“People often have these stereotypes that if you are an astrophysicist you are such a person. But there are so many different aspects of an individual that add to what they have to offer the world or a group,” says Claveau. on a Zoom call from her home in Montreal, intermittently interrupted by one of her school-age children. “I really want to give back to the world just so people can learn from what I know.”
The orbit of Claveau’s journey in collaboration with the international space community on a $ 10 billion telescope that has been hailed as one of the most ambitious engineering initiatives ever undertaken is far from straight. Along the way there are stops in Australia, Kitimat and Victoria. Her work experience includes everything from working in fast food restaurants to a decade climbing the steps of the federal bureaucracy.
Claveau was thrilled by space as a child when she lay on the grass, night or day, looking up at the sky. “I stayed there for hours trying to imagine how far infinity was. Like, “Oh, I’m looking so far, but it goes on and on,” he says. “It was a very exciting idea to wrap my young brain around which I still can not wrap my head today.”
Claveau grew up in Chicoutimi, Quebec, lived in Australia with her family for a time (where she spoke fluent English) and graduated from Kitimat High School before enrolling in UVic as a science student. Eventually she reduced her focus to physics and astronomy.
“There are all my loves. There was enough challenging problem solving to quench my thirst. There was enough creativity and freedom to express myself. So this was really the turning point… When I found physics and astronomy [at UVic]it was so true in my heart, it was so ingrained in my soul, it just made me so inherently happy that I knew I had found my place. “
Julio Navarro was Klavos’s professor of astronomy.
There are those students who are very forward-thinking and always try to learn more. Calveau was also very intense. She would come to my office and ask me questions, so she was very passionate about astronomy. “I think that’s one of the things that sets her apart from the average student – this passion for astronomy that you only rarely see.” – Julio Navarro, cosmologist UVic
While attending UVic, Claveau sponsored her studies while working as a Marine at HMCS Malahat. Her father was in the military and she was a high school student, so that was natural. After graduating from UVic in 2009, Claveau returned to Quebec, feeling pointless and unsure of what to do with her physics degree.
After a few years of working for Health Canada, Claveau realized she needed a change. He saw that there was an opening in the Canadian Space Agency for a mission planner for the Earth observation satellite RADARSAT-2. Her background in physics, military operations, administration and project management marked all the boxes.
Just at CSA, Claveau announced that he was an astrophysicist and wanted to work in astronomy. Colleagues noted her passion and momentum. The word was coined two years ago to become a Space Astronomy Program Scientist, acting as a conduit between Canada and other countries, governments, space agencies and universities. Its main focus, however, was the mission of the James Webb Space Telescope. Over 25 years and $ 10 billion under construction, the Webb Telescope is a collaboration between NASA, CSA and the European Space Agency (ESA), involving more than 1,000 people from 17 different countries.
Launch teams monitor the progress of Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket flight carried by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Saturday, December 25, 2021. Credits: NASA / Bill Ingalls
Webb is often described as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which was launched in 1990 and has far exceeded 10 years of life expectancy, but it is different, says Claveau. For one thing, it’s bigger. Webb’s main mirror is 6.5 meters wide, compared to Hubble’s 2.4 meters wide, and consists of 18 hexagonal gold-plated honeycomb-like sections.
Webb’s house is also much further away. While Hubble floats 547 kilometers above the Earth, Webb orbits the sun in a straight line with the Earth, 1.5 million kilometers away at what is called the second point Lagrange or L2. Due to its proximity to the sun, Webb relies on a tennis court-sized sunshine, which, along with the mirrors, had to be folded into an origami design to fit his rocket.
Unlike Hubble, the Webb is designed to capture infrared light, allowing the telescope to see farther into the universe than ever before, allowing scientists to better understand how planets, stars and galaxies are born and evolve. with time. Claveau compares Webb to a time machine.
“We will be able to see about 13.5 billion years ago, because light needs time to travel,” says Claveau. “It takes us about eight minutes of sunlight to reach us… So when you look at the sun, you really are looking at the past eight minutes.”
When we use the Webb to look at this distant light, we are looking back to the beginning of the universe. Being able to see this will have a huge impact on every possible field of astronomy. We can discover things we never thought existed … It will revolutionize astronomy and our overall understanding of the universe. “- Julie Claveau, UVic Class ’09
Canada’s contribution to the Webb is also significant. CSA provided the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) of the telescope and the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS). FGS helps Webb point and focus on specific objects with precision that Claveau compares to “seeing a baby’s hair from a mile away.” NIRISS contains an extremely sensitive camera that will determine the atmospheric compositions of exoplanets, which are planets light years beyond our solar system orbiting stars other than the sun.
“So far, we have been able to identify exoplanets; but we do not know if they are habitable or if there might be life there,” says Claveau. “With Webb, we will be able to know the composition of the atmosphere of these exoplanets, which means we will find potentially new life or habitable planets.”
Although Webb was launched into orbit on Christmas Day 2021 from French Guiana with an ESA Ariane 5 rocket, it will take about five to six months before the first official images are created and transmitted back to Earth. Thanks to Canadian contributions, Canadian scientists are guaranteed at least 5% of Webb observation time and will be one of the first to benefit from Webb’s powerful instruments.
Claveau is also co-chair of the Women in STEM Advisory Committee at the Canadian Space Agency and is helping to organize an event in 2023 with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) to promote the empowerment of women in space.
Never stop looking up — I think it was Stephen Hawking who said that. As humans we always look down at our feet or are focused on our daily existence. But the moment you start looking up, you have an extracorporeal experience where you feel so small and you immediately wonder. Be curious, look up and dare to dream. ” —Clav
