Tag Archives: ames research center
The Federal Government and the Development of Aerospace Technology
Since 1903, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing aerospace technology, on the management of the infrastructure necessary to support its operations, and on the military and other practical applications that it affords. Accordingly, through a … Continue reading
Gerard K. O’Neill and the Great Disappointment
Disappointments must not be forgotten. One of the great disappointments of those interested in the use and development of human space capabilities has been the inability to colonize the solar system. Emerging from the Apollo program of the latter 1960s … Continue reading
Recalling the Great NACA Fact-Finding Trip to Germany in 1936, and its Results
Eighty years ago a great adventure took place. In the first part of 1936 John J. Ide, the NACA’s European representative since 1921, fired off an alarming report on the state of aeronautical science on that continent. Ide, the sometime … Continue reading
The NACA and the National Unitary Wind Tunnel Plan
During World War II it became obvious that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) required new tools to pursue a high-speed/high altitude research program. The National Unitary Wind Tunnel Act of 1949 addressed these needs, providing NACA funds to … Continue reading
NASA Aeronautics in an Age of Spaceflight: Transformations
When the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) became NASA in 1958 the organizations that were still charged with aeronautical research underwent a transformation every bit as striking as the reorganization that made the great successes in spaceflight of the 1960s … Continue reading
Exoplanets: The Kepler-62 System Compared to Our Solar System
This is so cool. This graphic diagram comes courtesy of the stunning Kepler mission searching for extra-solar planets. Here is the description of this poster: The diagram compares the planets of the inner solar system to Kepler-62, a five-planet system … Continue reading
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