Director's Message
The Houston Partnership for
Space Exploration (HPSE) was established by the State of Texas in 1992 for the University
of Houston System. The general mission of HPSE is to advance the development of the
aerospace community in the Houston area and Texas. Particular emphasis is directed to the
academic, industrial, and government programs associated with the NASA L. B. Johnson Space
Center. The Institute of Space Systems Operations (ISSO) is the operational agency of
HPSE. ISSO is headquartered at the University of Houston and conducts part of the program
with the University of Houston Clear Lake. ISSO directs its programs so as to leverage the
funds it receives from the State of Texas. ISSO conducted ten major activities in 1992 and
1993.
Research is a major activity of the University of Houston System and is key to
expanding the size, scope, and quality of the aerospace community both in Houston and in
Texas. ISSO supported 30 faculty projects in various aspects of aerospace research with seed
level funding. The majority of those funds supported graduate students who conducted
research that was key to writing and submitting proposals to extramural funding agencies
and writing and submitting the research results for publication in scientific and
engineering literature. These projects were selected through a competitive process that
utilized peer reviews by experts external to the University of Houston. Each of the
projects is summarized in the following section.
ISSO worked with faculty at the University of Houston and NASA-Johnson Space Center to
establish 4 master's and doctoral level graduate research fellowships at JSC. These
students conducted the majority of their experimental work using facilities at the
NASA-JSC and benefited from expert guidance of the center engineers. Research topics
included control of spacecraft power systems, performance of thermal radiators, studies of
communications systems in the Space Shuttle, and the application of Taguchi quality
methods to analysis of the reentry of unmanned spacecraft. These students received
stipends from the Center.
ISSO organizes and leads responses to requests for proposals (RFP's) and
unsolicited proposal opportunities. Such efforts have included multi-organization
responses to develop new tools to analyze scientific data returned from space experiments
and a multi-college team to examine the separation of hazardous wastes from the proposed
Space Station Laboratory module. ISSO is committed to developing such programs as the
opportunities arise. In addition, the ISSO Director pursues research in space
industrialization with other faculty members. He is an active member of the Power from
Space Committee of the International Astronautics Federation and participates in IAF and
United Nations Summits dealing with supplying energy to Earth.
The majority of ISSO funds are used in the development of new research programs.
Leveraging of the State funds by a factor of 5 to 10 is projected after a gestation period
of four to six years. These seed-research projects will establish major research programs
for the University of Houston System and for the Texas aerospace community.
Aerospace Education
The University of Houston Clear Lake is using ISSO funding to expand and deepen aerospace
related courses and research. UHCL faculty have established aerospace technology
programs that assist students in three community colleges in making the transition to
upper level computer science programs at UHCL.
ISSO, in cooperation with the University of Houston Energy Laboratory, hosts a series
of seminars during the academic year on research conducted under ISSO funding. ISSO
worked closely with the NASA-JSC Engineering Directorate and the companies in the area to
establish the Gulf Coast Chapter of the new National Council on Systems Engineering
(NCoSE). Massive and long-term programs conducted by NASA-JSC provide a context within
which systems engineering must be practiced and could be studied. ISSO is working with
NCoSE to advance the development of systems engineering as a recognized field of
engineering and as a focus of research into the creation of massive engineered systems.
ISSO, at the request of the Provost of the University of Houston and the President of
the University of Houston Clear Lake, organized a task force to examine the graduate level
aerospace education and research needs and opportunities in the NASA-JSC community.
Members include faculty of UH and UHCL, NASA-JSC civil servants (engineering and human
resources), and employees of a large aerospace company (Lockheed) and a non-profit
advisory company (MITRE). The graduate task force will complete its work and report
to UH and UHCL in 1994.
State and Nation
The United States Congress established the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Act
in 1988. The primary objective of this act was to establish a series of Space Grant
University Consortia that would discover new ways for the United States to benefit
from its investments in aerospace engineering and space exploration in much the same
manner that the Land Grant Colleges contributed to the development of modern
agro-business. Fifty-two Space Grant consortia now exist in all the states, the District
of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
The University of Houston is a charter member, along with the University of Texas at
Austin and Texas A&M University, of the Texas Space Grant Consortium. The
University of Houston Clear Lake is a member of the TSGC. TSGC is the largest Space Grant
Consortium in terms of membership (26 universities and colleges, 25 industries, and 4
commissions and departments of the Texas Government). The ISSO director is a member of the
TSGC Board of Directors and Director of Research of the consortium. Both UH and UHCL
provide institutional representatives to TSGC and participate in the various TSGC programs
of research fellowships, research programs, outreach, teacher training, and public
education in aerospace.
The ISSO director, as director of research of TSGC, leads the review of proposals
submitted to TSGC for research and organizes proposing teams. TSGC worked extensively with
staff at NASA-JSC and the TSGC membership to develop and submit to NASA Headquarters an
unsolicited proposal in the field of regenerative life support systems.
In 1990, a majority of the directors of the various Space Grant consortia voted to form
a National Council of Space Grant Directors. The NCSGD fulfills the directive of the
Congressional Act that requested the formation of an information network between the
various consortia. In 1992, NASA and the NCSGD co-funded a week-long workshop at the Study
Center of the National Academy of Sciences in Woods Hole, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. The
workshop examined the first three years of the Space Grant Program, established a vision
for what the program should be doing in the Year 2000 and provided a road map to achieve
that vision. ISSO and the University of Houston played a key role in this national
workshop. The ISSO director headed the organizing and report committee and directed
the workshop. Faculty and students from the University of Houston English Department
edited and published the workshop report Mission to America. The executive summary
of Mission to America is provided in the appendix of this ISSO 1992-1993 report.
David Criswell
Director, ISSO
Contents
ISSO -- Institute for Space Systems Operations
1992-1993 Annual Report
