RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT AT NASA

Using Research & Development (R&D) to create better tools or weapons extends back beyond recorded history, long before there was a name for the process. People in almost all ancient civilizations tried to produce better containers to hold liquids or dry foods, more powerful bows with arrows that would fly straighter, and edged tools and weapons that would not easily break or quickly become dull. But acquiring new scientific knowledge, with the intention of using it to create a specific, desired application, was not established in most countries until after World War II.

The war was a major catalyst for R&D, with both sides working hard to develop new or improved weapons. It was also demonstrated during World War II that directed R&D could be very effective, producing major new weapons in a comparatively short time. For example, the British used their expertise with high-frequency radio waves to develop radar; Americans used their knowledge of optics and physics to produce the more accurate Norden bombsight; and Germany developed the V-1 and V-2 rockets.

The idea of directed research to produce a specific application continued on into the civilian economy after the war.

One primary difference between purely scientific research and a program of Research & Development is that researchers in the latter know what applications they want from the beginning. The research effort is directed toward finding the specific knowledge that will support that known, desired application. Most scientific research is less target-driven, more open to following up sidelights or unexpected developments if interesting ones appear.

In R&D programs, with their emphasis on producing products that can be put to immediate practical use, the scientific research required is just the first step of a two-part process. The second step, applications, develops the new knowledge to the point where it can be utilized to meet a specific need. This development includes the actions that bring a new product or process, incorporating the new scientific discovery, to market.

NASA is one of the premier aerospace R&D organizations in the world, working on the frontiers of science and technology to create new knowledge, then using that knowledge to build practical products. In most years, a high percentage of NASA's budget is spent on research and engineering, in various forms.

As an example of R&D, NASA and its predecessors performed extensive research during the 1950s and '60s on the behavior of liquid hydrogen, because it was known to be one of the best possible fuels for a planned new rocket engine. But not enough was known about this supercold (-423 degrees F.), extremely thin liquid, which made metals so cold that most became very brittle. The engineers had to design safe and effective storage tanks and piping systems, as well as pumps or other means of moving large quantities at high volumes. After an extensive R&D program, the result was the RL10 engine for the Centaur stage. It burned liquid oxygen as an oxidizer and liquid hydrogen as a fuel. This was the most powerful rocket engine for its size to that time.

Most NASA research is of the R&D type, where the objective is known from the beginning. NASA performs much of this R&D in its own laboratories, but also contracts with private industry for many projects. NASA maintains close control over the objectives and timing of such contracted R&D.

NASA, like most other government agencies, issues R&D contracts on a competitive basis. When a technical manager identifies a specific need that cannot be met by existing technology, NASA initiates a Request For Proposals, or RFP. This goes out to known qualified potential bidders. This starts a complicated process that is designed to procure a high-quality research effort at the lowest practical cost. The preparing and signing of such a contract can take up to a year or more on large and complicated procurements.

NASA usually provides an R&D contractor with a list of specific requirements which clearly spells out the objectives. The contractor performs conceptual studies (sometimes as a part of the bidding process) and works with NASA to choose the one most likely to produce the desired product. NASA checks the progress of the work by holding Preliminary Design Reviews. When the engineering work is complete, a Critical Design Review authorizes the production of hardware. The actual hardware, either as component parts or complete prototype systems, undergoes wind tunnel, flight, thermal and vacuum, or other testing as appropriate. If the product passes the tests it is declared operational, and a production contract may be issued if the item is needed in larger quantities.

There are nine major NASA Centers and one equivalent contractor-operated facility, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The nine NASA centers are Ames, Dryden, Goddard, Johnson, Kennedy, Langley, Lewis, Marshall and Stennis. All of the Centers and JPL perform both R&D and operational functions. At some Centers the emphasis is primarily on R&D, while others may devote more effort to operations. Typical NASA operations are launching space vehicles, controlling spacecraft in flight, and collecting scientific data for later analysis. The R&D work of NASA covers the entire field of aerospace, from airplane design to building and operating interplanetary spacecraft.

Ames Research Center: Ames conducts laboratory and flight research in space missions and aeronautics. The fields of interest in space include atmosphere entry research, planetary atmospheres, fundamental physics, materials, guidance and control, chemistry, and life sciences. Ames aeronautical research includes the areas of supersonic flight, vertical short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft, and operational problems. As lead Center for helicopter research, Ames provides overall direction to the program and conducts research in aeromechanics, which includes technology integration and large-scale testing and simulation. Ames' space flight projects include management of scientific probes and satellites, and payloads for flight experiments.

Dryden Flight Research Center: Dryden is concerned with manned flight inside and outside the atmosphere, including low-speed, supersonic, hypersonic, and re-entry flight; general aviation; and high-performance aircraft and spacecraft, such as the F-15. Space vehicle programs are typified by studies such as flight behavior of lifting bodies and flight systems, and structural characteristics of aeronautical and space vehicles. In biotechnology, man-machine integration problems are studied. Some of the research aircraft previously tested at Dryden include X-1, D-558, X-3, X-4, X-5, XB-70, and the X-1 5, which was piloted to world speed and altitude records of 4,500 miles per hour and 350,000 feet high. The approach and landing tests of the first Space Shuttle Orbiter, Enterprise, were conducted at Dryden, and many landings of Space Shuttle orbiters returning from space.

