PURPOSE:

 

The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award honors outstanding technical, educational and/or creative achievements exemplifying the quality of design and engineering. The fundamental goal of the SATC Awards sector is to recognize exceptional achievements and to promote development and (young) talents in the field of Space Architecture. The SATC aims to recognise the spatial, architectural sensibility in human environments designed for use in space and similarly extreme environments.

The awards are presented annually by the AIAA Space Architecture Technical Committee and awarded annually at AIM conferences.

CRITERIA & ELIGIBILITY:

 

The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award acknowledges outstanding publications in the field of space architecture, both in the Professional and Student categories. In particular:

• Conference Papers, journal contributions and books that contribute significantly to the profession.

• Academic, as well as commercial contributions.

• Contributions in the fields of space architecture, human factors and space engineering.

• Student Papers (e.g., diploma and other academic theses), if the majority of the work has been contributed by the student(s).

SELECTION AND EVALUATION PROCESS:

 

• Submission deadline: December 31st, every year

• Submitted papers need a nominator and are submitted to the AIAA SATC Best Paper Award subcommittee.

• The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award subcommittee determines the group of evaluators. All papers are reviewed and evaluated by members of the Space Architecture Technical Committee in a blind review.

• Announcement of Awardees: March, the following year.

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

• Originality
• Relevance of the topic
• Thoroughness, extent of research and quality of references
• Analysis and conclusions
• Graphic quality
• Organization of ideas and clarity
• Relevance in relation to space habitation
• Relevance in relation to architectural practice

In addition, the following criteria apply to Professional papers in particular

• Permanence and value in archive
• Rigor: Thoroughness, robustness of theory or implementability and practicality of ideas
• Education and dissemination value

AWARDEES:

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2025 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Professional Award

Marc M. Cohen, Jonathan Metts, Donald C. Barker, Marie-Christine Desjean, and James Nabity. ECLSS-First Space Habitat Architecture (ICES-2024-193) 53rd International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 21-25 July 2024.

2025 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

Takaharu Igarashi and Karen Marais. What Space Architects Can Learn from System Failure Cases to Make Risk-Conscious Design Decisions (ICES-2024-196). 53rd International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Louisville, Kentucky, USA, 21-25 July 2024.

2024 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Professional Award

Akin, David L. (2023 July).  Developing an Integrated Logistics Infrastructure for Lunar Surface Habitats (ICES-2023-454).  52nd International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 16-20 July 2023. Presented at ICES 2023.

2024 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

Vaccino, Luca; Pritchard, Kenneth A.; Azimi, Mohsen; Dyke, Shirley J.; Lund, Alana K. (2023 July).  Simulation-Based Assessment of Hazardous States in a Deep Space Habitat (ICES-2023-449).  52nd International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 16-20 July 2023.

2023 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Professional Award

Bolatto, Nicolas; Merrill, Colby C.; Chawla, Ronak; Naylor, Olivia; Myers, Elizabeth; Akin, David L. (2022 July). Model and Full-Scale Testing of Outfitting Approaches for Inflatable Habitats (ICES-2022-365).  51st International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, 10-14 July 2022.  Lubbock Texas, USA: Texas Tech University.

2023 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

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2022 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Professional Award

Mackenzie, Bruce A.; Leahy, Bart; Petrov, Georgi I.; Lutz, Kolemann; Feldman, Stuart (2021 July). Mars Manufacturing Settlement (ICES-2021-351).  50th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), online, 12-14 July 2021.  Lubbock Texas, USA: Texas Tech University.

2022 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

Neumerkel, Rudolf Walther Erdem; Vecerdi, Miruna; Häuplik-Meusburger, Sandra (2021 July). Design of an Autonomously Deployable Mars Habitat (ICES-2021-398).  50th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), online, 12-14 July 2021.  Lubbock Texas, USA: Texas Tech University.

2021 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award

Inocente, Daniel; Koop, Colin; Petrov, Georgi I.; Messina, Piero; Duvaux-Bechon, Isabelle; Makaya, Advenit; Binns, David; Brandao, David; Biesbroek, Robin (2020 November). Future Space Architecture: Cross-Functional Multidisciplinary Design and Engineering (AIAA 2020-4067). AIAA ASCEND 2020 Forum, online, 16-18 November 2020.  Reston, Virginia, USA

2021 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

Elrick, Timothy (2020). Building with Celestial Bodies.  Awarded Best Student Paper, AIAA Space Architecture Technical Committee.

