Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year

2019 Activities

Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year 2019

Activities
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 directed 

the annual Aeronautics and Space Report to include a 

“comprehensive description of the programmed activities and 

the accomplishments of all agencies of the United States in the 

field of aeronautics and space activities during the preceding 

calendar year.” In recent years, the reports have been prepared 

on a fiscal-year basis, consistent with the budgetary period now 

used in programs of the Federal Government. This year’s report 

covers activities that took place from October 1, 2018, through 

September 30, 2019. Please note that these activities reflect 

the Federal policies of that time and do not include subsequent 

events or changes in policy.

On the title page, clockwise from the top left: 1. During a spacewalk outside the International Space 

Station on August 22, 2019, astronaut Nick Hague and fellow crewmember Andrew Morgan install 

the second International Docking Adapter on the complex to enable commercial spacecraft from 

Boeing and SpaceX to carry astronauts to the station. Credit: NASA. 2. Aircraft maintenance 

crews at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center prepare the remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft for 

a test flight. Credit: NASA/Ken Ulbrich. 3. Artist’s concept of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting 

Partnership (Suomi-NPP), an Earth-observing satellite operated by the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Credit: NASA. 4. Lidar data collected by NOAA aircraft 

showing Bixby Bridge and Bixby Creek along the coast of central California. Credit: NOAA. 5. The 

50-year anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission was celebrated on July 19, 2019, with full-motion 

projection-mapping artwork on the Washington Monument. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls. 6. On May 

29, 2019, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured this view of an area of Jupiter’s clouds. Credit: Enhanced 

image by Kevin M. Gill based on images provided courtesy of NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)–

Caltech/ Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)/MSSS.
Table of Contents

Table of Conten

The National Space Council v

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 1

Science Mission Directorate .

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 44

Space Technology Mission Directorate 50

Department of Defense 59

Federal Aviation Administration 83

Department of Commerce . 

Department of the Interior . 

Federal Communications Commission 143

U.S. Department of Agricultur  1

National Science Foundation 171

Department of State 183

Department of Energy 191

Smithsonian Institution . 

Appendices

A-1 U.S. Government Spacecraft Recor  2

A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in

Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond . 

B Successful Launches to Orbit on U.S.Vehicle  2

C Human Spaceflights . 

D-1A Space Activities of the U.S. Government—Historical Table of Budg

Authority in Millions of Real-Year Dollars . 

D-1B Space Activities of the U.S. Government—Historical Table of Budg

Authority in Millions of Inflation-Adjusted FY 2019 Dollars . 

D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget . 

D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget . 

E Space Policy Directive-4 of February 19, 2019: Establishment of the

United States Space Force . 

Acronyms 233

vThe National Space Council

The National Space Co

Since its revival by Executive Order on June 30, 2017, the National Space 

Council has advised and assisted the President on national space policy and strategy, advised on international space activities, and fostered closer coordination and 

cooperation among the domestic civil, national security, and commercial space sectors. The Council’s Chair, Vice President Mike Pence, is supported by the National 

Space Council membership, which includes the heads of the agencies, offices, and 

departments responsible for the United States space enterprise. 

At the President’s direction, the Council meets regularly to publicly discuss 

the status of Administration priorities and propose new recommendations to the 

President regarding national space policy and strategy. In addition to an audience comprised of stakeholders from industry, government, academia, and nongovernmental organizations, Council meetings are livestreamed to encourage 

public involvement and transparency. 

The Council is supported by a Users’ Advisory Group (UAG) comprised of nonfederal senior leaders from industry, academia, and other non-governmental organizations. The UAG members are organized into six subcommittees: Exploration and 

Discovery, National Security Space, Economic Development and the Industrial 

Base, Technology and Innovation, Outreach and Education, and Space Policy and 

International Engagement. These subcommittees meet regularly to produce recommendations to the National Space Council for consideration.
viAeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Meetings of the National Space Council

The Council met on March 26, 2019, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center 

in Huntsville, Alabama, marking the fifth meeting since the Council’s revival 

in 2017. Prior to the meeting, the Vice President delivered remarks in which he 

issued the Administration’s direction for a crewed mission to the lunar surface 

by 2024. The meeting included reports from the National Security Council, 

Department of Defense, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Department 

of Transportation, Department of Commerce, and the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA). Subsequently, the Council heard two panels of 

expert testimony that focused on space exploration and human spaceflight. The 

Council voted unanimously to adopt recommendations to expedite a return to the 

lunar surface, as well as recommendations on space-related export controls.

On August 20, 2019, the Council convened for its sixth meeting at the 

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center 

in Chantilly, Virginia. This meeting focused on implementation of the 

Administration’s direction for a crewed mission to the lunar surface by 2024 and 

sustained presence on the Moon as a proving ground for crewed missions to Mars. 

In particular, the meeting addressed measures necessary to reform the space sector, 

and highlighted innovative technologies that will expedite deep space exploration 

efforts. The Council voted on recommendations related to space nuclear power 

sources, exploration and international cooperation, commercial space and industrial base issues, and acquisition and workforce reform at NASA. At the recommendation of the National Space Council and the National Security Council, the 

President signed a new National Security Policy Memorandum to streamline the 

process of launching nuclear material for use in space exploration.

Space Policy Directive Implementation

Recommendations from previous meetings and other Administration priorities 

are articulated in Space Policy Directives, of which four have been issued since the 

Council’s revival in 2017. The implementation of the existing SPDs is ongoing and 

summarized below.
vii The National Space Council

Space Policy Directive-1 (SPD-1) amended the 2010 National Space Policy, also 

known as Presidential Policy Directive-4, to require NASA to return to sustainable human exploration of deep space with commercial and international partners. 

At the March 2019 meeting of the National Space Council, NASA announced 

it would expedite the return of the next American man and the landing of the 

first American woman on the Moon’s lunar South Pole by 2024, followed by a 

sustainable lunar presence by 2028 in preparation for crewed missions to Mars. To 

accomplish the goals of SPD-1, the National Space Council has actively encouraged NASA to conduct necessary internal reforms. Negotiations and contracting 

processes are underway to include the unique capabilities of commercial and international partners in the effort.

Space Policy Directive-2 (SPD-2) requires certain departments and agencies to 

streamline regulatory requirements to ensure that there are no undue barriers to 

the acceleration of commercial space activities. Among them, the Department of 

Commerce is currently updating regulations on commercial remote sensing to keep 

United States industry at the forefront in an increasingly competitive global market. Not only are advanced remote sensing phenomena entering the market, but a 

wide range of data management and analytic tools are creating insights in a variety 

of market areas, including agriculture, finance, and insurance. The Department of 

Transportation is also working to streamline the Federal Aviation Administration’s 

launch and reentry regulations to better reflect the increasing cadence and technological developments of the space transportation industry. 

Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3) provided for the creation of the Nation’s 

first space traffic management architecture to ensure protection of the national 

and economic security of the United States. The Departments of Defense and 

Commerce are developing transition plans and cooperative agreements to implement SPD-3. As final FY20 appropriations did not include adequate funding to do 

so, the FY21 President’s Budget Request proposes the establishment of the Office 

of Space Commerce within the Office of the Secretary of Commerce and includes 

a $10 million request for this effort.

On February 19, 2019, the President held an Oval Office ceremony for Space 

Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4), which tasked the Department of Defense to create a 

legislative proposal to establish the United States Space Force. With the President’s 
viiiAeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

signature on December 20, 2019, the Space Force was legally established as the 

sixth armed service within the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act. 
1National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautic

Space Administr

NASA

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate

Exploration Systems Development

In 2019, the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) programs—Space Launch 

System (SLS), Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS)—continued to 

make steady progress toward the first missions of the Orion spacecraft and the SLS 

rocket that will lead the next steps of human exploration to the Moon and beyond, 

extending human exploration farther into space than ever before. Artemis 1 is 

planned to be the first integrated test of Orion, SLS, and the supporting ground 

systems launching from Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Orion

Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide 

safe reentry from deep space return velocities. Orion will launch on NASA’s new 

heavy-lift rocket, the SLS.

The Orion team made significant progress in fiscal year (FY) 2019. Orion’s 

European Service Module (ESM), which will provide the power and propulsion for 

Orion during the mission, was completed and shipped to KSC in November 2018 

for final assembly and integration. At KSC, the ESM completed final outfitting, 

integration, and testing. The team completed the building and outfitting of the 
2Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Orion Crew Module at KSC in June 2019. The Artemis Crew Module and ESM 

were mated to form the Artemis 1 Crew and Service Module (CSM). The CSM 

completed initial power-up, subsystem integration and testing, and final assembly 

in preparation for transport to NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, for 

environmental testing under simulated extreme in-space conditions in the world’s 

premier space environments test facility.

In July, the Orion team conducted a successful test of the Launch Abort System. 

From Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), a Northrop Grumman–

provided booster lifted Orion to an altitude of 31,000 feet. The abort sequence was 

initiated at a point of maximum dynamic pressure, approximately 760 miles per 

hour (mph), when the abort motor fired, lifting the launch abort system and crew 

module to an altitude of 44,000 feet and carrying it away from the booster. The 

attitude control motor flipped the capsule end-over-end to properly orient it, and 

then the jettison motor fired, releasing the crew module for splashdown.

Both the Lockheed Martin and Airbus teams made significant progress on 

Orion’s crew module in Florida and the ESM in Bremen, Germany. Assembly of 

the Artemis 2 spacecraft is well under way.

This year, NASA awarded the Orion Production and Operations contract to 

Lockheed Martin for a minimum of six Orion spacecraft. In parallel, the European 

Space Agency (ESA) approved funding for two more service modules. Work has 

begun on long-lead items with Artemis 3 crew module forgings arriving at machine 

shops in California and Illinois and service module primary structure assembly 

under way at Thales Alenia Space in Turin, Italy.

Space Launch System

The SLS is the most powerful and capable launch system in the history of spaceflight. NASA has developed and is actively refining a manufacturing capability 

to build, test, and fly an evolvable launch vehicle to support human and robotic 

exploration in the coming decades. The Block 1 SLS vehicle for the Artemis 1 

flight is in final testing, and hardware is being shipped to KSC. Major assembly of 

the Artemis 1 core stage at Michoud Assembly Facility was completed, and all four 

RS-25 engines have been mated to the stage. In addition, the SLS team completed 

work on the Launch Vehicle Stage adapter and the left-hand booster aft skirt in 
3National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2019. The 10 booster motor segments for Artemis 1 are complete and will ship to 

KSC in 2020. At Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), teams have completed 

testing on three of four structural test articles in the largest campaign since the 

Space Shuttle.

The SLS government/industry team continued to make significant progress for 

missions beyond Artemis 1. The major structures for the Artemis 2 core stage have 

been welded, and the propellant tanks are in proof testing. The ten booster motor 

segments for Artemis 2 are complete, as are the four Artemis 2 RS-25 engines and 

RL10 engines for use in the upper stages of future Artemis missions. Production has 

started on the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS), Launch Vehicle Stage 

Adapter (LVSA), and Orion Stage Adapter (OSA) for Artemis 2.

This year, NASA tasked Boeing to begin procurement for additional core stages 

and a new Exploration Upper Stage. Boeing was also tasked with beginning production of the Artemis 3 core stage, which will send the first woman and the next 

man to the Moon.

Exploration Ground Systems

The Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program is responsible for overseeing 

ground systems upgrades and modifications to support the launch of the SLS and 

Orion spacecraft for the Artemis missions.

During 2019, EGS prepared for the launch and recovery of Orion on the SLS, 

as well as the support for other rockets that could potentially launch from KSC. 

The Artemis launch team completed several formal training simulations that will 

certify the team for the inaugural launch of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft. 

Teams have also been working to complete launch software while upgrades are 

finishing up in Firing Rooms 1 and 2.

Throughout the year, mechanics completed necessary engine maintenance on 

Crawler-Transporter 2, ensuring that it will be ready for Artemis 1. The crawlerway 

also went through conditioning, making sure the deep composition of river rock is 

stable enough to handle the incredible loads that include the mobile launcher, SLS, 

and Orion spacecraft. A variety of renovations at Launch Pad 39B were completed in 

August, including the final installation of support columns for the mobile launcher. 

Other additions include more than 90,000 new heat-resistant bricks on the walls of 
4Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

the flame trench and the installation of a new flame deflector. EGS broke ground in 

December 2018 for a new liquid-hydrogen tank at the pad that will be the largest in 

the world. The storage facility will hold 1.25 million gallons of the propellant.

The mobile launcher rolled to Launch Pad 39B in June for final tests and checkouts throughout the summer and fall, including umbilical swing arm tests and a 

series of wet flow tests to verify the sound suppression system. Teams verified that 

systems on the launcher and the pad were working together appropriately. Just 

before the rollout, the engine service platform that will provide access to the core 

stage of the SLS was installed. EGS also conducted a Tail Service Mast Umbilical 

drop test inside the Vehicle Assembly Building to verify that the umbilicals will disconnect before launch. NASA selected Bechtel National, Inc., of Reston, Virginia, 

to design and build a second mobile launcher, known as Mobile Launcher 2 (ML2). 

Design is under way.

EGS participated with the Department of Defense in Underway Recovery 

Test-7 (URT-7) to practice recovering the Orion capsule once it returns from 

space. During URT-7, the recovery team embarked on the USS John P. Murtha, 

an amphibious U.S. Navy ship, in the Pacific Ocean. The main goal was to ensure 

that all of the new recovery equipment was validated and up to the task.

Commercial Crew Program

During FY 2019, NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX continued making technical and 

programmatic progress in maturing and certifying commercial crew transportation 

systems. This year, our commercial partners transitioned from final systems design 

and development efforts to flight hardware production, certification, and final 

acceptance testing as they prepared for and successfully conducted demonstration flights to the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA 

continue to work issues identified during testing and flight as both commercial 

partners move closer to restoring America’s human spaceflight capability.

Along with NASA, both partners are finalizing and approving Phase III hazard 

reports, conducting verification events, and closing out requirements verification 

closure products. Critical flight hardware and ground infrastructure are complete, 

including the manufacture of spacecraft, launch vehicles, and key ground systems.
5National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Boeing completed several critical programmatic and technical milestones during 

FY 2019. Additionally, Boeing completed qualification testing of their Starliner 

spacecraft systems as well as launch vehicles and ground systems. They completed 

the manufacturing and acceptance testing of Spacecraft 3, Boeing’s spacecraft to 

be used during the upcoming Orbital Test Flight (OFT), Boeing’s uncrewed test 

flight to the ISS. Boeing’s Spacecraft 1 and 2 are currently in final integration 

and testing in preparation for their upcoming Crewed Flight Test (CFT) and PostCertification missions.

SpaceX completed several programmatic and technical milestones during 

FY 2019, including the Demo-1 Dragon Integration Checkpoint; the Certification 

Checkpoint; the Integrated System Review, Phase II, and Hazard Reports 

Checkpoint; Parachute Qualification, Part 1; the F9 Launch Vehicle Integration 

Review; and the Merlin Engine Qualification Checkpoint. In March 2019, SpaceX 

successfully completed its first of two ISS demonstration flights to the ISS. At 

2:49 a.m. EST on March 2, SpaceX launched Crew Dragon’s first demonstration 

mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s KSC in Florida. This test 

flight without a crew on board the spacecraft demonstrated SpaceX’s capabilities 

to safely and reliably fly astronauts to and from the ISS. The Crew Dragon accomplished the Nation’s first autonomous docking with the ISS on March 3. NASA 

passed a major milestone on Friday, March 8, 2019, in its goal to restore America’s 

human spaceflight capability when SpaceX’s Crew Dragon returned to Earth after 

the five-day mission docked to the ISS.

Through the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), NASA is ensuring that the 

Agency’s commercial partners’ crew transportation systems are safe, reliable, and 

cost-effective. The certification process assesses progress throughout the production and testing of the partners’ systems, which include launch vehicles, spacecraft, 

ground systems, and all aspects of operations.

Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities

The objective of the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC) 

is to advance private-sector entrepreneurial space activities. All CCSC partners 

continued to make technical and programmatic progress in maturing their respective commercial space capabilities.
6Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

International Space Station

In FY 2019, the ISS approached its 19th year of human habitation by astronauts from NASA and its international partners, enabling a continuous human 

presence living and working in space. The focus continues to be research and 

technology development in such disciplines as biology and biotechnology, Earth 

and space science, human research, and physical science. Research conducted on 

station in FY 2019 included experiments to better understand “normal” human 

adaptations to spaceflight, study how fluids shifts affect blood flow in astronauts, 

and learn how best to grow and harvest vegetables in preparation for longduration missions. The ISS remains a testbed for technology, including tests of 

the Astrobee free-flying robot system, a new air quality monitor system for future 

Artemis Moon missions, the AstroRad Vest to protect astronauts from radiation 

caused by unpredictable solar particle events, and a new technology called tissue chips to advance human health research. Through the end of Expedition 58 

(March 2019), the ISS had hosted over 2,775 investigations from more than 108 

countries/areas. During that timeframe, the number of investigators with research 

on the ISS exceeded 4,000.

Enabling such research are frequent Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 

flights from Northrop Grumman and SpaceX. Northrop Grumman completed two 

cargo flights and SpaceX completed three cargo flights to the ISS totaling more 

than 32,000 pounds of science investigations, spacewalking tools, and critical supplies delivered to the ISS. These cargo missions were complemented by those of our 

International Partners. Roscosmos provided three Progress cargo missions, and the 

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) was responsible for the H-II Transfer 

Vehicle (HTV-8) mission during FY 2018. Additionally, more than 10,800 pounds 

of investigations and equipment were returned to researchers on Earth by the 

SpaceX Dragon capsule, while the Northrop Grumman Cygnus and HTV provided 

significant assistance, such as trash removal mechanisms, before they performed a 

destructive reentry. These resupply missions enabled ISS crewmembers to support 

more than 100 new U.S. science investigations to advance human space exploration to the Moon and Mars and conduct research sponsored by the U.S. National 

Laboratory to benefit life on Earth.
7National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In addition to the CRS missions, there were four successful Soyuz crew missions, 

one Soyuz test mission, an aborted crew mission, and two Soyuz crew return missions occurring in FY 2019. The departure of Soyuz 55S in December 2018 denoted 

the end of Expedition 57, which was supported by only three ISS crewmembers. 

This was due to the Soyuz 56S mission in October 2018, carrying a pair of astronauts, being cut short by a technical problem that triggered an ascent abort minutes 

after launch and a safe landing back on Earth. The ISS was crewed by only three 

astronauts during Expedition 58, as well as by the crew arriving on Soyuz 57S just 

prior to the Soyuz 55S departure. The launch of Soyuz 58S in March 2019 returned 

the ISS to its typical six-person crew and marked the beginning of Expedition 59. 

Onboard Soyuz 58S were the two astronauts (NASA’s Nick Hague and Roscosmos’s 

Alexey Ovchinin) whose 56S mission did not reach orbit earlier in the year, as well 

as rookie NASA astronaut Christina Koch. Astronauts Koch and Hague are participating in extended-duration missions of 11 months and 10 months, respectively, 

to provide researchers with the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration 

spaceflight to prepare for human missions to the Moon and Mars. On December 

28, 2019, Koch set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, eclipsing 

the previous mark of 288 days set by Peggy Whitson. The departure of Soyuz 57S 

in June 2019 and the arrival of Soyuz 59S in June and July, respectively, marked the 

transition from Expedition 59 to Expedition 60, which concluded in early October 

2019. Additionally, Roscosmos performed a test flight on the Soyuz 60S mission, 

which carried no crewmembers but tested vehicle modifications for integration 

with the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle. It was the first-ever unpiloted Soyuz mission 

to the ISS.

Four U.S. extravehicular activities (EVAs), in addition to two Russian Segment 

EVAs, were conducted during FY  2019. A pair of spacewalks in March 2019 

completed two sets of battery replacements and power upgrades on the orbital 

laboratory. Nickel-hydrogen batteries were replaced with newer, more powerful 

lithium-ion batteries on two separate power channels. The batteries store power 

generated by the station’s solar arrays to provide power to the microgravity laboratory when the Station is not in sunlight as it circles Earth during the orbital night. 

The spacewalking work performed continues the overall upgrade of the station’s 

power system that began with similar battery replacement during spacewalks in 
8Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

FY 2017. A spacewalk in April 2019 successfully established a redundant path of 

power to the Canadian-built robotic arm, known as Canadarm2, and installed 

cables to provide for more expansive wireless communications coverage outside 

the orbital complex, as well as for enhanced hardwired computer network capability. On the 218th spacewalk in support of station assembly, maintenance, and 

upgrades, the EVA crew successfully installed the second of two international 

docking adapters (IDAs). The IDAs, or commercial docking ports, will be used 

for the future arrivals of Boeing CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX Crew Dragon 

commercial crew spacecraft. NASA’s commercial crew partnership with Boeing 

and SpaceX will restore launches of astronauts from American soil on American 

rockets and maximize the time U.S. crews can dedicate to scientific research and 

technological advances aboard the orbiting laboratory. Regular human space transportation to the space station is a critical step to opening the space station for 

commercial business to enable the growth of the U.S. commercial space sector and 

the development of a robust low-Earth orbit (LEO) economy. NASA astronauts 

assigned to the first CCP flights have trained extensively with operational teams 

covering all phases of flight in preparation for the flight tests with crewmembers 

planned for 2020.

In June 2019, NASA announced a five-point plan to open the space station for 

business so that U.S. industry’s innovation and ingenuity can accelerate a thriving 

commercial economy in low-Earth orbit. Prior to the announcement, more than 

50 companies were already conducting commercial research and development on 

the space station via the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. NASA’s plan enables the 

use of Government resources for commercial activities, creates the opportunity for 

private astronaut missions to the space station, enables commercial destinations 

in low-Earth orbit, identifies and pursues activities that foster new and emerging 

markets, and quantifies NASA’s long-term demand for activities in low-Earth orbit.

Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA)

Human Research Program (HRP)

In 2019, NASA sponsored research to mitigate human health and performance risks associated with long-duration spaceflight. NASA ISS crewmembers 
9National Aeronautics and Space Administration

conducted 15 biomedical investigations during each of the ISS mission increments, 

completed five major ISS flight investigations, and initiated six new flight investigations with the start of pre-flight baseline data collection or in-flight ISS data 

collection. ISS studies to mitigate the risk of long-duration spaceflight included 

the following: 1) standardized behavioral measures for detecting behavioral health 

risks during exploration missions; 2) assessed exploration food technology on how 

a repetitive menu affects food acceptability and implemented a study to assess 

long-term food stowage to preserve quality during spaceflight; 3) executed ISS 

Spaceflight Standard Measures project that collects a set of core measurements 

from astronauts to better define human spaceflight risks before, during, and after 

long-duration missions; 4) assessed human factors and performance on the impacts 

of switching operational tasks within a crew in order to reduce negative consequences and improve individual and team effectiveness; 5) conducted research 

supporting the development of a continuous fresh-food production system; and 

6) undertook physiological research using quantitative computerized tomography 

(CT)– and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)–based modeling assessments of 

dynamic vertebral strength and injury risk following ISS long-duration spaceflight.

ISS research publications for both the One-Year Mission and Twins Study were 

released in Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance and Science, respectively. 

These publications documented the health impacts of long-duration spaceflight 

from physiological to genomic levels. Initial assessments identified spaceflightspecific changes including decreased body mass, telomere elongation, carotid 

artery distension and increased intima-media thickness, altered ocular structure, 

transcriptional and metabolic changes, DNA methylation changes in immune- and 

oxidative-stress related pathways, gastrointestinal microbiota alterations, and cognitive changes post-flight. Although average telomere length, global gene expression, and microbiome changes returned to nearly preflight levels within six months 

after return to Earth, increased numbers of short telomeres were still observed, and 

the expression of some genes was still altered. These multi-omic, molecular, physiological, and behavioral datasets provide a valuable roadmap of the putative health 

risks for future human spaceflight.

HRP supported the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) 

and its mission to lead a national effort to translate cutting-edge emerging research 
10Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

into mitigation strategies for exploration missions, as well as to educate the next 

generation of space biomedical scientists. TRISH focuses on rapidly translating 

fundamental research concepts into practice, thereby generating tangible health 

outcomes to protect astronaut health. During 2019, TRISH had 56 active projects 

in its science and technology pipeline and released two research announcements: 

1) Biomedical Research Advances for Space Health and 2) an industry solicitation 

asking for proposals from small U.S.-based companies for technologies that would 

be essential for self-reliant healthcare in deep space. TRISH also solicited and 

funded outstanding postdoctoral fellows and supported training for future NASA 

flight surgeons.

In 2019, HRP completed the following key milestones:

• Delivered the Advanced Twin Lifting and Aerobic System (ATLAS) 

deep space exercise system to the NASA Crew Health and Performance 

Systems Capability Leadership Team (SCLT) for testing and evaluation. 

ATLAS is an advanced servomotor-based exercise device for resistance 

and aerobic training, designed to support long-duration space missions 

where mass and volume are severely limited. ATLAS evaluation is ongoing, with a potential ISS demonstration and testing planned for next year.

• Implemented a 60-day bedrest study with the European Space Agency 

(ESA) and German Aerospace Center (DLR) to evaluate centrifugation 

(artificial gravity) as a countermeasure for physiological changes induced 

by spaceflight to protect crew health during future space exploration missions. HRP completed the first campaign of the Artificial Gravity Bed 

Rest-ESA (AGBRESA) study at the DLR envihab facility and initiated 

the second campaign, each with 12 research subjects. To assess artificial 

gravity effectiveness, the study uses three test groups: control not using 

the centrifuge, centrifuge for 30 minutes per day without stopping, and 

centrifuge intermittently for a total of 30 minutes.

• Completed two HRP studies in collaboration with the National Science 

Foundation (NSF) during the 2019 winter-over period at the NSF’s 

McMurdo and Amundsen-Scott (South Pole) stations. The studies 

involved 24 winter-over research subjects and assessed the effects of a 

remote location, extreme isolation, and confinement on team dynamics. 
11National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Shared Cognitive Architectures for Long-term Exploration (SCALE) 

study examined the changes in and effects of shared mental models 

within teams in long-duration isolated and confined environments, and 

the Crew Recommender for Effective Work in Space (CREWS) study collected data on team composition and impacts to performance to assist in 

team composition decisions for future missions.

• Executed long-duration isolation and confinement studies at the 

Nezemnyy Eksperimental’nyy Kompleks (NEK) facility in Moscow, Russia, 

in collaboration with the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems. In 

the SIRIUS-19 120-day mission, crewmembers conducted experiments on 

behalf of nearly 80 different researchers from around the world, including 

seven studies funded by HRP. The HRP studies focused on behavioral 

health and performance measures on topics such as team interactions, 

task switching and entrainment, biomarkers related to stress, crew autonomy, and multicultural factors in team dynamics.

Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS)

Under the management of the SLPSRA Division, BPS at NASA continues its 

strategy to explicitly align research on two primary thrusts, Enabling Exploration 

and Pioneering Scientific Discovery. This structure is in keeping with the framework for research prioritization recommended by the National Research Council 

in its Decadal Survey for Life and Physical Sciences at NASA and reaffirmed in its 

mid-term assessment report released in 2018.

In 2019, SLPSRA directly contributed to the National Quantum Initiative Act 

goals of 2018 through activities in several important areas: SLPSRA’s quantum 

sensor-based Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) performed research directed by a 

Principal Investigator (PI) cadre that includes three Nobel Laureates. CAL generates a quantum state of matter known as the Bose-Einstein Condensate under 

conditions on the ISS that are not available to ground-based investigations. In 

FY 2019, CAL produced results that these investigators are now readying for publication. This research demonstrated the ability of the United States to deploy 

and operate quantum sensor technology in space, putting the United States at the 

forefront of scientific and commercial development of quantum sensor technology 
12Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

for space applications. To build and expand on CAL’s foundation, in 2019, SLPSRA 

selected two science definition teams and tasked them with identifying future 

research directions in important quantum technology areas, with the goal of developing the technology necessary to facilitate the maturing of quantum technologies 

for both basic science investigations and national security and space-based commercial applications. One team began defining the work required for a deep space 

quantum link, which is an optically based quantum communication technology 

that will allow researchers to perform unprecedented tests of the nature of reality using quantum entangled particles over light-second distances from the Moon. 

An investment in such a quantum link has wide applications in quantum communications, quantum networks, and cryptographic applications such as quantum 

key distribution.

Performing electromagnetic levitation in the microgravity environment of the 

ISS provides an opportunity for a better understanding of the physical properties 

of metals and bulk metallic glasses. Levitation provides the opportunity to perform 

“containerless” experiments that eliminate the interactions between a sample and 

the container wall. The microgravity environment removes the effects of gravity as the samples are melted and solidified. Levitation experiments in FY 2019 

provided data for several PIs. Objectives of these PIs included 1) manufacturing 

better cast superalloy components to improve the efficiency, safety, and reliability 

of rocket and jet engines; 2) understanding the ability of metallic liquids to form 

bulk metallic glasses, which are an emerging class of materials with several applications, including cryogenic gears for planetary exploration; and 3) investigating the 

thermophysical properties of high-temperature materials to allow more efficient 

and reliable production of metallic parts using these alloys.

NASA conducted several experiments in two campaigns on the ISS that provided data on cement solidification both in the microgravity environment and in 

a simulated 1⁄6 gravity environment that mimics lunar gravity. These experiments 

provided investigators with the opportunity to fully explore the complex process 

of cement solidification because we do not fully understand how this process will 

work in an altered gravity environment. While investigators are still analyzing 

and quantifying the data, microstructure images show vast differences in morphology between cement cured in Earth gravity and cement cured in reduced gravity. 
13National Aeronautics and Space Administration

That is because microstructural development of hydrating cement occurs in stages 

during both the hydration reaction and the hardening process. Minimizing gravitydriven phenomena, such as thermosolutal convective flow and sedimentation, 

ensures crystal growth strictly by diffusion, which produces a microstructure in 

altered gravity that is different than that observed in typical laboratory conditions on Earth. Investigators expect different microstructures and, consequently, 

altered material properties between cements solidified on Earth and in reduced 

gravity. Understanding the results of these experiments will allow NASA to be 

able to predict cement performance in an altered gravity environment in order to 

successfully use in situ resources to construct durable planetary habitats. This type 

of construction could eventually reduce the amount of resources NASA needs to 

launch, thus reducing the overall costs.

Experiments with small particles suspended in a fluid, known as colloids, developed and validated a procedure to customize average particle separation in the 

colloid by varying the temperature of the sample cell. The goal of this experiment 

was to increase the number of charge carriers in a gel colloidal system and hold 

open the possibility for a significant increase in solar panel efficiency.

ISS experiments demonstrated that flames could be stabilized using electric 

fields under conditions that would not otherwise support combustion. Because 

industrial burners can be modeled as a collection of non-buoyant flamelets, these 

results could lead to new, ultra-lean combustor designs featuring much cleanerburning flames.

SLPSRA-funded investigators began a new series of combustion experiments 

in NASA Glenn Research Center’s (GRC) Zero-Gravity drop tower facility in 

FY 2019. The high-pressure transcritical combustion (HPTC) experiments investigated the spontaneous ignition of a fuel droplet injected into a high-pressure, hightemperature environment. These experiments are a simplification of the processes 

occurring in practical engines and leverage discoveries in previous ISS experiments. The research will provide needed insights into the high-pressure ignition 

and combustion processes that are critical to the design of future engines that will 

operate at much higher pressures than current engines. The experiments showed 

unique and two-stage ignition behavior not previously reported in the literature.
14Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

In 2019, NASA made significant progress to enable exploration in the area of 

space biology. Two flights of the Veggie-04 experiment, a joint Space Biology and 

HRP experiment, were conducted in order to help investigate food production 

systems for the space station and long-duration exploration missions and to test 

specific pick-and-eat crops for micronutrient delivery and consumption using foods 

like mizuna. This study is exploring the viability of growing fresh food in space 

to support astronauts on long-term missions. The salad-type plants are harvested 

after 28 days of growth, with some samples stowed for analysis and the rest tastetested by the crew aboard the station. This spaceflight experiment will contribute 

to NASA’s efforts to develop reliable autonomous culture of plants that assist lifesupport functions for long-duration missions.

In 2019, the first-ever comprehensive characterization of the microbiology of 

the ISS was completed and published. Over several years, numerous surfaces of 

the ISS were repeatedly sampled. It was discovered that different surfaces and 

ISS locations had unique and shared microorganisms, composed of benign and 

potentially pathogenic microorganisms. Also, strains of bacteria, which were 

previously unidentified on Earth, were discovered. The investigators determined 

that the ISS microbial flora fluctuated over time, depending on the crew and 

cargo exchanges. This study advances knowledge of microbial communities of a 

built, closed system environment and how this environment interacts with the 

astronauts. The findings from these studies will aid in evaluating and refining 

risks to crew health for long-duration deep space missions and in developing crew 

vehicles and human habitats for the Moon and Mars sustained missions or in 

better understanding closed and semi-closed environments on Earth to further 

assess human risks.

In 2019, through rodent tissue-sharing experiments, Space Biology investigators 

discovered that spaceflight-based changes in the gut bacterial flora (microbiota) of 

mice may be attributed to specific space environmental factors. This study demonstrated how spaceflight-caused changes in the gut microbiome are integrated with 

the functions of other tissues, as observed on Earth. The findings may provide 

directions for developing nutrition- and probiotic-based countermeasures for maintaining crew health during long-duration space missions in low-Earth orbit and 

lunar expeditions. Studies of this type could pave the way for developing methods 
15National Aeronautics and Space Administration

for maintaining health using “simple” solutions that are usable by space tourists 

and commercial ventures.

Sample analysis for the Rodent Research (RR)–9 joint experiment was completed in 2019. One Space Biology investigator characterized the effects of the 

spaceflight environment on eye physiology and function. The investigator discovered that this environment caused damage to the retina and the blood-retinal 

barrier. This study provided scientific data that characterized a new risk factor for 

human spaceflight. The findings confirmed the need for countermeasure development to protect the eye and blood-retinal barrier to maintain ocular health during 

long-term human spaceflight. Another investigator from the RR-9 experiment 

characterized the effects of the spaceflight environment on knee joint function and 

physiology. In 2019, the investigator discovered that the cartilage of the knee joints 

in mice was completely lost due to exposure to the microgravity environment, 

resulting in bone-to-bone contact at these joints. The findings from this study add 

a new risk factor for human exposure to microgravity, which could affect physical 

activity in microgravity and upon return to gravity (on Earth, the Moon, or Mars) 

and indicates the need for new countermeasure development to protect cartilage. 

The RR-12 experiment was also executed on orbit in 2019. The RR-12 mission will 

investigate the effects of spaceflight on both the primary immune response and 

secondary immune response. When the immune system of an individual animal 

encounters a particular toxin or pathogen for the first time, it triggers the primary immune response, activating the production of early antibodies and memory 

cells that later “remember” the toxin or pathogen. Subsequent encounters with 

the same toxin or pathogen trigger the secondary immune response. The mission 

could uncover new ways to improve vaccines and therapies for humans both in 

space and on Earth.

In 2019, Space Biology investigators developed a partial weight-bearing method 

for rats and demonstrated that the method has no impact to rodent stress or overall well-being. This method enables studying partial gravity (e.g., Moon and Mars 

gravity) in a ground laboratory to test basic hypotheses, conduct studies for proof 

of concept, and define science requirements for ISS experiments. The partial 

weight-bearing method has resulted in the identification of a nutraceutical resveratrol, which is an over the counter anti-oxidant found in berries and peanuts 
16Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

that prevents muscle deconditioning. This is an important system that can be used 

to test countermeasures for use in deep space exploration missions to the Moon 

and Mars.

The Micro-15 experiment, launched on SpaceX CRS-18 in July 2019, investigated the fundamental biology of mammalian stem cells during differentiation into 

mouse embryos. Results from this study will be used to advance the understanding 

of stem cell differentiation processes and mechanisms for normal embryo development and tissue regenerative processes and to characterize the impacts of the spaceflight environment on stem cell differentiation. This has far-reaching implications 

for risks related to tissue degeneration and supports countermeasure identification 

related to maintenance or induction of tissue regeneration and wound healing on 

Earth and in space.

The Spectrum Multi-Fluorescence Spectral Imager (Spectrum) was delivered to 

the ISS on the NG-12 mission in November 2019. Spectrum will provide a new, 

valuable capability for Space Biology researchers to study the effects of microgravity on plants and other organisms. Using Spectrum, scientists can identify which 

genes are expressed in biological cells through fluorescent imaging. Understanding 

which genes are expressed in biological cells is key to understanding how biological 

organisms respond and adapt to the stresses of spaceflight. This knowledge will 

help future space researchers select or genetically engineer plants for survival in 

space—a critical component for food production during long-duration space missions or settlements on the Moon or Mars.

The Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System (PONDS), developed in 2019, is 

a new plant-growth approach that contains both an area for a contained plantgrowth substrate and a reservoir for water and/or plant nutrient solutions. The 

system provides more reliable water delivery to seeds for germination while avoiding overwatering. PONDS units can be easily and cheaply fabricated for use in 

classrooms in an effort to inspire the next generation of students to pursue science 

activities, as well as in home gardens. This project was featured in Popular Science: 

https://www.popsci.com/iss-ponds-space-plants/.

In February 2019, Space Biology selected four studies to reach new heights as it 

sends science experiments to the Moon and back to Earth as part of the Artemis 1 

mission to the Moon. Plant seeds, yeast, algae, and fungi will travel in the Artemis 
17National Aeronautics and Space Administration

crew capsule to investigate how the deep space environment, especially radiation, 

affects these specimens. These studies are key pathfinder investigations that will 

provide the first data on how the cislunar environment impacts biology since 

Apollo 17 occurred 47 years ago. The investigations will use cutting-edge, stateof-the art science techniques not available in 1972 to provide unprecedented data 

to characterize the physiology, genetics, and mechanism of life in deep space. The 

findings will be used to define future experiments with the objectives of fostering 

human exploration to the Moon and Mars.

The NASA GeneLab open science database (https://genelab.nasa.gov) has been 

increasingly successful in enabling scientific discovery and space exploration 

through multi-omics data mining of its 221 spaceflight datasets. By the end of 2019, 

GeneLab had been the sole source for 12 scientific peer-reviewed articles, reflecting 

the generation of new knowledge on how life adapts to space through the aggregate 

analysis of multiple spaceflight omics datasets (e.g., changes in DNA content, gene 

expression, or protein levels) archived in GeneLab. Many of these publications 

were the result of collaborative analysis done by more than 120 users from around 

the world, who joined the GeneLab Analysis Working groups and volunteer their 

expertise in bioinformatics to extract more information from these previously published data. These findings advance our understanding of key crew-health threats 

for long-duration exploration and demonstrate the power of open science.

Human Spaceflight Capabilities

During FY 2019, Rocket Propulsion Testing (RPT) safely performed 884 tests 

of rocket engines and components at various levels of thrust. Hot fire test time 

totaled 36,643 seconds. In addition to the hot fire tests, RPT facilities performed 

603 hours of thermal vacuum testing for vehicle certifications and facility checkouts in preparation for the vehicle certifications. These tests were completed with 

only three facility-caused test delays, resulting in a 99.7 percent test stand availability, exceeding the Agency performance goal of 90 percent as defined in the 

NASA Management and Performance report.

RPT performed seven RS-25 engine tests on the SSCusaf A-1 test stand. 

The tests accounted for 3,197 seconds of hot fire test time in a multi-year effort 
18Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

to certify the engine for use on the SLS core booster stage. Other test activities 

included testing support for SpaceX, Aerojet Rocketdyne, other NASA programs, 

and Department of Defense (DOD) projects such as the U.S. Air Force (USAF)–

designed and –developed Hydrocarbon Boost components. The Hydrocarbon 

Boost Program is a critical effort to support the DOD objective of replacing the 

RD-180 engine used in the Atlas V launch vehicle. In addition to supporting the 

USAF hydrocarbon program, NASA continued performing Aerojet Rocketdyne 

hydrocarbon full-scale component testing on E-1 Test Stand, Cell 1, for the AR-1 

engine program.

At the Johnson Space Center (JSC) White Sands Test Facility (WSTF), engineers conducted tests to support NASA’s Orion and CCP, Aerojet Rocketdyne, 

the Missile Defense Agency, and the USAF Peacekeeper missile-safing project, as 

well as hot fire testing for the USAF Minuteman missile life-extension program. 

On Test Stands 301, 301A, 401, and 406, RPT continued testing the Orion service 

module (provided by ESA), the Boeing CST-100 service module, the launch abort 

engines, the reaction control system, and the orbital maneuvering and attitudecontrol thrusters.

At GRC’s Plum Brook Station (PBS), the In Space Propulsion (ISP) facility 

performed Evolvable Cryogenics Project (eCRYO) and Structural Heat Intercept, 

Insulation and Vibration Evaluation Rig (SHIIVER) in a simulated space environment (vacuum and thermal). The ISP facility also supported the Science Mission 

Directorate (SMD) Balloon Program. RPT also continued collaborating with GRC 

to refurbish the ISP facility to perform propulsion-related testing for systems of up 

to 30 kilopounds-force with 300 seconds of run time.

At MSFC, RPT continued testing rocket engine components manufactured 

using select laser melting and other additive manufacturing processes, furthering 

the capabilities of both NASA and RPT.

The RPT Program Office pursued results from the RPT Benchmarking Initiative 

for Test Efficiencies and Affordability performed in FY 2018. The goal is to identify 

tangible changes that could be implemented at the participating RPT in order to 

improve RPT operational efficiencies and decrease costs. Results of the benchmarking initiative will be used to ensure that efficient and affordable RPT test 

services are available to current and future test customers.
19National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Launch Services

The Launch Services Program (LSP) provided expertise and active launch 

mission management for over 60 NASA scientific spacecraft missions in various 

stages of development. LSP continuously works with the U.S. commercial launch 

industry, assessing their designs and providing advice in an effort to expand the 

selection of domestic launch vehicles available to NASA’s missions, thereby nurturing a competitive commercial launch service environment.

In FY  2019, LSP acquired new launch services for three NASA missions 

through competitively awarded launch service task orders for the Science Mission 

Directorate: The Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) will launch aboard a 

Falcon 9 Full Thrust in April 2021; the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) 

will launch aboard a Falcon 9 Full Thrust in July 2021; and the Lucy mission will 

launch aboard an Atlas V in October 2021. Both IXPE and Lucy are planned for 

launch from the East Coast’s CCAFS in Florida, with DART launching from the 

West Coast at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Currently, launch services 

task order acquisitions are in work for three science missions: the Geostationary 

Operational Environmental Satellite–T (GOES-T); the Psyche mission (with the 

Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers [EscaPADE] and Janus 

missions as secondaries); and the Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds, and ocean Ecosystem 

(PACE) mission. In addition, NASA and LSP continue to partner with several 

universities and NASA Centers to launch small research satellites through the 

CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), providing rideshare opportunities for smallsatellite payloads to fly on upcoming launches when space is available. These partnerships have provided regular educational opportunities for students in science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, thereby strengthening the Nation’s future workforce. As of FY 2019, CubeSats had been selected 

from 39 states and Puerto Rico, with 101 missions launched and 35 manifested 

on NASA, National Reconnaissance Office, USAF, and commercial missions. In 

FY 2019, 19 CSLI CubeSat missions were launched. The Venture Class Launch 

Services (VCLS) contracts were established to foster a commercial launch market dedicated to flying small-satellite payloads. VCLS serves as an alternative to 

the current rideshare approach, in which one or more CubeSats or other small 
20Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

payloads take advantage of excess payload capacity on a rocket whose primary mission is to launch a larger satellite. The VCLS rockets also serve as a cost-effective 

launch option for small-satellite primary missions with a higher risk tolerance. In 

December 2018, Rocket Lab USA successfully launched 10 NASA CubeSats to 

low-Earth orbit aboard the Electron launch vehicle on the first-ever VCLS mission. 

