AOA

Award Criteria

(a) This award is presented for outstanding efforts in overcoming space operations and/or support challenges, and recognizes those teams whose exceptional contributions were critical to the success of one or more space missions.

(b) The major areas of consideration, or categories, for the award are:

• Critical to an anomaly recovery, crew rescue, or saving of a space mission.
• Development of a new paradigm that has significant effect on the performance of a space mission or to the space operations field.
• Instrumental in significantly reducing the cost of space operations.

Award Description and Rewards

(a) A trophy shall be awarded for the winning team(s). The awardee organization shall receive the trophy. The trophy shall be engraved with the name, organization and/or names of team members, and date of the award. The trophy shall have a presentation box. If the award is won by a joint team, a second trophy may be purchased from SpaceOps Secretariat.

(b) A certificate (signed by the ExCom Chair and Awards Group Chair) shall be presented to each individual on which is printed a citation of up to 25 words. The certificate shall be in a presentation folder.

(c) The team leader shall be offered a complimentary full registration to the conference at which the award will be presented. If the team leader is unable to attend the conference, then the team may send another team member in their place with the complimentary registration, as long as that person will be able to receive the award at the awards ceremony.

(d) The awardee team shall be invited to write a paper about the event for which the award was made to be reviewed and published in the Journal of Space Operations and Communicator.

Specific Rules and Regulations

(a) Up to two (2) awards may be made biennially. When two awards are assigned, one shall be for category (1) and the other one shall be either for category (2) or (3). See paragraph 2.3.1(b).

(b) A maximum of 10 members may be on a nominated team, and a team leader must be designated.

(c) Any awards similar to the AOA that have been awarded to nominees (e.g., the AIAA Space Operations and Support Award) may be considered in the selection process.

(d) The event for which the award is bestowed shall not have occurred more than ten (10) years prior to the conference at which the award will be presented. A waiver for this rule may be granted upon a majority vote by the Awards Group subcommittee (minimum of three voting members).