NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER 2009 Building the Future in Aerospace and Science
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration EARTH AIR & SPACE NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER 2009 Building The Future In Aerospace And Science www.nasa.gov Table of Contents Page 4 A Message from the Director ............................................................. 3 Exploration ....................................................................................... 4 ETDP: Developing Technologies for Mission Success ..................... 6 NESC: Real-Time Problem Solving ................................................... 6 Page 7 Success for NASA Flight Tests ......................................................... 7 Aeronautics ...................................................................................... 8 Langley Shares in Seventh Collier Trophy ........................................10 Richard Whitcomb, Passing of an Aeronautical Legend ................. 11 Science ........................................................................................... 12 Page 9 Langley Is A Climate Science Powerhouse ..................................... 14 Systems Analysis ............................................................................ 16 Partnerships .................................................................................... 18 Education and Outreach ................................................................. 20 Page 12 People of Langley ........................................................................... 22 Economic Impact ............................................................................ 24 Virginia Air & Space Center ............................................................. 26 Awards and Patents ........................................................................ 28 Page 16 Looking Forward ............................................................................. 30 Langley’s Leadership ....................................................................... 31 Page 18 Photos in this publication are by Sean Smith, except where noted. The Ares I-X is guided to Pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center prior to its successful test launch in Oct. Page 20 A message from the Director angley had an incredibly successful Orion crew module, and the launch abort year. Our work lays the foundation system for this flight test. L for the nation’s future in aerospace Langley was selected as the lead for a new and science while making ground- NASA Science mission, Climate Absolute breaking innovative discoveries. I’ll Radiance and Refractivity Observatory or highlight just a few of the Center’s 2009 CLARREO. The mission will enable more research activities here and invite you to accurate detection of climate changes and turn the pages for more details. provide new knowledge to improve climate Three new technologies were tested model forecasts. With CLARREO, NASA through exciting one-of-a kind flight demonstrations and partner organizations will monitor the pulse of the this past year. The Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle atmosphere to better understand climate change. Experiment or IRVE was successfully launched In July, we also broke ground on a new building, our from Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of first in a series of New Town buildings that will support Virginia in August. This was the first time anyone Langley’s people for years to come. We partnered has successfully flown an inflatable re-entry capsule with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) which demonstrated that a spacecraft returning to on the design and construction. The new building Earth can use an inflatable heat shield to survive will be environmentally friendly and energy efficient near hypersonic speed re-entry into the atmosphere. earning a prestigious LEED silver rating as recognized We plan to further explore the inflatable heat shield by the international green building certification technology with future launches at Wallops. system. This efficient building will replace older The Max Launch Abort System or MLAS was also facilities and significantly reduce Center operating successfully tested at Wallops in July. This prototype and maintenance costs. test evaluated an alternative pad-abort concept. We are also very proud that Langley, as part of the The Ares 1-X Flight Test Vehicle was successfully Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST), received launched in October at Kennedy Space Center. the aviation community’s highest honor, the 2008 This developmental flight test gathered data on many Collier Trophy, for reducing deadly aircraft accidents aspects of NASA’s new rocket configuration, the first by over 80 percent in ten years. This is the seventh of its kind in over 30 years. NASA and the aerospace Collier that Langley has received and is an indication community learned much about the development of the high value that is placed on our research by and testing of new space launch vehicles from the nation’s aerospace community. designing, building, and launching the vehicle. As we continue to build America’s future in Langley managed systems engineering and vehicle aerospace and science, we appreciate your support integration; developed the guidance, navigation and look forward to sharing more of our and control algorithms; and fabricated the simulated accomplishments with you. An artists concept of an Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) similar to the one successfully tested at Wallops Flight Facility in August. 5 NASA EXPLORATION Improving Upon a Half-Century of NASA Spaceflight Striking out from familiar homesteads to unknown has provided significant contributions to the larger Ares our expertise in structures, materials, and impact territory has long been a human endeavor. There is V launch vehicle development by conducting studies dynamics analyses, as well as our unique drop testing something innately exciting about the novel and the to understand how the use of advanced technologies capability, Langley played a key role in driving the unexplored. On Earth, that has meant sailing across such as lightweight metallics and advanced composite discussion of trades between water vs. land landing, broad waters to new lands. Now, humankind is materials can improve the performance. resulting in a decision to go with water landing. Given pursuing a far more difficult journey: off-planet to the this decision, Langley secured funds to upgrade its many worlds beyond. Major Contributions to Orion drop test facility to perform water-landing tests to Langley is also playing a key role in the crew-carrying help qualify the Orion crew-module structure. Supporting Ares Development Orion spacecraft, including managing development Langley has also made significant contributions to Carrying a new generation of explorers will be NASA’s of the Orion Launch Abort System, which will fly the the Orion heat shield design, analysis, and testing. Constellation family of space vehicles. Two new launch crew to safety in the event of rocket malfunction or Langley is manufacturing a series of Orion flight vehicles, Ares I and Ares V, form the basis of NASA’s other emergency, and leading the development and test articles, the first of which includes a command Constellation Program. Ares I will deliver the crew- testing of Orion Landing Systems options. Using module mass simulator scheduled to fly on the carrying Orion spacecraft to the International first test of the Launch Abort System. This first Space Station and other destinations in low- test will simulate an abort on the launch pad Earth orbit. Ares V, the larger and higher- and is scheduled for early 2010. payload capable vehicle, is slated to carry Earth-departure craft and the proposed Altair Research for the Future lunar lander into orbit and on to the moon. In addition to providing key support to Langley is responsible for overall vehicle development of the Constellation vehicles, aerodynamics, or how the vehicles will fly, and Langley is leading development of technologies draws upon unique expertise in computational for the next set of vehicles to take us back to the analysis methods and wind tunnel facilities. moon. These technologies include lightweight Critical contributions include collecting, structures such as composites, advanced analyzing and documenting this aerodynamic sensors and controls for safe moon landings, data to support the Ares I design as it moves inflatable materials for building habitats, tools through the normal design process. for predicting harmful radiation, and finally In addition to the key contributions in systems for protecting the astronauts from this aerodynamics, Langley continues to support and other hazards. other key areas such as guidance, navigation Flying Shuttle Safely and control, and structural and thermal Langley continues to play a key role flying analyses for the Ares I Upper Stage. Langley The Orion crew module’s energy-absorbing strut concept was successfully tested in June at Langley’s Landing and Impact Research Facility. the space shuttle by providing real-time 6 technical support to evaluate heating effects during re-entry into the atmosphere, that may result from debris impact damage to shuttle tiles or wing leading edges. Langley has also developed a new measurement technique to obtain real-time, high- resolution temperature measurements of the bottom of the shuttle as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere. This measurement technique has been named HYTHIRM (Hypersonic Thermodynamic Infrared Measurements) and obtains data from a combination of aircraft based and land based sensors, and provides