Virgin Orbit (formerly Virgin Galactic) will follow with a scheduled launch in the 

first half of 2020 aboard the LauncherOne launch vehicle. The LSP also successfully completed Category 3 certification of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch 

vehicle and continued pre-certification activities with Blue Origin’s New Glenn, 

United Launch Services’ Vulcan, Northrop Grumman’s Omega, and SpaceX’s 

Falcon Heavy launch vehicles. The LSP will continue to work toward certifying 

new commercial launch vehicles to launch high-value payloads.

Along with full end-to-end launch service management, the program continues 

to offer advisory support, expertise, and knowledge to NASA programs and projects 

utilizing launch services not procured and managed by LSP. The program is currently providing these advisory services to several programs and missions, including ISS Cargo Resupply Service missions; Gateway; the CCP; SMD’s James Webb 

Space Telescope (JWST), and the NASA–Indian Space Research Organization 

Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission.

Advanced Exploration Systems (AES)

The Advanced Exploration Systems Division manages the Gateway program, 

the Human Landing System (HLS) program, Artemis surface suit development, 

and risk-reduction technologies for lunar and Mars exploration. AES infuses technologies and develops high-priority capabilities using a combination of unique 

in-house activities and public-private partnerships to develop and test prototype 

systems that will form the basis for future human spaceflight missions.

Risk-Reduction Technologies

AES develops and demonstrates prototype exploration systems to reduce mission risk, validate operational concepts, leverage partner capabilities, and lower 

life-cycle costs to help enable lunar and deep space missions. In FY 2019, AES 
21National Aeronautics and Space Administration

continued to advance technologies related to deep space habitats following the 

successful completion of ground-based prototype testing, identified and addressed 

knowledge gaps for lunar environments and resources, and leveraged the ISS as a 

testbed to advance the technology readiness of deep space systems. AES accomplished the following risk-reduction milestones in FY 2019:

• Launched the Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor (SAM) to the ISS. A 

compact, autonomous, real-time air-quality monitoring system, SAM 

immediately detects trace contaminants that pose potential threats to 

crewmembers’ well-being. This advancement is critical for future human 

spaceflight missions, especially missions to the Moon and Mars, when 

sample return to Earth will not be an option.

• Delivered the Universal Waste Management System (UWMS) for Orion. 

The UWMS is the next-generation space toilet that has been redesigned 

for greater crew comfort, more efficient water recovery, and less complex systems that reduce volume and maintenance. A duplicate UWMS 

will be installed on the ISS next year, and it is also compatible with 

Gateway standards.

• Completed a successful Ascent Abort-2 flight test for Orion. Orion’s 

Launch Abort System (LAS) is an integral part of ensuring crew safety during launch. This state-of-the-art crew escape system is attached to the top of 

the spacecraft, ready to propel the crew module away from the SLS rocket 

within milliseconds should a life-threatening event arise during launch.

• Completed ground testing of five NextSTEP-2 prototype habitats from 

Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and 

Sierra Nevada Corporation. AES evaluated the different full-scale, deep 

space habitat ground prototypes to identify the capabilities, habitat layouts, and design features that would be most enhancing to deep space 

missions and crew performance. Astronaut test subjects conducted the 

same representative multi-day mission simulations in each of the contractor’s prototypes.

• Conducted proof-of-concept testing of active radiation shielding using 

electric dipoles. AES conducted proof-of-concept testing of active radiation shielding at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The experiment 
22Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

used high-voltage electric fields to deflect incoming charged particles, 

showing that it may be a feasible method to protect astronauts from the 

harmful effects of deep space radiation on long missions. Active radiation 

shielding could be much lighter weight than passive radiation shielding 

that is integrated with spacecraft structures.

• Demonstrated Refabricator operations on the ISS (integrated 3D printer 

and recycler). The first integrated recycler and 3D printer was successfully installed onboard the ISS. The Refabricator turns plastic materials 

of various sizes and shapes into feedstock used to 3D print items. The 

entire process happens in a single automated machine about the size of a 

mini refrigerator.

• Launched three Astrobee free flyers to the ISS. The free-flying Astrobee 

robotic system will help astronauts reduce time they spend on routine 

duties, leaving them able to focus more on the things that only humans 

can do. Working autonomously or via remote control by astronauts, flight 

controllers, or researchers on the ground, the robots are designed to complete tasks such as taking inventory, documenting experiments conducted 

by astronauts with their built-in cameras, or working together to move 

cargo throughout the station. In addition, the system serves as a research 

platform that can be outfitted and programmed to carry out experiments 

in microgravity.

Gateway

Following Vice President Michael Pence’s announcement on March 26, 2019, 

that NASA would return to the Moon earlier than the original 2028 goal, the 

Gateway team refocused the assembly plans into two phases. Phase 1 focused on 

a minimal configuration that can be deployed quickly and provide significant 

infrastructural support to the 2024 landing mission, and Phase 2 focused on longduration surface stays and international partnerships. Since then, the team has

• awarded a contract to Maxar Technologies to develop and demonstrate 

power, propulsion, and communications capabilities for the Power and 

Propulsion Element (PPE), the first Gateway component to launch to 

lunar orbit;
23National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) for Gateway logistics services, 

followed quickly by a final RFP; and

• issued an RFP to Northrop Grumman to develop the minimum-capability 

Gateway habitation module, known as the Habitation and Logistics 

Outpost (HALO).

Human Landing System

The Human Landing System team conducted the second Design Analysis Cycle 

(DAC) meeting from March 25 to 27, watching together as Vice President Pence 

addressed NASA and the Nation on March 26, with the challenge to return to the 

Moon by 2024. Since that time, the HLS team has

• issued Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) 

E for Human Landing System Studies, Risk Reduction, Development, and 

Demonstration, and selected 11 companies to conduct 17 studies and 

develop 25 prototypes;

• established the HLS program office at Marshall Space Flight Center and 

selected the program manager, Lisa Watson-Morgan;

• issued a final NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 

(NextSTEP H) for the Human Landing System, after issuing two drafts 

and dispositioning more than 1,150 comments from industry before issuing the final BAA; and

• issued a request for information (RFI) for Artemis surface suits. The 

request sought ideas from industry for shifting surface suit production to the private sector following the in-house build for the 2024 

landing mission.

Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN)

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation Program is responsible for leading the Agency’s space communications and tracking through the management of 

its space communications networks, as well as developing advanced space communications and navigations technology. It also serves as the Agency’s representative 

in domestic and international forums in the areas of spectrum management; space 
24Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

communication architectures and data standards; and positioning, navigation, 

and timing policy. SCaN continued to lead the development of advanced space 

communication and navigation technology for the benefit of scientific and human 

exploration missions in near-Earth, deep space, and commercial space enterprises.

NASA operates and maintains three space communication networks—the Near 

Earth Network (NEN), Deep Space Network (DSN), and Space Network (SN)—

composed of a ground network and its on-orbit Tracking and Data Relay Satellites 

(TDRSs). Consistent with prior years’ successes, the three space communications 

networks provided approximately 252,644 tracking passes, while maintaining an 

extremely high proficiency level of 99 percent or better, above the 95 percent 

requirement. In this capacity, NASA served as a reliable partner to a wide range of 

external customers (other U.S. and international government agencies and commercial entities) for human exploration, robotic spaceflight launches, low-Earth 

and deep space science, and SmallSats (including CubeSats and NanoSats).

Astronauts and spacecraft depend on this reliable uplink and downlink of communications for the delivery of commands and essential crew instructions, as well 

as the retrieval of health and safety information and science data, with delivery of 

the data to individual mission control centers. During FY 2019, SCaN networks 

provided 24/7 global near-Earth and deep space communication and navigation 

(C&N) services to over 100 NASA programs and other U.S. Government entities, international civil space agencies, and commercial missions, including human 

spaceflight C&N requirements of the ISS. Several of these missions have more 

than one spacecraft, although these are counted as a single mission. Also, several 

missions are supported by more than one of the three networks; these are also 

counted as single missions. The networks provided launch and early-orbit telemetry, tracking, and communication (TT&C) services to 25 expendable launch 

vehicles (ELVs) in FY 2018.

The SN began working transition activities with customers in preparation for 

the completion of the Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) project. Activities included support to SGSS for project integration, testing, deployment, training, and transition to operations. In August 2019, the SN successfully 

transitioned TDRS-9 to SGSS to support Level 6 testing. Systems integration 

activities progressed, with SGSS completing a provisional acceptance testing that 
25National Aeronautics and Space Administration

determined whether the system met functionality and performance requirements, a 

key milestone before the initial Operations Readiness Review (ORR). SCaN’s DSN 

Aperture Enhancement Project continued the addition of two 34-meter antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain, which will 

increase the DSN’s capacity.

NASA continued its leading role in coordinating the development of international space communication architectures and standards, which enable cross 

support and interoperability of systems. This work translates into reduced risk for 

missions and hundreds of millions of dollars in savings over a decade for NASA 

without reducing services and coverage for space missions. SCaN’s Data Standards 

Manager was elected to serve as the chairman of the Management Council for 

the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS), an international 

organization of 11 spacefaring nations chartered in 1982 to develop standards to 

solve common problems in the development and operation of space data systems. 

The CCSDS works closely with the Interagency Operations Advisory Group 

(IOAG) to ensure that standards are developed in coordination with Agency 

architecture plans and are responsive to Agency space missions. The IOAG is 

recognized as the international advisory body responsible for the coordination of 

cross support and interoperability for space communications, and it cooperates 

across the various international exploration forums focused on the coordination of future missions. As NASA’s representative to the IOAG, SCaN engaged 

in key discussions and studies related to interoperability and cross support for 

future Moon and Mars missions, mission operations, optical communications, 

space internetworking, and other key issues. The IOAG takes guidance from the 

Interoperability Plenary (IOP), which includes representation from senior leadership of the IOAG agencies. The IOP met in December 2018 to review the progress 

of the IOAG since the last IOP meeting three years prior and to provide guidance 

for the coming years.

The Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) was launched on the Orbital Test 

Bed spacecraft on June 25, 2019. With the DSAC onboard, a spacecraft traveling 

beyond Earth orbit will need only a one-way signal from Earth to navigate autonomously, which will free up valuable time on SCaN’s Deep Space Network. DSAC 

also has a high degree of clock stability, meaning it can maintain its accuracy over 
26Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

years. SCaN also completed a system critical design review for the Integrated Laser 

Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD) Low-Earth Orbit User Modem and 

Amplifier Terminal (ILLUMA-T), which will be onboard the ISS and will communicate directly with LCRD.

SCaN worked within the CCSDS to release its first two industry standards 

for interoperable, free-space optical communications. Commonly known in the 

spacefaring community as Blue Books, the CCSDS Recommended Standards 

publications establish comprehensive technology standards for the international 

space community. These include highly detailed specifications for the manufacture and use of interfaces, technical capabilities and protocols, and other controlling standards such as encoding regimes. This is the culmination of a multi-year 

standardization effort in CCSDS, with active participation from NASA, ESA, the 

Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), DLR, JAXA, and others. The standard is designed for photon-starved free space optical communications, as occurs 

for missions to deep space, the Moon, and low-power Earth orbiting missions. 

Initial demonstrations of this technology will be hosted by NASA’s Psyche and 

Orion spacecraft.

SCaN continued to serve as the Agency’s spectrum manager, with responsibility 

for representing NASA’s spectrum interests and negotiating on its behalf with the 

White House, Congress, relevant Government agencies and national regulators, 

and interagency partners in the determination of spectrum allocations. As part 

of the U.S. delegation, SCaN participated in the World Radiocommunication 

Conference (WRC-19), concluding in November 2019. WRC-19 set protection 

levels for science and weather systems operating in the 24-GHz band that balanced 

the needs of both the scientific and the commercial uses of the spectrum. The 

adopted regulations support the acquisition of data used for weather prediction, 

science, and public safety while also allowing the development and deployment 

of 5G technologies. The U.S. regulators have expressed commitment to resolving 

any reported interference regardless of the point in time the interference occurs. 

NASA has initiated efforts to monitor any potential impact of 5G systems and is 

committed to working with regulators and industry to facilitate sharing.

SCaN continued leading NASA’s efforts in U.S. interagency and International 

Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Policy Management. Since 2007, it 
27National Aeronautics and Space Administration

has sponsored the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board and an indepen-

dent Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) board and, as Executive Director, 

coordinated the National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board’s biannual sessions. 

Its success led the NASA Administrator, in 2019, to appoint a SCaN employee as 

Executive Secretary of the National Space Council (NSpC) Users’ Advisory Group 

(UAG), another FACA board. The UAG held its fourth meeting in October 2019, 

during which it approved four key recommendations and identified critical areas 

for cooperation with the PNT Advisory Board in protecting Global Positioning 

System (GPS) space users from harmful interference. NASA continued assist-

ing the USAF with the implementation of GPS Block IIIF, the next batch of 22 

GPS satellites, to protect and improve GPS capabilities to support space users. 

Efforts include 1)  preserving current navigation capabilities within the Space 

Service Volume (SSV), the region of space between LEO and Geosynchronous 

Earth Orbit (GEO); 2)  implementing Laser Retro-reflector Arrays (LRAs) to 

enable high-precision measurements; and 3) implementing Canadian-furnished 

GPS Search and Rescue (GPS SAR) payloads. NASA continued working with 

foreign Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) service providers to develop 

an Interoperable Multi-GNSS SSV that will expand the PNT capabilities beyond 

what any one GNSS can provide on its own. This included coordinating U.S. 

efforts at the United Nations to develop the booklet “The Interoperable GNSS 

SSV” (first edition), released in November 2018, an international baseline to use 

GPS/GNSS for mission planners in space agencies and commercial space. NASA 

also began work on a second edition for release in 2020–21, which will further 

improve the analyses and expand the scope beyond GEO altitude and into lunar 

space. Other efforts include the development of the international GNSS-based 

Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR), of which GPS SAR is the 

U.S. contribution, to locate emergency beacons. Key events in FY 2019 included 

1)  qualifying the emergency location beacon for the Orion crew life-preserver 

units; 2) tracking the emergency location signals during the October 11, 2018, 

Soyuz launch abort; and 3) assisting the U.S. CCP in implementing SAR beacons.
28Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Science Mission Directorate

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) explores scientific questions about 

Earth, the Sun, our solar system, and the universe beyond. NASA works with our 

partners and the science community at large to collect data and conduct experiments with our air, space, and ground-based observatories. In fiscal year 2019, SMD 

operated more than 65 missions through the four SMD science divisions (Earth 

Science, Planetary Science, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics), along with the Joint 

Agency Satellite Division and the James Webb Space Telescope Program Office.

The research that SMD conducts provides critical insights into Earth and space 

systems that increase societal benefits across the globe. Earth-observing satellites 

allow us to track severe weather and observe Earth’s changing climate. SMD’s 

space-based observatories have explored our solar system and beyond, identifying 

exoplanets and the first sign of a moon outside our solar system. Our heliophysics 

observatory studies the fundamental nature of space around Earth and throughout 

our solar system—a system driven by the constant outflow of energy and material 

from the Sun. Finally, planetary missions have researched Mars’s seismic activity 

and orbited the asteroid Bennu in an effort to understand how our solar system’s 

planets originally formed and how life began.

Earth Science

The Earth Science Division (ESD) used observations from satellites, instruments on the International Space Station (ISS), airplanes, balloons, ships, and 

land to collect data about the science of our planet’s atmospheric motion and 

composition; land cover, land use, and vegetation; ocean currents, temperatures 

and upper-ocean life; and ice on land and sea. The four program elements of ESD 

design the science and technology, launch airborne and space missions, analyze 

the data and observations, and develop ways to put the information to use for 

societal benefit. More than collecting the data, ESD works with Government and 

commercial partners in the United States and internationally to put that unique 

information to work as we explore our home planet, improve lives, and safeguard 

the future for people all over the world. Earth science research also helps advance 
29National Aeronautics and Space Administration

space exploration by helping scientists recognize the basic markers for life across 

the universe.

In FY 2019, ESD launched multiple science investigations to the ISS. The Global 

Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) was one such instrument and arrived 

at the ISS on December 8, 2018. It provides high-quality laser ranging observations of Earth’s forests and topography required to advance the understanding of 

important carbon- and water-cycling processes, biodiversity, and habitat. GEDI 

is mounted on the Japanese Experiment Module’s Exposed Facility and provides 

the first high-resolution observations of forest vertical structure at a global scale. 

These observations will quantify the aboveground carbon stored in vegetation and 

changes that result from vegetation disturbance and recovery, the potential for 

forests to sequester carbon in the future, and habitat structure and its influence on 

habitat quality and biodiversity.

Another science instrument to recently arrive at the ISS was the Orbiting 

Carbon Observatory–3 (OCO-3), which arrived in May 2019. OCO-3 examines the 

complex dynamics of Earth’s atmospheric carbon cycle by collecting measurements 

to track variations in a specific type of atmospheric carbon dioxide. OCO-3 is also 

contributing to focused studies of how space-based measurements can constrain 

rapidly changing anthropogenic (humanmade) emissions. Anthropogenic emissions could be the largest source of uncertainty in the global carbon budget. OCO-3 

measurements help reduce the uncertainty of natural fluxes. Understanding carbon sources can aid in forecasting increased atmospheric heat retention and reduce 

its long-term risks.

ESD is seeing great science returns from the recently launched Ice, Cloud and 

land Elevation Satellite–2 (ICESat-2). The satellite is measuring the height of sea 

ice to within an inch, tracing the terrain of previously unmapped Antarctic valleys, surveying remote ice sheets, and peering through forest canopies and shallow 

coastal waters. With each pass of the ICESat-2 satellite, the mission adds to datasets 

tracking Earth’s rapidly changing ice. Researchers are ready to use the information 

to study sea-level rise resulting from melting ice sheets and glaciers and to improve 

sea ice and climate forecasts.

Through technology development, research, and development of new applications, NASA’s Earth Science program enhances our fundamental understanding 
30Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

of our home planet and improved everyday life on Earth. Below are a few research 

highlights from FY 2019.

NASA-Created Map Saves $1.2 Million in Staff Time

A NASA-created map that consolidated 26 different postfire datasets can now 

do in minutes what used to take Federal, state, and local agencies 800 hours to 

compile. In 2018, a record year for fires, this map saved those agencies the equivalent of more than $1.2 million in staff time. An online, postfire decision-support 

tool that quickly provides important information for response teams in the wake 

of a fire, the map shows where a fire’s aftermath leaves an area vulnerable to debris 

flow, flooding, erosion, and landslides. The map is called Rehabilitation Capability 

Convergence for Ecosystem Recovery (RECOVER), created by Keith Weber, an 

investigator supported by the NASA Earth Applied Sciences Disasters Program.

International Team Makes Unexpected Discovery Under Greenland Ice

An international team of researchers, including a NASA glaciologist, has discovered a large meteorite impact crater hiding beneath more than a half mile of 

ice in northwest Greenland. The crater—the first of any size found under the 

Greenland ice sheet—is one of the 25 largest impact craters on Earth, measuring 

roughly 1,000 feet deep and more than 19 miles in diameter, an area slightly larger 

than that inside Washington’s Capital Beltway.

NASA Provides New Look at Puerto Rico Post–Hurricane Maria

When Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico head-on as a Category 4 storm with 

winds of up to 155 miles per hour in September 2017, it damaged homes, flooded 

towns, devastated the island’s forests, and caused the longest electricity blackout 

in U.S. history. Two new NASA research efforts delve into Hurricane Maria’s farreaching effects on the island’s forests as seen in aerial surveys and on its residents’ 

energy and electricity access as seen in data from space. The findings illustrate the 

staggering scope of Hurricane Maria’s damage to both the natural environment 

and communities.
31National Aeronautics and Space Administration

More Glaciers in East Antarctica Are Waking Up

East Antarctica has the potential to reshape coastlines around the world through 

sea-level rise, but scientists have long considered it more stable than its neighbor, 

West Antarctica. Now, new detailed NASA maps of ice velocity and elevation 

show that a group of glaciers spanning one-eighth of East Antarctica’s coast have 

begun to lose ice over the past decade, hinting at widespread changes in the ocean. 

Joint Agency Satellite Division (JASD)

The Joint Agency Satellite Division is an organization within NASA’s Science 

Mission Directorate with broad cross-cutting responsibilities. In partnership with 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), JASD manages 

the development and launch of environmental satellite programs, projects, and 

instruments on a reimbursable basis.

Heliophysics

The Heliophysics Division (HPD) studies the Sun and how it influences the 

very nature of space, planets, and the entire solar system. By studying key space 

phenomena and processes—many of which are driven by the constant outflow 

of energy and material from our Sun—heliophysics research supports situational 

awareness to better protect astronauts, satellites, and robotic missions traveling 

through the solar system. To gather such crucial insights, Heliophysics missions 

explore places never before visited: right into the Sun itself, into pockets of intense 

radiation near Earth, and past the planets into interstellar space.

Understanding space weather is a key area of research for heliophysics. Space 

weather is a naturally occurring phenomenon with the potential to substantially 

disrupt or damage technological systems, including communication and navigation 

systems, the electric power grid, and space launch and satellite operations, as well 

as adversely impact the health of humans in space and passengers and crew in 

high-altitude aircraft.

Reducing the Nation’s vulnerability to space weather has been identified as 

a national priority and necessitates the development of improved capabilities to 
32Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

understand and mitigate the associated hazards. The HPD’s Space Weather Science 

Application (SWxSA)—called for by the 2019 National Space Weather Strategy 

and Action Plan—seeks to improve understanding of our complex space environment and enhance capabilities that protect and mitigate space weather impacts 

on life, society, infrastructure, and space exploration. SWxSA makes observations 

from space and develops models that directly advance the space weather forecasting capability that the Nation requires in partnership with NOAA, the U.S. Air 

Force, the NSF, and other collaborators as needed. Additionally, SWxSA supports 

NASA’s Artemis program to help protect human explorers as we move forward to 

the Moon and to Mars.

