Abstract
In Vol. 3, No. 3 of the New Space journal, the publishers, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., and the New Space editors announced the establishment of a competition to award an annual purse of US$1,500.00 as part of a new program entitled the “Best Paper by an Early Career Researcher” (BP) prize. The intent of the prize is to encourage New Space submissions by researchers who are 35 years old or younger, and who have never before published in a peer-reviewed journal. The BP prize recognizes their exemplary effort, as judged by the New Space reviewers and editorial board. Complete details were given in that original article, but a brief summary of the rules is given below:
• Eligibility: The competition is open to anyone who has never published in a peer-reviewed journal before, and is aged 35 years or younger at any time during the entirety of the calendar year for which the award is submitted. • Submission: The paper must be submitted to New Space via normal manuscript submission processes and must meet all submission requirements. • Content: The paper must include original, unpublished content and research. Papers presented at conferences but not published in any other journal are eligible to compete in this competition. • Judging: Judging in the competition will be performed using the following criteria: scientific content and detail, originality, and description of concept.
In the 2016 calendar year, four published papers were candidates for the prize.
All four papers were evaluated by four independent judges, who rated the papers according to the evaluation criteria, weights, and scoring described in New Space Vol. 3, No. 3. The aggregated scores from all judges for all four papers were all very high, but one paper was rated higher than all the rest.
Congratulations go to Jérôme Crevatin, the winner of the 2016 New Space “Best Paper by an Early Career Researcher” prize. Special thanks and recognition are due to the other three authors, Tom Boone, Ben Haldeman, and Justin Lewis-Weber.
The titles of the candidate papers, accompanied by a brief biography of their primary author, are given below:
• Boone TR, Miller DP. Capability and cost-effectiveness of launch vehicles. New Space 2016;4:168–189. http://doi.org/10.1089/space.2016.0011. Tom Boone is a doctoral candidate in the University of Oklahoma's School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oklahoma, he has been employed by the Propulsion Sustainment Directorate, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, on the F100 engine program as a module engineer. He resides in Norman, Oklahoma, with his wife. • Crevatin J, Smith G. Integration of suborbital spaceflight at a commercial airport in France. New Space 2016;4:212–225. http://doi.org/10.1089/space.2016.0006. Jérôme Crevatin studied aeronautics, aircrafts performances, air traffic management, and flight operations at the French Civil Aviation school (ENAC) in Toulouse. In 2015, he also graduated in aerospace engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm. The article published is the result of his final project, hosted by Cosmica Spacelines and Destination Etoiles. He worked at Future Projects Office at Airbus in Toulouse and is currently working as Flight Operations Engineer at Aircalin (Air Calédonie International) in New Caledonia. Jérôme loves flying in his spare time and is passionate about space, aviation, sailing, and his friends. • Haldeman B. Using the agile approach for lunar settlement. New Space 2016;4:50–52. http://doi.org/10.1089/space.2015.0038. Ben Haldeman is technologist at Planet, a small satellite Earth observation startup. To date, Planet has launched more than 140 “Dove” satellites into space toward imaging the whole Earth every day and making global change visible, accessible, and actionable. At Planet, Ben designed the camera system, worked on the rockets to deliver the Doves to orbit, and works on future space technologies. In a previous job, he created the first global robotic telescope network to provide persistent imaging of the stars, and designed life detection instrumentation for a Mars rover mission. Ben is passionate about helping the Earth from space and seeing humanity living in space. • Lewis-Weber J. Lunar-based self-replicating solar factory. New Space 2016;4:53–62. http://doi.org/10.1089/space.2015.0041. A native of Malibu, California, Justin is currently studying aeronautics and astronautics as an undergraduate student at Stanford University. His long-term goal is to develop a source of energy that undercuts fossil fuels by at least an order of magnitude. In his spare time, Justin enjoys building and flying multi-copters, as well as exercising his privileges as a private pilot.
The publishers, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., and the New Space editors look forward to conducting this competition again, during the 2017 calendar year in order to lay the foundation for a tradition that encourages new, young talent to publish in a peer-reviewed journal on the topic of new space.