2005 Award Recipients
AAAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation
ALFRIEND, CEFOLA, HOOTS, NAZARENKO, SEIDELMANN, VENIAMINOV, AND YURASOV
Clockwise from top left: Kyle T. Alfriend, Paul J. Cefola, P. Kenneth Seidelmann, Felix R. Hoots
The recipients of the AAAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation are Kyle T. Alfriend, Paul J. Cefola, Felix R. Hoots, and P. Kenneth Seidelmann from the United States, and Andrey I. Nazarenko, Vasiliy S. Yurasov, and Stanislav S. Veniaminov from Russia.
These dedicated scientists are honored for their determination to transcend numerous limitations to collaboration, and their pioneering work advancing state-of-the-art space surveillance in the United States and Russia for the benefits of the worldwide astrodynamics community and the safety of human activity in space.
From top left: Andrew I. Nazarenko, Stanislav S. Veniaminov, Vasiliy S. Yurasov
Established in 1992, the AAAS Award for International Scientific Cooperation recognizes an individual or a limited number of individuals for making extraordinary contributions to further international cooperation in science and engineering. The recipients each receive a commemorative plaque and a share of the $5,000 award.
Since the beginning of the Space Age, the United States and Russia have maintained separate systems for surveying space and classifying objects floating in space to ensure their own strategic and tactical advantage. The resulting data bases, called space object catalogs, contain regular tracks and orbital elements of the floating objects.
Beginning in 1994, the awardees embarked on an exceptional series of workshops aimed at exchanging information on the mathematical methods and systems used for space surveillance in their two countries, and ultimately on comparing space object catalogs. They held six workshops in the United States, Poland, and Russia, which opened communication between U.S. and Russian experts in space surveillance, fostered cooperative research addressing common problems of space surveillance, and led to sharing of data, exchange of catalogs, and communication between people and organizations.
As a result of these workshops, there have been collaborative efforts in cataloging and identifying space objects, near real-time determination of upper atmospheric density, and improved orbits of geostationary satellites. The resulting reduction in the error associated with estimating atmospheric density led both the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office to proclaim this as the “greatest improvement in atmospheric drag modeling over the last 30 years.”
Please click here for a list of past recipients.