To study the very source of the outpouring of solar material that drives space 

weather, NASA launched Parker Solar Probe, a “Mission to Touch the Sun,” in 

August 2018. Parker completed its first perihelion, or closest approach to the Sun, 

in November 2018. The primary science goals for the mission are to trace the flow 

of energy and understand the heating of the solar corona and to explore what 

accelerates the solar wind. The outflow of material from the solar wind fills up 

the inner part of our solar system, creating a bubble that envelops the planets 

and extends far past the orbit of Neptune. Embedded in the solar wind’s energized 

particles and solar material is the Sun’s magnetic field. Additional one-off eruptions of solar material called coronal mass ejections also carry this solar magnetic 

field—and in both cases, this magnetized material can interact with Earth’s natural 

magnetic field and cause geomagnetic storms. Such storms can trigger the aurora 

or even power outages, and other types of solar activity can cause communications 

problems, disrupt satellite electronics, and even endanger astronauts—especially 

beyond the protective bubble of Earth’s magnetic field. After the spacecraft’s second solar encounter, Parker Solar Probe transmitted 22 gigabytes of science data 

collected during the first two encounters to the mission team at the Johns Hopkins 

Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Parker will provide new 

data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast 

major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.

To better understand how space weather can impact technology aboard missions, NASA also recently launched technology demonstrations in June 2019, as 

a rideshare on a U.S. Air Force mission, to look at the space environment around 
33National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Earth and how it affects our technology. Four NASA experiments make up the 

Space Environment Testbeds (SET), which began transmitting data in November 

2019. SET aims its sights on a part of near-Earth space called the slot region: the 

gap between two of Earth’s vast radiation belts, also known as the Van Allen belts. 

The doughnut-shaped Van Allen belts seethe with radiation trapped by Earth’s 

magnetic field. Where SET orbits is thought to be calmer but known to vary during 

extreme space weather storms driven by the Sun. How much it changes exactly, 

and how quickly, remains uncertain. The slot region is an attractive one for satellites—especially navigation and communications satellites—because from about 

12,000 miles up, it offers not only a relatively friendly radiation environment, but 

also a wide view of Earth. During intense magnetic storms, however, energetic 

particles from the outer belt can surge into the slot region. SET surveys the slot 

region, providing some of the first day-to-day weather measurements of this particular neighborhood in near-Earth space. The mission also studies the fine details 

of how radiation damages instruments and tests different methods to protect them, 

helping engineers build parts better suited for spaceflight.

Heliophysics missions also seek to understand the fundamental characteristics 

of our space environment to better understand how our solar system fits in and 

is affected by our galaxy. On November 5, 2018, for the second time in history, 

a humanmade object reached the space between the stars. Following Voyager 1, 

NASA’s Voyager 2, launched in 1977, exited the heliosphere—the protective 

bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. Comparing data 

from different instruments aboard the trailblazing spacecraft, mission scientists 

determined that the spacecraft had successfully crossed the outer edge of the 

heliosphere. This boundary, called the heliopause, is where the tenuous, hot 

solar wind meets the cold, dense interstellar medium. Voyager 2 carries a working instrument that will continue to provide pioneering observations of the next 

frontier—interstellar space.

Voyager 2 is not yet in undisturbed interstellar space: like its twin, Voyager 1, 

Voyager 2 appears to be in a perturbed transitional region just beyond the heliosphere. There, the spacecraft continue to send back information about how the 

solar wind interacts with interstellar space. We are, for the very first time, getting a glimpse of the intergalactic neighborhood beyond the magnetic reach of our 
34Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

star—information that both helps inform other astrophysics observations of much 

more distant regions and provides information that could ultimately help us safely 

explore even further beyond our own home.

The two Voyager spacecraft are the most distant sentinels from Earth. Together, 

they provide a detailed glimpse of how our heliosphere interacts with the constant interstellar wind flowing from beyond. Their observations complement 

data from NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), a mission to remotely 

sense that boundary. NASA also is preparing the upcoming Interstellar Mapping 

and Acceleration Probe (IMAP)—due to launch in 2024—to capitalize on the 

Voyagers’ observations.

The Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) Science and Technology 

Definition Team (STDT) delivered their final report, which describes a focused 

mission concept that would address gaps in key scientific questions about Earth’s 

upper atmosphere (called the ionosphere-thermosphere). When energy from the 

magnetosphere enters the polar ionosphere-thermosphere, it drives dynamics and 

processes that affect the entire upper atmosphere. These driven processes have 

real effects on national capabilities through interference with communication 

and navigation, radiation damage of spacecraft systems, and other mechanisms. 

Further, these processes at Earth are also present at Mars, and robotic and human 

exploration at that planet are affected by similar issues. A robust investigation 

and scientific understanding of this system at Earth will enable and enhance the 

Agency’s and the Nation’s ability to forecast and mitigate these damaging effects.

In addition to supporting key spacefaring missions, HPD directly supports 

research. The Heliophysics Research Program supports technology development 

and scientific investigation to achieve a program of excellence. The research program highlights the newest mission data, utilizes the latest advances in modeling 

and machine learning, and develops the most innovative technological solutions 

to improve our understanding of the Sun and its effects on Earth and other planets 

in our solar system. Below are a few research highlights from FY 2019.

Pressure Runs High at Edge of Solar System

Using observations of galactic cosmic rays—a type of highly energetic particle—from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, scientists calculated the total pressure from 
35National Aeronautics and Space Administration

particles in the outer region of the solar system, known as the heliosheath. At 

nearly 9 billion miles away, this region is hard to study. The unique positioning of 

the Voyager spacecraft and the opportune timing of a solar event made measurements of the heliosheath possible. The results are helping scientists understand 

how the Sun interacts with its surroundings.

THEMIS-ARTEMIS Gains Insight on the Moon’s Environment

The multi-spacecraft Heliophysics explorer mission Time History of Events 

and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) has two of its spacecraft orbiting the Moon; the pair is called THEMIS-ARTEMIS (Acceleration, 

Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with 

the Sun). The Moon possesses a very tenuous atmosphere: ionization of this atmosphere, primarily by sunlight, creates a lunar ionosphere roughly one million times 

more tenuous than that of Earth. When the Moon passes through the near vacuum 

of the geomagnetic tail of Earth each lunar month around the full Moon, the 

lunar-derived charged-particle density becomes comparable to the ambient value, 

and the presence of the lunar ionosphere can affect its surroundings. This can 

lead to better characterization of the lunar environment in anticipation of future 

human exploration of our closest planetary body.

Streaks in Aurora Found to Map Features in Earth’s Radiation Environment

A special kind of streaked aurora has been found to track disturbances in nearEarth space from the ground. Known as structured diffuse aurora, it was recently 

discovered, with the help of NASA spacecraft and instruments, that these faint 

lights in the night sky can map the edges of the Van Allen radiation belts—hazardous concentric bands of charged particles encircling Earth. When the Van Allen 

belts undulate in shape and size—which they do in response to incoming radiation 

from the Sun as well as changes from Earth below—they can envelop satellites in 

unexpected radiation. The new discovery will help us better track the edges of the 

belts—and the more we know about how the belts are changing, the more we can 

mitigate such effects.
36Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Finds Its First Interplanetary Shock

The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has spent the past four years 

using high-resolution instruments to see what no other spacecraft can. Recently, 

MMS made the highest-resolution measurements ever of an interplanetary shock. 

These shocks, made of particles and electromagnetic waves, are launched by the 

Sun. As they roll outward, they drive change throughout our space environment, 

so they are a classic example of the structures we are better trying to understand in 

our heliosphere. MMS’s view right from within the shock provides insight into a 

phenomenon that we rarely are able to study directly. 

How Scientists Used NASA Data to Predict the Appearance of July 2 Eclipse

Heliophysics relies not only on observations, but on making use of such data to 

create cutting-edge models and simulations. Ultimately, such simulations can lead 

to improvements in our ability to predict the Sun’s activity and incoming space 

weather—thus protecting satellites, astronauts, and communications systems such 

as radio and GPS. Eclipses are a key opportunity to test such predictive models, 

as they provide crisp views from the ground of the solar atmosphere. Predictive 

Science, Inc.—a private computational physics research company based in San 

Diego, California, and supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, 

and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research—used data from NASA’s Solar 

Dynamics Observatory (SDO), New Mexico State University, and the National 

Solar Observatory to develop a prediction of what the corona would look like during the July 2, 2019, eclipse. By comparing their prediction to eclipse photographs 

from the ground, the researchers could assess and improve the performance of their 

models. The researchers’ prediction features a nebulous corona with two wide, hazy 

streamers opposite each other, as well as smaller plumes sprouting out of the north 

and south magnetic poles. The team was pleased to see a close match to their 

predictions and continues to work on improving their models further. 

Planetary Science

NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) is engaged in one of the oldest of 

scientific pursuits: the observation and discovery of our solar system’s planetary 
37National Aeronautics and Space Administration

objects. We undertake this enterprise in order to better understand the history 

of our solar system and the distribution of life within it. For decades, NASA’s 

planetary science program has advanced the scientific understanding of the solar 

system in extraordinary ways while pushing the limits of spacecraft and robotic 

engineering design and operations. PSD continues to expand our knowledge of the 

solar system, with spacecraft that have visited every planet as well as a variety of 

small bodies (e.g., asteroids, comets, dwarf planets, etc.), including those at the very 

edge of our solar system.

One of the most successful and enduring feats of interplanetary exploration, 

NASA’s Opportunity rover mission ended after almost 15 years of exploring the 

surface of Mars. Opportunity stopped communicating with Earth when a severe 

Martian global dust storm blanketed its location in June 2018. After more than 

a thousand commands to restore contact, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory (JPL) ceased attempts to revive Opportunity in February 2019. Designed 

to last just 90 Martian days and travel 1,100 yards (1,000 meters), Opportunity 

vastly surpassed all expectations in its endurance, scientific value, and longevity. In 

addition to exceeding its life expectancy by 60 times, the rover traveled more than 

28 miles (45 kilometers) by the time it reached its final resting spot on Mars—aptly 

named Perseverance Valley.

During its lifetime, Opportunity contributed tremendously to Mars exploration. 

It returned more than 217,000 images, including 15 360-degree color panoramas. 

It exposed the surfaces of 52 rocks to reveal fresh mineral surfaces for analysis and 

cleared 72 additional targets with a brush to prepare them for inspection with spectrometers and a microscopic imager. Opportunity also found hematite, a mineral 

that forms in water, at its landing site. Furthermore, it discovered strong indications at Endeavour Crater of the action of ancient water similar to the drinkable 

water of a pond or lake on Earth.

Following in Opportunity’s tracks, NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to explore 

Mars after having touched down over seven years ago. It has traveled a total of 

13 miles (21 kilometers) and ascended 1,207 feet (368 meters) to its current location. Along the way, Curiosity has enabled many important scientific discoveries, 

including the finding that Mars had the conditions to support microbial life in its 

ancient past. 
38Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

In November 2018, NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, 

Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander successfully touch down on Mars. 

InSight’s primary objective is to collect data on the Martian interior with instruments intended to measure “Marsquakes.” On April 6, 2019, the lander’s Seismic 

Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument detected a faint seismic signal. 

This was the first recorded trembling that appears to have come from inside the 

planet, as opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind. The 

Martian surface is extremely quiet, allowing SEIS, InSight’s specially designed seismometer, to pick up faint rumbles. By studying the deep interior of Mars, scientists 

hope to learn how other rocky worlds, including Earth and the Moon, formed.

Detecting these tiny quakes required a huge feat of engineering. On Earth, highquality seismometers often are sealed in underground vaults to isolate them from 

changes in temperature and weather. InSight’s instrument has several ingenious 

insulating barriers, including a cover built by JPL called the Wind and Thermal 

Shield, to protect it from the planet’s extreme temperature changes and high winds.

Also in November 2018, the NASA Dawn mission ended after traveling 

approximately 4.3 billion miles (6.9 billion kilometers) since its launch 11 years ago. 

Propelled by ion engines, the spacecraft achieved many firsts along the way. In 2011, 

when Dawn arrived at Vesta, the second largest body in the main asteroid belt, the 

spacecraft became the first to orbit a body in the region between Mars and Jupiter. 

In 2015, when Dawn went into orbit around Ceres, a dwarf planet that is also the 

largest body in the asteroid belt, the mission became the first to visit a dwarf planet 

and go into orbit around two destinations beyond Earth. The data Dawn sent back 

to Earth from its four science experiments enabled scientists to compare two planetlike worlds that evolved very differently. Among its accomplishments, Dawn showed 

how important location was to the way objects in the early solar system formed and 

evolved. Dawn also reinforced the idea that dwarf planets could have hosted oceans 

over a significant part of their history—and potentially still do.

In December 2018, NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource 

Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft completed its 

1.2-billion-mile (2-billion-kilometer) journey to arrive at the asteroid Bennu. Upon 

arrival, OSIRIS-REx began a series of flybys of the asteroid to refine estimates of 

Bennu’s mass and spin rate and to generate a more precise model of its shape. The 
39National Aeronautics and Space Administration

reconnaissance data were then used to select four potential sites for samples to be 

collected for later return to Earth. The OSIRIS-REx mission will help scientists 

investigate how planets formed and how life began and will improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth. OSIRIS-REx is also setting new 

records for the smallest body ever orbited by a spacecraft and the closest orbit of a 

planetary body by any spacecraft.

Shortly after arriving at Bennu, data from OSIRIS-REx revealed the presence 

of molecules that contain oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together, known as 

“hydroxyls.” The team suspects that these hydroxyl groups exist globally across the 

asteroid in water-bearing clay minerals, meaning that at some point, Bennu’s rocky 

material interacted with water. While Bennu itself is too small to have ever hosted 

liquid water, the finding does indicate that liquid water was present at some time 

on Bennu’s parent body, a much larger asteroid.

The Juno spacecraft, which entered orbit around Jupiter in July 2016, successfully 

completed its 21st science pass of the gas giant at the end of FY 2019 and has performed more than half of its planned orbits. During flybys, Juno’s suite of sensitive 

science instruments probes beneath the planet’s obscuring cloud cover and studies 

Jupiter’s auroras to learn more about the planet’s origins, interior structure, atmosphere, and magnetosphere. To date, Juno has provided complete, global coverage 

of Jupiter and detected atmospheric wave trains, towering atmospheric structures 

that trail one after the other as they roam the planet, at smaller distances between 

individual wave crests than ever seen before. These data provide valuable information on both the dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere and its structure in the regions 

underneath the waves.

NASA’s PSD uses an array of spacecraft to help us understand our solar system 

and the potential for life elsewhere, and it undertakes efforts to understand and 

prepare for potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). Below are several 

research highlights from FY 2019.

NASA’s Juno Finds Changes in Jupiter’s Magnetic Field

NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter made the first definitive detection beyond our 

world of an internal magnetic field that changes over time, a phenomenon called 

secular variation. Juno determined that the gas giant’s secular variation is most 
40Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

likely driven by the planet’s deep atmospheric winds. The discovery will help scientists further understand Jupiter’s interior structure—including atmospheric dynamics—as well as changes in Earth’s magnetic field. 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Finds a Clay Cache

NASA’s Curiosity rover has confirmed that the region on Mars that it is exploring, called the “clay-bearing unit,” is well deserving of its name. Two samples 

the rover recently drilled at rock targets called “Aberlady” and “Kilmarie” have 

revealed the highest amounts of clay minerals ever found during the mission. Clay 

often forms in water, which is essential for life; Curiosity is exploring Mount Sharp 

to see if it had the conditions to support life billions of years ago. Other than proof 

that there was a significant amount of water once in Gale Crater, what these new 

findings mean for the region is still up for debate. It is likely that the rocks in the 

area formed as layers of mud in ancient lakes—something Curiosity also found 

lower on Mount Sharp.

New Horizons Spacecraft Returns Its Sharpest Views of 2014 MU69

Images of the Kuiper Belt Object Arrokoth (previously known as 2014 MU69)—

obtained by the New Horizons telephoto Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager 

(LORRI) on January 1, 2019—offered a resolution of about 110 feet (33 meters) 

per pixel. The combination of high spatial resolution and a favorable viewing angle 

gave the team an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the surface as well as 

the origin and evolution of Arrokoth, which is thought to be the most primitive 

object ever encountered by a spacecraft. 

Astrophysics

NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD) studies the universe. APD seeks to understand the universe and our place in it and to investigate the origin of the universe 

and the full history of stars and galaxies. Through APD, NASA is discovering 

how planetary systems form around other stars and searches for environments hospitable for life to develop. APD searches for the signature of life on other worlds, 

perhaps to learn that we are not alone.
41National Aeronautics and Space Administration

After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate that our sky is filled 

with billions of hidden planets—more planets even than stars—NASA’s Kepler 

space telescope has run out of the fuel needed for further science operations. 

Kepler has opened our eyes to the diversity of planets that exist in our galaxy. 

The most recent analysis of Kepler’s discoveries concludes that 20 to 50 percent 

of the stars visible in the night sky are likely to have small, possibly rocky, planets 

similar in size to Earth and located within the habitable zone of their parent stars. 

That means that they are located at distances from their parent stars where liquid 

water—a vital ingredient to life as we know it—might pool on the planet’s surface.

Before retiring the spacecraft, scientists pushed Kepler to its full potential, successfully completing multiple observation campaigns and downloading valuable 

science data even after initial warnings of low fuel. The latest Kepler data, from 

Campaign 19, will complement the data from NASA’s newest planet hunter, the 

Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in April 2018. TESS builds 

on Kepler’s foundation in its search of planets orbiting some 200,000 of the brightest and nearest stars to Earth, worlds that can later be explored for signs of life by 

future missions, such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

TESS has discovered three new worlds orbiting TESS Object of Interest (TOI) 

270, an M-type dwarf star about 40 percent smaller than the Sun in both size and 

mass. One of the exoplanets is slightly larger than Earth, and the other two are 

of a type not found in our solar system. The planets straddle an observed gap in 

the sizes of known planets and promise to be among the most curious targets for 

future studies.

The innermost planet, TOI 270 b, is likely a rocky world about 25 percent larger 

than Earth. It orbits the star every 3.4 days at a distance about 13 times closer than 

Mercury orbits the Sun. Based on statistical studies of known exoplanets of similar 

size, the science team estimates that TOI 270 b has a mass around 1.9 times greater 

than Earth’s. The other two planets, TOI 270 c and d, are, respectively, 2.4 and 2.1 

times larger than Earth and orbit the star every 5.7 and 11.4 days. Although only 

about half its size, both may be similar to Neptune in our solar system, with compositions dominated by gases rather than rock, and they likely weigh around seven 

and five times Earth’s mass, respectively. Further research may reveal additional 

planets beyond the three now known. If planet d has a rocky core covered by a 
42Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

thick atmosphere, its surface would be too warm for the presence of liquid water, 

considered a key requirement for a potentially habitable world.

In FY 2019, using NASA’s Hubble and Kepler space telescopes, astronomers 

uncovered evidence of what could be the first discovery of a moon orbiting a planet 

outside our solar system. This moon candidate, which is 8,000 light-years from 

Earth in the Cygnus constellation, orbits a gas-giant planet that, in turn, orbits a 

star called Kepler-1625. Researchers caution that the moon hypothesis is tentative 

and must be confirmed by follow-up Hubble observations. Since moons outside 

our solar system, known as exomoons, cannot be imaged directly, their presence 

is inferred when they pass in front of a star, momentarily dimming its light. Such 

an event is called a transit and has been used to detect many of the exoplanets 

catalogued to date. 

Hubble also recently helped reveal magnesium and iron gas streaming from a 

strange world outside our solar system known as WASP-121b. The observations represent the first time that so-called “heavy metals” (elements heavier than hydrogen 

and helium) have been spotted escaping from a so-called “hot Jupiter,” a large, gaseous exoplanet very close to its star. This exoplanet is orbiting so dangerously close 

to its star that its upper atmosphere reaches a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The observations of WASP-121b add to the developing story of how planets lose 

their primordial atmospheres. When planets form, they gather an atmosphere containing gas from the disk in which the planet and star formed. These atmospheres 

consist mostly of the primordial, lighter-weight gases hydrogen and helium, the 

most plentiful elements in the universe. This atmosphere dissipates as a planet 

moves closer to its star. 

In August 2019, NASA reached a major milestone when engineers successfully connected the two halves of NASA’s JWST for the first time at Northrop 

Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach, California. Once it reaches space, NASA’s 

most powerful and complex space telescope will explore the cosmos—from planets 

and moons within our solar system to the earliest and most distant galaxies—using 

infrared light. 

NASA’s APD has advanced our understanding of our universe and the search for 

life on other planets through FY 2019. Below are some research highlights.
43National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA’s Hubble Finds Water Vapor on Habitable-Zone Exoplanet for First Time

Its size and surface gravity are much larger than Earth’s, and its radiation environment may be hostile, but a distant planet called K2-18b has captured the interest of scientists all over the world. For the first time, researchers have detected 

water vapor signatures in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system that 

resides in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star in which liquid water could 

potentially pool on the surface of a rocky planet. 

In Search of Missing Worlds, Hubble Finds a Fast-Evaporating Exoplanet

Astronomers have been perplexed in conducting a census of star-hugging 

extrasolar planets. They have found hot Jupiter-sized planets and hot super-Earths 

(planets no more than 1.5 times Earth’s diameter). These planets are scorching hot 

because they orbit very close to their stars. But so-called “hot Neptunes,” whose 

atmospheres are heated to more than 1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, have been much 

harder to find. In fact, only about a handful of “hot Neptunes” have been found 

so far. Uncovering two evaporating “warm Neptunes” reinforces the idea that the 

hotter version of these distant worlds may be a class of transitory planet whose 

ultimate fate is to shrink down to the most common type of known exoplanet, 

“mini-Neptunes”—planets with heavy, hydrogen-dominated atmospheres that are 

larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune. Eventually, these planets may downsize even further to become super-Earths—more massive, rocky versions of Earth.