2020 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award

Ariel Ekblaw, Anastasia Prosina, Dava Newman, and Joseph Paradiso for their paper “Space Habitat Reconfigurability: TESSERAE platform for self-aware assembly.” (IAC-19.E5.1A.12×52608)

 

2020 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award

Hava, Heather; Zhou, Larissa; Lombardi, Elizabeth M.; Cui, Kaixin; Joung, Heeyeon; Manzano, Sarah Aguasvivas; King, Abby; Kinlaw, Hayley; Baker, Kyri; Kaufman, Andrew; Correll, Nikolaus (2019 July). SIRONA: Sustainable Integration of Regenerative Outer-space Nature and Agriculture: Part 1 – Architecture and Technology (ICES-2019-302).  49th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 7-11 July 2019.  Lubbock Texas, USA: Texas Tech University.

2019 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award

Maryatt, Brandon W.; Van Wie, Michael J.; Clark, Toni A. (2018 July). Recommendations for Next Generation Crew Quarters (ICES-2018-106). 48th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, 8-12 July 2018.  Lubbock Texas, USA: Texas Tech University.

2019 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award:

Martin, Dale; Adams, Melissa; Aman, Spencer; Bierly, Derek; Delmont, Andrew; Fricke, Caleb; Hochmuth, Simon; Levitsky, Nicolas; Patel, Neel; Syed, Aseel; Trythall, Skylar; Wright, Peter; Akin, David L. (2018 September). MARSH: Multi-mission Artificial-gravity Reusable Space Habitat (AIAA 2018-5100).  2018 AIAA Space and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, Orlando, Florida, USA, 17-19 September 2018.  Reston, Virginia, USA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

2018 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award:

Barbara Imhof, Diego Urbana, Peter Weiss, and Matthias Sperl for their paper “Advancing Solar Sintering for Building a Base on the Moon” (IAC-17-C2.9.13) 

2018 The AIAA SATC Best Paper – Student Award:

Amy Marandola, Glynn Comeau, Noah Smith, Michael Gordon, Reshef Weiss, Steven A. Elisha, Benjamin Zusack, Kevin Hilker, Pablo L. LeCaptain, Sarag J. Podesta, and Sarag J. Saikia for their paper “Exploration Systems Requirements to Establish a Sustainable Human Presence on Mars” .

2017 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award:

No Awardee

2017 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Student Award:

Suzana Bianco and Shunsuke Miyazaki for their paper “ACOSS (Advanced Commercial international Space Station), Commercially Habitable LEO/Mars Habitable Module”, presented at the 2017 RASC-AL Student Design Competition.

2016 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Professional Award:

Michael Morris, Christina Ciardullo, Kelsey Lents, Melodie Yashar, of SEArch, and Jeffrey Montes, Ostap Rudakevych, Masa Sono, and Yuki Sono, of Jet Portal & Clouds Architecture Office for their paper, “Mars Ice House: Using the Physics of Phase Change in 3D Printing a Habitat with H2O,” (ICES-2016-222). Presented at the 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Vienna, Austria, 10-14 July 2016.

2016 The AIAA SATC Best Paper- Student Award:

Marlies Arnhof for her paper, “Design of a Human Settlement on Mars Using In-Situ Resources,” (ICES-2016-151). Presented at the 46th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Vienna, Austria, 10-14 July 2016.

2015 The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award:

Marc Cohen and Sandra Haeuplik-Meusburger for their paper “What Do We Give Up and Leave Behind?” (ICES-2015-056). Presented at the 45th International Conference on Environmental Systems (ICES), Bellevue, Washington, USA, 12-16 July 2015.

2014 The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award:

David Akin, Katherine McBryan, Nicholas Liomparis, Micholas D’Amore and Christopher Carlsen, for their paper “Habitat Design & Assessment at Varying Gravity Levels” (ICES-2014-264),

2013 The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award:

No Awardee

2012 The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award:

Marc M. Cohen for his paper “Mockups 101: Code and Standard Research for Space Habitat Analogues” (AIAA 2012-5153).

2011 The AIAA SATC Best Paper Award:

Michael T. Flynn, Lance Delzeit, Sherwin Gormly, Mona Hammoudeh, Hali Shaw, Alex Polonsky, Kevin Howard, A. Scott Howe, Monica Soler and Joe Chambliss for their paper “Habitat Water Wall for Water, Solids, and Atmosphere Recycle and Reuse” (AIAA 2011-5018).