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America's
aerospace proficiency depends on the ability to research, develop,
and transfer cutting-edge aeronautical technologies. To this end,
there is need for unique integration of computation, simulation,
ground and flight experimentation, and information sciences.
This integration is a tenet of the Ames Research Center in Mountain
View, California. Other missions of Ames include answering fundamental
questions concerning evolution, such as astronomical and planetary
environments, the adaptation of living systems to space, and the
health of our planet. Additionally, Ames is dedicated to designing,
developing, and delivering integrated information systems technologies
and applications to further advance technologies for space flight.
In late 1998, Ames officials announced a visionary concept for
21st century research, development, and education. A
new Ames Research Complex will encompass 2,000 acres of federal
property owned by NASA, with the objectives of establishing a world-class,
shared use, research and development campus in conjunction with
local communities, and involving partnerships with government,
academia, private industry, and non-profit organizations.
"To become part of our development, any partnership must
further the NASA mission and enhance life in America in the 21st century," notes
Henry McDonald, Ames director. "We believe that by establishing
these partnerships we will also strengthen the technological leadership
of Silicon Valley and enhance the well-being of our communities," he
adds.
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The VMS
is controlled by large digital computers that are programmed
to represent the aircraft and the external environment. |
Illustrating NASA's aeronautics and computational prowess is Ames'
Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS). This set of tools is designed
to help air traffic controllers manage the increasingly complex
air traffic flows at airports. CTAS benefits air traffic controllers
by reducing stress and workload, thereby benefiting air travelers
by reducing delays and increasing safety.
At the heart of CTAS is a new approach to air traffic control,
expressed as human-centered automation. Conceived and prototyped
at Ames, CTAS is based on algorithms, software, and human interfaces,
fashioned to help predict aircraft trajectories with high, real-time
accuracy to schedule aircraft to land at runways with the least
possible delay and to provide methods for communicating between
CTAS and controllers through special graphical interfaces. These
innovations, fused with radar tracks and weather data, are melded
in a complex real-time software system that generates CTAS information.
Ames' aeronautics work is also leading NASA's research and technology
development efforts for rotorcraft and powered-lift aircraft. Likewise,
center researchers play a lead role in creating world-class flight
simulators. Ames' computer scientists are even delving into new "smart" software
that will enable aviators to control and safely land disabled airplanes.
This type of intelligent flight control system employs experimental "neural
network" software developed at Ames.
Ames is also working on technology known as Vertical Motion Simulation
(VMS). With its unique motion capability, VMS represents one of
the world's most technically advanced research and development
flight simulators. It is used to simulate a complete spectrum of
flight vehicles, including the Space Shuttle, civil and military
transports, and rotary-wing aircraft.
How did life begin? Are there other habitable planets? These are
fundamental scientific queries. To begin chipping away at these
questions in search of answers, Ames is leading NASA's astrobiology
program. Astrobiology is an emerging interdisciplinary field that
deals with life in the universe: its origin, evolution, distribution,
and destiny. Research tasks involve the formation and evolution
of habitable worlds, life's evolution and the biochemical cycles
in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, and the potential for biological
evolution beyond an organism's planet of origin.
A key aspect of biological research is the use of a major facility--the
Gravitational Biology Laboratory--on the International Space Station.
Ames' scientists and engineers are responsible for developing this
on-orbit facility. Once a part of the Space Station, the Gravitational
Biology Laboratory will provide multiple habitats to support a
variety of organisms, a large centrifuge with a selectable rotation
rate to simulate a range of gravity levels, a holding rack to house
specimens at microgravity, and a fully equipped workstation/glovebox
for the research crew. The laboratory also includes microscopes,
freezers, and other hardware to conduct experiments.
Ames served as mission control for the highly successful Lunar
Prospector spacecraft. Circling the Moon since January 1998, the
probe mapped the Moon's magnetic and gravity fields, charted the
resources of that celestial body, and studied concentrations of
hydrogen found at the north and south lunar poles. Mission scientists
interpret the hydrogen concentrations to be vast deposits of frozen
water--a valuable resource for future human explorers of Earth's
neighbor.
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| Ames'
research in astrobiology involves searching for sources
of water in the galaxy, including this study of the Orion
nebula. |
In the fast-paced world of computers, Ames has teamed up with
an industry-leading computer company to build the world's first
working parallel supercomputer. The computer, called "Steger," named
after Joseph Steger, a deceased Ames computer scientist, links
256 microprocessors to create one huge supercomputer. Using Steger,
scientists are attempting to work out the largest aeronautical
problems that NASA has tried to solve by using calculations 10
times larger than those done before. The parallel supercomputer
approach has the potential to cut months from the design cycle
of a new airplane, as one example of its attributes.
Yet another Ames-led computer innovation is making the slogan "the
network is the computer" a truism for more and more applications.
Toward this end, the center is playing a leading role in the Next-Generation
Internet (NGI) project. NGI research will develop networks that
are 100 to 1,000 times faster than today's Internet.
The future of space exploration begins with advancements in computer
technology here on Earth.
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