The PDF below contains NASA's Aeronautics Research directorate, and any/all themes, associated programs and associated projects that fall under it.
Over the last century, aviation has evolved to become an integral part of the economy and an essential component of everyday life. As the Nation and the world become more dependent on moving people and goods faster and more efficiently via air, important constraints to further growth have emerged.* During peak travel times, the air traffic and airport systems in the United States and other nations are stretched to capacity. In 2007, airline delays in the United States cost industry and passengers $32.9 billion.* Environmental concerns such as aircraft noise and emissions limit increased operations and the expansion of airports and runways. These constraints to growth threaten the commercial prospects of the aerospace industry and contribute to continued or worsened airline travel delays.
In response to these challenges, the Nation is pursuing the realization of Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). NextGen will accommodate more aircraft operating within the same airspace, including aircraft with widely varying performance capabilities (e.g., different speeds, altitudes, and maneuverability). The revolutionary changes to the airspace system and the aircraft that fly within it envisioned for NextGen will lead to a safer, more environmentally friendly, and more efficient national air transportation system, characterized by reduced community noise and improved local air quality, water quality, and energy efficiency. This will occur even with the projected increase in air traffic.
To achieve NextGen, the aviation sector needs to capitalize on the convergence of a broad range of multidisciplinary advances in technology. This will include pursuing technologies that are in their infancy today, developing the knowledge necessary to design radically new aviation systems, and enabling efficient, high-confidence design and development of revolutionary vehicles. These improvements must take place without compromise to the current safety record of the aviation industry. Increasing system capacity while maintaining or even improving aviation safety will require the ability to identify and respond to precursors to accidents, instead of today's practice of creating or changing flight rules in response to incidents and accidents.
As the Federal Government's largest civil aeronautics research organization, NASA, through its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), plays a key role in the discovery and development of the innovative solutions and advanced technologies required for NextGen. NASA performs cutting- edge research on innovative concepts, tools, and technologies that will enable revolutionary advances in future aircraft, as well as to the airspace in which they will fly. This investment portfolio is a balanced mix of foundational and systems-level research, airspace capacity, operational efficiency, and related test infrastructure addressing aviation safety, energy efficiency, and environmental compatibility. . NASA's aeronautics programs uniquely address specific aeronautical research needs while taking an integrated approach with respect to critical long-term challenges. It also addresses the long-term research needs in access-to-space technologies required for future space missions.
NASA expands the boundaries of aeronautical knowledge for the benefit of the Nation through partnerships with academia, industry, and other government agencies, helping to foster a collaborative research environment in which ideas and knowledge are exchanged across all communities. These collaborations help ensure the future competitiveness of the Nation's aviation industry.
* "Total Delay Impact Study," October 2010, National Center of Excellence for Airline Operations Research.
The PDF below contains NASA's Aeronautics Research directorate, and any/all themes, associated programs and associated projects that fall under it.
Aeronautics Research Aeronautics
New Initiatives:
None
Major Changes:
The following changes have been made to the Aeronautics budget:
- Research into high-altitude ice crystal effects on aircraft has been increased. The objective of this research is to increase the probability that NASA's capability will support community response to rule-making and thus increase aviation safety in a timely manner.
- Additional research will be conducted into the effects of lightning strikes on composite materials. This research will accelerate development of standardized test procedures to support development of sensor concepts, advanced models, and protection methods.
- NASA also will increase research efforts in composite structures and materials in order to develop new materials and analysis capabilities so that they can be effectively utilized in new designs.
- Alternative fuels research will be increased. This will help to advance the use of alternative fuels (including biofuels) in aircraft, which is a key factor in substantially reducing the impact of aviation on the environment--specifically reducing the gaseous and particulate emissions of aircraft.
- NASA also will increase research into efficient and safe airport surface operations. Technologies will be integrated from the current NASA portfolio to further advance greater utilization of ADS-B application technologies providing optimization of airport surface movements with precise scheduling to reduce surface and en-route traffic delays and enhance safety.
- NASA will also increase flight research that focuses on low-cost, simple, short-term flight demonstrations aimed at enhancing aviation safety and airspace efficiency.
- Hypersonics research is reduced and focused on goals, where NASA possesses unique competencies relied upon by other agencies, outlined in the National Aeronautics R&D Plan. This research will be foundational in nature and focused on knowledge development and tool creation.
Major Highlights for FY 2012
In FY 2012, NASA will continue to conduct long-term, cutting-edge research for the benefit of the broad aeronautics community. Each of the six programs within Aeronautics plays a significant role in addressing the challenge of meeting the growing capacity needs of NextGen, contributing to research and development (R&D) challenges in aviation safety, promising new flight regimes and aviation environmental impacts.
- The Aviation Safety Program (AvSP) provides knowledge, concepts, and methods to manage increasing complexity in the design and operation of vehicles and the air transportation system. This includes advanced approaches to enable improved and cost effective verification and validation of flight critical systems. AvSP provides knowledge, concepts, and methods to avoid, detect, mitigate, and recover from hazardous flight conditions and to maintain vehicle airworthiness and health. The program will investigate sources of risk and provide technology needed to help ensure safe flight in and around atmospheric hazards.
- The Airspace Systems Program (ASP) develops and explores fundamental concepts, algorithms, and technologies to increase throughput of the National Airspace System (NAS) and achieve high resource efficiency. The program transitions key technologies from the laboratory to the field by integrating surface, terminal, transitional airspace, and en route capabilities to enable operational enhancements envisioned by NextGen.
- The Fundamental Aeronautics Program (FAP) conducts fundamental research to improve aircraft performance and minimize environmental impacts, explores advanced capabilities and configurations for low boom supersonic aircraft, conducts fundamental hypersonic research to enable new capabilities, and radically improves the civil effectiveness of rotary wing vehicles by increasing speed, range, and payload while decreasing noise and emissions.
- The Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) conducts research on promising concepts and technologies at an integrated system level. The program explores, assesses, and demonstrates the benefits of these potential technologies in a relevant environment.
- The Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) ensures the strategic availability, accessibility, and capability of a critical suite of aeronautics ground test facilities and flight operations assets to meet Agency and national aeronautics testing needs.
- The Aeronautics Strategy and Management Program (ASMP) has been established by transferring ongoing activities from ISRP and FAP. The program will explore novel concepts and new processes in aeronautics, funds institutional expenses for the Mission Directorate, fund the ARMD portion of the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) costs, and provide education and outreach opportunities for a wide variety of interested participants of all ages.