This initiative aligns with NASA's Space Sustainability Strategy, aimed at promoting safe and sustainable space activities for future generations. The focus is on ensuring current operations do not negatively affect future missions.
Three of the five research grants will address orbital debris, which consists of human-made objects in Earth's orbit that no longer serve a purpose. This debris poses risks to spacecraft, threatens space access, and hampers the growth of the low-Earth orbit economy.
The other two grants will explore lunar surface sustainability, tackling policy questions about protecting valuable sites and human heritage locations, along with other technical, economic, and cultural considerations for mission planning.
"The sustainable use of space is critical to current and future space exploration," said Ellen Gertsen, deputy associate administrator for the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy (OTPS) at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Mitigating the risks of orbital debris and ensuring future generations can utilize the lunar surface are of paramount importance. These awards will fund research to help us understand the economics, the policy considerations, and the social elements of sustainability, generating new tools and evidence so we can make better-informed decisions."
A panel of NASA experts selected the following proposals, awarding a total of approximately $550,000:
Lunar Surface Sustainability
- "A RAD Framework for the Moon: Applying Resist-Accept-Direct Decision-Making," submitted by Dr. Caitlin Ahrens of the University of Maryland, College Park
- "Synthesizing Frameworks of Sustainability for Futures on the Moon," submitted by research scientist Afreen Siddiqi of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Orbital Debris and Space Sustainability
- "Integrated Economic-Debris Modeling of Active Debris Removal to Inform Space Sustainability and Policy," submitted by researcher Mark Moretto of the University of Colorado, Boulder
- "Avoiding the Kessler Syndrome Through Policy Intervention," submitted by aeronautics and astronautics researcher Richard Linares of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- "Analysis of Cislunar Space Environment Scenarios, Enabling Deterrence and Incentive-Based Policy," submitted by mechanical and aerospace engineering researcher Ryne Beeson of Princeton University
Research Report:NASA's Space Sustainability Strategy
Related Links
Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy (OTPS)
Space Technology News - Applications and Research
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