Published: Tuesday, 19th May, 2009 11:55am

Killucan man had key role in satellite launch

One of the top engineers behind the European Space Agency"s successful launch of two satellites on Thursday last is a native of Killucan, the Westmeath Examiner has learned.

Laurence O"Rourke, a native of Riverstown, Killucan, is the Deputy Science Operations Manager of the multi-billion euro project which saw two satellites, codenamed Herschel and Planck, launched into orbit last week.

Herschel - to which Laurence devoted most of his time and energy in recent years - is the largest space telescope ever launched. It employs an optical instrument developed by NUI Maynooth, which can see into the far infrared, allowing observers to see further back in time through clouds of gas and dust.

It is hoped that the satellite will give scientists an idea as to how the first stars and galaxies came together during the origins of the universe.

'The ESA has a number of cornerstone missions, and both Herschel and Planck would be considered cornerstone missions, using the most cutting edge technology,' Laurence told the Westmeath Examiner.

'This team, consisting of eleven nationalities, will not only plan the science operations of the Herschel satellite, but will also have responsibility to process the data coming from the three instruments located on that spacecraft and to provide it to an eagerly awaiting scientific community.'

An experienced engineer, Laurence"s first big project was delivered successfully in 1997, when he played a key role in the development of the TEAMSAT satellite, which was launched by the Ariane-5 rocket.

Following the TEAMSAT programme, Laurence spent a month at NASA"s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), before relocating to the European Space Agency"s Operation Centre at Darmstadt, Germany, where worked on the ENVISAT mission. ENVISAT is the world"s largest environmental satellite, which was launched in 2002.

Following ENVISAT, Laurence became a spacecraft operations engineer on the ROSETTA mission, where he had responsibility for the control of the rotations of spacecraft in space.

'ROSETTA is a fascinating mission in that it is called the "Comet Chaser",' Laurence explained. 'It was launched in February 2004 and will arrive to its destination, a comet called Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in 2014. It will then release a small lander onto the icy nucleus and spend the next two years orbiting the comet as it heads towards the Sun.'

In 2004, Laurence then moved to the European Space Astronomy Centre at Madrid, Spain, where he started work on the Herschel and Planck projects in early 2005. The head of operations for the programme is another Irishman: Bray native, Leo Metcalfe.

A son of Laurence and Rita O"Rourke, Killucan, Laurence is a past pupil of St. Joseph"s National School, Rathwire, and Garbally College, Co. Galway. He graduated from Maynooth in 1992 with a BSc in Physics and Maths, before completing a Masters in Engineering Science at University College, Cork in 1994.

One of a family of eight, Laurence has extensive family connections in Westmeath, and returns home to his native turf as often as he can. He is married to a Spanish girl, Cristina, and they have one son, David.

Although very much attached to the land of his birth, Laurence still wouldn"t give up his post for the world.

'Even though it gets busier by the day here, it"s one of those jobs where there"s a lot of people who would love to do what you"re doing,' he said. 'It"s something which many people dream about doing during their childhood.'