Overview
As a coordination and advisory committee of the CSF, the Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) is composed of experienced scientists, researchers and educators dedicated to furthering the research and education potential of commercial suborbital launch vehicles.
SARG is chaired by Dr. S. Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Institute, a space scientist who previously served as head of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
The goals of SARG are to increase awareness of commercial suborbital vehicles in the science, R&D and education communities, work with policymakers to ensure that payloads can have easy access to these vehicles and generate new ideas for uses of these vehicles for science, engineering, and education missions.
Membership
The members of SARG encompass a wide range of scientific disciplines, from microgravity chemistry and space life sciences to mechanical engineering, atmospheric sciences, and education:
• Dr. Alan Stern, SARG Chair, Southwest Research Institute – Planetary Science
• Dr. Sean Casey, Silicon Valley Space Center – Astrophysics
• Dr. Steven Collicott, Purdue University – Microgravity Physics
• Dr. Joshua Colwell, University of Central Florida – Microgravity Physics
• Dr. Daniel Durda, Southwest Research Institute – Planetary Science
• Dr. Makenzie Lystrup, Ball Aerospace - Planetary Science
• Dr. Richard Miles, Princeton University – Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Dr. Anna-Lisa Paul, University of Florida – Life Sciences
• Dr. Mark Shelhamer, Johns Hopkins University – Space Life Sciences
• Dr. Stan Solomon, National Center for Atmospheric Research – Atmospheric Sciences
• Mr. Charlie Walker, Human Spaceflight
Commercial Spaceflight Federation staff serve as the SARG Program Officers, and Cindy Conrad of the Southwest Research Institute serves as SARG Executive Secretariat.
Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference
SARG is playing a leadership role in the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) series, which brings together scientists, engineers, educators and vehicle developers to discuss research and education missions using commercial suborbital vehicles. The 2010 conference, which took place February 18-20, 2010 in Boulder, Colorado, drew over 250 people, and a 2011 conference was successfully held February 28-March 1, 2011 at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, drawing over 300 people. The 2012 conference took place February 27-29, 2012 in Palo Alto, California with 400 participants. The 2013 conference will be June 3-5, 2013 in Colorado.
SARG Ambassadors Program
SARG is now recruiting Ambassadors to help communicate the Research and Education Mission (REM) promise of next-gen suborbital spaceflight to colleagues, the public, and funding agencies. From time to time, SARG will provide Ambassadors who sign up on the interest form below with specific opportunities to communicate to such groups in your local area, and we may also ask Ambassadors to communicate in writing or phone calls with Congress or funding agencies, or even to write materials to university or professional society newsletters. To learn more, visit the Ambassadors website.