NASA Ames Research Center

Learn more about a NASA senior database administrator who manifested her dream job! https://lnkd.in/g8TvrvUy

2024 is coming to a close ✨ Join us as we take a look back at some of our highlights of science, engineering, research, and innovation from this year. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gxNJzVSu

I had the opportunity to join NASA Ames Research Center and our Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate leadership in Dallas to see firsthand how NASA collaborates with commercial partners and other agencies to modernize our airspace and meet the growing demands of 21st-century aviation. Drone Delivery Takes Flight NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, other federal agencies, and our industry partners are working together to explore new operational concepts, data exchange requirements, and frameworks that will enable widespread, beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) drone operations in low-altitude airspace (under 400 feet AGL). I visited Wing, a Dallas-based Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management (UTM) operator, to see how our partnership makes drone delivery a reality. My visit included a tour of Wing’s operations at Coppell and Wing Nest, as well as witnessing real-time deliveries of Walmart goods in Frisco. Together, we’re advancing drone delivery and helping create a new, scalable sector in the U.S. economy. Modernizing Our National Airspace System Modernizing the National Airspace System into a more digital, service-oriented ecosystem is crucial for making air travel more efficient, reducing delays, and saving travelers money. At the FAA/NASA North Texas Research Station (NTX), I hosted a roundtable with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the FAA Director for Air Traffic, and airline operators (Southwest, American, United, and JetBlue), where we discussed NASA Aeronautics’ efforts to advance the transfer of digital information technologies that enable seamless data exchanges between airlines, air traffic control (ATC), and the FAA. I also toured the FAA Traffic Management Unit ZFW and the American Airlines Integrated Operations Center, where NASA Ames tools are already in use by IOC dispatchers here and across the country in real-time operations. Together, these efforts push the envelope on airspace modernization, improving efficiency, and paving the way for safer, more advanced aviation systems with better outcomes for passengers too.

NASA's tech innovations drive space exploration while improving life on Earth. The Advanced Composite Solar Sail System is one of NASA's 2024 space technology advancements. Learn more about its next generation composite boom technologies that will help enable future exploration missions on the Moon, Mars, and beyond.  https://lnkd.in/g9a-nwfF

NASA researchers and engineers tested a portable airspace management system and a communications relay network to enable uncrewed aircraft to suppress and monitor wildland fires twenty four hours a day. Next year, researchers will perform the first of a series of comprehensive flight and field evaluations to mature this technology for infusion into wildland fire operations. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gdwntyhR

Ames researchers joined Reliable Robotics, Collins Aerospace, and staff from the California congressional delegation this week to observe a remotely-piloted flight demonstration. Over the next year, NASA will conduct studies and flight tests to assess technologies needed to enable routine remotely-piloted operations.

How did Mars get its moons? A NASA study using supercomputer simulations reveals a new way Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, may have formed from asteroid fragments. This work helps researchers better understand how moons and planets can develop across the universe. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gpdAu5jR

This week, Ames Center Director Dr. Eugene Tu presented Representative Anna G. Eshoo with the Pioneer plaque to recognize her for 32 years of distinguished public service and her enduring support for the agency. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/ggfYsJZ4

Our Advanced Composite Solar Sail System mission is on TIME’s list of the Best Inventions of 2024! The spacecraft is testing next generation solar sail composite boom technologies that will help enable future exploration missions at the Moon, Mars and beyond. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g7dZTFWd #TIMEBestInventions

NASA’s unique mission provides benefits in big and small ways. Dollars spent for space exploration, advancements in flight, and climate research create jobs, jumpstart businesses, and grow the economy.   In fiscal year 2023, the agency’s contribution to our home state of California exceeded $18 billion in economic output and supported more than 66,000 jobs.    Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eqEsJtuF