Goddard Space Flight Center: Goddard is responsible for the development and management of a broad variety of unmanned Earth-orbiting satellites and experiments. These have included many of the Explorer scientific spacecraft; the Landsat Earth resources surveyors; the TIROS and Nimbus weather satellites; and many others. Goddard also managed the development of the Delta vehicle which launched most of these spacecraft. Goddard is the hub for the NASA Communications Network for the manned Space Shuttle, as well as most Earth-orbiting unmanned NASA satellites. Goddard has performed extensive R&D in the areas of satellite communication and control.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory: JPL is NASA's lead Center for the robotic exploration of the solar system. Every planet, with the exception of Pluto, has been explored by one or another of these spacecraft; Mariner, Ranger, Explorer, Surveyor, Viking, Voyager, Magellan, Galileo, Seasat, TOPEX/ POSIDON and Ulysses. High resolution instruments are controlled by complex onboard computers and software. Ground controllers plan observations and react to new situations. The demanding environment of deep space requires extensive R&D of automated systems.

Extensive technology applications programs applicable to terrestrial use are also the focus of R&D. JPL's R&D work has resulted in biomedical, aviation, computer, safety, robotic, materials, Earth resource management, microdevice and communications spinoffs.

JPL is unique among the NASA Centers, since it is a Federally Funded Research & Development Center (FFRDC), operated for NASA by the California Institute of Technology.

A primary operational function of JPL is to control the antennas of the Deep Space Tracking Network, which command the flights of most NASA interplanetary spacecraft. JPL also supports R&D work related to designing and building these giant antennas. The techniques developed at JPL make it possible to communicate with spacecraft billions of miles away, at the outer edge of the solar system.

Johnson Space Center: Johnson manages the Space Shuttle program, including R&D on the orbiter - the most complex flight vehicle ever built. JSC also develops associated manned spacecraft systems; performs medical research related to space flight; and supports the development and integration of experiments for space flight activities. JSC will provide the basic truss structure, airlocks, guidance, navigation and control, propulsion, thermal control, and other systems for the Space Station.

Kennedy Space Center: Kennedy performs R&D related to its primary function, the checkout and launch of NASA space vehicles. All interplanetary missions, and most other NASA spacecraft that do not require a north-south orbit, have been launched at KSC. (North-south, or polar-orbiting spacecraft, are usually launched from Air Force or KSC facilities at Vandenberg AFB in California.) A notable R&D development at KSC was the Launch Processing System, the computer-controlled checkout and launch function which can be adapted to control other complex operating systems.

Langley Research Center: Langley specializes in aeronautics, though it has also developed technology for both manned and unmanned space exploration. Langley works to improve the safety, performance, and utility of aircraft. The major areas are the theoretical and experimental dynamics of flight, through the entire speed range; flight mechanics; materials and structures; multi-bladed propellers for high-speed subsonic aircraft; space mechanics; instrumentation; solid rocket technology; and advanced hypersonic engine research. Langley also conceives and develops flight simulators, conducts vertical/short take off and landing tests, and manages major spacecraft projects.

Lewis Research Center: The major missions of Lewis are aircraft, spacecraft, and rocket propulsion systems, and the generation of power in space. Other fields of investigation include materials and metallurgy; combustion and direct energy conversion; chemical, nuclear, and electric rocket propulsion systems; advanced turbojet power plants; the reduction of aircraft noise and engine pollution; plasma research; and magnetohydrodynamics. Lewis also maintains a data bank of research information about aerospace safety.

Marshall Space Flight Center: Marshall is a diversified project-management, science, and engineering center. The world's leader in rocket propulsion development, Marshall designed the Space Shuttle's solid rocket boosters, main engines, and external tank, and provides them for every flight. The Center furnishes NASA's upper stage rockets to boost spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit. Marshall manages most Spacelab science missions, designs experiments and space systems for the low gravity environment of space, and develops space observatories, such as the upcoming X-Ray Astrophysics Spacecraft. It is the site for development and fabrication of the Space Station's U.S. laboratory and habitation modules, as well as its environment control and life support systems.

Many of Marshall's science and engineering facilities are unique within NASA. Among these are propulsion test stands which hold sensor-laden engines and boosters to evaluate their performance during ground-test firings, and structural test facilities which shake and crush hardware to determine its strength.

Stennis Space Center: The Stennis Space Center in Mississippi provides the facilities, equipment and technical support necessary to develop and flight certify the Space Shuttle Main Engines. Because of its important role in engine testing over the past three decades, SSC has been designated as NASA's center of excellence for large propulsion systems testing. The Center also has the assignment to build the facilities and capabilities to test the propulsion systems hardware of the future.

In addition to these propulsion activities, Stennis is involved in a broad range of other research and technology projects. These activities include remote sensing technology development, earth sciences research, associated data systems development, and the transfer of NASA-developed technology. Stennis has the lead role in the agency's Earth Observations Commercialization and Applications program.

NASA, as the operator of the Space Shuttle and upcoming Space Station, performs a great many operational functions in addition to R&D. But the main thrust of the agency remains what it has always been, the research and development of aeronautical and space systems. Since its creation in 1958, NASA has often been described as the impetus for "cutting edge technology" in the United States. That is a function the agency will continue to perform into the 21st century.

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