About the Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG)

1. About the Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) 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. The goals of SARG are: • To increase awareness of commercial suborbital vehicles in the science, R&D, and education communities • To 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. For more information about SARG, please visit: commercialspaceflight.org/sarg For more information about CSF, please visit: commercialspaceflight.org

2. Next-Generation Researchers Conference 2013 NSRC 2013 JUNE 3 - 5, 2013 OMNI INTERLOCKEN RESORT BROOMFIELD, COLORADO The Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) series brings together scientists, engineers, educators and vehicle developers to discuss research and education missions using commercial suborbital vehicles. The 2012 conference took place February 27-29, 2012 in Palo Alto, California with 400 participants.

3. Flight Opportunities Program Flight Opportunities Program Technology Maturation. Fly your hardware. Flying payloads on commercial parabolic aircraft and reusable suborbital vehicles will lower the cost and risk of space research and help move technologies rapidly to maturity. Science. Fly your science to suborbital space. Reusable suborbital research enables a new generation of science by providing frequent access to space with user-friendly g-loads in a pressurized, temperature-controlled environment and payload accommodation from 1 to 100kg. Short-duration flights will permit researchers to access payloads both pre- and post-flight. Education. Every flight is an opportunity. Parabolic campaigns and reusable suborbital platforms allow a student to conceive an experiment, develop it, fly it and analyze the data within standard educational timeframes. https://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/ Office of the Chief Technologist

4. Flight Opportunities Selections NASA's Flight Opportunities Program has selected 24 cutting-edge space technology payloads in its first round for flights on commercial reusable launch vehicles, balloons and a commercial parabolic aircraft. • 16 of the payloads will ride on parabolic aircraft flights. • 5 will fly on suborbital reusable launch vehicle test flights. • 2 will ride on high-altitude balloons that fly above 65,000 feet. • 1 payload will fly on the suborbital launch vehicle and high-altitude balloon platforms. The flights will take place in 2012 and 2013. Flight Opportunities is now accepting proposals for AFO#5, for more information visit: https://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/

5. Research Topics Human Physiology Experiments can be conducted to take advantage of low-cost access to 3-5 minutes of weightlessness, including transitions to and from high-g’s. Suborbital vehicles will allow for in-situ monitoring throughout flight of numerous parameters such as heart rate, cardiac stroke volume, and arterial blood pressure. Large Population Medical Research Experiments can be conducted to take advantage of potentially large numbers of spaceflight participants with varying medical histories. This will help us build a large database. Comparisons can be made between varying levels of fitness with respect to various lifestyles while also observing the effects of various medicines in microgravity. Education and Outreach Low-cost, frequent access to suborbital space will open up research opportunities for student-built experiments, participatory activities such as streaming video, hands-on training opportunities for small experiment hardware, flights of teachers in space, and the ability to leverage the private sector outreach expertise.

6. Additional Research Topics Combustion and Fluids Research The low-cost frequent access to zero-gravity that the commercial rocket industry provides enables substantial research in combustion and fluids dynamics. These research efforts benefit spaceflight and Earth-bound technologies and applications such as cleaner, more efficient combustion, safe human spaceflight, miniature medical instrumentation, and improved automotive fuel cell performance. Already capillary fluids experiments are in preparation to launch with three suborbital companies. Fundamental Physics of Particles Interactions Suborbital flights offer sufficient time in microgravity to obtain physically meaningful results and the opportunity to iterate once these initial results are achieved. Experiments can be done to investigate the basic forces affecting granular materials in a host of environments such as mining, ore beneficiation, pharmaceutical powders, food processing, and ceramics-bricks-cement industries.

7. Microgravity University The Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program • Provides a unique academic experience for undergraduate students to successfully propose, design, fabricate, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment of their choice over the course of four-six months. • A maximum of 5 flyers and 1 alternate flyer • Any full time undergraduate student who is a U.S. citizen may be part of the flight crew. • NASA pays for the physiological training and the team's flight on the microgravity aircraft. For more information visit: http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov

8. USRA Research Opportunities Program The USRA Research Opportunities Program • ROP is a way for USRA Institute Directors to connect directly with individuals at academic institutions on research opportunities. • Faculty, staff and students at academic institutions are invited to register online to receive ROP notices in the fields they desire. • ROP notices contain opportunities for individuals to collaborate with USRA researchers on proposals, or for universities to become part of a larger USRA proposal effort for major new research activities. They also include many student intern, graduate, post-doctoral and other employment opportunities. For more information visit: http://www.researchopps.usra.edu/

9. High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge The High Altitude Astrobiology Challenge • NASA-inspired competition challenging citizen scientists to build hardware for collecting microorganisms at the edge of space. • The upper atmosphere could serve as a global transport system for disease organisms. The new, low-cost suborbital spacecraft will be able to sample these organisms repeatedly with high reliability. • Citizens in Space is offering cash prizes up to $10,000 for the development of a collection device for these organisms. The winning hardware will fly on the Lynx spacecraft, currently being developed by XCOR Aerospace. • Proposals are due online by February 12, 2013. For more information visit: http://www.citizensinspace.org/astrobiology-challenge

10. Teachers in Space In 2004, Teachers in Space, a project led by the Space Frontier Foundation, was created to stimulate student interest in STEM by engaging and fostering the passion of their teachers for the emerging generation of space development. The goal of Teachers in Space is to renew a passion for the study of space for teachers who will in turn pass that excitement on to their students. Curriculum, training, and resources are available for teachers as the commercial space vehicles are built and tested. More information is available at: http://tis.spacefrontier.org/

11. Wallops Education Flight Projects NASA’s Wallops Flight Facilityhas created two new programs for students and educators: • The Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers and Students (WRATS) • The Wallops Balloon Experience for Education (WBEE) They are designed to give both students and educators hands-on flight experiences through the use of NASA sounding rockets and scientific balloons. For more information visit: http://education.wff.nasa.gov/