Raising awareness about satellite technologies and the quest to discover another earth
Introduction to Magali Vaissiere
**Magali Vaissiere** is an engineer and has been the Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications at the European Space Agency (ESA) since 2008. In 2013, she was appointed Head of the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT).
Vaissiere was born 1957, in Montpellier, France. She holds several degrees including an Executive MBA from the Centre de Perfectionnement aux Affaires and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Stanford.
Vaissiere’s Early Career
From 1981 to 1990, Vaissiere worked as a signal processing engineer in the **“Surface Radar Division**” of Thomson-CSF, a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics mostly focused on aerospace and defense.
In 1990, following her time at Thomson-CSF, Vaissiere joined Matra Espace as an engineer and was responsible for R&D coordination activities in the technical department. Matra Espace was a French industrial conglomerate primarily focused on cars, aeronautics, and weaponry. In 1995, Vaissiere became responsible for the company’s **satellite network engineering activities** until 2000.
She then joined the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company, as head of the R&D and products division in the telecom business department until 2002, and later as marketing manager for major French institutional accounts until 2005.
Vaissiere at the European Space Agency
In 2005, Vaissiere joined the European Space Agency (ESA) as head of the Satellite Telecommunications Department under the ESA’s Directorate for Telecommunications and Navigation.
In 2008, she was appointed ESA’s Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications. **She was the first woman to act as head of a technical department at ESA** and remains the only one to hold a Directorship.
Vaissiere has said, “The major lesson I learnt with the industry is that the market is always moving, and its global nature means that changes are coming faster and faster. Competitiveness is an everyday challenge. Moreover… the space business world is very much driven by institutional policies while the telecom world is global and a place of continuous innovation.”
In 2013, Vaissiere was appointed Head of ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) based in Harwell, UK. ECSAT focuses on enhancing innovation to keep the European and Canadian industry at the top of the global market for **satellite communications and applications.** ECSAT is also involved in developing new satellite, ground infrastructure and product developments.
Vaissiere’s Honors & Distinctions
In 2008, Vaissiere was knighted in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest French order of merit, for her services to telecommunications.
Vaissiere was named **UK Space Personality of the Year in 2017** by the Space and Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) network for her “many impactful ongoing contributions to the UK space and satellite sector and the enhancements which she has spearheaded to raise awareness and integration of space and satellite technologies and applications in wider industry and society.”
In 2018, Vaissiere won the Sir Arthur Clarke Space Achievement Award for “outstanding contributions to all space activities” and for “the major increase in telecommunication activities in today’s world and the new perspectives opened by the rise of ‘New Space’ and the development of Public Private Partnerships between ESA and Industry. This has been achieved in parallel to providing support for the growth of downstream applications in field such **transport, health, energy, and security.**”
Sara Seager’s Early Life & Education
**Sara Seager** was born in 1970 in Toronto, Canada. Among her first memories is a trip with her father to see the moon through a telescope, while, later in her high school years, she was “astounded” to learn that one could be an astrophysicist for a living. Her father however, believed that the best career for her would be to become a doctor or a lawyer and Seager was dissuaded from pursuing a career in astrophysics.
She earned her BSc degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Toronto in 1994. Seager eventually decided to leave pure physics to pursue her “first love” – astronomy, and she attended the PhD program in Astronomy at Harvard University. She earned her PhD in 1999, and then studied at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, as a postdoctoral fellow.
Space Missions
As a Professor of Physics, Professor of Planetary Science, and a Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, **Seager’s primary area of interest and focus is the discovery and analysis of exoplanets – planets outside our Solar System**. Her pioneering research involves the detection of exoplanet atmospheres, innovative theories about life on other worlds, as well as the development of novel space mission concepts.
One of these missions is called TESS – Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which is an MIT-led NASA mission to detect and examine transiting exoplanets, and search for planets that are habitable. With 4 identical specialized wide-field cameras, **TESS is capable of finding Earth-sized and super Earth-sized exoplanets** (planets up to 1.75 times Earth’s size) transiting M stars. M stars are significantly smaller, cooler, and more common than our sun.
The Seager Equation
Seager has been on a quest to discover the field’s holy grail – another Earth, leading NASA to dub her “an astronomical Indiana Jones.”
In 2013, Seager introduced her version of the renowned **Drake Equation**, which estimates the number of habitable planets in the Galaxy. The revised equation, which is now called the **Seager Equation**, focuses on simply the presence of any alien life detectable from Earth.
While the Drake Equation was focused on searching for intelligent alien life, the **Seager Equation focuses on the search for planets with biosignature gasses**, in other words, gasses produced by life – intelligent life or simple bacteria. Such gasses can accumulate in a planet’s atmosphere and possibly be detected with remote space telescopes.
Seager’s Honors & Awards
Seager has received numerous accolades including the MacArthur ‘genius’ grant in 2013, and membership in the US National Academy of Sciences.
In 2007, she received the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society for developing “fundamental techniques for understanding, analyzing, and finding the atmospheres of extrasolar planets.”
Since 2012, Seager has been a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2012, while, in 2013, she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada as an honorary member.
In 2020, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, the second-highest honor for merit in Canada.
