RESEARCH EXPERIENCE


Research during studies


During his studies as Civil Engineer in Mechanics, Vladimir Pletser conducted several research projects, including "Gear grinding and their rectification" (1977), "MIG Plasma welding and its application to Aluminium welding" (1978), on the magnetohydrodynamics of a "Cold plasma inductive engines for space rocket propulsion" (1978), and on "Glider landing: dynamical study and numerical integration" (1978) covering the aerodynamic modelling and computer simulation of a glider landing.


He later presented and published with Distinction, a thesis titled "Dynamic study of tethered satellites at low altitude" (1979), under the supervision of Prof. D. Johnson at the Dept of Mechanics, that included the dynamic modelling of two satellites of different masses in orbit connected by a tether, of the deployment and retraction manoeuvres of a satellite from and to the other, and a numerical simulation of the dynamic equations of these manoeuvres.


Later on, during his studies of MSc in Physics, he conducted a research programme in astrodynamics and spatial geodesy at the Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy G. Lemaitre, under the supervision of Prof. P. Paquet, leading to a thesis titled "Contribution to the study of a geodesic satellite with an inertial platform, project BIRAMIS" presented and published in 1980 with High Distinction, that included the modelling of non-gravitational forces acting on a free-floating satellite, the analysis of the perturbations of a CACTUS capacitive micro-accelerometer of 10-11 g resolution, the study of the satellite attitude stability,  and the design of the satellite three-frequency radio antenna to study the Doppler effect.


Research in Geophysics and Mathematics


After graduating as a Mechanical Engineer and Master of Sciences in Physics, he worked as a Research Engineer from 1980 to 1981 at the External Geophysics Department of the Royal Meteorological Institute, Brussels, Belgium, on the ionospheric Doppler effect to evaluate the vertical electronic content using radio signals of US Navy Transit satellites.


From 1981 to 1982, he conducted research at the Faculty of Agronomy, Catholic University of Louvain UCL, in applied statistics, mathematical modelling and simulation, in particular on the fast creation of orthogonal polynomials applied to regressions for multivariate data treatment, and on algorithms for linear programming Simplex method applied to problems with integer numbers.


Research in Celestial Mechanics and Astrophysics


Between 1982 and 1985, while at the Physics Department of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Kinshasa, he pursued theoretical research under the supervision of Prof. P. Paquet, Director of the Royal Observatory of Belgium, in astronomy and celestial mechanics on quasi-commensurabilities between two and three bodies in the Solar System, and in astrophysics on the Solar System cosmogony, investigating the hydrodynamics of forming proto-planetary and proto-satellite nebulae.


Between 1985 and 1989, while working at ESTEC, he continued his theoretical research on the Solar System cosmogony, investigating the formation of planetary and satellite systems. The research was made in four main parts.

1. Devising a method to establish exponential distance relations among all secondaries in the planetary, Jovian, Saturnian and Uranian systems;

2. Investigating the non-randomness of the distributions of secondaries' distances, demonstrating that observed exponential distance relations in the four systems cannot be accounted for by sequences of random numbers;

3. Studying a mechanism to explain the origin of the distance quasi-geometrical progressions, based on several models of perturbed hydrodynamics equations of forming proto-planetary and proto-satellite nebulae applied to the planetary and satellite systems, that included the motion of nebular particles and the quasistatic transition of the forming proto-primary;

4. Applying one of the models to the systems of Uranus and Neptune that allowed to calculate the position of new satellites and rings prior to their discovery by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 and 1989, confirming the exponential character of secondaries' distance distributions.

These results were published in several articles (here, here, here, here, and here) and led to the publication at the Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics G. Lemaitre of the Faculty of Sciences, Catholic University of Louvain UCL, in 1989 of his first doctoral thesis “On exponential distance relations in planetary and satellite systems, observations and origin”. 


The research work of his second doctoral thesis, “The direct human intervention is mandatory for the performance of experiments with the Advanced Fluid Physics Module”, was conducted under the supervision of Prof. P. Paquet and in collaboration with Dr A. Gonfalone at the Microgravity Division of ESA-ESTEC. It included the analysis of operational metrics for conducting Fluid Physics experiments with the AFPM instrument in microgravity during the Spacelab D2 mission, showing that astronauts are important actors to conduct microgravity research in space. 

Both theses yielded him the awarding in 1990 of his PhD in Physics with the Highest Distinction, while still in full employment at ESA-ESTEC.


