Inspector General and Director of Quality

Born 1958, Bernard Chemoul is a graduate of the ENSMA mechanical and aeronautical engineering school in Poitiers (1981). He is an intern for the Higher European Studies cycle at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA), Herman Von Rompuy Class.

Bernard Chemoul joined CNES’s Launch Vehicles Directorate (DLA) in 1982, where he worked as a design and development engineer. Throughout his career, he has been closely involved in Europe’s space launchers programme, notably on Ariane 4, Ariane 5, Hermes, Vega and Soyuz in Guiana, occupying a range of engineering and project management posts.

In 2000, he became Head of the Launcher Engineering Sub-directorate, and in 2005 Director of the Ariane 5 Programme. He moved to the Guiana Space Centre in 2008 as Head of the Range Safety and Environmental Protection Sub-directorate.

In 2012, he took over as Director of the Guiana Space Centre, remaining in this post until 2016. In 2017, he joined the European Space Agency (ESA) as Launch Infrastructures project leader at the Space Transportation Directorate.

Bernard Chemoul was appointed CNES Inspector General effective 1 September 2018.

Since 3 January 2022, he is CNES Inspector General and Director of Quality.