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Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment (2012)

Chapter: Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
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B

Committee Member and Staff Biographies

DAVID M. VAN WIE, Chair, is the chief technologist of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) Precision Engagement Business Area with responsibility for identifying, maturing, and developing innovative technologies in the areas of fluid dynamics; structural sciences; detection system information fusion; signal and information processing; guidance, navigation, and control; command and control instrumentation and analysis; and radio frequency technologies. Dr. Van Wie also holds a research faculty position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at JHU and lectures in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland in the areas of space propulsion, aerodynamics, and high-temperature gas dynamics. He has served as a member of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Scientific Advisory Board, where he conducted studies on hypersonic systems, small precision weapons, virtual training technologies, future launch vehicles, and munitions for the 2025+ environment. He also served as the vice chair and chair for the 2010 and 2011 Air Force Research Laboratory Science and Technology Reviews, respectively. Dr. Van Wie serves on the Airbreathing Propulsion Subcommittee Technical Steering Group of the Joint Army, Navy, NASA, Air Force Interagency Propulsion Committee and was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2010. He attended the University of Maryland, where he received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering, and Johns Hopkins University, where he received an M.S. degree in electrical engineering. Dr. Van Wie has served on several National Research Council (NRC) committees, including the Committee on Conventional Prompt Global Strike Capability, the Steering Committee on the Decadal Survey of Civil Aeronautics, and the Committee on Future Air Force Needs for Survivability.

EDWARD H. BOCK retired from Lockheed Martin in 2000 as vice president and director of the Atlas Recurring Program. During his 5 years in this position, he was responsible for 42 launches, 40 of Atlas/Centaur and 2 of Atlas E vehicles, all of which were successful. As the Atlas program vice president, he became a champion of continuous improvement, incorporating many features into Atlas II vehicles that were flight proven and became standard in Atlas III and Atlas V. Major operational initiatives during his tenure were elimination of out-of-sequence work at the launch sites and streamlining of launch processing, which reduced vehicle on-stand time at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by ~50 percent. From July 1991 to late 1999, Mr. Bock was program director for the conversion of launch site SLC-3E at Vandenberg Air Force Base to accommodate the Atlas IIAS. He directed this activity through the proposal phase, design completion, and early phases of construction. Before this, he was deputy director for the General Dynamics (GD) Advanced Launch System Study (ALS), which included an assessment

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

of booster recovery and reuse. Results of the GD and Boeing ALS work led directly to the Atlas V and Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles for the USAF. During the earlier part of his 40-year career, he was director of systems engineering for GD, worked in preliminary design on advanced space concepts, designed and tested Centaur cryogenic components, and designed and implemented installation of ground support equipment for Atlas. Mr. Bock became a registered professional engineer, mechanical, in the state of California in 1965. After retirement, he was recognized by the University of Washington’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics as their 2005 Distinguished Alumnus. He received his BSAE degree from the University of Washington and MSME degree from San Diego State College.

YVONNE C. BRILL is a consultant specializing in space propulsion systems and satellite technology. Her career as a rocket engine specialist ranges in roles from mathematician doing trajectory calculations, to research analyst deriving rocket propellant performance, and to propulsion manager building, qualifying and launching spacecraft propulsion systems. She began her career at Douglas Aircraft eventually joining RCA AstroElectronics where she had the responsibility for launch vehicles and on-board spacecraft propulsion systems. She also spent time at NASA Headquarters as Manager of the Solid Rocket Motor on Shuttle as NASA began ramping up production for increasing flight rates. She was with the International Maritime Satellite Organization (INMARSAT) in London from 1986 until her retirement in 1991. Among many honors Ms. Brill is the recipient of a 2010 National Technology and Innovation Award, a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and an honorary fellow of AIAA. She earned a B.S. degree in mathematics from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and an M.S. degree in chemistry from the University of Southern California. Since retiring from INMARSAT she has served on many NRC committees, including the Committee on Air Force and Department of Defense Aerospace Propulsion Needs and the Committee on the Role and Scope of Mission-Enabling Activities in NASA’s Space and Earth Science Missions. She currently serves as a member of the NRC Space Studies Board.