Confirmation of Toasty TESS Planet Leads to Surprising Find of Promising World

A piping-hot planet discovered by NASA’s TESS has pointed the way to additional worlds orbiting the same star, one of which is located in the star’s habitable 

zone. If made of rock, this planet may be around twice Earth’s size. 

NASA’s Fermi Traces the History of Starlight Across the Cosmos

One of the main goals of the Fermi mission, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in orbit this year, was to assess the extragalactic background light (EBL), 

a cosmic fog composed of all the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light stars have 

created over the universe’s history. Because starlight continues to travel across 

the cosmos long after its sources have burned out, measuring the EBL allows 
44Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

astronomers to study stellar formation and evolution separately from the stars 

themselves. Scientists using data from NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope 

have measured all the starlight produced over 90 percent of the universe’s history. 

The analysis, which examines the gamma-ray output of distant galaxies, estimates 

the formation rate of stars and provides a reference for future missions that will 

explore the still-murky early days of stellar evolution.

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

During FY 2019, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) 

worked to explore safe advances in atmospheric flight that directly benefit U.S. 

taxpayers, meet the rapidly evolving needs of industry, spark economic growth, 

and ensure that the Nation remains the world’s leader in all things related to flight 

operations and aeronautical innovation.

With a wide-ranging research portfolio informed by a comprehensive Strategic 

Implementation Plan aimed at transforming aviation for the 21st century, NASA’s 

flight team during FY 2019 focused on goals in three broad areas requiring scientific and engineering investigations:

• Enabling a new market for commercial supersonic air travel over land 

with the help of data gathered by the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology 

(QueSST) airplane, which was fully under construction during FY 2019 

and targeted to make its first flight in FY 2021.

• Leading industry in developing the technology and systems to safely 

enable Advanced Air Mobility: the use of new and novel aircraft, from 

small delivery drones to passenger-carrying vehicles, anywhere within 

the National Airspace System—from small communities to large metropolitan areas—to conduct missions including civic resource management, 

package delivery, and intraregional passenger transportation.

• Reducing emissions, minimizing noise, and shrinking reliance on fossil 

fuels in large part by studying electrically driven methods of propulsion 

on aircraft, including the X-57 Maxwell, which is serving as a testbed for 

solving the challenges of integrating a fully electric propulsion system on 

a general aviation-sized airplane.
45National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In pursuing these goals and many others—including supplying technical solutions to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for its Next Generation Air 

Transportation System—NASA’s aeronautical innovators joined their talents in 

partnership with the brightest aviation experts within Government, industry, 

and academia.

Quiet Supersonic Flight Over Land

Project teams from ARMD’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program and Integrated 

Aviation Systems Program during FY 2019 made steady progress with the LowBoom Flight Demonstration mission, which seeks to enable the possibility of 

boarding a commercial supersonic airliner and flying across the United States in 

half the time. To do this, NASA is building the X-59 QueSST airplane, whose 

unique shape and technology are designed to turn the loud sonic booms currently 

associated with faster-than-sound flight into barely perceptible sonic thumps. The 

X-59 will be flown above select U.S. communities to measure and record public 

response to its noise while flying supersonic. The resulting statistically valid data 

will be presented to rulemakers, who will then consider lifting the ban—in place 

since 1973—on supersonic flight over land.

Early in FY 2019, NASA researchers deployed to Galveston, Texas, to fly an 

F/A-18 supersonic jet near the city in a way that simulates the quieter sonic booms 

expected from the X-59. Trial methods for gathering public perception of the sound 

were tested and experienced gains in managing public awareness before, during, 

and after the two-week-long exercise. Meanwhile, construction of the X-59 by 

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Palmdale, California, continued in 

earnest as the project passed its Critical Design Review. By the end of FY 2019, the 

airplane was under construction on the factory floor.

More information is available at the following locations:

• https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-goes-quiet-over-galveston-for-flight-series

• https://www.nasa.gov/aero/nasa-supersonic-x59-quesst-coming-together-atfamed-factory

• https://www.nasa.gov/subject/7566/supersonic-flight/
46Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Advanced Air Mobility

As the proliferation of drones, both commercial and recreational, continued to 

fill the skies and dominate discussions about the future of aviation not only in the 

United States but around the world, NASA’s aeronautical innovators kept pace with 

their role as leaders in the area of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) during FY 2019. 

A key accomplishment took place over the cities of Corpus Christi, Texas, and 

Reno, Nevada, as NASA and its Government, industry, and academic partners 

wrapped up the final of four aerial demonstrations of the Unmanned Aircraft 

Systems Traffic Management (UTM) system. These demonstrations—known as 

Technical Capability Levels (TCLs)—began in FY 2015 and involved increasingly 

complex scenarios under which pilots operated their drones and coordinated their 

activities with others using UTM. For this final set of demonstrations (TCL-4), 

during FY 2019, pilots flew their drones in and around the dense urban environment of the two cities, successfully exercising the systems required to support the 

activity and paving the way for the passenger- and cargo-carrying AAM flight 

activities to come.

After hosting an industry conference and seeking input from a number of 

sources throughout the FY 2019, NASA laid the foundation for conducting a 

series of AAM-related events known as the National Campaign (formerly Grand 

Challenge), the first of which is targeted for FY 2022. The purpose of the Grand 

Challenge is to promote confidence in advanced air mobility systems and help 

organizations and companies learn what it really takes to operate air vehicles safely 

in an urban environment. The Grand Challenge is a series of increasingly complex field demonstrations that will support the FAA in developing an approval 

process for AAM vehicle certification; develop flight operations guidelines; evaluate requirements for communications, navigation, and surveillance; characterize 

vehicle noise levels; and define airspace operations management activities.

More information is available at the following locations:

• https://www.nasa.gov/ames/presskit/utmcorpus

• https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/

UrbanAirMobilityGrandChallenge.html

• https://www.nasa.gov/uam
47National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion

With global interest in reducing aviation’s impact on the environment, NASA 

researched developing technologies and systems that could be incorporated into 

future airplanes whose propulsion is powered by electricity. Much of the research 

into electrified aircraft propulsion centered on testing and preparing the all-electric 

X-57 Maxwell for its initial flight tests still ahead.

For example, engineers studied an innovative way to cool the heat generated by 

the electronics associated with the X-57’s electric motors. This was done by designing an engine covering, or nacelle, for the airplane’s motors that could do the job 

without affecting the X-57’s overall aerodynamics. The nacelle was successfully 

tested by powering up an X-57 motor inside a wind tunnel.

Systems that would someday support deploying electric propulsion in larger airliners also were investigated during FY 2019. The first megawatt-scale test of an 

aircraft powertrain concept took place at NASA’s Electric Aircraft Testbed, a repurposed hypersonic wind tunnel at NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

More information is available at the following locations:

• https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/nasa-glenn-keeps-x-57-cool

• https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/neat-tests-megawatt-scale-electricaircraft-power-systems

• https://www.nasa.gov/subject/7564/green-aviation/

Highlights from NASA ARMD’s Programs

Advanced Air Vehicles Program

NASA Aeronautics researchers from the Revolutionary Vertical Lift 

Technology project contributed to refining the design and operation of the Mars 

Helicopter scheduled to hitch a ride as part of the Mars Rover 2020 mission to 

the Red Planet. Researchers used some of their computational tools to characterize and better understand how well the small drone would fly in the Martian 

atmosphere. More information is available at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/

nasa-is-with-you-when-you-fly-even-on-mars.
48Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NASA wrapped up an effort that used 3D printing as a research tool to generate new data that will help airplane makers and operators more efficiently deal 

with icing. Those data, which will be publicly available in 2020, are the result 

of a cooperative five-year research program that involved NASA, the FAA , the 

French Aerospace Lab, and several U.S. universities. More information is available at https://www.nasa.gov/aero/nasa-looks-to-3D-printing-to-improve-aircraft-icingresearch-tools and https://www.nasa.gov/aam.

Airspace Operations and Safety Program

With the conclusion of FY 2019, NASA logged the second successful year of a 

three-year exercise known Airspace Technology Demonstration–2. The research 

focuses on the schedule coordination of the movement of aircraft from an airport 

gate to the sky after takeoff, where they can safely join the overhead traffic—like 

a car merging onto a freeway. The big idea is to more reliably predict and schedule the time when aircraft are pushed back from their gates so that they can get 

to the runway and take off without pausing to wait in line on the runway while 

burning fuel and passengers’ patience. Tangible benefits at the demonstration site 

in Charlotte, North Carolina, have already been realized, including saving the 

airlines 562,747 gallons of fuel and reducing CO2 emissions equivalent to 86,481 

urban trees (as of November 30, 2019).

During FY 2019, the NASA-developed technology behind the Automatic 

Ground Collision Avoidance System won aviation’s highest award, the Collier 

Trophy, for its life-saving impact on flight. The system takes control of an aircraft 

upon determining that a collision with the ground is imminent. First the pilot 

is warned, but if no action is taken, the system locks the cockpit controls and 

performs an automatic recovery maneuver. More information is available at https://

www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/NASA-Celebrates-2018-Collier-Trophy.html.

Integrated Aviation Systems Program

The X-59 QueSST airplane is designed to quiet a sonic boom heard on the 

ground to a sonic thump, if it can be heard at all. Accomplishing this goal requires 

the cockpit to be farther back and lower in the fuselage. This unusual design 

prevents the pilot from having a forward-facing window. To solve this problem, 
49National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA designed and successfully tested an eXternal Vision System (XVS) using a 

Beechcraft UC-12B research aircraft. The XVS relies on cameras and custom imageprocessing software to generate an augmented-reality view on a high-definition 

monitor mounted directly in front of the pilot. More information is available at 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/testing-of-x-59-virtual-forward-window-successful.

Testing of the wing that will be integrated into the final configuration of the 

X-57 Maxwell all-electric aircraft was completed during FY 2019. This high-aspectratio wing—longer and skinnier than conventional wings—will eventually hold a 

larger electric motor at each wingtip and 14 smaller electric motors evenly distributed across the wing’s upper surface. Each motor will turn a propeller. NASA’s first 

all-electric X-plane is intended to demonstrate the benefits electric propulsion may 

have for efficiency, noise, and emissions. More information is available at https://

www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/features/X-57-wing-tests-complete.html.

NASA signed contracts with three industry partners in a bid to demonstrate 

progress in the use and eventual certification of Detect and Avoid and Command 

and Control systems critical to the safe operation of Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

in the National Airspace System. The demonstration is known as the Systems 

Integration and Operationalization activity and will take the form of a number of 

flight tests during the summer of 2020 using larger, various-sized, unpiloted aircraft 

built by each of the three companies. More information is available at https://www.

nasa.gov/aero/nasa-contracts-to-demonstrate-unmanned-aircraft-technologies.

Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program

Three teams of student researchers representing colleges in Pennsylvania, 

Wisconsin, and Illinois were selected during FY 2019 for participation in NASA 

Aeronautics’ University Leadership Initiative (ULI). Their research topics include 

exploring new ways to use 3D printing and robotics in manufacturing, as well as 

investigating using liquid hydrogen–based fuel cells to generate power for electric 

aircraft propulsion systems. A key goal of ULI is for students to gain experience in 

leading a multi-disciplinary team made up of partners from other universities and 

industry, especially representing those who have not traditionally applied their 

skills to aviation problems. More information is available online at https://www.

nasa.gov/aero/nasa-aeronautics-selects-three-university-teams-for-research-help/.
50Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Space Technology Mission Directorate

The Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) develops transformative 

space technologies to enable NASA’s future missions like Artemis. Technology 

drives exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Space Technology investments 

in revolutionary, American-made technologies provide solutions on Earth and 

in space. STMD engages and inspires entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovators 

across the country to advance American leadership in space. NASA technology 

turns up in nearly every corner of modern life. We make our space technology 

available to commercial companies to generate real-world benefits—everything 

from creating jobs to saving lives.

In FY 2019, STMD made significant progress toward advancing NASA’s Artemis 

and deep space missions. In order to enable and enhance the Agency’s capabilities, 

investments focused primarily in the following strategic areas:

• Go: Rapid, safe, and efficient space transportation, emphasizing reusable 

transportation from Earth to the Moon and/or Mars; and development of 

rapid and efficient transportation to explore throughout the solar system.

• Land: Expanded access to diverse surface destinations, routinely landing 

crew and cargo on the Moon and/or Mars; safely and efficiently returning 

large payloads to Earth; and delivering robotic payloads to challenging 

new destinations.

• Live: Sustainable living and working farther from Earth, routinely conducting crewed operations beyond low-Earth orbit; working toward a 

sustainable human presence on the Moon and/or Mars; and including 

production of propellant and consumables from local resources.

• Explore: Transformative missions and discoveries to reach challenging 

sites and resources on the Moon, Mars, and beyond; surviving and operating through the lunar night; and enabling rapid, low-cost missions to the 

Moon, Mars, and beyond.

As of FY 2019, STMD had over 1,000 active projects with over 400 industry 

partners and over 100 academic institutions. In addition, STMD has partnered 

with 16 other Government agencies or departments as well as five international 

organizations. In FY 2019, STMD evaluated more than 3,500 proposals and funded 
51National Aeronautics and Space Administration

more than 700 new technology selections, amounting to over $430 million in 

award investments.

NASA’s investments in space technology advanced capabilities for future exploration missions. New technology demonstrations, challenges, and partnerships 

helped solve complex challenges needed to land on, live on, and explore the Moon 

and Mars.

Public-Private Partnerships

STMD continued to expand the use of public-private partnerships, focusing on 

technologies and capabilities needed for a sustainable presence on the Moon by 

2028, showcasing NASA’s commitment to the Nation’s growing commercial space 

industry today.

The Space Technology Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) 

selections, announced on July 30, included 19 new partnerships to mature industrydeveloped space technologies. NASA Centers will partner with U.S. companies, 

which range from small businesses to large aerospace organizations, to provide 

expertise, facilities, hardware, and software at no cost.

On September 27, STMD announced its selection of 14 American companies as 

partners whose technologies will enable the Agency’s Moon-to-Mars exploration 

approach. The selections are based on NASA’s fourth competitive Tipping Point 

solicitation and have a combined total award value of about $43.2 million. This 

investment in the U.S. space industry, including small businesses across the country, will help bring the technologies to market and ready them for use by NASA.

Technology Demonstration

The Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) launched in late June aboard the 

SpaceX Falcon Heavy as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program (STP)–2 

mission. DSAC is flying and validating a miniaturized, ultra-precise, mercury-ion 

atomic clock that is orders of magnitude more stable than today’s best spacecraft 

clocks, potentially changing the way we conduct deep space navigation. DSAC 

was successfully activated in August and is in the process of conducting a yearlong 
52Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

navigation demonstration that will provide a technology to improve accuracy of 

navigation and allow for gravity science measurements.

The Green Propellant Infusion Mission spacecraft also launched as part of the 

Air Force STP-2 mission in June. It began its demonstration of a propulsion system 

using a significantly less toxic propellant than hydrazine that provides 40 percent 

higher performance by volume. After a successful on-orbit checkout phase in July, 

the project is continuing its testing of the “green” fuel and propulsion system by 

performing three lowering burns that place the spacecraft in a different orbit. Once 

proven, this technology could lower the cost of fueling spacecraft before launch 

and provide efficient propulsion solutions for small and large satellites.

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator project completed 

inflation and vibration testing of a 6-meter engineering design unit (EDU) in the 

summer of 2019. The EDU was returned to NASA’s Langley Research Center in 

July and underwent mass, center-of-gravity, and moment-of-inertia measurements 

in both the stowed and deployed configurations.

The Evolvable Cryogenics project is focused on developing, integrating, and 

validating cryogenic fluid management technologies for future NASA mission 

needs. In August 2019, the team successfully completed their baseline test series 

with liquid hydrogen at the Plum Brook Station Test Facility using the Structural 

Heat Intercept, Insulation and Vibration Evaluation Rig (SHIIVER). SHIIVER is 

a cryogenic tank for testing technologies and methods (such as vapor cooling and 

multilayer insulation) for maintaining very cold liquid propellants to be used as fuel 

for deep space missions.

Small Spacecraft Technology Program

In FY 2019, the Small Spacecraft Technology program successfully concluded 

the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) mission. This 

mission demonstrated the first-ever high-speed laser communication from a 

CubeSat as well as performing the first semiautonomous coordinated propulsive 

maneuver between two CubeSats. Supplemental to the primary objectives of the 

mission, OCSD also demonstrated a proof of concept for CubeSat-to-CubeSat optical communications with the secondary payload on the Integrated Solar Array 
53National Aeronautics and Space Administration

and Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) mission that had previously been used to help 

develop the reflectarray technology for Mars Cube One (MarCO).

The CubeSat Handling of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer (CHOMPTT) 

mission—selected as one of ten CubeSats for the 19th Educational Launch of 

NanoSatellites (ELaNa) mission—launched in December 2018 on RocketLab’s 

Flight 4 from Mahia, New Zealand. CHOMPTT will use lasers to transfer time 

code data between a pulsed laser system located at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center 

and the CHOMPTT spacecraft. The CHOMPTT technology demonstration offers 

a timing system with performance similar to that of GPS and could be used for 

navigation and satellite networking in deep space.

In August, the Small Spacecraft Technology program awarded a $13.7 million 

contract to Advanced Space of Boulder, Colorado, to develop and operate the 

Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation 

Experiment (CAPSTONE) mission to a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO)—the 

same lunar orbit targeted for Gateway. CAPSTONE’s objectives are twofold: serve 

as a Gateway pathfinder mission to demonstrate how to enter into and operate in an 

NRHO and demonstrate software for autonomous navigation. CAPSTONE represents a rapid lunar flight demonstration and could launch as early as February 2021.

Flight Opportunities

In FY 2019, the Flight Opportunities program facilitated the commercial suborbital flight testing of 43 technology development payloads across four suborbital 

reusable launch vehicle flights, one vertical takeoff/vertical lander flight campaign, 

six high-altitude balloon flights, and one parabolic campaign. U.S. commercial 

vendors providing flight services in 2019 included Black Sky Aerospace, Blue 

Origin, Masten Space Systems, Near Space Corporation, Raven Aerostar, Virgin 

Galactic, World View, and Zero Gravity Corporation.

In early FY 2019, both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin flew their first dedicated 

suborbital spaceflights for NASA technology demonstrations. These flights carried 

a series of space exploration and utilization technologies, including research that 

could aid future missions in how they interact with the lunar surface to mitigate 

the impact of dust on humans and equipment; separate gas and liquid for in situ 
54Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

resource processing and on-orbit fuel transfer; and understand plant behavior to 

potentially grow food for sustained human activity beyond Earth. In February, 

Virgin Galactic demonstrated four additional payloads, flying for the second time 

in just three months.

Raven Aerostar conducted a high-altitude balloon flight above Sioux Falls, 

South Dakota, in August 2019. The flight tested the Exo-Atmospheric Aerobrake 

technology from NASA’s Ames Research Center and marked the first flight for 

Raven as a commercial flight provider for Flight Opportunities.

Game-Changing Development

The Astrobee project developed a free-flying robot system that includes three 

robots and a docking station for recharging and will be used to test how robots can 

assist crew and perform caretaking duties on spacecraft. Working autonomously or 

via remote control by astronauts, flight controllers, or researchers on the ground, 

the robots are designed to complete tasks such as taking inventory, documenting experiments conducted by astronauts with their built-in cameras, or working 

together to move cargo throughout the station. Robots like Astrobee will play a 

significant part in the Agency’s mission to return to the Moon under the Artemis 

program, as well as in other deep space missions, by increasing astronaut productivity and helping maintain spacecraft when astronauts are not aboard. The Astrobee 

free flyers, Bumble and Honey, launched on the Northrop Grumman CRS-11 flight 

in April, and the third free-flying robot, named Queen, was launched to the space 

station in July aboard SpaceX’s 18th commercial resupply services mission. Bumble 

underwent initial hardware checkout and mapping exercises; in June, it became the 

first to fly autonomously in space. Honey was “awoken” on its dock in November 

and will undergo additional testing before flying; Queen will be the last of the 

three to wake up in space.

The Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) 

project is developing an advanced suite of sensors, avionics, and software to avoid 

hazards and perform extremely safe, precise landings on the Moon. Engineers successfully demonstrated the performance of the terrain relative navigation (TRN) 

system being developed by Draper of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for use with 
55National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SPLICE. The test was held in Mojave, California, during the launch and landing of Masten Systems’ Xodiac rocket on September 11. The TRN system uses a 

camera plus an onboard reconnaissance map to do image matching and feature 

tracking to navigate and to help target a desired landing region. The object of the 

testing was to use an existing map from orbital imagery to help provide precise 

navigation to target a desired landing region. The initial post-flight analysis shows 

that TRN successfully identified features in real time, and the test achieved all 

payload objectives.

The Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) project will 

collect data during the Mars 2020 mission’s entry through the planet’s atmosphere 

to enable improved designs of future Mars entry systems for robotic and crewed 

missions. Close analysis of MEDLI2 flight data is vital to future NASA exploration 

of the Red Planet. MEDLI2 delivered its flight hardware to NASA’s Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory and was integrated with the Mars 2020 rover, along with STMD’s other 

technology elements: TRN, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) 

Experiment, and the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer.

The Pop-Up Flat-Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) project demonstrated 

autonomous capabilities in June in an indoor testbed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory. During the test, PUFFER successfully navigated to locations predetermined by an operator while avoiding any rocks, accurately estimating its pose, and 

building a 2D map. During later tests, PUFFER successfully explored the testbed on 

its own without requiring a person to specify goals or a prior map.

The Space Synthetic Biology (SynBio) project is developing biomanufacturing 

methods that can produce high-value products on demand, using local resources. 