Astronomy observations


Between 1979 and the mid-nineties, he conducted amateur astronomical observations of planets, satellites, sunspots, binary stars, ..., with several refractor telescopes (Viking, in Europe (1979-82) and in Congo (1982-85); Vixen Custom, in Europe, since 1994) and reflector telescopes (Criterion Newton, in Congo (1982-85); Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain, in Burundi (1993); Celestron N-114/1000 AstroMaster EQ in Congo (2019)). He followed in 1982 a course on 'Calculation of orbits of binary stars' given by the Royal Belgian Society of Astronomy and Geophysics. Between 1982 and 1985, while at the University of Kinshasa, he led astronomical observation sessions with African students and the general public, and he organised in January 1985 two astronomical exhibitions at the Kinshasa University and at the French Embassy Cultural Centre in Kinshasa. Later on, in 2019, while lecturing at the University Mapon at Kindu, Congo, he conducted several observation sessions with students. 


Research in Number Theory, Ethnomathematics and Chaos


Since the mid-nineties, he is pursuing research in several mathematical fields, namely Number Theory, on distribution and properties of certain classes of prime numbers, on Generalised Mersenne prime and composite numbers, on a generalisation of the Fermat theorem, on sums of powers of consecutive integers, on multiple of triangular numbers, on characteristics of Pell’s equation solutions, on Bachet-Mordel equations, and on Fibonacci numbers. 


In Ethnomathematics, he demonstrated in 1998 the hypothesis of the Ishango bone, the oldest (20 000 years) mathematical tool of mankind, being a primitive calculator in bases 6 and 12. Since 1996, he is promoting with Prof. D. Huylebrouck, Catholic University of Leuven KUL, in Belgium, the project of flying the Ishango bone in space. He took in 1999 this archaeological artefact in its first promotional flight in microgravity during parabolic flights. 


He conducted also some research in chaotic non-linear dynamics in several fields, in particular for electroencephalographic data interpretation, that led to the awarding of a patent 'Method and device for the predictive determination of a parameter representative of the mental activity of a person' (ESA Patent 433, Oct. 1999; U.S. Patent 6 658 369, Dec. 2003)


Field research in Geophysics and Archaeology


In preparation for the refraction seismic experiments he conducted during his first Mars mission simulation in the Arctic (see here), he was trained in field seismic methods by Prof. P. Lognonné (Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France) at the Centre for Geophysical Research of Garchy, France, in 2001. Later on, in 2009, he supervised several geology experiments of sample collection and analysis by XRF/XRD and Raman Spectroscopy at the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS) (see here).


In 2005, he followed a course of the Anglo-Danish Maritime Archaeological Team (ADMAT) on underwater marine archaeology procedures to survey shipwrecks at the Key Largo Marine Research Laboratory, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), in collaboration with NOAA, Florida, USA.


Research on Cancer in Microgravity


Since 2019, he is Co-Investigator of an experiment 'Tumors in Space' selected by the Office of Outer Space Affairs of the United Nations and the China Manned Spaceflight Agency for a flight on the Chinese Space Station in 2024-25 timeframe. This experiment is a ground-breaking cancer research experiment at the intersection of space technology and stem-cell biology that will be conducted with 3D organoids of healthy and cancerous tissues in order to test two hypotheses, first that microgravity exposure would slow down the proliferation of cancerous cells, while, secondly, radiation exposure would accelerate the proliferation fo cancerous cells. This experiment will undergo a thorough preparatory programme, that includes research on ground with tests on Random Positioning Machines and exposure to various radiation sources, parabolic flights with a glider yielding 5 to 6 s of 0g, parabolic flights on a large aircraft providing 20 s of 0g, suborbital flights providing 3 to 4 minutes of 0g and limited exposure to space radiations, before the flight onboard the Chinese Space Station. This experiment received already good press coverage (see here). 

Glider parabolic flights were conducted on the 4th of April 2023 in Saint-Hubert Aerodrome, in Belgium with three flights and allowed to expose organoids to approximately 33 parabolas, yielding more than three minutes of 0g in slices of 5 to 6 s. (see here, here, and here).


Investigator Positions for Microgravity, Geophysics and Psychology Experiments


- Co-Investigator, experiment: 'Tumors in Space: mutational signatures of human cancer and healthy organoid cells exposed to spaceflight conditions', with Dr T. Larose for UNOOSA-China 2024 flight opportunity on the Chinese Space Station (2019)

- Co-Investigator, 4 experiments: 'Three-phase fluid mixes', '3D optical illusions', 'Modified cardiovascular output’, 'Newton cradle pendulum', with Dr N. Frischauf (ESA, Austria) flown in parabolic flights with the Twin II glider, during the ISU SSP-16, Haifa (2016)