ALLAN V. BURMAN is president of Jefferson Solutions (Solutions), the government consulting practice of the Jefferson Consulting Group. Under his leadership, Solutions provides analysis, evaluation, program management and acquisition assistance and assessment services to many government departments and agencies. Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Burman served in policy positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Dr. Burman is chairman of the Procurement Round Table, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA), a fellow and member of the Executive Advisory Council of the National Contract Management Association, a member of the Partnership for Public Service, and an honorary member of the National Defense Industrial Association. He is also an adjunct professor at George Mason University and at the International Law Institute. He served on the White House Acquisition Advisory Panel established by the Services Acquisition Reform Act and co-chaired the performance-based acquisition subcommittee of the panel. In 2009 he received a Federal 100 Award in recognition of his contributions to the federal information technology community. Dr. Burman holds a Ph.D. from George Washington University, a master’s degree from Harvard University, was a Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Political Studies, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France, and graduated Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University. He has served on numerous NRC and NAPA panels addressing federal management issues such as the following NRC committees: the Committee on Cost Growth in NASA Earth and Space Science Missions, the Committee on Optimizing U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense Review of Air Force Acquisition Programs, and the Committee on Assessing the Results of External Independent Reviews for U.S. Department of Energy Projects.

DAVID C. BYERS is a consultant to U.S. government and industry entities in the areas of space propulsion and power. He reviews government and industrial R&D programs, assists NASA in program formulations and management, and performs systems analyses of space propulsion systems. Mr. Byers had more than 40 years of experience in NASA and TRW (now NGC) space programs, including initiation, conduct, and management of multiple programs that resulted in successful development and transition of advanced propulsion concepts to operational status. He has received the AIAA Wyld Propulsion Award and NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, and he is a fellow of the AIAA. He received a B.S. in physics from Pennsylvania State University. He has supported multiple

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

NRC studies, including the Committee on Review of the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts and the Panel to Review Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFSOR) Proposals in Propulsion for 2003-2005.

LEONARD H. CAVENY is an aerospace consultant and former director of science and technology for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. His previous experience also includes service as the deputy director of innovative science and technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, staff specialist for the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary for Research and Advanced Technology for the Department of Defense, and program manager for propulsion and energetics for the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). From 1969 to 1980, as a senior professional staff of Princeton University’s Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences Department, he guided graduate student research and served as principal investigator. Dr. Caveny’s expertise and consulting include solid rocket propulsion, aerothermochemistry flight experiments, electric propulsion, space solar power, diagnostics of reacting flows, combustion, propellants, refractory materials, and aeroacoustics. He is a fellow of AIAA. He earned his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama. He served on several NRC committees, including the Committee for the Decadal Survey on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space, the Committee for the Review of NASA’s Pioneering Revolutionary Technology Program, and as chair of the Panel to Review Air Force Office of Scientific Research Proposals in Propulsion.

ROBERT S. DICKMAN is the executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He entered the Air Force in 1966; his 34-year active duty military career spanned the space business from basic research in particle physics to command of the 45th Space Wing and director of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, Florida. General Dickman served as the Air Force’s director of space programs, the Department of Defense Space Architect, and the senior military officer at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). He retired from active duty in 2000 as a major general. From 2002 to 2005, he was appointed as Under Secretary of the Air Force’s Deputy for Military Space. He is a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee and has served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the NRO’s Technical Advisory Group. He is a fellow of the AIAA. General Dickman earned a B.S. in physics, an M.S. in space physics, and an M.S. in management and is a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Naval War College.

MARK K. JACOBS is a senior systems engineer with more than 25 years of experience assessing NASA science mission and instrument advanced development requirements and life cycle costs. Mr. Jacobs has participated in numerous NASA announcements of opportunity reviews supporting the Explorer, Discovery, Mars Scout, New Frontiers, and Earth Ventures programs, among others. His past experience also includes providing cost analysis support to NASA Headquarters for the Nuclear Systems Initiative, Living With a Star, Cassini, Outer Planets, Mars Exploration, and other programs. He also participates in various NASA advanced technology assessments related to instruments, spacecraft, launch vehicles, and operations. Mr. Jacobs is the author of several cost analysis book chapters and received the Distinguished Service Award for 1994-2000 contributions to the AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee. He earned his B.S. in metallurgical engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

