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Langley Research Center is NASA's Center
of Excellence in airframe systems and leads in airborne systems,
structures and materials, aerodynamics, and mission and systems
analysis. Located in Hampton, Virginia, Langley's unique research
facilities include over 40 wind tunnels.
A community of Langley researchers is honing the technologies
that enable aircraft to fly faster, farther, safer, and to be
more maneuverable, quieter, less expensive to manufacture, and
more energy efficient.
A new aviation safety initiative supported by Langley is the
development of Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) systems. Airliners
and smaller airplanes are one step closer to having up-to-the-minute,
graphical weather displays in their cockpits. Research agreements
between NASA and eight industry teams have been signed to bring
about the AWIN initiative.
What is envisioned in the AWIN effort is a futuristic system
that allows aircraft to be both a source and user of weather
information. Airborne sensors would provide data for weather
systems on the plane, on the ground, and in other aircraft. As
part of the cockpit instrumentation, easy-to-read, real-time
displays would show weather across the country, not just a limited
number of miles ahead. Satellite and ground transceivers would
move weather data to and from aircraft. Industry teams working
on AWIN also propose other information tools, such as alarm systems
or displays of suggested routes to help pilots better avoid potentially
hazardous weather situations.
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| New designs
are taking shape for a small aircraft transportation system to
make personal air travel a safe, affordable transportation alternative. |
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AWIN is part of an overall NASA move toward improvements in
aviation safety. Because of advances in the last four decades,
commercial airliners are already the safest of all major modes
of transportation. But with an accident rate that has remained
relatively constant in the last decade and air traffic expected
to triple over the next two decades, the U.S. government wants
to prevent a projected rise in the number of aircraft accidents.
The long-running Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment
(AGATE) consortium continues to make impressive progress on a
broad front. This partnership between government and industry
is revitalizing the U.S. light airplane industry, strengthened
by the NASA General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program.
Langley, working with the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), and U.S. industry, scored a range of recent accomplishments
by way of the AGATE consortium. Among the achievements: AGATE
safety advances in energy-absorbing and improved safety harness
systems that improve crash protection; an AGATE-developed process
that promises to speed materials certification by the FAA for
a new aircraft design from two years to six months, promising
up to $1 million in savings per plane; and reducing the cost
of lightning protection for small airplanes from the current
$5,000 per airplane to a projected goal of $500 or less by using
airplane surface treatments.
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Image illustrating vehicle
separation from Pegasus booster during flight research. |
Langley technology partnerships have been formed among companies,
universities, and local government. Government-sponsored research
at the center has moved into several commercially available products
and techniques, including: a non-invasive method to measure,
via ultrasonics, the signs of abnormally elevated intracranial
pressure common in patients with head trauma; a field inspection
technique to perform near real-time analysis of non-metallic
inclusions in representative stainless steel samples; and ultrasonic
sensor technology for accurately measuring the strain in bolts
and fasteners.
In another example of a commercial partnership, Langley's
Research and Technology Group has licensed technology for improving
the performance, stability, and control of helicopters. Boundary
layer research done at Langley, to study the flow of air around
aircraft, has spawned a number of ideas. One aerodynamic device
is called "tailboom strakes." This helicopter strake
technology, developed by a team of NASA and Army researchers,
counteracts a single-rotor helicopter's natural tendency to turn
due to torque. The result is improved pilot control of the helicopter.
NASA has licensed the technology for commercial sale to Boundary
Layer Research, Inc., Everett, Washington.
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Color graphic model of the
Hyper-X. |
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Moving beyond technologies to improve helicopter stability
all the way to hypersonic velocities is part of Langley's research
agenda. Hyper-X hypersonic propulsion hardware is to undergo
high-speed ground tests at Langley, which is also managing the
program. Revolutionary Hyper-X vehicles are to carry "air-breathing"
engines, burning oxygen that is scooped from the atmosphere.
Hyper-X program managers hope to fly vehicles at speeds 10 times
the speed of sound to altitudes of 100,000 feet.
Studies led by Langley concerning global warming may lead
to more accurate climate predictions. PICASSO-CENA is a collaboration
between Langley, France, and industry. PICASSO-CENA, also known
as the Pathfinder Instruments for Cloud and Aerosol Spaceborne
Observations-Climatologie Etendue des Nuages et des Aerosols,
will profile the vertical distribution of clouds and aerosols.
While these measurements are being taken, another device will
simultaneously image the heat emission of the atmosphere.
Data from PICASSO-CENA, to be lofted in 2003, along with NASA's
Earth Observing System satellites, will help piece together 3-D
images of the atmosphere. The role of clouds and aerosols in
Earth's climate can be better understood through such spaceborne
instruments. These types of measurements should provide the scientific
basis for understanding the dynamics and energetics of Earth's
atmosphere on a short-term weather basis, perhaps leading to
long-term climate forecasts.
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