SynBio launched the first load of a five-year systems demonstration, called 

BioNutrients, to the ISS aboard NG-11 in April. The BioNutrients demonstration will test a newly developed in-space nutrient production platform that uses 

genetically engineered baker’s yeast and an extended shelf-life growth substrate 

to produce specific antioxidants, such as beta carotene and zeaxanthin. SynBio is 

also developing a platform technology that chemically converts CO2 and water to 

organic compounds that then “feed” microbial biomanufacturing systems to make 

a wide range of products such as food, medicines, and fuels.
56Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Early Stage Innovation and Partnerships

Since its inception in FY 2011, Space Technology Research Grants has funded 

exciting space technology research via 696 grants at 111 universities across 43 states 

and one U.S. territory. In FY 2019, NASA made 14 Early Stage Innovations awards, 

nine Early Career Faculty awards, and 65 NASA Space Technology Research 

Fellowship awards. There are currently more than 300 active awards, including two 

new Space Technology Research Institutes, one led by Purdue University and one 

by the University of California, Davis, focused on deep space habitat autonomous 

operations to lay the technological groundwork that enhances and enables deep 

space exploration.

In FY 2019, NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) awarded 12 Phase I 

awards and six Phase II awards across industry, academia, and NASA Centers while 

completing 16 2018 Phase I studies and four 2017 Phase II studies. The remaining 

three 2017 Phase II studies are under no-cost extensions and on track to be completed in FY 2020.

In June, NIAC also awarded its first-ever Phase III selections, which outline 

aerospace architecture, including a mission concept that could change what is possible in space. Each selection will receive as much as $2 million to research and 

refine the proposed concept design and explore aspects of implementing the new 

technologies. The inaugural Phase III selections were as follows:

• “Robotic Technologies Enabling the Exploration of Lunar Pits” to rapidly 

survey and model lunar craters using high-resolution images to create 3D 

models of craters. The data would be used to determine whether a crater 

can be explored by human or robotic missions.

• “Mini Bee Prototype to Demonstrate the Apis Mission Architecture 

and Optical Mining Technology,” which proposes a method of asteroid 

resource harvesting called optical mining. Optical mining is an approach 

for excavating an asteroid and extracting water and other volatiles into an 

inflatable bag.

NASA’s Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business 

Technology Transfer (STTR) programs invested more than $180 million in small 

businesses in FY 2019. Specifically, 313 SBIR and 48 STTR Phase I proposals were 
57National Aeronautics and Space Administration

awarded to 268 U.S. small businesses to establish the scientific, technical, and 

commercial feasibility of each proposed innovation. This investment totaled more 

than $45 million.

The Centennial Challenges program concluded the third phase of its 3D-Printed 

Habitat Challenge in May 2019. The competition took place at a Caterpillar facility in Peoria, Illinois. The objective was to demonstrate technologies necessary to 

additively manufacture an off-world habitat. The final level of competition required 

teams to additively construct a 1:3 scale habitat autonomously. AI.Space Factory 

of New York took the first-place prize of $500,000, and a team from Pennsylvania 

State University took $200,000 for second place. The challenge awarded $2.06 million over the three phases of competition. In addition, the program continued to 

facilitate these other ongoing challenges:

• The purpose of the $1 million CO2 Conversion Challenge is to convert 

carbon dioxide into sugars, such as glucose, as a step toward creating 

mission-critical resources. Such technologies will allow scientists to 

manufacture products on Mars using local, indigenous resources and 

on Earth by using waste and atmospheric carbon dioxide as a resource. 

Phase 1 of the challenge awarded $250,000 to five teams in May for their 

system concepts; phase 2 launched in September and seeks to award up 

to $750,000 to the top three teams that demonstrate operational systems 

in FY 2020.

• The purpose of the Vascular Tissue Challenge is to produce viable thicktissue assays that can be used to advance research both on Earth and 

in space environments. This Challenge is ongoing, with 22 applications 

from 19 teams that submitted trial applications by the end of FY 2019. 

The teams are working on the development of vascularized, functional 

tissues for a liver, pancreas, heart, muscle, kidney, and/or lungs. The teams 

have one year to finish the development and prove that they can keep the 

tissue viable and functional for 30 days.

• The second phase of the Space Robotics Challenge opened in August 

and focuses on advancing robotics software and autonomous capabilities 

for space exploration missions on the surface of extraterrestrial objects, 

such as distant planets or moons. The $1 million competition will consist 
58Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

of two rounds to narrow the field of competitors and will culminate with 

awards made in early FY 2022.

Technology Transfer

The Technology Transfer program continued to streamline and automate internal processes in order to increase the ability to conduct outreach to industry. The 

program continues to track, protect, and transfer technologies that play a part in 

going back to the Moon and tell the spinoff stories.

The NASA Home & City version 2.0 platform was launched in late FY 2018, 

and its use continued to expand through FY 2019. The interactive platform has 

been viewed by hundreds of thousands of users around the world. It also received 

nationwide recognition and awards, including top honors for the National Silver 

American Advertising Award. The interactive platform will also be displayed in 

museums all over the world and in other potential venues, such as airports and 

shopping malls.

The new NASA Software Catalog was released in November 2019. The digital 

and print catalogue serves as a complete inventory of software tools NASA has 

created during the course of mission work. The catalogue also serves as an avenue 

for industry, academia, other Government agencies, and the general public to 

download and use these software programs.
59Department of Defense

Department of Def

DOD

Aeronautics

Rotorcraft

Army

Army Aviation continued to make strides in modernization and readiness while 

maintaining a global presence and ensuring world-class support to soldiers on 

the ground and our multinational partners. Army Aviation is currently 84 percent committed as it supports multiple deployments in support of U.S. Central 

Command, U.S. European Command, and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. While 

supporting these deployments, aviation formations conducted home station training for their assigned Divisions and Brigade Combat Teams focused on large-scale 

combat operations, supported humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts, 

and trained for other contingencies.

The Army continued its modernization efforts across the entire aviation fleet. 

Rotary-wing aircraft fielding of the AH-64E Apache, HH/UH-60M Blackhawk, 

CH-47F Block II Chinook, HH-60V MEDEVAC Blackhawk, and LUH-72 Lakota 

ensured that Army aircraft will provide capability for decades to come. Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems (UAS) modernization includes improvements to the MQ-1C Gray 

Eagle and the RQ-7B Shadow, supporting enhanced crewed-uncrewed teaming. As 

the Army modernizes its current fleet of rotary-wing aircraft and UAS, it looks 

ahead with Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiatives. The FVL Cross-Functional Team 

works closely with industry and is already integrating new technologies into the 

current force.
60Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Program Executive Office (PEO) Aviation’s Apache Helicopter Program 

Manager accepted the 300th AH-64E aircraft from the Boeing Company, and it 

will be assigned to the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB), Fort Bragg, North 

Carolina—the 10th CAB to receive the AH-64E. In support of the continued 

fielding of the helicopter, a contract modification was awarded to Boeing fully 

funding Lot 9, which includes 48 AH-64E remanufactured aircraft and 12 AH-64E 

new-build aircraft. The Army Threat Systems Management Office conducted the 

AH-64E Version 6 Cyber Assessment marking the conclusion of Follow-On Test 

and Evaluation II. AH-64E Version 6 delivers quality and capability improvements 

to be fielded in the first quarter of FY 2021. The AH-64E is the current evolution 

of the Apache. It is designed and equipped with an open systems architecture, 

including the latest communications, navigation, sensor, and weapon systems. 

The E-model has multiple upgrades from its predecessors, such as the improved 

Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision System, 

which includes a new integrated infrared laser that allows for easier target designation and enhanced infrared imagery capabilities.

The Black Hawk UH/HH-60 is the Army’s combat utility helicopter. This flexible system provides air assault, aeromedical evacuation, command and control, and 

general support to combat, stability, and multi-domain operations. PEO Aviation’s 

Utility Helicopter Project Office continues to modernize the Black Hawk fleet 

with the UH-60V. The UH-60V updates legacy analog systems to a digital and 

open architecture. This architecture provides commonality with the UH-60M 

with a similar Pilot-Vehicle Interface. The UH-60V is now in the Low Rate Initial 

Production phase with an approved procurement of up to 76 UH-60V aircraft. The 

UH-60V completed Initial Operational Test and Evaluation Flight Testing at Joint 

Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.

The CH-47F Chinook is the Army’s only heavy-lift cargo helicopter supporting combat and other critical operations. PEO Aviation’s Cargo Helicopter 

Project Office delivered 12 aircraft to the 16th Combat Aviation Brigade, Fort 

Wainwright, Alaska, in FY 2019. Fielding will conclude in FY 2020 with the delivery of five CH-47F Block I aircraft to the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, 

in Honduras. As fielding of the Block I aircraft completes, development of the of 

the CH-47F Block II aircraft continues. Two of three test aircraft were delivered to 
61Department of Defense

Mesa, Arizona, for system-level flight testing. The Block II upgrade provides additional capability with greater reach, increased payload capacity, and an increase in 

maximum gross weight.

PEO Aviation’s Aviation Mission Systems and Architecture Project Office and 

the Aviation Ground Support Equipment Product Office successfully completed 

Aircraft Notebook (ACN) training and fielding to the U.S. Army Rotary Wing 

fleet. ACN replaced the Unit Level Logistics System–Aviation (Enhanced) system and set the conditions for introducing Global Combat Support System–Army 

Increment 2 Enterprise Aviation release 1 in FY 2020. ACN provides a common 

logistics information system for Army Aviation, streamlines user experience, 

improves record keeping, and provides the ability to view aircraft availability in 

near-real time across the fleet. To date, over 26,500 soldiers and civilians have 

been trained to use ACN and over 9,000 pieces of computer equipment have been 

converted. ACN fielding to the Fixed Wing fleet will begin in FY 2020.

Future Vertical Lift

The Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), led by Brigadier 

General Walter “Wally” Rugen, is an Army-led, multi-service initiative, focused 

on enhancing vertical lift dominance through next-generation assets that provide 

increased reach, protection, lethality, agility, and mission flexibility. This initiative focuses on addressing aviation capability gaps against peer and near-peer 

competitors. The following four lines of effort address these gaps: Future Attack 

Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), 

Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems (FTUAS), Air Launched Effects (ALE), 

and the Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA). Four industry partners were 

selected for a FTUAS demonstration to take place in FY 2020 as the “Buy, Try, 

Inform” approach to inform user requirements. ALE demonstrations took place in 

Yakima Training Center in May 2019. Five industry partners will demonstrate their 

MOSA capabilities in a Capstone demonstration in December 2020.

The FARA Competitive Prototype (CP) negotiations were completed and five 

On Time As Promised (OTAP) awards were released in April 2019. The selection 

down to two vendors is scheduled for March 2020 to build the prototypes, with a 
62Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

flight test scheduled for FY 2023. The FVL CFT released the FLRAA RFI to industry in April 2019, and the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) 

Technology Investment Agreement (TIA) was awarded in June/July 2019. The Vice 

Chief of Staff of the Army approved the Abbreviated Capability Development 

Document (CDD) in June 2019. This collaborative industry effort is developing an 

open system architecture for future platforms across the Department of Defense.

Navy

The U.S. Navy (USN) CH-53K Super Stallion program continued low-rate initial production with the award of Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) Lots 2 and 3 

for 12 aircraft in June 2019. With nearly three times the external lift capacity of the 

CH-53E and a mission radius of up to 200 nautical miles, the CH-53K has the lift 

and range to support the future Marine Air Ground Task Force. Flight test operations continued throughout 2019 at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

The VH-92 Presidential Helicopter Replacement successfully completed Milestone 

C in May 2019, authorizing LRIP Lot 1 for the first six operational aircraft.

The V-22 Osprey has been in production for several years, with more than 380 

aircraft delivered to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC), Air Force, and United States 

Special Operations Command. This tiltrotor aircraft provides unique capabilities 

to the warfighter, combining the flexibility of a helicopter with the speed and range 

of a fixed-wing aircraft. In addition to the wide range of missions that the aircraft 

can currently support, new capabilities continue to be developed, such as the ability to act as a tanker for aerial refueling. Other upgrades are being completed to 

enable the aircraft to meet the USN requirements for carrier onboard delivery.

The Navy has delivered over 535 domestic MH-60 helicopters and transitioned 

all Helicopter Sea Combat and Helicopter Maritime Strike squadrons to the 

MH-60R/S. Due to high operational demand and evolving warfighter needs, the 

program has initiated a Service Life Assessment intended to evaluate requirements 

for a Service Life Extension. These efforts will improve mission systems/sensors, 

recapitalize current MH-60 investments to pace the threat, and establish the foundation to affordably migrate to the Future Vertical Lift platform.

In the fall of 2018, the United States commenced the effort to recapitalize its 

Advanced Helicopter Training System. The Navy is pursuing a nondevelopmental 
63Department of Defense

approach and successfully completed Milestone/Full-Rate Production Review in 

October 2019.

Fixed-Wing

Navy

The transition of the P-3C to the P-8A continues to progress, with 88 P-8A aircraft delivered to the U.S. Navy and ten aircraft delivered to the Royal Australian 

Air Force under a cooperative agreement. The Navy has transitioned ten of 12 

fleet squadrons.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program formally entered Initial Operational Test 

and Evaluation in December 2018 and made steady progress throughout FY 2019. 

The Navy’s first F-35C squadron, Strike Fighter Squadron VFA-147, conducted aircraft carrier qualifications aboard the USS Carl Vinson in early December 2018 and 

received its safe-for-flight operations certification on December 12, 2018. Following 

this successful progress, the U.S. Navy declared Initial Operating Capability on 

February 28, 2019. The Marines continued their forward momentum, and in late 

January 2019, the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted the first flight operations with live ordinance in the Indo-Pacific region aboard the USS Wasp. In May 

2019, the Navy deactivated VFA-101, to become part of VFA-125. Then, in order 

to consolidate all F-35C operations, the squadron relocated to Naval Air Station 

(NAS) Lemoore, California, from Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida. In August 

2019, the F-35 program achieved two more firsts: the first female U.S. Marine Corps 

F-35B pilot graduated from pilot training, and the first female Marine Officer was 

selected for the F-35C training pipeline.

Fifty-seven of 111 KC-130J aircraft have been delivered to the USMC, transitioning four active-duty squadrons and one reserve squadron. In addition, two C-40A 

aircraft were procured for the USMC Reserves.

The Navy and Air Force continue working on a joint Analysis of Alternatives 

to determine the best material solution to recapitalize E-6B and other National 

Command and Control Aircraft.

The U.S. Navy achieved a level of 80 percent of full mission capability for the 

F/A-18A-D Hornet, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and EA-18G Growler, meeting the 
64Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Secretary of Defense’s requirement ahead of the end-of-FY-2019 deadline. In March 

2019, the Navy awarded Boeing a $4 billion multi-year contract to build 78 F/A18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets equipped with Block III enhancements and with 

service lives extended from 6,000 to 10,000 flight hours, further modernizing the 

Navy’s strike fighter inventory.

The E-2D Advanced Hawkeye (AHE) Program has delivered 41 aircraft to date. 

The United States Navy awarded a multi-year procurement contract in April 

2019 to build 24 E-2D AHE aircraft. A modification to that contract was made 

in September 2019 to add the procurement of nine Japan Foreign Military Sales 

E-2D AHE aircraft. A July 2019 Program of Record (POR) Requirements Review 

Board validated the requirement to procure a total of 86 E-2D AHE aircraft, up 

from the 75 aircraft validated by the prior POR. If the 2017 National Defense 

Authorization Act (NDAA) language is not rescinded, the POR should support 

nine carrier wings, or 92 aircraft to support ten carrier wings. Upgrades to the platform continue as the Navy plans to release Delta System/Software Configuration 

build 3 in the first quarter of FY 2020, allowing the E-2D AHE to outpace the 

evolving threat.

Unmanned Aircraft System

Army

The MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range unpiloted aircraft system successfully 

completed a follow-on operational test and evaluation, the third major MQ-1C 

operational test. The test results indicated that the MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended 

Range aircraft is operationally suitable with a combat availability of greater than 

80 percent. The Gray Eagle full-rate production contract was awarded to procure 

30 Gray Eagle Extended Range Aircraft, 30 Satellite Air Data Terminals, two 

Universal Ground Data Terminals, Government-furnished equipment repairs/

maintenance, and associated program management. This contract completes the 

Gray Eagle Army acquisition objective of 204 aircraft. The MQ-1C provides the 

warfighter with dedicated, assured, multi-mission uncrewed aircraft system capabilities with the extended-range variation providing nearly 50 percent greater 

endurance. Additionally, in FY 2019, the Army began experimenting on a Future 
65Department of Defense

Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems initiative that will eventually replace the 

RQ-7 Shadows in Brigade Combat teams. Currently, Shadows are assigned to all 

Brigade Combat Teams, Special Forces Groups, and Combat Aviation Brigades.

Navy

The MQ-4C Triton (formerly Broad Area Maritime Surveillance UAS) will 

develop maritime-capable UAS for operational deployment by providing persistent 

maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) services. Along 

with the P-8A Poseidon, the Triton UAS is an integral part of the Maritime Patrol 

and Reconnaissance Force (MPRF) Family of Systems, and it will provide combat 

information to operational and tactical users such as the Expeditionary Strike 

Group (ESG), Carrier Strike Group (CSG), and Joint Forces Maritime Component 

Commander (JFMCC). Developmental testing on the baseline capability was 

completed in October 2017, and Early Operational Capability (EOC) was reached 

in 2018. The upgraded multiple intelligence (Multi-Int) capability is on track to 

support the maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting 

(ISR&T) transition plan in FY 2021.

The MQ-8 Fire Scout UAS program provides real-time and non-real-time ISR 

data to tactical users without the use of crewed aircraft or reliance on limited joint 

theater or national assets. An MQ-8 system is composed of air vehicles (MQ-8B/

MQ-8C), a Mission Control Station, Tactical Control System software, a Tactical 

Common Data Link, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Common Automatic 

Recovery System for takeoffs and landings, payloads (electro-optical/infrared/

laser designator rangefinder, Automated Information System [AIS], voice communications relay, radar, Mine Countermeasures, and other specialty payloads), 

and associated spares and support equipment. Fire Scout (MQ-8C) radar provides 

a 240-degree instantaneous field of view and a range of digital modes to include 

maritime surveillance, synthetic aperture, inverse synthetic aperture, weather 

detection, and ground moving target indicator. The MQ-8 launches and recovers 

vertically and can operate from all suitably equipped air capable ships (SEACS). 

Fire Scout is the first platform to successfully receive Cybersafe Certification. 

In addition, MQ-8 has completed Risk Management Framework certifications. 

MQ-8C achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) on June 28, 2019.
66Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

The MQ-25 program is rapidly developing an unpiloted capability to embark on 

CVNs (aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion) as part of the Carrier Air Wing 

(CVW) to conduct aerial refueling as a primary mission and provide ISR capability as a secondary mission. MQ-25 extends CVW mission effectiveness range, 

partially mitigates the current Carrier Strike Group organic ISR shortfall, and 

fills the future CVW-tanker gap, mitigating Strike Fighter shortfall and preserving F/A-18E/F fatigue life. MQ-25 will achieve this through the use of a carriersuitable, semiautonomous (human-in-the-loop, air vehicle executes preplanned 

missions) UAS (provided by the Air System segment) controlled through existing 

command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence networks from 

the control systems integrated into the CVNs. MQ-25 will initially be integrated 

aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, followed by Ford-class. The Chief of Naval 

Operations and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, 

and Acquisition have approved accelerated, streamlined processes for the program office to move the IOC from FY 2028 to FY 2024. The Government demonstrated this acceleration through the conduct of source selection culminating 

with the August 2018 contract award ($805 million) to Boeing. The combined 

Government-industry team will use modern processes and advanced technology, 

such as Model Based Systems Engineering and embedded teaming, to keep the 

program on track to be the fastest contract award-to-IOC of any modern major 

aviation program. MQ-25 performed its first successful test flights in the fourth 

quarter of FY 2019.

The RQ-21A Blackjack provides runway-independent persistent maritime and 

land-based tactical Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) 

data collection, dissemination, and communications relay capabilities to the 

warfighter. The RQ-21A carries an electro-optical/infrared payload with a laser 

rangefinder and infrared pointer. For the United States Marine Corps, the RQ-21A 

Blackjack provides Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) and subordinate commands 

with a dedicated ISR system capable of operating from both L-class ships and 

remote austere locations ashore, delivering intelligence products directly to the 

tactical commander in real time. For the Navy, the RQ-21A provides persistent 

RSTA support for tactical maneuver decisions and unit-level force defense/force 

protection for Navy ships, Marine Corps forces ashore, and Navy Special Warfare 
67Department of Defense

(NSW) Units. IOC was declared by the Marine Corps in the second quarter of 

FY 2016 and by Naval Special Warfare in the fourth quarter of FY 2018. USMC 

and NSW production deliveries are complete, and the system now has over 11,300 

operational flight hours.

Weapons

Army

The Army is actively pursuing advanced precision munitions with longer ranges 

to allow our aircraft to operate outside of threat weapon system effective ranges. 

These precision munitions will make U.S. aircraft more survivable in a peer/nearpeer threat environment and help solve the anti-access, area-denial challenge 

posed by current threats while operating in an enemy integrated air defense system 

environment. Army Aviation is also developing smaller, more versatile modular 

missile technology that allows for a more scalable and tailorable precision munition 

for soft/mid-range targets. Tailoring of the munitions will allow a more affordable 

precision munition for our UAS. These smaller precision weapons will increase 

lethality and provide more flexibility in targeting.

The Army began fielding and improving other munitions, including the Joint 

Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) and the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System 

(APKWS). The JAGM is a multi-mode guidance munition capable of Precision 

Point and Fire-and-Forget targeting. The multiple sensor design provides a capability that enables employment in adverse weather and against countermeasures while 

also affording simultaneous engagements on both moving and stationary targets 

with increased lethality. In 2019, the Army had multiple successful engagements 

with the APKWS in operational theaters, validating the capability and investments in lighter precision munitions.

