NASA Research Park
Encyclopedia
NASA Research Park is a research park
run by NASA
which aims to develop a world-class, shared-use research and development campus in association with government entities, academia, industry and non-profit organisations. It is situated in near San Jose, California
. It began in 1939 as Ames Research Center and was instrumental in the development and research of flight and space travel. In the 1990s it was developed into the research park it is today.
(NACA). Ames eventually grew to occupy approximately 500 acres (2 km²) at Moffett Field adjacent to the Naval Air Station Moffett Field in Santa Clara County, California
, in the center of the region that would, in the 1990s, become known worldwide as Silicon Valley
. In 1958, Congress created NASA
with the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, 42 U.S.C. § 2451 et seq. The Ames Aeronautical Laboratory was renamed Ames Research Center and became a NASA field center.
Ames is nearing 70 years of age, which it calls “Seven Decades of Innovation,” highlighted with major accomplishments in aeronautics and space. From the 1940s through the 1990s, Ames scientists and engineers demonstrated excellence in flight research in many areas including variable stability aircraft, guidance and control displays, boundary-layer control, vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft, and rotorcraft. Ames developed the swept wing
design and the conical camber, now considered in the design of every supersonic
aircraft.
Ames developed and operated critical facilities including flight simulator
s and wind tunnel
s, pushing the frontiers of computers and the arcjets facility to test materials at very high temperatures, which were critical to high-speed aircraft development and space vehicle re-entry. Ames largest contribution to the early space program for human missions was solving the problem of getting astronauts safely back to Earth, through the development of the blunt body design for re-entry vehicles.
Ames assisted the development of Apollo, developed and operated the Pioneer Missions
(the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belts, observe Jupiter
and Saturn
and Venus
), and developed the tiltrotor aircraft. The diversity of accomplishments led to the focus in the 1990s on Ames becoming the high-tech center of NASA. In those days in NASA parlance, Ames became the Center of Excellence for Information Technologies, taking the lead in human centered computing, a major interdisciplinary effort to develop means of optimizing the performance of mixed human and computer systems. These new technologies were critical for both aeronautics and space operations with ground-based operators, astronauts (or pilots/controllers in the air traffic management system) and robots functioning collaboratively to maximize mission science return, productivity and safety. This human centered computing focus developed the expertise for Ames to become the lead for all supercomputing in NASA, and in 2005 Ames operated the world’s fastest supercomputer
, partnered with SGI
and Intel.
In the 1990s, following its historic excellence in life and space sciences, Ames developed a focused new program called Astrobiology to search for the origins of life in the universe. Ames leads NASA’s Kepler Mission, a spacecraft designed to find Earth-sized planets in other galaxies that may be in or near habitable zones, distances from a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Ames developed SOFIA, the new Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
, using a Boeing 747
aircraft that will study the universe for the next twenty years in the infrared spectrum.
Concurrent with the outstanding innovations in science and technology, Ames has become the leader in NASA for innovative partnerships with universities and industry, both onsite and in distance collaborations. The opportunity for this new partnering became available in the early 1990s, with the potential for R&D partners to move into the property obtained from the transfer of Navy Moffett Field land to NASA.
From its establishment in 1939, Ames shared the land generally known as Moffett Field with the United States Navy
, jointly using the major airfield on the property. In the 1930s the Navy developed Moffett Field originally for the home of the famous “Lighter than Air Era of American Military History,” housing and operating large-scale airships. Through the years a number of different military organizations, including the United States Air Force
, used the Moffett Field facilities, and in the late 1980s the Navy operated the base.
With the enactment of the Base Realignment and Closure Act in 1991, Congress directed the Navy to close and vacate the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field. Under the framework of the Federal Property Administrative Services Act of 1949, 40 U.S.C. §471, NASA successfully negotiated custody of most of the Navy property, with the strong support of the local governments surrounding Moffett Field and the U.S. Congressmen
from the area, especially Rep. Norman Mineta
. The decision was properly approved through the federal government process to transfer the property to NASA and disestablish the Naval Air Station Moffett Field. The United States Department of Defense
decided to retain control of 57 hectares (140.8 acre) of military housing at Moffett Field. In 1994, the Department of the Navy transferred approximately 600 hectares (1,482.6 acre) to NASA. This transfer created a unique opportunity for NASA to provide stewardship for the entire 800-hectare (2,000 acre) site, except the military housing.
