GW RECEIVES $300,000 GRANT TO STUDY ASTRONAUT SAFETY Research Funded by Space Shuttle Children’s Fund to Examine New Opportunities for Private Enterprise Involvement and New Developments in Biotechnology and Information Technology WASHINGTON—Researchers from The George Washington University were recently awarded a contract by the Board of Directors of the Space Shuttle Children’s Fund (SSCF) to carry out an independent and interdisciplinary academic study and assessment of human space flight safety in the past, present and into the future. After a competitive process, the SSCF awarded a two-year, $300,000 grant to a team of GW space experts from the Space & Advanced Communications Research Institute (SACRI) in GW’s School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) and the Space Policy Institute in GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The study will investigate the technical, policy and standards aspects of safety in human space flight and research new ways to achieve risk minimization for the U.S. shuttle programs, the International Space Station and other future human spaceflight programs. GW’s interdisciplinary team will operate from the University’s Virginia and Foggy Bottom Campuses. “Our team will attempt to identify ways to make future human space flight safer, not simply in the near term, but looking more than a decade into the future, as humans resume journeys of exploration beyond Earth’s orbit,” said Joseph Pelton, director of SACRI and GW research professor of engineering. “While we will examine previous human space programs such as Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station, the focus of our study will be on programs beyond these efforts,” said John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute and GW professor of political science and international affairs. As part of the project, a team of investigators will interview space experts at NASA and other U.S. government agencies, aerospace companies, research institutes and representatives of various space agencies around the world to identify ways to improve safety and reduce risks of future manned space missions. The study will examine ways to apply new developments in bio-technology, information technology and communications systems, robotics, propulsion, artificial intelligence, large-scale project management, modular construction, anti-terrorist protection, and new escape and rescue capabilities to enhance the safety of future human space efforts. In the fall of 2004 a workshop open to federal agencies and study participants will be held at GW to review recommendations about how to improve human space flight programs for the shuttle, the International Space Station and future space missions. The GW research team will be headed by Pelton and Logsdon, who will be joined by SACRI members David Smith, Neil Helm, Peter MacDoran and Philip Caughran. Justin Borodinsky and Jeremy Keen, GW graduate students in electrical and computer engineering, Mark Green a visiting scholar from Australia and Chirag Vyas, a graduate student at the Space Policy Institute, will support the project. Unlike the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which specifically analyzed the causes of last year’s space shuttle accident, this study will be very broad in scope and will consider a more comprehensive range of issues. The study will try to identify new approaches to human space flight (including its international aspects and new opportunities for private enterprise involvement) in order to make future missions more reliable and thus less hazardous to crew members. SACRI, based at the GW Virginia Campus, is a part of the SEAS Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Space Policy Institute is housed within GW’s Elliot School of International Affairs. The SSCF is a 501c3 charitable fund whose mission is to provide assistance to the children of astronauts lost in the Challenger, Columbia and any future space shuttle accident. Its objective is thus not only to provide assistance to the children of astronauts who died in the shuttle accidents but also to provide for the safety of those who will fly to space in future years. Contributions to the Space Shuttle Children’s Trust Fund may be sent to The Space Shuttle Children’s Trust Fund, P.O. Box 34600, Washington, D.C. 20043-4600. For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org. - GW - Return to News Releases Directory

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