Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG)
1. Overview
As a coordination and advisory committee of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, 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.
2. Membership
The members of SARG encompass a wide range of scientific disciplines, from microgravity chemistry and space life sciences to mechanical engineering and atmospheric sciences:
• Dr. Alan Stern, SARG Chair, Southwest Research Institute – Planetary Science
• 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. Samuel Durrance, Florida Institute of Technology – Astronomy/Former NASA Astronaut
• Dr. David Grinspoon, Denver Museum of Natural Sciences – Education/Public Outreach
• Dr. Richard Miles, Princeton University – Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Dr. John Pojman, Louisiana State University – Microgravity Chemistry
• Dr. Mark Shelhamer, Johns Hopkins University – Space Life Sciences
• Dr. Mike Summers, George Mason University – Atmospheric Sciences
• Dr. Erika Wagner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Space Life Sciences
Matthew Isakowitz, Associate Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, serves as SARG Program Officer, and Cynthia Conrad of the Southwest Research Institute serves as SARG Executive Secretariat.
3. Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference
SARG is playing a leadership role in the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference 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 is planned for February 28-March 1, 2011 at the University of Central Florida.