Maud Barthelemy:

ESA Archive Scientist for Rosetta and VEX


Led by my passion for volcanology, I have studied geophysics in
Strasbourg. 

After my engineering degree in geophysics, I have started research
on Infrasound for the military department of the CEA (Commissariat
a l'Energie Atomique) in Bruyeres-Le-Chatel, near Paris. The
project was within the CTBT (Comprehensive nuclear-Test Ban
Treaty). 

The CTBT, ratified by 140 countries, bans all nuclear explosions.
To ensure that no nuclear test is done, seismic, hydoacoustic,
infrasound and radionuclide stations are located all around the
world in a broad network. My work was to analyse the infrasound
signals coming from a test station to detect automatically the
signature of a nuclear explosion. 

Then, I have been working for one year as a support engineer for
the MATLAB software in Sevres, near Paris. My only thought was to
go back to research work. I went back to research, working on a PhD
in Petroleum Engineering. This PhD was done at Imperial College, in
collaboration with IFP (Institut Français du Petrole). The PhD
title was "History matching in streamline defined regions". It
deals with reservoir characterisation using a streamline simulator.
My work consisted of using the differences between  measurements
and simulation. Then, in an iterative process, the reservoir was
modified to fit the measurements with the results of the
simulation. The novelty of the method was the use of a streamline
simulator and the division of the reservoir into drained regions
instead of the use of a grid based division of the reservoir. I
really enjoyed working abroad and tried to extend my stay in the
UK.  

Not to be left unemployed, I finally choose to go back to France
and worked with the SPICAM team. SPICAM is an UV-IR spectrometer on
board Mars-Express. My work was to collect the data from the DDS at
ESOC, to check them, to prepare them for the PSA archive, and when
time was available to do the first treatments. This was for the
post operation part. My task was also to plan the observations,
which means do the computations for the pointings and observation
times.  Attending the archive meeting, I met Joe Zender who was in
charge of the PSA. Knowing that I was at the end of my 1-year
contract with SPICAM, he mentioned to me that PSA was looking for
someone to work on the archive. I applied and suceeded. Now, I work
as an Archive Scientist for Rosetta and VEX missions. My task is to
collect the data from the instrument teams on board the two
spacecraft. After collection, I check their content and their
compliance with PDS standards and PSA special requirements. Then,
the PSA organises the Peer review. The Peer review is done by a
group of external scientists that check deeply the scientific
content of the data sets.  Once this group gives its agreement, the
data set can be delivered to the public. The data sets are then
available and may be searched on the PSA website.