- Co-Investigator, experiment 'DARE-C (DNA Atmospheric Re-Entry Experiment – Control)', with Dr C. Thiel, Prof. O. Ullrich (University of Zurich, Switzerland), flown on ASGARD stratospheric Balloon, Brussels (2012)

- Co-Investigator of 3 experiments on Human Crew Aspects in Extra-Terrestrial Planetary Habitats at MDRS (Mars Desert Research Station), EuroGeoMars, with Dr B. Foing (ESTEC) performed at MDRS (2009)

- Co-Investigator, experiment 'Psychological aspects of growing vegetables in the closed environment of the Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)', with Dr C. Lasseur (ESTEC), performed at MDRS (2002)

- Co-Investigator, experiment 'Subsurface water detection on Mars by active seismology: simulation at FMARS' with Prof. P. Lognonne (University of Paris, France), Prof. V. Dehant (Catholic University of Louvain UCL, Belgium), performed at FMARS, Canadian Arctic (2001)

- Co-proposer, experiment 'Oscillatory Marangoni-Bénard Instability in a three-layer system', with Prof. J.C. Legros (Free University of Brussels ULB, Belgium) performed with the Bubble, Drop, Particle Unit re-flight on Spacelab LMS (1994)

- Principal Investigator, 'Formation of short liquid columns with the Advanced Fluid Physics Module during parabolic flights', flown on DLR Parabolic Flight Campaign prior to Spacelab D2 onboard KC-135, NASA-JSC (1992)

- Principal Investigator, 'Tests of crew interfaces of Advanced Fluid Physics Module and Marangoni-Bénard Instability Cell', flown on 13th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign onboard the Caravelle, Paris, France (1991)

- Principal Investigator (11 x), 'Microgravity level accelerometric measurements in parabolic flights', flown on ESA campaigns with Caravelle, Ilyushin, KC-135; and Free Brussels University flights with Fouga Magister (1987-94)

- Co-Investigator, ‘Evaluation of ionosphere vertical electronic content by Doppler ionospheric effect’, with Prof. L. Bossy, External Geophysics Dept, Royal Meteorology Institute, Belgium (1980-81)


International Conferences


He presented 155 papers on microgravity and space science and technology at international conferences in Belgium, France, The Netherlands, England, Germany, Norway, Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, Korea, Japan, China, Australia and the USA.


In September 2001, he was invited as Moderator at the Conference of the Belgian Presidency of the European Union Research Council at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he introduced and moderated debates between European Ministers of Science and European Scientists.


He served 27 times as Chairman and 8 times as Rapporteur of scientific sessions of the International Astronautics Academy (IAA) and of the International Astronautics Federation (IAF) congresses and other international symposia and scientific workshops, and as a member of 24 scientific organising committees of ESA, World Science and Engineering Academy and Society and other international congresses and symposia.


Publications


He authored or co-authored 876 publications, including:

-  6 books, on his participation in Mars simulation campaigns, on fundamentals of microgravity and weightlessness, on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Mechanics, on the Chinese Tiangong-2 mission and on space research in Brussels; 

- 18 chapters in books; 

- 73 articles in refereed journals (Microgravity Sciences & Technology; Acta Astronautica; Advanced Space Research; Journal of Cosmology; Journal of Crystal Growth; Journal of Number Theory; Fibonacci Quarterly; Forma; Symmetry; Astrophysics and Space Science; Bulletin of the American Society of Astronomy; Earth, Moon & Planets; Bulletin of the Royal Belgian Society of Astronomy, Meteorology and Geophysics); 

- 156 articles and abstracts in international conference proceedings (IAF-IAA, IAF-GLUC, CSA-IAA, ELGRA, COSPAR, ESA, EGU, ISU); 

- 32 Experiment and Technical Reports; 

- 45 other scientific and technical publications (ESA Bulletins, Wikipedia; Spaceflight; Athena; International Mining; World Mining); 

- 172 other scientific and technical online publications;

- 42 preprints on ArXiv, ResearchGate and BibNum;

- 90 new integer sequences and 58 integer sequence extensions in Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences OEIS; 

- 34 book reviews (in Bulletin of the Belgian Physical Society; Bulletin of the Royal Belgian Society of Astronomy, Meteorology and Geophysics); 

- 10 publications as Scientific Editor; 

- 12 course notes; 

- 8 theses and academic works; 

- 16 other publications;

- 104 Technical Documents (restricted distribution).


Subjects are as diverse as microgravity and space science and technology, Mars exploration, astronaut selection, space pedagogical activities, electroencephalography, astronomy and astrophysics, celestial mechanics, mathematics, and mining. In 2004, one of his papers was cited as the 8th in the Top 25 Hottest Engineering Articles by ScienceDirect.

