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Overnight trips to the garden to see the stars and planes that her father bought from the three children to identify the planets, have always made Camila Velasco Landeau dream (26). Imagining how stars are is a constant that accompanies her even now, that she's no longer a girl. Her way to the stars was cemented with the hours spent at the astronomy club in her school days, when Camila and other children like her wanted to infect more boys with their curiosity and have gave lectures for the dissemination of astronomy. The cosmos has always made her dream and she admits again that if she could have been an astronaut, she would have been.
Her fantasies begin to materialize when she graduates as a space engineer from the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space (ISAE) in France. And now more than ever he has the right to believe that he will leave his mark on the world, or in this case on the floor of Mars. This is the first Bolivian to work on building a rover (robot) that will be sent to the Red Planet in 2020.
He is part of an international team of North American brains and French who gave substance to the project Mars 2020. More precisely, he works on SuperCam, the only French instrument of the rover that forms the head of the robot, whose camera stands out. It is badembled in Toulouse and must then be delivered to the United States for integration into the body of the robot, in charge of NASA. The SuperCam is equipped with a laser camera, a color image and an infrared recording to understand how the atoms of the Martian samples are badociated with the rover and, therefore, predict it. whether or not there was life in March, as explained by various scientific journals that have placed great hopes in this work of modern science.
Meanwhile, Camila goes to work every day, most of the time without being fully aware of how this event will be in which He is enveloped. It's only when he tells someone that he realizes the great opportunity that fate has given him.
On the other side of the phone, there is a voice that can not hide a hint of French, sometimes that is dragging the "g." He looks very young and at the same time his words are laden with maturity. It is six hours longer than in Bolivia and Camila flies a few minutes to her transcendental task to speak with us.
How did you study aerospace engineering?
For me, it was rather a stroke of luck and a set of circumstances. I got my French Baccalaureate at the Franco Boliviano School (in La Paz) and that went well for me, the French government has granted me a scholarship that will allow me to do so. allowed me to come to France to do my higher education. I started with a generalist scientific training, which is called in France here preparatory clbades (they are two years of pure science, very intensive, six days a week, ten hours a day to study. ). On this basis, it is verified that, depending on the result, access is obtained at different schools of engineers and I have had it for ISAE school, which is the only one. Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space. In this institute I got my degree in space engineering, which allowed me to look for work here in France in the space field and with great luck I found this project led by the Space Center of Toulouse in France, which collaborates with NASA. This is a robot that will go to Mars in 2020 and here it becomes the robot's head, which consists of a camera that is designed to determine if there is water on Mars and in what state and what chemical compounds are there, on what atoms and what molecules
Are you aware that what is a dream for many of you is a reality?
At first, I could not believe that I get an opportunity like this, but the day The first day is so busy with the things you have to do that you do not think much about the possibility of working on something like that, but when people ask me, I realize how lucky I am to work on an important project in the scientific world and I feel lucky.
We all think about leaving our mark and yours will be in this team that will travel to Mars …
important, but I think I'm just contributing Uyendo, alone could not do that, is a set of many people, many engineers, many scientists with the day-to-day work, we can do this project and send it to Mars. I would not say that I am the one who controls the instrument, I contribute.
It's already two years of this work, which is an effort that dates back to a long time ago. A Martian project takes 10 years between the start of the design and the launch of the rocket in which the instrument will go. This project has been in my head for a long time, Sylvestre Maurice, who has imagined it for many years. It's very nice to see in the eyes of scientists how their dreams come true.
How is your laboratory doing?
My job is at the Institute of Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), it takes 20 people working on the integration of this camera (which is the robot's head). On the other hand, there is documentation work, there should be 30 or 40 people, and at NASA there are many others, where the whole robot is. There, they make the wheels and the body.
This is an international effort, the project is called March 2020, although it is very likely that a year before the launch it will be given another name, and the camera that is made here in France it's called SuperCam
Explain in simple terms what is a rover?
This is a small car that looks a little like a tank with hollow wheels inside because the terrain on Mars is full of rocks They are very sharp that make it difficult to move. The body is a sort of tank that moves forward with a head, it can be oriented 360 degrees. It comes with a camera that has two laser frequencies to badyze which atoms make up the rock and what kind of molecules there are. The goal of all these missions is to know if Mars was habitable, if life could have existed. It is known that today it is not the case, but the idea is to prove yes in the past. Now, why are scientists interested in this? Because they want to find out why Mars has changed so much and if it can happen to Earth. We are already very similar in size and composition; the idea is to discover the possibilities of evolution of the planets and try to understand each time a little more.
How big is it?
The head should be about 50 cm long by 30 wide. The rover is much bigger, it must measure about two and a half meters. The rover is doing it in the United States, like the rocket that will be launched from French Guiana.
How many hours a day do you work on this?
It depends, in all this project there are periods, there are days to work too much and others are quieter. There are times when I can leave at 7:00 and come back at 23:00 at home.
France is known throughout the world for its culture, gastronomy and romance, but apparently, science is also made …
France invests a lot of money in the Scientific research and has very good institutes of training scientists, there are many highly qualified young people. It is a country that is at the forefront of research and science, we are not wrong.
What did you feel when you saw the plaque that will carry the head of the rover in which your name is?
The names are engraved on the inside of the head, this is part of the camera structure and it's a small satisfaction. The plate is made of aluminum and covered with gold because this metal has qualities of thermal and electrical conduction which are very good and which make it possible to maintain the temperature of the chamber quite homogeneous.
With that you already feel that you are leaving A trace?
Hard to imagine, I think the day the rocket will leave and six months later when the rocket lands on Mars I will feel a great satisfaction to say that I played this instrument and that my name is there checked in. If one day we manage to send people there and it comes to them to open the head of this rover, they will find the names of so many people who have spent days there. and nights to work hard.
What does your family say about this success?
They are very proud, my mother has her dream, and my dad is even more so because of her scientific profile because her granddaughter is working on something like that.
Where does your family live?
My husband is French and we do not have children yet. My parents live in Bolivia, my father, José Enrique Velasco, was a scientist, he did some research. He has recently become very interested in drones and has opened a drone services company and is trying to make plans for the La Paz cable cars. My mother, Maria de los Ángeles Landeau, is dedicated to early childhood education. My older brother lives in Argentina, does cinematography and my other sister studied archeology and anthropology and also lives in France.
Are you coming to Bolivia soon?
My last visit was two years ago, which is why I will go in September to see the family.
Have you heard of Tupac Katari?
I heard when they announced that they were going to buy it and when they launched it, so I did not hear from him again.
Are we about to build our own satellite?
We must convince Bolivians that education is very important. Knowledge is very powerful and ignorance too. You must really support education. We are not far, with education, good decisions are made and with that, very good things are encouraged. There is no reason to think that it would be a dream to realize it (doing science in Bolivia). Enough to say ok, we want that, we educate, we train and we do it.
What are we missing for Bolivians?
We are a capable youth, we must stop thinking that we are less, we must allow ourselves to always dream and, above all, to work hard. When you work hard for what you want, believing what you want and persuading you that you will get it, you do it; Even if there are bad surprises, there will always be satisfaction in the end. You have to believe in people and we can, there is no reason why we are less.
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