Navy

During FY 2019, the Department of the Navy continued to mature its longrange Cruise Missile Strategy. Key developmental and sustainment tenets of this 

strategy include the demilitarization of Tomahawk Land Attack/Block III, support of the Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM)/Block IV recertification program, 
68Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

and the development/fielding of new Block V capabilities through the integration of modernization and obsolescence upgrades to TACTOM during a midlife 

recertification program (which extends the missile service life an additional 

15 years), the fielding of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) as the 

Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare/Increment 1 material solution to meet near- to 

mid-term anti-access Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) threats, and the development 

of follow-on Next Generation Strike Capability (NGSC) weapons to address future 

threats and targets in time to replace or update legacy weapons while bringing 

next-generation technologies into the Navy’s standoff conventional strike capabilities. NGSC includes capabilities to counter long-term anti-surface warfare threats 

and a surface- and subsurface-launched Next Generation Land Attack Weapon 

(NGLAW) to initially complement, and then replace, legacy land attack cruise 

missile weapon systems.

TACTOM was originally planned to end production after FY 2018 (Full Rate 

Production [FRP] 15), but the NGLAW Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) determined 

that Tomahawk, with its planned capabilities upgrades, is an effective long-range 

strike solution into the 2030s.

LRASM continues to pioneer advanced semi-autonomous strike weapon capabilities. In FY 2019, LRASM again had multiple successes, including a two-weapon 

salvo that demonstrated autonomous behaviors against multiple moving ships. 

Weapons were employed for the first time from an F/A-18 Super Hornet. The 

LRASM program also delivered the first tactical rounds to support F/A-18 Early 

Operational Capability.

Using multi-mode seeker and two-way datalink capabilities, the Joint Small 

Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) program provides an adverse-weather, day-or-night 

standoff capability against mobile, moving, and fixed targets and enables target 

prosecution while minimizing collateral damage. During FY 2019, SDB II completed USAF operational test flights on the F-15E. The operational test report 

and fielding for the USAF is expected in early 2020. The Department of the Navy 

(DON) began developmental test flights in 2019 on both the F/A-18E/F and the 

F-35. The Navy is on track to field SDB II on the F/A-18E/F in the fourth quarter 

of FY 2020 and on the F-35B in 2021 for the USMC. DON procured 750 weapons 

(Lot 5) in 2019 with deliveries in 2021.
69Department of Defense

The APKWS guidance kit transforms an unguided 2.75-inch (70-millimeter) 

rocket into a precision-guided rocket, giving warfighters a low-cost surgical strike 

capability. The APKWS rocket redefines precision by hitting the target with pinpoint accuracy and minimal collateral damage. The rocket has been proven in 

combat for five years. The APKWS II continued its high level of reliability and 

lethality as this weapon has become one of the key weapons in the current fight 

against the Islamic State (known variously as ISIS and ISIL). The Navy has delivered 29,636 APKWS guidance kits to date to Navy/Marine, Air Force, Army, and 

Foreign Military Sales customers. Efforts are under way to develop a Single Variant 

guidance kit to replace separate Rotary Wing and Fixed Wing versions; increase 

fleet logistical flexibility; and address component part obsolescence.

Aviation Survivability Equipment

Army

Aviation Survivability Equipment (ASE) is essential to providing force protection for aircraft against emerging advanced threats. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for FVL in Multi-Domain 

Operations (MDO). Therefore, while we continue to maintain capable ASE 

systems in the current fleet and develop advanced capabilities to counter an 

ever-evolving array of threat systems, we are viewing the future of ASE through 

an FVL lens. In 2019, the Army continued a concerted effort to modernize the 

infrastructure for its Aircraft Survivability Equipment in order to allow for more 

rapid and responsive fielding of improved threat detection and defensive countermeasures. The Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) continues to provide 

the Army’s fleet with infrared (IR) threat detection with the primary focus on 

Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). CMWS employs a range of 

expendable countermeasures on all platforms with the addition of the Advanced 

Threat IR Countermeasure system on CH-47s to defeat incoming MANPADS. 

Army Aviation has begun receiving production systems of the Common Infrared 

Countermeasure and the initial component deliveries of the Limited Interim 

Missile Warning System (LIMWS), a directed requirement increment intended as 

a rapid capability insertion for improved protection of Army helicopters. Army 
70Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Aviation is also developing requirements for the next-generation ASE systems with 

an eye toward both FVL and the current fleet. Those advanced capabilities have to 

protect U.S. aircraft and crews against a range of advanced MANPADS as well as 

vehicle-borne systems that include radar, laser, and various passively cued systems. 

FVL efforts provide the ASE program office with a unique opportunity to assess the 

offerings from FVL competitors, in addition to ongoing developmental programs.

In the area of Radio Frequency (RF) systems, the Army is doing a validation 

installation of the APR-39D(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver to begin its fielding. APR39D(V)2 is a bridging capability to be used while the Army continues the development of the APR-39E(V)2, Modernized Radar Warning Receiver. Along with 

advances in detection capabilities, the Army is advancing its threat defeat capabilities by developing a family of Advanced Airborne Expendable Countermeasures 

and is pursuing opportunities to accelerate active RF Countermeasures capabilities. 

Production of an improved counter-RF expendable (Chaff) is expected to field to 

the force in 2024. The fielding of upgraded Chaff and Electronic Countermeasures 

will coincide with the improved detection initiatives, with an eye toward implementation in FVL platforms as well as the current fleet. MDO requirements will 

continue to drive Army Aviation science and technology efforts to develop followon systems that are able to detect and defeat a threat system regardless of its targeting and guidance systems, propulsion means, or warhead type.

Propulsion

Army

The Army is developing the Improved Turbine Engine (ITE), a 3,000-shafthorsepower engine, designed to replace the current GE 701D engine that powers the 

AH-64 and UH-60 airframes. The PEO Aviation/Aviation Turbine Engines Project 

Office successfully executed the ITE Program Milestone B for the Acquisition 

Oversight Integrated Process Team and Army System Acquisition Review Council. 

The Army Acquisition Executive approved the ITE Acquisition Program Baseline, 

establishing parameters for the engineering, manufacturing, and development 

phases. Contracts were awarded to integrate the ITE into the Apache and Black 

Hawk platforms. The ITE will restore capabilities lost due to consistent airframe 
71Department of Defense

growth over the last 40 years and provide significant fuel savings, significant power 

enhancement, and worldwide performance to meet operational requirements. Its 

modular design will simplify and enable field-level repair and lower operation and 

sustainment costs.

Space

Environmental Monitoring

Air Force

The Weather System Follow-on (WSF) is a two-phased acquisition approach that 

places the Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) technology demonstration in 2021 on the International Space Station (ISS). The COWVR demonstration is intended to mature the technology and develop ground-processing 

algorithms. The WSF-Microwave (WSF-M) program will collect critical observations on Ocean Surface Vector Winds and Tropical Cyclone Intensity. WSF-M 

is the planned replacement for the legacy Windsat mission as well as the Special 

Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) sensors that fly on the Defense 

Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. The first of up to two WSF-M 

satellites is in development, with acquisition Milestone B planned for late 2019 and 

initial launch capability in late 2023.

The Electro-optical/infrared Weather System (EWS) (formerly WSF-E) preacquisition activities were conducted throughout the year, leading to an approved 

acquisition strategy in summer 2019. EWS will satisfy DOD’s two highest-priority 

Space Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) sensing needs from the family of systems’ “early-morning” orbit—Cloud Characterization and Theater 

Weather Imagery. 

Throughout 2018, the Air Force and NOAA conducted various technical interchanges, site surveys, and planning activities for EWS-Geostationary (EWS-G, 

formerly WSF-G). The intended purpose of EWS-G is to provide persistent weather 

monitoring of the Central Command (CENTCOM) Area of Responsibility (AoR) 

from a dedicated U.S. geostationary SBEM satellite. GOES-13 will become the 

repurposed and redesignated EWS-G. This coverage is currently provided by the 
72Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

allied European Meteosat-8 which has a projected end of mission in 2020. EWS-G 

will ensure that U.S. operations in the CENTCOM continue to be supported by 

timely and reliable SBEM capabilities when the current Meteosat-8 support ends. 

Work continues to establish a remote ground station in western Australia that will 

be operational by late 2019.

The Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring (SSAEM) program 

is a technology demonstration project to support the international Constellation 

Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2 (COSMIC-2) mission. The SSAEM program provides the acquisition, development and launch/

on-orbit support of 18 space/terrestrial weather sensors as well as COSMIC-2 partnership in coordination with NOAA and Taiwan’s National Space Organization 

(NSPO). COSMIC-2 launched six satellites in an equatorial, low-Earth orbit 

(LEO) with three SSAEM sensors in each spacecraft in June 2019. The sensor 

types are Tri-Global Navigation Satellite System (Tri-GNSS) Radio occultation 

System (TGRS), Ion Velocity Meter (IVM), and Radio Frequency Beacon (RFB). 

The SSAEM sensors observe ionospheric density, equatorial ionospheric scintillation, and electric field to provide additional space meteorological data that should 

improve forecast capabilities and warfighter navigation/communication capabilities 

over the next five years.

Missile Warning/Attack Assessment

Air Force

The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) provides ballistic missile warning and 

defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence for the United States 

and its allies. SBIRS satellites and ground systems currently provide operational 

capability and will continue to incrementally deliver additional capability to the 

future warfighter.

SBIRS Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) 4 (the third SBIRS GEO launch) 

is fully functional and entered operations in May 2019. The SBIRS GEO 5 and 

GEO 6 production contract was awarded on June 24, 2014, using a six-year Efficient 

Space Procurement (ESP) that provided a cost avoidance of $521 million. The 

SBIRS GEO 5 and GEO 6 satellites are in production and are meeting cost and 
73Department of Defense

schedule objectives. The SBIRS GEO 5 primary mission payload completed physical integration with the Space Vehicle in July 2019 and is ready to begin Space 

Vehicle integration and test activities.

SBIRS Ground, Block 20 (Software Baseline Review 18-1), was operationally accepted on August 29, 2019, delivering mission-processing enhancements, 

improved detection/accuracy, and automated tasking.

The Air Force is taking projected threats seriously and focusing investments on 

maturing resilient technology. An acquisition strategy was approved for the Next 

Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) space segment, and an 

acquisition strategy for the Next-Gen OPIR ground segment is in pre-decisional 

forums within the Air Force. The space segment will replenish the SBIRS constellation by delivering five resilient and survivable Missile Warning Satellites (three 

GEO and two Polar Orbit).

The Ground Segment, Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution 

(FORGE), is developing a cyber-secure open OPIR mission framework capable 

of hosting applications and providing services to process mission data for missile 

warning, missile defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence mission 

areas. This year, FORGE conducted an initial prototyping effort to develop the 

mission data application framework that will result in an FY 2020 downselect to a 

single provider.

Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

Air Force

The Global Positioning System (GPS) program celebrated its 24th anniversary 

this year of providing uninterrupted Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) 

data, free of charge, to users worldwide. GPS has been operational since July 1995. 

The success of the GPS program can be reflected in the total number of GPS 

receivers produced to date, estimated at more than four billion worldwide. The 

first two GPS III satellite launches occurred in December 2018 and August 2019, 

ushering in the next generation of GPS technology with significant enhancements 

to the current constellation, including higher-power military signals, new civilian 

signals, and hosted search-and-rescue payloads.
74Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

The GPS III Follow-on (GPS IIIF) contract is under way and currently in the 

design and development phase. GPS IIIF satellites will provide an eightfold increase 

in anti-jam performance over current GPS satellites.

The GPS next-generation Operational Control System (OCX) is a modernized 

ground system that will enable the effective use of the latest military and civilian 

GPS signals while providing significantly improved cyber resiliency. OCX Block 0 

successfully performed the launch and on-orbit checkout of the first two GPS III 

satellites. The OCX Block 1/2 development phase was completed in August 2019, 

signaling the transition of the program into integration, test, deployment, and 

eventually operation.

The Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) first ground systems card completed 

Technical Requirements Verification in March 2019, signifying that it is ready for 

integration into Department of Defense platforms. These Military GPS receiver 

cards provide users with access to higher-power military signals and are more jamresistant than previous generations.

Satellite Communications (SATCOM)

Air Force

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system is a joint-service satellite communications system that provides global, survivable, secure, protected, 

and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea, and air 

assets. Four on-orbit AEHF satellites augment the existing Milstar constellation, 

providing protected satellite communications for strategic users. A fifth satellite 

was successfully launched on August 8, 2019.

The Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) program is the disaggregated strategic 

communications follow-on to the AEHF program. The Air Force will employ competitive rapid prototyping on the ESS space segment with up to three potential 

contractors—Northrop Grumman Corporation, Lockheed Martin Space Systems 

Company, and the Boeing Company—simultaneously via sole-source contracts. 

The rapid prototyping request for proposals was released on August 29, 2019.

The Protected Tactical SATCOM (PTS) program is the disaggregated tactical 

communications follow-on to the AEHF program. PTS will provide worldwide, 
75Department of Defense

beyond-line-of-sight, anti-jam, low-probability-of-intercept communications to tactical warfighters in both benign and contested environments. PTS was designated 

as an MTA, Rapid Prototyping Activity in November 2018, and it will develop two 

prototype payloads available for launch three years earlier than a traditional DOD 

5000.02 acquisition. The rapid prototyping request for proposals was released on 

May 23, 2019.

The Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program 

will field nuclear-event-survivable terminals capable of communicating with the 

Milstar and AEHF satellite constellations using jam-resistant, low-probability-ofintercept, and low-probability-of-detection waveforms. On February 7, 2019, the 

Milestone Decision Authority approved the procurement of all FAB-T Command 

Post Terminals (CPTs) during Low Rate Initial Production. All 84 planned terminals are now on contract; 27 terminals have been delivered; 12 terminals have been 

installed; and eight are in operational use.

The Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) is a ground system that will 

provide an anti-jam protection via Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) to tactical warfighters currently unable to operate through interference in anti-access/

area-denial operational environments. On June 18, 2018, the Senior Acquisition 

Executive designated PTES as an FY 2016 NDAA, Section 804, Middle Tier of 

Acquisition, Rapid Prototyping activity and authorized PTES to pursue a prototype 

capability (communications supporting two Navy Carrier Strike Groups in the 

Pacific Theater) in early FY 2022. Boeing was awarded the PTES development 

contract in November 2018. The Hardware System Requirements Review was held 

in March 2019, and the Software Build Decision Review #1 was accomplished in 

August 2019.

The Enhanced Polar System (EPS) program, with two hosted payloads on orbit 

and a ground Control and Planning Segment (CAPS), received Initial and Final 

Operational Capability (IOC/FOC) declaration on September 19, 2019. EPS 

replaces the Interim Polar System to ensure that critical protected communications 

requirements above 65 degrees north latitude are satisfied for joint forces. The Air 

Force is procuring two replenishment EPS payloads to prevent a MILSATCOM 

mission gap in the Polar Region in the 2025 timeframe. These EPS-Recapitalization 

(EPS-R) payloads will be hosted on satellites procured by Space Norway because it 
76Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

promotes U.S. policy to strengthen international partnerships and has the potential for the U.S. Government to avoid $900 million of costs. The agreement was 

codified in a Memorandum of Agreement in May 2019. A successful EPS-R payload 

Preliminary Design Review was accomplished in November 2018. An update to 

the EPS CAPS was awarded to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS) in 

May 2019.

The WGS satellite program consists of 11 satellites with ten currently on 

orbit. WGS 10 successfully launched on March 15, 2019. The Consolidated 

Appropriations Act, FY 2018, includes an allocation of $600 million for two additional WGS satellites. The decision was made that a single WGS-11+ satellite with 

twice the operational capacity of WGS-10 would be procured. Boeing delivered a 

proposal in January 2019, and the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) issued 

an Undefinitized Contract Action for WGS-11+ (with twice the capacity of WGS10) on April 19, 2019. WGS is the DOD SATCOM constellation with the highest 

capacity and was declared at Full Operational Capability (FOC) with five satellites 

on May 12, 2014. The WGS system provides high-data-rate two-way X-band and 

Ka-band communications to support various missions of the Unified Combatant 

Commanders, military services, other DOD agencies, and international partners 

(Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, 

Norway, and Czech Republic). The WGS system is composed of space, control, 

and terminal segments. The space segment operates in the X-band and Ka-band 

with flexible connectivity between bands and coverages to support and connect 

users operating worldwide.

The Air Force Commercial SATCOM Office (AFCSCO) was established under 

Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) in December 2018. AFCSCO procures 

Commercial SATCOM (COMSATCOM) for DOD by managing over 90 active 

customer contracts and leveraging 40 commercial SATCOM providers. AFCSCO 

delivers access to the global commercial Iridium Satellite Constellation for DOD, 

all federal agencies, state and local governments, and foreign partners (Five Eyes 

[FVEY] and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO]). AFCSCO also 

delivers COMSATCOM capabilities through standard and custom contracts, 

including transponder capacity, managed services, and custom solutions.
77Department of Defense

Space Access

Air Force

The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program was renamed 

National Security Space Launch (NSSL) on March 1, 2019, per the FY 2019 

National Defense Authorization Act. The program continues to successfully place 

satellites into orbit. United Launch Alliance (ULA) continued its record of success, with five National Security Space (NSS) launches as of September 20, 2019. 

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) flew their first NSS launch, as well as 

their first Air Force Falcon Heavy Launch for the Space Test Program (STP). A 

summary of the seven launches during FY 2019 follows:

(Launch Date, Launch Vehicle Configuration, Payload)

• October 17, 2018, Atlas V (551), AEHF-4

• December 23, 2018, Falcon 9, GPS III-2

• January 19, 2019, Delta IV Heavy, National Reconnaissance Office 

Launch (NROL)–71

• March 16, 2019, Delta IV Medium+(5,4), WGS-2

• June 25, 2019, Falcon Heavy, STP-2 (non-NSS)

• August 8, 2019, Atlas V(551), AEHF-5

• August 22, 2019, Delta IV Medium+(4.2), GPS III-1

On October 10, 2018, the Air Force awarded Launch Service Agreements 

(LSAs) to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, and ULA to develop launch systems 

prototypes. These LSAs were a key step in the transition from the use of nonallied space launch engines to domestically produced engines. This enables assured 

access to space and introduces sustainable competition for future National Security 

Space launch services.

The Air Force, in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), 

competitively awarded firm-fixed-price launch services contracts to SpaceX and 

ULA under the EELV/NSSL Phase 1A procurement strategy on February 19, 2019. 

Six missions were awarded, with AFSPC-44, NROL-85, and NROL-87 going 

to SpaceX and SBIRS GEO-5, SBIRS GEO-6, and SILENTBARKER going to 

ULA. The award includes launch vehicle production, mission integration, and 

launch operations. This is the sixth competition under the Phase 1A EELV/NSSL 
78Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

procurement. These contract awards represent the Air Force’s continued effort to 

strike a balance between meeting operational needs and lowering launch costs by 

reintroducing competition for National Security Space missions.

A Request for Proposals for the NSSL Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement 

(LSP) was released on May 3, 2019. The Air Force intends to competitively award 

Phase 2 LSP contracts to two launch service providers for launch service procurements between FYs 2020 and 2024, to be launched from 2022 through 2027.

On September 30, 2019, the Air Force awarded ULA a five-year $1.18 billion 

contract for launch operations to complete the last planned five Delta 4 Heavy 

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) missions from 2020 through 2024. The 

award covers the launch operations costs for five classified NRO missions—NROL44, NROL-82, NROL-91, NROL-68, and NROL-70. The Air Force already had 

acquired five Delta 4 Heavy rockets for these missions under previous contracts 

awarded to ULA in 2017 and 2018.

Range modernization efforts continued in FY 2019 with the following 

accomplishments:

• Architectural overhauls at the Eastern and Western Ranges with sustainment engineering and modification projects to address cybersecurity issues, obsolescent technology, and diminishing vendor concerns. 

Modernization of Range subsystems such as telemetry, radar, and command site instrumentation and associated software to ensure mission reliability, maintainability, and availability.

• Eastern and Western Range network modernization continued, with 

upgrades for mission communications core to provide automated routing 

versus manual Range reconfiguration; centralized network management 

across the IP network; increased bandwidth, enabling transport of Range 

data now and in the future; and opportunities to modernize information 

assurance.

The Air Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP) continues to provide a 

low barrier for new entry launch vehicles, enabling a diverse vendor pool consisting of both large and small businesses with a mixture of mature and emerging 

launch providers. One example in FY 2019 is the Space Test Program–2 mission 

launched on the Air Force’s first SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, putting 23 
79Department of Defense

experimental satellites into orbit on June 25, 2019. Additionally, RSLP seeks to 

capitalize on the dynamic small satellite market by employing a flexible launch 

program, showcasing industry’s innovation while providing affordable launch 

solutions. This led to its partnership on the STP-27RD mission using the Rocket 

Lab Electron launch on May 5, 2019, and its recent award on the Small Rocket 

Program–Orbital contract to Aevum for a Ravnx launch scheduled for 2021.

In FY 2019, the Space Test Program (STP) successfully deployed two spacecraft 

from the International Space Station. The U.S. Army’s Kestrel Eye is a prototype, 

low-cost, visible-imagery small satellite designed to provide near-real-time images to 

the tactical-level ground soldier. The payload was deployed into space and activated 

in October 2018. Additionally, STP launched and deployed the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Red-Eye 1 spacecraft from the ISS. RedEye 1’s objective is to develop and demonstrate technologies that increase the utility 

of low-cost microsatellites. The spacecraft was successfully deployed from the ISS.

In addition to spacecraft deployed from the ISS, the STP launched and successfully installed STP-H6 on the ISS’s Express Logistics Carrier in May 2019. The 

STP-H6 carried seven DOD Space Experiments Review Board (SERB)–approved 

experiments to the ISS. STP-H6 is in its operational phase. In July 2019, the STP 

launched the U.S. Army’s cell science experiment investigating new pharmaceuticals for the treatment of bone damage in wounded warriors. Cell samples were 

returned to Earth on SpaceX-18.

The Space Test Program continues to support NASA’s Lightning Imaging Sensor 

(LIS), part of the experiment complement on the STP-H5 payload on the ISS. LIS 

operations have been extended on a reimbursable basis after STP’s experiments on 

STP-H5 have concluded. LIS is supplying operational data to the National Weather 

Service for storm warnings, nowcasts, oceanic aviation, and international meteorological events. It has also been a benefit in military operations and will play an 

important role in the extension period for improving National Climate Assessment 

studies that benefit Government decision making regarding the complex impacts 

of climate change on U.S. infrastructure.

