computer science

ONERA

ONERA is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand ONERA rather than just read about it. In short: 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 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.

Key takeaways

ONERA belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect ONERA to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of ONERA from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

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 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. 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 and later Airbus 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 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 and the German occupation. Its creation reflected the government's decision to recover the large wind tunnel 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, near the leading aeronautical engineering schools ISAE-Sup’Aéro and ENAC ONERA Fauga–Mauzac (wind tunnels), south of Toulouse. Three other centers:

ONERA Lille, 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 and Energetics; Materials and Structures; Physics; 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 in the United States, ONERA is not an agency for space science and exploration. However, it carries out a wide range of research for space agencies, both CNES in France and the European Space Agency (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 for concrete applications on aircraft, the design of launchers and new defense technologies, such as drones or unmanned aerial systems (UAS). ONERA also uses its research and innovation capabilities to support both French and European industry. ONERA has contributed to a number of landmark aerospace and defense programs in recent decades, including Airbus, 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 Airbus, Safran (Snecma, Turbomeca, Sagem), Dassault Aviation, Thales 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 opportunities. The company Tefal was created by two ONERA engineers, the inventors of the “non-stick pan”. These products were produced and sold by Tefal S.A., which was subsequently acquired by Groupe SEB.

Notes and references

See also French space program CNES Aerospace Valley

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with ONERA

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what ONERA claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to ONERA before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about ONERA ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of ONERA

In research: ONERA appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses ONERA in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: ONERA is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Aerospace engineering organizations, Aviation organisations based in France, Computer science institutes in France, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for ONERA outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study ONERA in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what ONERA means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain ONERA out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is ONERA in simple terms?

Why does ONERA matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study ONERA?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on ONERA.