THOMAS J. LEE is founder and president of Lee & Associates, LLC. The firm’s primary emphasis has been in support of NASA space systems development programs, including Student Launch Initiative, Next Generation Launch Technology, FASTRAC Engine, Crew Launch Vehicle, space shuttle, Constellation, Space Launch System, and Commercial Operational Transportation Systems. He served as special assistant to the NASA administrator for access to space where he led NASA’s efforts in defining and planning the technology and development program for the future to help the United States retain its leadership in space. Other positions held at NASA since 1980 were as deputy director and later as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center. Mr. Lee began his professional career in 1958 as an aeronautical research engineer with the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency at the Redstone Arsenal. He transferred to Marshall when it was formed in 1960 as a systems engineer with the Center’s Centaur Resident Manager Office. From 1963 to 1965, he was resident project manager for the Pegasus Meteoroid Detection Satellite Project, and from 1965 to 1969 he was chief of the Saturn Program Resident Office at the Kennedy

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

Space Center. In 1969, he became assistant to the technical deputy director of Marshall and served in that position until 1973. He then served as deputy manager and manager of the Sortie Lab Task Team and continued as manager when that team became the Spacelab Program Office in 1974. Mr. Lee holds a B.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Alabama.

C. KUMAR N. PATEL is the founder, president, and CEO of Pranalytica, Inc., a Santa Monica-based company that is the leader in quantum cascade laser technology for defense and homeland security applications. He is also a professor of physics and astronomy, electrical engineering, and chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He served as vice chancellor for research at UCLA from 1993-1999. Prior to joining UCLA in 1993, he was the executive director of the Research, Materials Science, Engineering and Academic Affairs Division at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He joined Bell Laboratories in 1961 where he began his career by carrying out research in the field of gas lasers. He is the inventor of the carbon dioxide and many other molecular gas lasers that ushered in the era of high-power sources of coherent optical radiation. In 1996, Dr. Patel was awarded the National Medal of Science by the President of the United States of America. His other awards include the Ballantine Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Zworykin Award of the NAE, the Lamme Medal of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, the Texas Instruments Foundation Founders’ Prize, the Charles Hard Townes Award of the Optical Society of America, the Arthur H. Schawlow Award of the Laser Institute of America, the George E. Pake Prize of the American Physical Society, the Medal of Honor of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the Frederic Ives Medal of the Optical Society of America and the William T. Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Dr. Patel holds a B.E. in telecommunications from the College of Engineering in Poona, India, and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University. In 1988, he was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the NAE. He has served on several NRC committees, including as chair of the Committee for an Updated Assessment of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Science and as a member of the Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Workforce Needs for the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base as well as the Committee on an Assessment of Concepts and Systems for U.S. Boost-Phase Missile Defense in Comparison to Other Alternatives.

DIANE ROUSSEL-DUPRE is a level-5 scientist in the Intelligence and Space Research Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). While at LANL, Dr. Roussel-Dupre has been involved with various space experiments, including acting as the principal co-investigator and mission manager for the LANL Shuttle-born Uniformly Redundant Array (URA) imaging gamma-ray experiment launched in 1991, participating in the Array of Low-Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors small satellite project launched in 1993 as the mission operations manager and later as the project leader, acting as the mission operations manager for the Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events satellite launched in 1997, and, most recently, as the project leader and mission operations for the Cibola Flight Experiment Satellite Project. In addition to space instrumentation and satellite operations, Dr. Roussel-Dupre contributes to the KARNAC demonstration project for improved space situational awareness. She has served as a member of NASA Commission Mission to the Solar System: Exploration, a Current Discovery Mission and Technology Roadmap, as well as a member of the University of New Mexico’s NASA Space Grant Consortium Review and Advisory Board. Dr. Roussel-Dupre also was a member of the GPS Constellation Sustainment Assessment Team as the Los Alamos representative. Dr. Roussel-Dupre has received six LANL distinguished team awards in addition to several other LANL achievement awards. She has also received a distinguished award for service to the U.S. government. She earned a B.S. in physics and astronomy from Michigan State University and was awarded a Ph.D. degree in astrogeophysics from the University of Colorado.

ROBERT L. SACKHEIM recently retired as assistant director and chief engineer for space propulsion at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). He is currently self-employed as a consultant to various organizations in support of rocket propulsion, launch vehicle, and space system projects. At NASA MSFC, he served on the center director’s executive staff as a chief advisor for propulsion activities. Prior to joining NASA in 1989, Mr. Sackheim spent 35 years in various technical management positions at TRW Space and Electronics Group.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

