Aerospace Research and Development
	Ames Research Center
	NASA Headquarters and Centers
	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. 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.           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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