems by being confronted with the hazards of the space technology of the era.

The first experiment with the R 81 spectrometer which was built and tested in Cointe took place on the 20th of November 1966 but did not produce a result because the payload fairing of the French rocket Centaure didn’t open. The following 11 flights of Centaure, between February 1967 and November 1971, made it possible to analyse the interactions between the particles of the solar wind and our atmospheric environment. This involvement of IAL Space was thanks to the support of the Belgian science policy office.

First patent of nobility

Dynamic teamIAL Space, under the leadership of Professor Monfils, called upon Belgian industry to develop the instruments to fly on board the rockets launched from Kiruna (Sweden), Andoya (Norway) and Fort Churchill Canada. His industrial partners were SABCA for mechanics and ETCA (Thales Alenia Space) for electronics. He gained renown with the stellar UV telescope –experiment S2/S68-on board the first European astronomy satellite TD-1.

This equipment, totally new in Europe, constituted a great advance in space exploration for IAL Space, within the ULg.  Its development put the researchers from Liège in contact with Matra (today the manufacturer of EADS satellites Astrium). Professor Leo Houziaux of the polytechnic faculty of Mons, where he developed the Astrophysics Department with an atomic spectroscopy laboratory, is associated with the scientific preparation and exploitation of the telescope’s observations.

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