His last assignment was as manager of the company’s Propulsion and Combustion Center in Redondo Beach, California. In 1983, Mr. Sackheim was recognized for leading the propulsion team responsible for enabling the rescue of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. Mr. Sackheim has received numerous awards and honors including the MSFC Director’s Commendation for Outstanding Service, the Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive Service, the AIAA Holger Toftoy Award for Outstanding Technical Leadership in Space Systems, and the AIAA Wild Propulsion Award. He is a fellow of the AIAA. He was elected to the NAE in 2001 and in the same year received the NASA Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Space Propulsion. Mr. Sackheim has served on numerous committees at NASA and is an adjunct faculty professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama, Huntsville. He has authored more than 250 technical papers and holds nine patents for space propulsion and controls. Mr. Sackheim holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and a M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Columbia University. He completed his doctoral course work in chemical engineering at UCLA. Mr. Sackheim has served on several NRC committees, including the Committee on Air Force/Department of Defense Aerospace Propulsion, the Committee on Space Shuttle Upgrades, and the Committee on Advanced Space Technology.

POL SPANOS holds the L.B. Ryon Endowed Chair in Engineering at Rice University. His interests are in the area of dynamical systems with emphasis on probabilistic (risk and reliability), non-linear, and signal-processing aspects and with applications to aerospace engineering and several other engineering disciplines. His research findings have been disseminated in more than 300 papers in archival journals, technical conferences, and industrial reports. Dr. Spanos is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics and of the Journal of Probabilistic Engineering Mechanics. He is a fellow of the ASME, American Academy of Mechanics, and the Alexander von Humboldt Association of America; a member of the NAE (U.S.); a corresponding member of the National Academy of Greece; a member of Academia Europaea; and a foreign member of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in Texas. His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research, AFOSR, NASA, and by many industrial consortia. He has received several awards from NSF, the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASME, the International Association for Structural Safety and Reliability, and Rice University. He has served worldwide as a consultant to a plethora of governmental organizations and industrial entities. Dr. Spanos received an M.S. degree in structural dynamics and a Ph.D. degree in applied mechanics and with minors in applied mathematics and in business economics all from the California Institute of Technology. He has previously served as a member of the NRC Panel on Armor and Armaments.

MITCHELL L.R. WALKER is an associate professor of aerospace engineering in the School of Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Walker has designed and built the High-Power Electric Propulsion Laboratory, studied ion focusing in the Hall Effect Thruster (HET), built annular helicon plasmas sources for HETs, designed and built single and multichannel HETs, and developed carbon nanotube propellantless cold cathodes. His research interests include both experimental and theoretical studies of advanced plasma propulsion concepts for spacecraft and fundamental plasma physics. Dr. Walker is a recipient of an AFOSR Young Investigator Program Award, the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, and is an AIAA associate fellow. Dr. Walker served on the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist Advanced In-Space Propulsion Panel Review and the NASA International Space Station Electric Propulsion Testbed Study Committee. He also serves on the National Institute for Rocket Propulsion Systems Technology Solutions Committee, the AIAA Electric Propulsion Technical Committee, and the Best Paper Award Subcommittee. Dr. Walker served as the chair of the AIAA Electric Propulsion Subcommittee for Technical Achievement Award. He earned his B.S.E., M.S.E, and Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan.

BEN T. ZINN is a Chaired Professor and Regents’ Professor Emeritus in the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. At Georgia Tech, Dr. Zinn has led the development of the largest university combustion research program in the United States. Over the years, he has made major contributions to the understanding of combustion phenomena in liquid and solid rockets, jet engines, ramjets, afterburners, and land-based

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

gas turbines. Examples of his research contributions include the development of the Galerkin method that is routinely used by the propulsion community to predict the stability of propulsion systems, the development of the impedance tube technique for measuring the driving and damping of combustion instabilities, and the measurements of rocket nozzles acoustic losses that is used by industry to predict the stability of rocket motors. In recognition of his contributions, Georgia Tech’s combustion laboratory was named after Dr. Zinn in 2006. Dr. Zinn is also a member of the NAE and has won all of the AIAA major combustion/propulsion awards. He earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from New York University, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering and mechanical science from Princeton University. Dr. Zinn also served on the NRC Committee on Air Force/Department of Defense Aerospace Propulsion.

STAFF

JOHN F. WENDT, Study Director, joined the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) as a part-time, off-site senior program officer in 2002. He has served on proposal evaluations for the AFOSR and the State of Ohio and has participated in NASA-sponsored studies associated with the Exploration Technology Development Program, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, and NASA’s laboratory facilities. Prior to joining the ASEB, Dr. Wendt was director of the von Karman Institute (VKI) for Fluid Dynamics, a NATO-affiliated international postgraduate and research establishment near Brussels, Belgium. He joined the VKI in 1964 and was head of the Aeronautics/ Aerospace Department and dean of the faculty prior to becoming director. His research interests were rarefied gas dynamics, transonics, high-angle-of-attack aerodynamics and hypersonic reentry, including major inputs to the European Hermes space shuttle program. Dr. Wendt has consulted for USAF, NATO, and the European Space Agency. He is a fellow of AIAA. Dr. Wendt holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering and astronautical sciences from Northwestern University.

