This detailed and fully-illustrated history of the NASA Ames
Research Center describes its organizational structure, research
culture, institutional leadership, major facilities and research
programs from its founding in 1939 through 1999. The first chapter
discusses Ames' origins as the NACA's second laboratory, and wind
tunnel construction and the development of aerodynamic theory from
subsonic to supersonic to hypersonic flight. The second chapter
discusses Ames' transition into NASA, its contributions to the
Apollo program, exobiology, simulators construction, and the
Pioneer series of planetary explorers. The third chapter describes
Ames' positioning in NASA's Shuttle era, roughly 1970 to 1990.
Specifically, it covers the growth of research expertise in
gravitational biology and planetary sciences, Earth observation and
infrared astronomy, tilt rotor aircraft and helicopter design, air
safety and flight research, thermal protection systems and
planetary probes, computational fluid dynamics and intelligent
systems. The fourth chapter describes Ames' renaissance since 1990
in the era of "faster, better, cheaper," and specifically its work
in information technology and astrobiology and its relationships
with larger communities. Throughout Ames history, four themes
prevail: a commitment to hiring the best people; cutting-edge
research tools; project management that gets things done faster,
better and cheaper; and outstanding research efforts that serve the
scientific professions and the nation. More than any other NASA
Center, Ames remains shaped by its origins in the NACA (National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics). Not that its missions remain
the same. Sure, Ames still houses the world's greatest collection
of wind tunnels and simulation facilities, its aerodynamicists
remain among the best in the world, and pilots and engineers still
come for advice on how to build better aircraft. But that is
increasingly part of Ames' past. Ames people have embraced two
other missions for its future. First, intelligent systems and
information science will help NASA use new tools in supercomputing,
networking, telepresence and robotics. Second, astrobiology will
explore the prospects for life on Earth and beyond. Both new
missions leverage Ames' long-standing expertise in computation and
in the life sciences, as well as its relations with the computing
and biotechnology firms working in the Silicon Valley community
that has sprung up around the Center. Rather than the NACA
missions, it is the NACA culture that still permeates Ames. The
Ames way of research management privileges the scientists and
engineers working in the laboratories. They work in an atmosphere
of freedom, laced with the expectation of integrity and
responsibility. Ames researchers are free to define their research
goals and define how they contribute to the national good. They are
expected to keep their fingers on the pulse of their disciplines,
to be ambitious yet frugal in organizing their efforts, and to
always test their theories in the laboratory or in the field. Ames'
leadership ranks, traditionally, are cultivated within this
scientific community. Rather than manage and supervise these
researchers, Ames leadership merely guides them, represents them to
NASA headquarters and the world outside, then steps out of the way
before they get run over.
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