#Nasa ames research center wiki simulator

In particular, in 1969 the Flight Simulator for Advanced Aircraft became part of a wide range of simulators, equipment, and facilities developed by Ames to improve pilot workloads, cockpit design, and safety, among other things. In the 1960s, Ames emerged as a leading builder of flight simulators. The complex will continue to be central to the research and development of materials suitable for heatshield applications. The arcjets contributed to thermal protection for all NASA's crewed programs, including the Space Shuttle, and also for planetary missions, e.g., the Galileo mission's Jupiter probe. Ames' most vital input to NASA's top priority, the lunar program, was the blunt body concept for reentry capsules, a concept tested and refined in the Center's new arc jet facilities and hypervelocity ranges. In 1958, Ames became part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Today, only the Unitary is still in regular use. The workhorse Unitary received multiple upgrades in the 1990s. The 12-foot pressure tunnel was rebuilt in the 1980s, and rededicated in 1995. Ames added an 80 x 120-foot tunnel to the 40 x 80-foot tunnel, renamed it the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC), and dedicated it in 1987. In the 1970s through the 1990s, all three facilities were renovated. The Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel enabled Ames to conduct new research almost all NASA manned space vehicles, including the Space Shuttle, were tested in the Unitary. The 12-foot subsonic wind tunnel, opened in July 1946. The 40 x 80-foot wind tunnel opened in June 1944 to conduct aircraft development work. Of particular note are three tunnels later designated key national resources. Several wind tunnels were opened in the 1940s to test and refine aircraft, guided missiles, satellites, and reentry bodies. Wind tunnels are central to Ames' history. Ames, leading aerodynamicist and former president of Johns Hopkins University. NACA named the facility 'Ames Aeronautical Laboratory' in 1944 in honor of Dr. Ground was broken for the laboratory at Moffett Field, California, in December 1939 and operations began in early 1941. On 9 August 1939, as World War II began, Congress authorized the construction of a second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laboratory for urgent research in aircraft structures.

Nasa ames research center wiki