Prior to obtaining control of Moffett Field, NASA prepared the Moffett Field Comprehensive Use Plan (CUP) to implement its management program for the newly expanded Ames. An Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact accompanied the plan. The EA established under the CUP allows for the development of up to approximately 102,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) of new construction.
The transfer of Moffett Field to Ames supplied the impetus to consider various new uses of the property for NASA’s benefit. Ames leaders began discussions with federal, state and community leaders for potential reuse ideas.
and Sunnyvale
formed the Community Advisory Committee to study and provide input to Ames about the best reuses of Moffett Field. Ames developed a six-point initiative, which outlined program goals and reuse concepts for the development of the former Navy base that basically focused on university and industry building on NASA property as R&D collaborative partners. In 1997, after extensive public outreach and public meetings, the final report advisory committee endorsed NASA’s six-point initiative, which established the plans to develop what became the NASA Research Park.
Ames leaders reviewed studies of research parks worldwide and continued to work with the neighboring communities in preparing its preferred development plan. In 1998, Ames and the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View signed a memorandum of understanding to work jointly on development. Also, a number of major universities were involved in planning their potential roles in development. In mid-1998, Ames leaders presented their plan to NASA HQ and secured approval to proceed.
On December 8, 1998, NASA unveiled its visionary concept for a shared-use R&D and education campus for collaborations among government, industry, academia and non-profit organizations at a national press conference with NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. Over the next year, MOUs for planning development were signed with the University of California
, Carnegie Mellon University
, San Jose State University
and Foothill-DeAnza Community College.
In addition to federal, state and community leaders’ inputs, Ames worked closely with a number of economic development and industry organizations in focused groups by industry: information technology, bio-technology and others to understand the needs of Silicon Valley high-tech industry. In 1999, this vision was outlined in an Economic Development Concept Workbook, which won the 2000 American Planning Association Award.
NASA’s recent vision and mission statements recognize that not from NASA alone, not from industry alone and not from universities alone will tomorrow’s innovations emerge. They will come from the integration of these different segments, each making the most of their unique attributes—NASA’s focus on high-risk, long-term research; industry’s ability to react quickly with applied technologies; and the universities’ expertise in educating and providing a vibrant workforce for the future.
The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) announced in 2004 requires NASA to reach out and partner with all kinds of relevant organizations to sustain the long-term vision. The NRP has and is continuing to bring together outstanding diverse partners, assisting the pursuit of the VSE and other NASA programs. Through the interaction of academia, industry and nonprofit organizations at a robust federal laboratory, a unique community of researchers, students and educators with a shared mission to advance human knowledge will be created. This is the goal of the NRP.
In May 2006, NASA’s Exploration Systems Directorate assigned Ames the responsibility for developing small spacecraft missions to support agency exploration goals. Underlying this decision was the expectation that many of NASA’s goals could be achieved with targeted, low-cost proposals in the $50 to $100 million range—much lower than traditional NASA missions.
The success of this program will depend in part upon partnerships with industry. Increased collaboration with the NRP’s university-led Center for Robotics and Space Exploration (CREST) will aid in the development of specific concepts for future small spacecraft missions, and will accelerate the advancement of the supporting technology for these missions.
Closer relationships among NASA, industry partners, and academic institutions will allow for a degree of progress in this area that would otherwise be impossible. Adaptation to the scale of small, low-cost missions will be difficult for both NASA and industry, but can be achieved in short order in a collaborative environment. Furthermore, partners, such as Google, may contribute non-traditional yet valuable expertise to the venture of developing computer systems for the new low-cost payloads.
One of the NRP partners, m2mi (machine-to-machine intelligence) developed the third ever in NASA, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement or CRADA, that will combine their unique capabilities in software technology, sensors, Global Systems awareness, adaptive control and commercialization capabilities with Ames’ expertise in nanosensors, wireless networks and nanosatellite technologies to develop a Fifth Generation (5G) (VOIP-Video-Data-Wireless-m2mi) telecommunications system. A large number of these nanosats (a constellation) will be placed in low earth orbit (LEO) to provide the first ever, Fifth Generation (5G) Telecommunications system to enable Internet Protocol (IP) based services to the global user community.
