The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

research center. Originally founded as the ''Office National d’Études et de Recherches Aéronautiques'' (National Office for Aeronautical Studies and Research) in 1946, it was relabeled in 1963. It is France's leading research center in aerospace and

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

. It covers all disciplines and technologies in the field. Numerous high-profile French and European aerospace programs have passed through the ONERA since its creation including the Ariane family of launch vehicles, the Concorde supersonic airliner, the Dassault Mirage family of fighter aircraft and the Rafale, the Dassault Falcon family of business jets,

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

and later

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

projects, missiles, engines, radars and many more. Under the supervision of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, it is a public industrial and commercial establishment employing around 2,000 people, the majority of whom are researchers, engineers and technicians, with half of its budget coming from government subsidies. The ONERA has extensive testing and computing resources, including the largest

wind tunnel A wind tunnel is "an apparatus for producing a controlled stream of air for conducting aerodynamic experiments". The experiment is conducted in the test section of the wind tunnel and a complete tunnel configuration includes air ducting to and f ...

fleet in Europe. The ONERA's chairman is appointed by the Council of Ministers on the recommendation of the Minister of the Armed Forces.

History

ONERA's historic roots are in the Paris suburb of Meudon, south of Paris. As early as 1877, the Chalais-Meudon site hosted an aeronautical research center for military aerostats (balloons): Etablissement central de l’aérostation militaire. ONERA was created in May 1946 to relaunch aeronautics research, an activity that had gone into hibernation during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the German occupation. Its creation reflected the government's decision to recover the large

in Ötztal, Austria, in the French administrative zone, and move it to France. Today, ONERA's extensive array of wind tunnels is one of its main assets. ONERA operates a world-class fleet of wind tunnels, the largest in Europe. The S1MA wind tunnel at Modane-Avrieux, developing 88 MW of total power, is Europe's largest transonic wind tunnel (tests at Mach 0.05 to Mach 1).

Organization

The Chairman and CEO of ONERA is appointed by the French Council of Ministers, acting on a proposal by the Minister of Defense. Since June 2014, the Chairman and CEO is Bruno Sainjon.

Sites of ONERA facilities

ONERA is organized in eight geographic areas. It has about 2,000 employees, with 1,500 engineers and scientists (including 230 doctoral candidates), as well as support staff. Three centers in the greater Paris area (Ile-de-France): * ONERA Palaiseau, current headquarters * ONERA Châtillon * ONERA Meudon Two centers in the Midi-Pyrenees region of southwest France: * ONERA

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, near the leading aeronautical engineering schools ''ISAE-Sup’Aéro'' and ENAC * ONERA Fauga– Mauzac ( wind tunnels), south of Toulouse. Three other centers: * ONERA

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

, northern France (formerly the Lille Fluid Mechanics Institute) * ONERA Salon de Provence, southern France, on the site of the ''Ecole de l’air'' flying school * ONERA Modane-Avrieux ( wind tunnels), in the Savoy region of southeast France.

Scientific departments

ONERA is organized in four scientific branches:

Fluid Mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them. Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...

and Energetics; Materials and Structures;

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

; and Information Processing and Systems. Wind tunnel testing is managed in the GMT (Grands Moyens Techniques) department. Aerospace prospective depends on a specific department. The ''Direction Technique et des Programmes'' (''DTP'') comprises the following departments: * ''DAAA - Aérodynamique, aéroélasticité, acoustique.'' * ''DEMR - Électromagnétisme et radar.'' * ''DMAS - Matériaux et structures.'' * ''DMPE - Multi-physique pour l'énergétique.'' * ''DOTA - Optique et techniques associées.'' * ''DPHY - Physique, instrumentation, environnement, espace.'' * ''DTIS - Traitement de l'information et systèmes.''

Missions

Unlike

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in the United States, ONERA is not an agency for space science and exploration. However, it carries out a wide range of

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

for space agencies, both CNES in France and the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

(ESA), as well as for the French defense agency, DGA (Direction générale de l’armement). ONERA also independently conducts its own long-term research to anticipate future technology needs. It focuses on scientific research, for example in

aerodynamics Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

for concrete applications on

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

, the design of launchers and new defense technologies, such as drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS). ONERA also uses its research and

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

capabilities to support both French and European industry. ONERA has contributed to a number of landmark aerospace and defense programs in recent decades, including

, Ariane, Rafale, Falcon, Mirage and Concorde.

Rockets

Various rockets have been developed through ONERA, some of which are listed below: * Daniel * Antarès * Bérénice * Tibère * Tacite * Titus * LEX

Commercial partnerships

ONERA's customer-partners include

, Safran ( Snecma, Turbomeca, Sagem), Dassault Aviation,

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

and other major industry players. Innovative small businesses are also encouraged to call on the expertise of ONERA's scientists and engineers, and to take advantage of

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

opportunities. The company Tefal was created by two ONERA

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

, the inventors of the “

non-stick A non-stick surface is engineered to reduce the ability of other materials to stick to it. Non-sticking cookware is a common application, where the non-stick coating allows food to brown without sticking to the pan. Non-stick is often used to ref ...

pan”. These products were produced and sold by Tefal S.A., which was subsequently acquired by Groupe SEB.

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:ONERA Aviation organizations based in France Research institutes in France Space program of France Aerospace engineering organizations Computer science institutes in France Scientific agencies of the government of France French companies established in 1946 Onera sounding rockets