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Dr Charles Elachi, professeur au California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Directeur du Jet Propulsion Laboratory-NASA (2001-2016), prestigieux centre de la NASA, situé en Californie. La spécificité du Dr Charles Elachi, en plus de ses grandes connaissances, est sa participation importante au développement de projets aérospatiaux en partenariat avec la France dont il a une fine connaissance des élites scientifiques du territoire. Ancien étudiant de École polytechnique universitaire de Grenoble-Alpes (Polytech Grenoble).

“During this period, we launched about 25 planetary and terrestrial missions. Each mission was really interesting, fascinating. But the most delicate part of these missions, the most complex was the landing phase. In particular during the different missions on the planet Mars, with the rovers Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and finally, Perseverance. Because we had worked for a decade for these missions, and the success of them relied on the last 5 minutes, during the penetration of the rover into the Martian atmosphere. These are missions which have a real scientific value. In all these missions, there was the participation of France, with the CNES. We had French tools that were present on these missions. Examples of major French instruments present in the rover Curiosity : SAM and ChemCam. “