Google
On September 30, 2005, NASA and Google
announced a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) at a national press conference to pursue R&D collaborations with Ames in the areas of: large-scale data management; massively distributed computing; Bio-Info-Nano Convergence; and R&D activities to encourage the entrepreneurial space industry and plan to build 1000000 square feet (92,903 m²) of new facilities. In 2006, NASA and Google signed a major Space Act Agreement for Research and Development Collaboration with planned continuing new R&D annexes being added. In 2007, Google announced their Lunar X PRIZE, a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth.
, is a privately owned corporation formed with the objective of bringing Zeppelin NT
airships to the United States for commercial air tours, scientific payloads, media and advertising operations. The Zeppelin NT07 airship, carrying up to 12 passengers, will be the largest airship flying in the U.S. At 246 feet (75 m) in length, it is more than 50 ft (15.2 m) longer than the largest blimp
. Using helium
for lift, the Zeppelin NT has been flying with an unparalleled safety record since 1997 in Germany and Japan. Airship Ventures and Ames are in negotiations for their lease of airfield and facility use.
Parts of the research park lands are on a superfund
site. However, NASA studies have shown that the lands are still usable and only require a particular type of construction.
Research park
A Research park is a research facility that is often linked with a major research university. Throughout North America, there are more than 170 research parks. They exist to create linkages between the university, industry and the community...
run by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
which aims to develop a world-class, shared-use research and development campus in association with government entities, academia, industry and non-profit organisations. It is situated in near San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. It began in 1939 as Ames Research Center and was instrumental in the development and research of flight and space travel. In the 1990s it was developed into the research park it is today.
Ames Research Center
The U.S. Congress originally established Ames Research Center (Ames) in 1939 as the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory under the National Advisory Committee for AeronauticsNational Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics was a U.S. federal agency founded on March 3, 1915 to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. On October 1, 1958 the agency was dissolved, and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and...
(NACA). Ames eventually grew to occupy approximately 500 acres (2 km²) at Moffett Field adjacent to the Naval Air Station Moffett Field in Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County, California
Santa Clara County is a county located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 it had a population of 1,781,642. The county seat is San Jose. The highly urbanized Santa Clara Valley within Santa Clara County is also known as Silicon Valley...
, in the center of the region that would, in the 1990s, become known worldwide as Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. In 1958, Congress created NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
with the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, 42 U.S.C. § 2451 et seq. The Ames Aeronautical Laboratory was renamed Ames Research Center and became a NASA field center.
Ames is nearing 70 years of age, which it calls “Seven Decades of Innovation,” highlighted with major accomplishments in aeronautics and space. From the 1940s through the 1990s, Ames scientists and engineers demonstrated excellence in flight research in many areas including variable stability aircraft, guidance and control displays, boundary-layer control, vertical and short takeoff and landing aircraft, and rotorcraft. Ames developed the swept wing
Swept wing
A swept wing is a wing planform favored for high subsonic jet speeds first investigated by Germany during the Second World War. Since the introduction of the MiG-15 and North American F-86 which demonstrated a decisive superiority over the slower first generation of straight-wing jet fighters...
design and the conical camber, now considered in the design of every supersonic
Supersonic
Supersonic speed is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound . For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C this speed is approximately 343 m/s, 1,125 ft/s, 768 mph or 1,235 km/h. Speeds greater than five times the speed of sound are often...
aircraft.
Ames developed and operated critical facilities including flight simulator
Flight simulator
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and various aspects of the flight environment. This includes the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of their controls and other aircraft systems, and how they react to the external...
s and wind tunnel
Wind tunnel
A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...
s, pushing the frontiers of computers and the arcjets facility to test materials at very high temperatures, which were critical to high-speed aircraft development and space vehicle re-entry. Ames largest contribution to the early space program for human missions was solving the problem of getting astronauts safely back to Earth, through the development of the blunt body design for re-entry vehicles.
Ames assisted the development of Apollo, developed and operated the Pioneer Missions
Pioneer program
The Pioneer program is a series of United States unmanned space missions that was designed for planetary exploration. There were a number of such missions in the program, but the most notable were Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, which explored the outer planets and left the solar system...
(the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belts, observe Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...
and Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
), and developed the tiltrotor aircraft. The diversity of accomplishments led to the focus in the 1990s on Ames becoming the high-tech center of NASA. In those days in NASA parlance, Ames became the Center of Excellence for Information Technologies, taking the lead in human centered computing, a major interdisciplinary effort to develop means of optimizing the performance of mixed human and computer systems. These new technologies were critical for both aeronautics and space operations with ground-based operators, astronauts (or pilots/controllers in the air traffic management system) and robots functioning collaboratively to maximize mission science return, productivity and safety. This human centered computing focus developed the expertise for Ames to become the lead for all supercomputing in NASA, and in 2005 Ames operated the world’s fastest supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
, partnered with SGI
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
and Intel.
