Module 2: MEMS and Nano Technologies for Space, Nico de Rooij, University of Neuchâtel
Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 11:00 to 12:30

Course Objective

Introduce the particular concepts and boundary conditions for the successful design, fabrication and implementation of MNT based components and systems for space applications.

Course Details

After a general introduction on the current and foreseen uses of MNT in spacecraft, case studies will be presented of MNT based components and systems, which have been successfully developed for space applications. The case studies involve the space bioreactor (flown on the space shuttle), space AFM (on the Phoenix Mars mission 2007), Optical MEMS systems for space communication, micro propulsion systems (chemical and ionic), atomic clocks and nano/pico satellite systems.  Particular attention will be paid to reliability aspects of MNTs in space and launch environments, including radiation, shock and vibration, and thermal considerations.

Who Should Attend

Scientists and Engineers interested in space applications of MNT.

What You Will Learn

Critical design criteria and application aspects of MNT components and systems for space applications.

Course Handouts

Copies of PP files.

Instructors

Nico de Rooij, Herbert Shea, Danick Briand, Gaetano Mileti, Pierre-André Farine

About University of Neuchâtel  (IMT) , EPFL (LMTS) :

The Institute of Microtechnology of the University of Neuchâtel (IMT UniNE) was founded in 1975 as a part of the Faculty of Science, with the goal of developing education and research in Microtechnology.  30 years later, the mission remains unchanged.  Today, around 140 people work at IMT in research and teaching. Under the supervision of professors and group leaders, they execute yearly about one hundred research projects.  IMT UniNE also has an important technological infrastructure in hand, in particular the COMLAB, a laboratory dedicated to Micro and Nanotechnology (MNT), operated in common with CSEM and also used by several partners.  During the last ten years, IMT has given birth to a dozen of start-up and spin-off companies.  The Microsystems for Space Technologies Laboratory (LMTS) at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) develops MEMS for space applications, with a focus on microfabricated ion propulsion systems, MOEMS for optical communication, and reliability.

Last Update: August 02, 2006