CATHERINE A. GRUBER is an editor with the Space Studies Board (SSB) and ASEB. She joined the SSB as a senior program assistant in 1995. Ms. Gruber first came to the NRC in 1988 as a senior secretary for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and has also worked as an outreach assistant for the National Academy of Sciences-Smithsonian Institution’s National Science Resources Center. She was a research assistant (chemist) in the National Institute of Mental Health’s Laboratory of Cell Biology for 2 years. She has a B.A. in natural science from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

AMANDA R. THIBAULT, a research associate, joined the ASEB in 2011. Ms. Thibault is a graduate of Creighton University, where she earned her B.S. in atmospheric science in 2008. From there she went on to Texas Tech University where she studied lightning trends in tornadic and non-tornadic supercell thunderstorms and worked as a teaching and research assistant. She participated in the VORTEX 2 field project from 2009 to 2010 and graduated with an M.S. in atmospheric science from Texas Tech University in 2010. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society.

TERRI BAKER joined the SSB in 2009 as a senior program assistant, having worked previously at the National Academies’ Center for Education. She has held numerous managerial, administrative, and coordinative positions, in which she focused on improving productivity and organization. Mrs. Baker is working on her B.A. in business management.

RODNEY HOWARD joined the SSB as a senior project assistant in 2002. Before joining SSB, most of his vocational life was spent in the health profession—as a pharmacy technologist at Doctor’s Hospital in Lanham, Maryland, and as an interim center administrator at the Concentra Medical Center in Jessup, Maryland. During that time, he participated in a number of Quality Circle Initiatives which were designed to improve relations between management and staff. Mr. Howard obtained his B.A. in communications from the University of Baltimore County in 1983.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×

MICHAEL H. MOLONEY is the director of the SSB and the ASEB at the NRC. Since joining the NRC in 2001, Dr. Moloney has served as a study director at the National Materials Advisory Board, the BPA, the Board on Manufacturing and Engineering Design, and the Center for Economic, Governance, and International Studies. Before joining the SSB and ASEB in April 2010, he was associate director of the BPA and study director for the Astro2010 decadal survey for astronomy and astrophysics. In addition to his professional experience at the NRC, Dr. Moloney has more than 7 years experience as a foreign-service officer for the Irish government and served in that capacity at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, D.C., the Mission of Ireland to the United Nations in New York, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin, Ireland. A physicist, Dr. Moloney did his graduate Ph.D. work at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. He received his undergraduate degree in experimental physics at University College Dublin, where he was awarded the Nevin Medal for Physics.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Committee Member and Staff Biographies." National Research Council. 2012. Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13534.
×
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On June 15, 2011, the Air Force Space Command established a new vision, mission, and set of goals to ensure continued U.S. dominance in space and cyberspace mission areas. Subsequently, and in coordination with the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Space and Missile Systems Center, and the 14th and 24th Air Forces, the Air Force Space Command identified four long-term science and technology (S&T) challenges critical to meeting these goals. One of these challenges is to provide full-spectrum launch capability at dramatically lower cost, and a reusable booster system (RBS) has been proposed as an approach to meet this challenge.

The Air Force Space Command asked the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council to conduct an independent review and assessment of the RBS concept prior to considering a continuation of RBS-related activities within the Air Force Research Laboratory portfolio and before initiating a more extensive RBS development program. The committee for the Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment was formed in response to that request and charged with reviewing and assessing the criteria and assumptions used in the current RBS plans, the cost model methodologies used to fame [frame?] the RBS business case, and the technical maturity and development plans of key elements critical to RBS implementation.

The committee consisted of experts not connected with current RBS activities who have significant expertise in launch vehicle design and operation, research and technology development and implementation, space system operations, and cost analysis. The committee solicited and received input on the Air Force launch requirements, the baseline RBS concept, cost models and assessment, and technology readiness. The committee also received input from industry associated with RBS concept, industry independent of the RBS concept, and propulsion system providers which is summarized in Reusable Booster System: Review and Assessment.

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