In the 1990s, following its historic excellence in life and space sciences, Ames developed a focused new program called Astrobiology to search for the origins of life in the universe. Ames leads NASA’s Kepler Mission, a spacecraft designed to find Earth-sized planets in other galaxies that may be in or near habitable zones, distances from a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Ames developed SOFIA, the new Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy is a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center to construct and maintain an airborne observatory. NASA awarded the contract for the development of the aircraft, operation of the observatory and management of the American part of the...
, using a Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
aircraft that will study the universe for the next twenty years in the infrared spectrum.
Concurrent with the outstanding innovations in science and technology, Ames has become the leader in NASA for innovative partnerships with universities and industry, both onsite and in distance collaborations. The opportunity for this new partnering became available in the early 1990s, with the potential for R&D partners to move into the property obtained from the transfer of Navy Moffett Field land to NASA.
From its establishment in 1939, Ames shared the land generally known as Moffett Field with the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, jointly using the major airfield on the property. In the 1930s the Navy developed Moffett Field originally for the home of the famous “Lighter than Air Era of American Military History,” housing and operating large-scale airships. Through the years a number of different military organizations, including the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
, used the Moffett Field facilities, and in the late 1980s the Navy operated the base.
With the enactment of the Base Realignment and Closure Act in 1991, Congress directed the Navy to close and vacate the Naval Air Station at Moffett Field. Under the framework of the Federal Property Administrative Services Act of 1949, 40 U.S.C. §471, NASA successfully negotiated custody of most of the Navy property, with the strong support of the local governments surrounding Moffett Field and the U.S. Congressmen
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
from the area, especially Rep. Norman Mineta
Norman Mineta
Norman Yoshio Mineta, is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration...
. The decision was properly approved through the federal government process to transfer the property to NASA and disestablish the Naval Air Station Moffett Field. The United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
decided to retain control of 57 hectares (140.8 acre) of military housing at Moffett Field. In 1994, the Department of the Navy transferred approximately 600 hectares (1,482.6 acre) to NASA. This transfer created a unique opportunity for NASA to provide stewardship for the entire 800-hectare (2,000 acre) site, except the military housing.
Prior to obtaining control of Moffett Field, NASA prepared the Moffett Field Comprehensive Use Plan (CUP) to implement its management program for the newly expanded Ames. An Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact accompanied the plan. The EA established under the CUP allows for the development of up to approximately 102,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) of new construction.
The transfer of Moffett Field to Ames supplied the impetus to consider various new uses of the property for NASA’s benefit. Ames leaders began discussions with federal, state and community leaders for potential reuse ideas.
NASA Research Park
In November 1996, the neighboring cities of Mountain ViewMountain View, California
-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
and Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
formed the Community Advisory Committee to study and provide input to Ames about the best reuses of Moffett Field. Ames developed a six-point initiative, which outlined program goals and reuse concepts for the development of the former Navy base that basically focused on university and industry building on NASA property as R&D collaborative partners. In 1997, after extensive public outreach and public meetings, the final report advisory committee endorsed NASA’s six-point initiative, which established the plans to develop what became the NASA Research Park.
Ames leaders reviewed studies of research parks worldwide and continued to work with the neighboring communities in preparing its preferred development plan. In 1998, Ames and the cities of Sunnyvale and Mountain View signed a memorandum of understanding to work jointly on development. Also, a number of major universities were involved in planning their potential roles in development. In mid-1998, Ames leaders presented their plan to NASA HQ and secured approval to proceed.
On December 8, 1998, NASA unveiled its visionary concept for a shared-use R&D and education campus for collaborations among government, industry, academia and non-profit organizations at a national press conference with NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. Over the next year, MOUs for planning development were signed with the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, San Jose State University
San José State University
San Jose State University is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States...
and Foothill-DeAnza Community College.
In addition to federal, state and community leaders’ inputs, Ames worked closely with a number of economic development and industry organizations in focused groups by industry: information technology, bio-technology and others to understand the needs of Silicon Valley high-tech industry. In 1999, this vision was outlined in an Economic Development Concept Workbook, which won the 2000 American Planning Association Award.