In 2017, he was awarded the "Engineering Sciences Book Award" of the International Academy of Astronautics as co-author.


Editorial positions


He was the Scientific Editor of 'Preparation of Space Experiments', InTechOpen, London, for which he was awarded in 2023 the "Life Sciences Book Award" of the International Academy of Astronautics.


He serves as a member of Editorial Boards of:

- Open Journal of Discrete Mathematics (since 2025);

- Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences (since 2023);

- Applied Sciences (since 2020); 

- The Open Aerospace Engineering Journal (since 2018); 

- International Journal of Astrophysics and Space Science (since 2018); 

- Aeronautics and Aerospace Open Access Journal (since 2017); 

- American Association for Science and Technology (since 2014); 

- International Journal of Modern Physics and Application (since 2014); 

- International Scholarly Research Notices (2014-17); 

- ISRN Aerospace Engineering (2013-14).


He is also a member of review committees of scientific and technical articles for:

- Universe (since 2023);

- Nature Communications (since 2023);

- Symmetry (since 2021);

- Frontiers in Physiology (since 2021);

- Open Journal of Mathematical Sciences (since 2021);

- European Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (since 2021);

- Galaxies (since 2020);

- International Journal of Molecular Sciences (since 2020);

- Aeronautics and Aerospace Open Access Journal (since 2017); 

- Journal of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (since 2017); 

- International Journal of Molecular Sciences (since 2013); 

- Life (since 2013); 

- International Academy of Astronautics Study Papers (since 2012); 

- Recent Patents on Space Technology (2012); 

- Recent Patents on Telecommunications (2012); 

- Journal of Cosmology (since 2010); 

- Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (since 2010); 

- Microgravity Science and Technology (since 2001); 

- Acta Astronautica (since 2001); 

- International Astronautical Congress - International Academy of Astronautics, sessions on Extra-Vehicular Activities Protocol and Operations (1999-2003); 

- International Astronautical Congress, sessions on Microgravity Science and Processes (since 1995).


He reviews book proposals for Springer Popular Science Series (since 2017) and for Praxis (since 2009), and new books for the Belgian Physical Society and for the Royal Belgian Society of Astronomy, Meteorology and Geophysics, for which he published 31 book reviews. He reviewed for the International Academy of Astronautics the Study Paper ‘Space Debris Environment Remediation’ in 2012. 


In 2015, he was awarded an Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing for Acta Astronautica.


From 2001 to 2016, he was a member of selection committees of the ESA Education Department for student papers for International Astronautical Congresses.


Between 1986 and 1995, he was the editor of eight conference proceedings on scientific results of ESA parabolic flight microgravity experiments. Between 1982 and 1985, he served as national editor in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) for two international Mining magazines. 

He also served as a scientific and technical adviser for comic strips on space adventures.


Expert positions


He served as a member of 43 selection and review boards for microgravity and other scientific and technical experiments, at ESA, the European Union, the International Space University, in Belgium and the Netherlands, in particular for the selection of student-proposed experiments for microgravity flights.


He was invited to various other boards:

- as a scientific expert by the Swiss National Science Foundation to review microgravity science research proposals (2018 and 2011),

- as a privileged expert in the Evaluation Board of the President of the Belgian Federal Science Programmatic and Policy Service (2006),

- as an invited member of the Selection Committee for the position of Director General of Research and Applications of the Belgian Science Policy Office (2005),

- as an invited expert for the European Cooperation in Science and Technology e-COST (since 2016).


Media Reports


- Huylebrouck, D. "Wat had de vroegere mens op zijn kerfstok?" (in Flemish "What did the ancient man have on his mind?"), Belgian monthly scientific magazine EOS Wetenschap, 23 November 2021.

- "Œuvre réclamée: Une preuve que la mathématique est née en Afrique?" (in French, "Work claimed: A proof that mathematics was born in Africa?"), C. Braeckman, Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, 27 September 2018.

- "La mathématique est-elle née en Afrique?" (in French "Was mathematics born in Africa?"), C. Braeckman, Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, 26 September 2018.

- "Archéologie: L'os d'Ishango, ancêtre de la calculette - Et si les mathématiques étaient nées il y a 20.000 ans sur les rives des grands lacs africains? - Les ethnomathématiques du professeur Huylebrouck" (in French, "Archaeology: The Ishango bone, ancestor of the calculator - What if mathematics was born 20,000 years ago on the shores of the great African lakes? - The ethnomathematics of professor Huylebrouck"), Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, 16 December 2000.


- "L'apesanteur peut-elle aider à guérir du cancer ? L'expérience belge dans la station spatiale chinoise", Belgian Television RTBF, 5 mai 2021.