Lucie Poulet

Lucie is a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at Institut Pascal - Clermont Auvergne University (France) focusing on developing an open-source methodology to design mass and energy efficient space greenhouse modules, in partnership with the IPESE (Industrial Process and Energy Systems Engineering) laboratory at the Ecole Polytechique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

This will not only be crucial for upcoming lunar and Martian human exploration missions, but also for designing innovative food production systems on Earth. In this regard, she has been a jury member for the three stages of the Canadian Space Agency Deep Space Food Challenge (DFSC), from 2021 to 2024, and the first stage of NASA DFSC in 2021.

She holds a PhD from Clermont Auvergne University since 2018, a Master of Science in aerospace engineering from Purdue University (USA), and a Master of Engineering from Ecole des Mines de Nancy (France). She worked as a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Space Crop Production group at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (Florida, USA) from 2019 to 2022.
For 15 years, her research topics have had applications in the realm of bioregenerative life support systems for space missions and she has worked closely with different space agencies and laboratories, particularly within the ESA MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life-Support System Alternative) project.

Her research work led her to take part in four Mars analog missions – including the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) NASA-funded 4-month mission – as well as ten parabolic flights to test experiments, she had developed. 

Lucie is a private pilot and a PADI rescue diver and since 2023, she is a volunteer firefighter and first responder in her rural community in France.