Development
NASA’s goal is to develop a world-class, shared-use research and development campus in association with government entities, academia, industry and nonprofits. The NADP/EIS provides a framework to guide the use, renovation, management and development of facilities at Ames over the next 20 years to achieve that goal. The NRP supports NASA’s overall mission in three areas: advancing NASA’s research leadership; facilitating science and technology education; and creating a unique community of researchers, students and educators.NASA’s recent vision and mission statements recognize that not from NASA alone, not from industry alone and not from universities alone will tomorrow’s innovations emerge. They will come from the integration of these different segments, each making the most of their unique attributes—NASA’s focus on high-risk, long-term research; industry’s ability to react quickly with applied technologies; and the universities’ expertise in educating and providing a vibrant workforce for the future.
The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) announced in 2004 requires NASA to reach out and partner with all kinds of relevant organizations to sustain the long-term vision. The NRP has and is continuing to bring together outstanding diverse partners, assisting the pursuit of the VSE and other NASA programs. Through the interaction of academia, industry and nonprofit organizations at a robust federal laboratory, a unique community of researchers, students and educators with a shared mission to advance human knowledge will be created. This is the goal of the NRP.
Ames Core Technology Areas
The Business Plan reviewed current partners and suggested future partners based on the core technology areas being pursued by Ames. Current and future NRP partners will contribute to breakthroughs in the areas in which NASA and Ames possess traditional competencies, such as aeronautics, air transportation management, robotics and information technology. While these core areas consist of technologies that are relatively mature, they require further advancement to enable the next generation of space flight and air travel. The development of these technologies is a key driver behind NASA’s mission; as such Ames will seek to create partnerships that support these areas as described below.Small Spacecraft Systems
Ames has pioneered the concept of small spacecraft and their potential for accelerating NASA’s progress in exploring the moon and solar system. By inserting a mix of microsatellites and miniature landers into NASA’s existing plans for robotic lunar exploration, the agency will be able to make great strides in a shorter timeframe and at a modest cost.In May 2006, NASA’s Exploration Systems Directorate assigned Ames the responsibility for developing small spacecraft missions to support agency exploration goals. Underlying this decision was the expectation that many of NASA’s goals could be achieved with targeted, low-cost proposals in the $50 to $100 million range—much lower than traditional NASA missions.
The success of this program will depend in part upon partnerships with industry. Increased collaboration with the NRP’s university-led Center for Robotics and Space Exploration (CREST) will aid in the development of specific concepts for future small spacecraft missions, and will accelerate the advancement of the supporting technology for these missions.
Closer relationships among NASA, industry partners, and academic institutions will allow for a degree of progress in this area that would otherwise be impossible. Adaptation to the scale of small, low-cost missions will be difficult for both NASA and industry, but can be achieved in short order in a collaborative environment. Furthermore, partners, such as Google, may contribute non-traditional yet valuable expertise to the venture of developing computer systems for the new low-cost payloads.
One of the NRP partners, m2mi (machine-to-machine intelligence) developed the third ever in NASA, Cooperative Research and Development Agreement or CRADA, that will combine their unique capabilities in software technology, sensors, Global Systems awareness, adaptive control and commercialization capabilities with Ames’ expertise in nanosensors, wireless networks and nanosatellite technologies to develop a Fifth Generation (5G) (VOIP-Video-Data-Wireless-m2mi) telecommunications system. A large number of these nanosats (a constellation) will be placed in low earth orbit (LEO) to provide the first ever, Fifth Generation (5G) Telecommunications system to enable Internet Protocol (IP) based services to the global user community.
Intelligent Adaptive Systems and Robotics
The next generation of space exploration systems will require a much greater degree of system intelligence than is currently available. The ability of systems to engage in autonomous decision making and to adapt to changes in the environment will enable NASA to expand its operations in austere environments, reduce costs of operations, and increase safety. NASA and Ames have been leaders in the development of these kinds of systems. However, by leveraging the base of knowledge in the commercial world, and by working with partners at the cutting edge of this technology, NASA can advance its science base in automated learning, intelligent execution and adaptive control beyond what is currently possible. There is great potential with Carnegie Mellon University’s expertise in this area along with many Silicon Valley businesses.Integrated Next Generation Computer Systems
NASA’s spacecraft, landers, and other exploration systems are heavily reliant upon computers, sensors and information technology. By partnering with the top firms in these areas, Ames will be better positioned to integrate these technologies into future NASA architectures. Google, Cisco, and Apprion are examples of companies currently in negotiation with Ames, and could add a great deal of value to this area once brought on board. Other potential partners include Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Intel, AMD, and a host of other IT firms located in the San Francisco Bay Area.Materials Science and Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)
Ames has played a significant role in the development of the TPS system for the Space Shuttle and possesses the baseline capabilities needed to develop systems for future spacecraft. NASA can greatly benefit by reaching out to partners beyond the pool of traditional suppliers of orbital thermal protection technology. For example, Ames will reach out to major chemical companies such as Dow Chemical, Du-Pont and BASF, to involve them in the search for next-generation heat shielding solutions. Such collaboration will greatly enhance the pool of talent available to advance technology in this area, and will advance the technology for future space transportation systems. In addition, nanotechnology materials development has great potential in the NRP as a number of companies and universities are interested, including the UCSC planned construction of a new Bio-Info-Nano R&D Lab.Human Factors and Life Sciences
To ensure the highest degree of safety and efficiency, future space exploration will require a greater understanding of the impact of low and zero-gravity environments upon human physiology. The effects of prolonged exposure to the low-gravity of the moon, for example, will challenge the ability of future explorers to maintain a significant lunar presence. As a result, NASA must continue to charge forward in developing technology and processes that overcome this challenge. Areas of current collaboration in the NRP include advanced muscle augmentation and bone density growth. Ames is currently working with NRP partners Changene and Tibion to advance these technologies. Ames has also been working with firms such as Bigelow and Hamilton Standard on water filtration devices for use on board future spacecraft or orbital habitats. The San Francisco Bay Area hosts over one-third of the world’s biotech companies and discussions are underway with the potential for a biotech cluster in the NRP.Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
announced a Memorandum of Understanding
Memorandum of understanding
A memorandum of understanding is a document describing a bilateral or multilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. It is often used in cases where parties either do not imply a legal commitment or in...
(MOU) at a national press conference to pursue R&D collaborations with Ames in the areas of: large-scale data management; massively distributed computing; Bio-Info-Nano Convergence; and R&D activities to encourage the entrepreneurial space industry and plan to build 1000000 square feet (92,903 m²) of new facilities. In 2006, NASA and Google signed a major Space Act Agreement for Research and Development Collaboration with planned continuing new R&D annexes being added. In 2007, Google announced their Lunar X PRIZE, a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth.
University of California Santa Cruz
UCSC has been a planned major partner in the research park from inception. Originally, UCSC selected the park as the preferred site for their new Silicon Valley Center and signed a MOU in December 1998 announcing their plan to join. In 2000, UCSC signed a Letter of Intent with NASA to build approximately 600000 square feet (55,741.8 m²) of new office space, R&D labs, and classrooms. UCSC currently leases approximately 20000 square feet (1,858.1 m²) and conducts R&D onsite.Airship Ventures
Airship Ventures Inc., founded 2007 in Los Gatos, CaliforniaLos Gatos, California
The Town of Los Gatos is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 29,413 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area at the southwest corner of San Jose in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains...
, is a privately owned corporation formed with the objective of bringing Zeppelin NT
Zeppelin NT
The Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen. The initial model is the NT07...
airships to the United States for commercial air tours, scientific payloads, media and advertising operations. The Zeppelin NT07 airship, carrying up to 12 passengers, will be the largest airship flying in the U.S. At 246 feet (75 m) in length, it is more than 50 ft (15.2 m) longer than the largest blimp
Blimp
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
. Using helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
for lift, the Zeppelin NT has been flying with an unparalleled safety record since 1997 in Germany and Japan. Airship Ventures and Ames are in negotiations for their lease of airfield and facility use.
Environmental issues
The Navy has the responsibility to remediate the PCB hazard in the metal outer structure of the building. The Navy is in the public process of analyzing their recommended approach. The plan is that through the Navy or other means, this dynamic 360000 square feet (33,445.1 m²) historic icon of the South Bay Area can be saved and utilized for a public purpose.Parts of the research park lands are on a superfund
Superfund
Superfund is the common name for the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 , a United States federal law designed to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances...
site. However, NASA studies have shown that the lands are still usable and only require a particular type of construction.