Finally, in September 2019, the STP turned over the STP-built STPSat-4 spacecraft and the U.S. Navy’s LEctenna experiment to NASA for launch from the 

ISS. STPSat-4 will fly five Space Test Experiment Review Board experiments and 
80Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

also demonstrate the operational utility of the Commercial Augmentation System 

(CAS) and is expected to deploy from the ISS in January 2020. STPSat-4 uses 

three CAS ground stations in the United States and OCONUS. LEctenna is a 

SERB-approved experiment and was the first ISS payload to use a commercial integration process. Integration was accomplished in 30 days. LEctenna will launch to 

the ISS in December 2019.

Space Rapid Capabilities Office (SpRCO)

In 2019, the NDAA further defined the SpRCO mission to contribute to the 

development of low-cost, rapid-reaction payloads and systems to rapidly develop 

and field new highly classified space capabilities in support of national defense. 

It also directed the Secretary of the Air Force to establish a Board of Directors 

(BoD). The BoD is chaired by the Secretary of the Air Force with membership 

that includes the Chief of Staff of the Air Force; Commander of the U.S. Space 

Command; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, 

and Logistics; Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment; and 

Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Through the BoD, 

the SpRCO has been assigned and is executing programs that fill critical portions of the Space Warfighting CONOPS as defined by the Commander of the 

U.S. Space Command. The SpRCO is further developing partnerships with other 

Government organizations, industry, academia, and Federally Funded Research 

and Development Centers to aid in fulfilling its mission.

Space Control

Air Force

The Counter Communications System (CCS) provides expeditionary, deployable, and reversible counter-space effects applicable across the full spectrum of conflict. CCS denies adversary satellite communications in an area of conflict. CCS is 

a key piece of DOD’s space control strategy and has been in operation since 2004 

with the fielding of three Increment 10.0 systems. To date, CCS has gone through 

two subsequent preplanned product improvements and has delivered 14 of 16 CCS 
81Department of Defense

Increment 10.2 systems, with the remaining systems to be delivered to operational 

units by the third quarter of FY 2020. In calendar year (CY) 2019, the Increment 

10.3 upgrade began and will deliver four systems in FY 2022.

The Space Security and Defense Program (SSDP) is a joint DOD and Office of 

the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) organization, established to function 

as the center of excellence for options and strategies (materiel and non-materiel), 

leading to a more resilient and enduring National Security Space Enterprise. In 

FY 2019, SSDP completed efforts resulting in the delivery and implementation of 

specific cyber and materiel solutions to emergent capability needs. These include 

the following:

• Developing and accessing protection capabilities, architectures, and 

requirements across the NSS enterprise.

• Performing technical analyses, studies, and modeling to inform national, 

DOD, and Intelligence Community (IC) policy for enhancing the U.S. 

space protection posture.

• Designing and developing tools that provide actionable recommendations 

to individual programs for increasing system resiliency and informing 

investment decisions.

• Maturing analytical capability to evaluate resiliency of proposed architectures (both mission-specific and enterprise-wide).

• Developing experiments and exercises to advance space protection Tactics, 

Techniques and Procedures (TTPs); Concept of Operations (CONOPS); 

and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) command and control (C2).

• Prototyping C2 and SSA integration solutions to speed information sharing, streamline operations, and shorten decision timelines.

• Refining Space C2 requirements based on National Space Defense Center 

experiment results, C2 prototypes, and SSA experiments.

Space Situational Awareness

Air Force

Adversary nations are fielding sophisticated space weapons at a pace that our 

legacy SSA and space C2 systems cannot currently match. To address the rapidly 
82Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

expanding threats to the space enterprise, the Space Command and Control (C2) 

system will allow the Department of the Air Force to command and control space 

control and SSA forces by integrating data for commanders. The system will create decision-relevant views of the space environment; rapidly detect, track, and 

characterize objects of interest; identify and exploit traditional and nontraditional 

sources; perform space threat analysis; and enable the efficient distribution of 

data. It will be an integral tool to help commanders develop courses of action to 

address threats to critical space assets. The program’s new acquisitions approach is 

an innovative agile DevSecOps effort, which links users with developers to deliver 

improved and prioritized capabilities to operators on a recurring basis. This pivots 

future SSA and C2 development efforts to a user-driven, rapid-delivery approach in 

order to defeat an advancing threat.

Space Fence provides un-cued surveillance of small objects and satellites primarily in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), as well as Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and 

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) (secondary), to provide spaceflight safety, 

early detection, custody of threats, and awareness to satellite operators in the 

human spaceflight regime. Space Fence will be the most accurate high-capacity 

radar in the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and will provide extensive updates 

to the space catalogue; increase sensitivity for new object discovery; and deliver 

optimum orbital coverage, including coverage of much lower inclinations of orbiting objects. Space Fence greatly increases the ability to understand the Space 

Domain battlespace and inform warfighter decisions. The increased sensitivity, 

coupled with increased computing capabilities of the Joint Space Operations 

Center Mission System, improves understanding of the space operating environment and associated threats.

The acquisition strategy implements Better Buying Power—cost, capability, and 

design trade studies; prototyping; and risk reduction in the System Development 

and Preliminary Design Review phases. Current efforts are focused on the first site 

and the operations center, which provide system IOC. The program is currently 

conducting operational testing and is on track to achieve IOC in the first quarter 

of FY 2020.
83Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviat

Administrat

FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has achieved more milestones 

in its ongoing Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) effort. 

NextGen is transitioning the National Airspace System (NAS) from analog and 

ground-based communication, navigation, and surveillance systems to cutting-edge 

digital and satellite-enabled technologies. NextGen is fundamentally changing the 

way we see, navigate, and communicate in the Nation’s skies.

NextGen seeks to move away from the current system of air traffic control 

(ATC)—based on knowing where an aircraft is using radar—to a time-based 

management system that operates on shared knowledge of the precise location 

of an aircraft at any given point in time along its projected trajectory. Trajectory 

Based Operations (TBO) is an air traffic management (ATM) method for strategically planning, managing, and optimizing flights throughout the operation 

by using time-based management, information exchange between air and ground 

systems, and the aircraft’s ability to fly precise paths in time and space. TBO will 

increase safety, reduce delays and congestion, decrease fuel burn, and lower aircraft 

exhaust emissions. 

Automation

Two cutting-edge automation systems are helping to modernize ATC. While 

neither platform is a NextGen technology in and of itself, both enable critical 

NextGen capabilities in terminal and en route airspace.
84Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Under the Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement (TAMR) 

program, the FAA is replacing the Automated Radar Terminal System in terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities with the Standard Terminal 

Automation Replacement System (STARS). TRACONs guide aircraft transitioning to and from high-altitude airspace.

STARS is replacing the automation in TRACONs and their associated air traffic control towers across the country. They system is now operational at 99 percent 

of all TRACONs, including the 11 sites that control 80 percent of U.S. traffic:

• Atlanta

• Chicago

• Dallas/Fort Worth

• Denver

• Louisville

• Minneapolis/St. Paul

• New York

• Northern California

• Potomac (Washington, DC, area)

• St. Louis

• Southern California

STARS enables many NextGen technologies in terminal airspace, such as 

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B), the satellite-based successor to radar, and the advanced terminal sequencing and spacing function for 

Time Based Flow Management (TBFM).

The FAA completed deploying the En Route Automation Modernization 

(ERAM) system to all 20 air route traffic control centers in the contiguous United 

States in 2015. Like STARS, ERAM enables key NextGen capabilities in the facilities that control traffic at cruising altitude, including the fully integrated ADS-B 

and Data Communications (Data Comm), which supplements voice communications with digital text-based messages between controllers and pilots. ERAM 

Enhancements 2 continues the incorporation of new capabilities, such as enhancing the accuracy of Aircraft Trajectory Modeling and Conflict Probe, as well as the 

expansion of the automated coordination of flight data and aircraft control with 

NAV Canada, the Canadian air navigation service provider.
85Federal Aviation Administration

Data Communications

Departure clearance tower service is active at 62 U.S. locations. The FAA finished the first 55 locations more than two years ahead of schedule in December 

2016. The team then targeted seven additional sites using program underrun funds 

and completed those additional installations in August 2018—13 months ahead of 

the original 55-airport baseline.

Using Data Comm, controllers select and send departure clearance instructions 

electronically to the cockpits of equipped aircraft instead of speaking them to pilots 

over the radio. Air carrier flight operations centers simultaneously receive the same 

information, giving all decision makers a shared awareness for faster reactions to 

changes. Flight crews signal concurrence with the press of a button. Instructions 

can then be loaded into the aircraft’s flight management system. By providing an 

air-to-ground data link, this transformational program is a critical component of 

the FAA’s vision for TBO.

Data Comm is a priority focus area identified by the NextGen Advisory 

Committee (NAC). Composed of senior Federal and industry aviation stakeholders, the NAC provides independent advice and recommendations to the FAA 

and responds to specific taskings from the agency. The NAC also recommends 

consensus-driven standards relating to Air Traffic Management System modernization for FAA consideration.

The FAA is taking the next step for Data Comm, beginning the implementation of en route services that support the portion of flight at cruising altitudes. 

En route services are now fully operational at the Kansas City and Indianapolis 

Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs) and are scheduled to be deployed 

to the remaining continental U.S. ARTCCs in the FY 2020–21 timeframe. Data 

Comm en route services will contribute to more efficient routes and a reduction 

in flight delays, resulting in increased operational efficiency and enhanced flight 

safety—all while reducing costs for airspace users. The FAA estimates that Data 

Comm will save aircraft operators more than $10 billion over the 30-year life cycle 

of the program. The FAA expects to save about $1 billion in future operating costs.
86Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

ADS-B

January 1, 2020, brought about a significant change to the National Airspace 

System, laying the groundwork for a safer and more efficient system that will help 

meet the predicted increase in air traffic in coming years and create the opportunity for future operational benefits. As of January 1, 2020, aircraft flying in most 

controlled airspace must be equipped to transmit their position using ADS-B Out, 

unless otherwise authorized by air traffic control. There are now more than 119,000 

U.S. aircraft equipped with properly functioning ADS-B Out avionics.

ADS-B uses GPS to determine aircraft position more accurately and with faster 

updates than radar. The Equip 2020 Government-industry working group continues collaboration to eliminate equipage impediments for commercial and general 

aviation operators. Equipping with ADS-B In is not mandatory, but operators who 

install it experience benefits such as seeing the same traffic picture on their cockpit 

displays as controllers. General aviation operators who equip with ADS-B In also 

can view graphical weather and flight information delivered to the cockpit at no 

further cost.

To encourage ADS-B Out equipage within a portion of the general aviation 

community, the FAA began offering 20,000 $500 rebates in September 2016 to 

operators of U.S.-registered, fixed-wing, single-engine piston aircraft. The rebate 

incentive was intended to defray ADS-B equipment and installation costs. More 

than 10,200 pilots claimed the offer that ended one year after its start. Between 

October 12, 2018, and October 11, 2019, the FAA resumed offering the remaining $500 rebates, all of which were reserved. The rebate, coupled with extensive 

outreach activities, contributed to a steady increase in properly equipped aircraft.

The FAA will continue to conduct comprehensive educational outreach as the 

aviation community works to meet the ADS-B Out mandate and as aircraft continue to equip over time in order to fly in ADS-B–rule airspace.

Performance Based Navigation

Performance Based Navigation (PBN) uses satellites and onboard equipment 

for navigation procedures that are more precise and accurate than using standard 
87Federal Aviation Administration

avionics and ground-based navigation aids. The types of routes and procedures an 

aircraft can fly depend on equipment performance level and pilot training.

The FAA has published more than 9,300 PBN departure, arrival, and approach 

procedures as well as low- and high-altitude PBN routes. These procedures provide precise flight paths across the United States that are much more direct than 

the legacy flight paths they replace, which zigzag over ground-based navigation 

aids. The PBN NAS Navigation Strategy 2016 (http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/media/

PBN_NAS_NAV.pdf) outlines the FAA’s plans for moving to a PBN-centric NAS.

PBN benefits include the following:

• Increased safety through repeatable and predictable flight paths when 

accessing airspace near obstacles and terrain, and with vertical guidance 

for more stable approaches.

• Improved airport and airspace access in all weather conditions.

• Reduced delays at airports and in certain congested airspace by using new 

parallel routes, newly enabled ingress/egress points around busy terminal 

areas, and improved flight rerouting capabilities that make better use of 

closely spaced procedures and airspace.

• Improved efficiency through more direct routes, especially at lower flight 

altitudes.

PBN’s Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 

provide environmental benefits through reduced fuel consumption and emissions. 

The FAA estimates that since airlines started flying new RNAV approaches into 

Minneapolis in March 2015, PBN saved more than 5.8 million gallons of fuel and 

prevented more than 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. In Denver, RNP approaches save Southwest, United, and Frontier airlines 

more than 100 gallons of fuel per flight.

System Wide Information Management

To function smoothly, NAS users must share an increasing amount of flight and 

weather data. The System Wide Information Management (SWIM) information 

network provides the infrastructure for the exchange of digital data for aviation 
88Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

stakeholders. The digital data delivery platform provides the foundation for fully 

implementing many NextGen operational improvements.

SWIM replaces many stand-alone computer interfaces that connected point 

to point. SWIM offers a modern, universally recognized data exchange through 

a single connection. The data format has been harmonized with domestic and 

international aviation communities. SWIM provides registered users with unprecedented access to data products with improved bandwidth and enhanced security. 

SWIM plays a critical role in the successful implementation of TBO.

Decision Support Systems

Controllers and traffic managers use decision support systems to help solve airspace, weather, and other constraints and optimize traffic flow across the NAS.

The primary tools for strategic flow, en route flow, and airport terminal/surface flow are the Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS), Time Based Flow 

Management (TBFM), and Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM). These systems 

are often referred to as the “3Ts.”

Controllers and traffic managers use decision support systems to help solve constraints and optimize traffic flow across the NAS. A trio of major decision support 

systems work together to provide these functions.

The first of these systems, TBFM, uses time-based metering to better utilize NAS 

capacity by improving traffic flow management of aircraft approaching and departing congested airspace and airports. TBFM is operational at 20 air route traffic 

control centers and adapted for many major airports served by those centers. TBFM 

is a vital part of the NAS and enhances air traffic operations by reducing delays 

and increasing the efficiency of airline operations. Departure scheduling and en 

route metering functions of TBFM are in use across the NAS today and are being 

expanded with additional deployments. Expansion of time-based management 

tools to terminal facilities is planned over the coming years, with the development 

and deployment of Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS).

TFMS supports the FAA’s Traffic Management personnel in providing efficiencycritical NAS services. Each day, traffic managers use TFMS to maintain nearreal-time situational awareness and predict geographic areas that may experience 
89Federal Aviation Administration

congestion due to capacity reductions or unusual demand increase. TFMS is used 

to facilitate collaborative planning and decision making to proactively plan impact 

mitigation strategies between the Air Traffic Control System Command Center, 

Traffic Management Units at all major air traffic control facilities (80 sites), and 

flight operators. In addition to the air traffic control facilities, there are an additional 39 remote sites located at other FAA, military, and Government installations. The FAA is working on TFMS enhancements to provide traffic managers 

with further advanced decision support as we move toward TBO.

TFDM is in development to deliver decision support capabilities, including 

a surface metering capability, for use by tower air traffic controllers and traffic 

managers. TFDM will integrate flight, surface surveillance, and traffic management information. TFDM will implement electronic flight strips and automate 

manual flight data processes to enable enhanced data sharing between the tower, 

en route, approach control, traffic flow management, and flight/airline operations centers. The FAA completed early implementation of portions of TFDM, 

including Advanced Electronic Flight Strips (AEFS). AEFS converts paper strips 

to electronic strips displayed to the controller. AEFS prototypes are working in 

Phoenix, Arizona; Cleveland, Ohio; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Full TFDM 

deployment will begin in 2020. The FAA plans to deploy TFDM at 89 towers 

across the country.

Together, TBFM, TFMS, TFDM, and forthcoming enhancements to these systems are key to the delivery of TBO.

Interagency Collaboration

In addition to collaboration with the aviation community through the NAC, 

the FAA promotes the acceptance and adoption of NextGen technologies and 

procedures through cooperation with Federal partner agencies.

The NextGen Executive Board, made up of senior executives from NextGen 

Federal partner agencies, is one of two bodies that guide interagency NextGen 

activities. The NextGen Executive Weather Panel is a forum for the FAA, NASA, 

and the Departments of Defense and Commerce to collaborate on weather-related 

research and development, policy, and implementation activities.
90Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Internally in the FAA, the NextGen Management Board provides oversight of 

NextGen initiatives, including objectives, policy implications, and operational 

aspects of implementation. It approves new capabilities and makes recommendations to terminate or amend concepts.

UAS

Just as NextGen is transforming the NAS, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 

are bringing unprecedented new opportunities for business and recreation. The 

number of UAS pilots in the NAS has grown dramatically. The challenge is to 

ensure that these new aircraft are integrated with crewed aircraft without compromising safety to people and property on the ground or in the air.

The FAA is working with NASA and other Federal and industry partners 

to safely integrate UAS into the NAS. Since the FAA implemented a new rule 

to permit small UAS-limited operations in U.S. airspace in August 2016, more 

than 80,000 individual drones have been registered for various commercial and 

Government purposes.

In the second quarter of 2017, the FAA launched a prototype version of the Low 

Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), which provides 

drones with access to controlled airspace near airports through near real-time processing of authorization requests. LAANC is an innovative partnership between 

industry and the FAA where we supply the source data and technical requirements 

and industry builds apps (many of which are compatible with smartphones) for 

commercial drone operators to plan their flights and access controlled airspace. 

The FAA developed the internal application that displays the authorizations 

to air traffic managers to provide awareness of authorized drone flights. Prior to 

LAANC, the manually processed authorizations had drone operators waiting more 

than 100 days. Since its 2017 launch at ten facilities, LAANC has expanded to 

include 400 facilities covering nearly 600 airports. To date, LAANC has processed 

more than 200,000 authorization requests and processes nearly 90 percent of all 

authorization requests to fly in controlled airspace. LAANC has vastly decreased 

the wait time for UAS pilots to obtain authorizations. LAANC signals a new way 

that the FAA is doing business with industry to solve new challenges.
91Federal Aviation Administration

The introduction of UAS affects existing and future aviation requirements from 

aircraft certification to ATM. NASA and the FAA established a UAS Traffic 

Management Research Transition Team to define and develop requirements and 

standards that will be necessary for safe and efficient integration of UAS.

Additional information about the FAA Office of NextGen, updates, reports, and 

other documents can be found at https://www.faa.gov/nextgen.

Commercial Space Transportation

In FY 2018, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) 

licensed 35 commercial space operations, including three licensed reentries, five 

cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, and the first launch 

of humans to space from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 

2011. Additionally, AST issued nine new launch licenses, including a Reusable 

Launch Operator license to Blue Origin for suborbital launches of its New Shepard 

launch vehicle, as well as 14 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)–related 

environmental documents. AST’s safety inspectors conducted 543 inspections to 

ensure that launch and reentry operations did not jeopardize public safety.

In FY 2018, the FAA completed a number of successful demonstrations of the 

agency’s Space Data Integrator (SDI) proof of concept, including demonstrations 

featuring the first integration of live data from a vehicle in orbit and during reentry and the first integration of live launch vehicle data, integration of a complete 

suborbital trajectory, and integration of data for multiple launch vehicle elements 

(booster and capsule). The FAA is developing an SDI to support launch and reentry operations in a way that will allow the FAA to reduce the amount of airspace 

required to be closed in advance of a mission, effectively respond to off-nominal 

scenarios in a timelier manner, and quickly release airspace back to the National 

Airspace System as the mission progresses. This technology is a building block 

for future technologies that will allow the FAA to move away from accommodating commercial space operations in the NAS to integrating them with other 

airspace users. Additional information about the FAA Office of Commercial Space 

Transportation, regulations, reports, and other documents can be found online at 

https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/.

93Department of Commerce

Department of Comm

DOC

During FY 2019, the Department of Commerce (DOC) took significant steps to 

advance the U.S. commercial space industry while continuing its essential role as 

a leading civilian operational space agency.

Office of Space Commerce

Consistent with Secretary Wilbur Ross’s strategic plan objective to “Expand 

Commercial Space Activities,” the Department increased the staffing of its Office 

of Space Commerce, participated in the meetings and activities of the National 

Space Council, and supported American companies operating in space. Per 

President Trump’s Space Policy Directive–2 (SPD-2), the Department of Space 

Commerce proposed new rules to streamline commercial space export control regulations and the licensing of commercial remote sensing activities. Per Space Policy 

Directive–3 (SPD-3), the Department made progress toward the establishment of a 

new space situational awareness capability to support commercial space operators.

Secretary Ross or Deputy Secretary Karen Dunn Kelley participated in the three 

FY 2019 meetings of the National Space Council, reporting on the Department’s 

implementation of SPD-2 and SPD-3 and accepting new tasks on U.S. space competitiveness and authorization of commercial space operations. The Office of Space 

Commerce coordinated the Department’s implementation of Council recommendations and participation in White House deliberations on multiple space issues.

The Department engaged in continuous dialogue with U.S. space companies to 

understand and support their business needs. Secretary Ross and other Department 

leadership hosted a series of public events focusing on critical elements needed to 
94Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

grow the U.S. space economy, including financial investment (December 2018), 

risk mitigation (March 2019), safety and sustainability (June 2019), and support 

from the Department (September 2019). The Department promoted U.S. industry interests while leading delegations to the United Nations Committee on the 

Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, U.S.-Thai civil space dialogue, and U.S.-European 

working group on satellite navigation market access.

Regulatory Streamlining Under SPD-2

In October 2019, as directed by SPD-2, Secretary Ross submitted to Congress 

a legislative proposal to establish a new Bureau of Space Commerce that would 

consolidate the Department’s space regulatory authorities and provide a “one-stop 

shop” for the commercial space industry.

Through the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), the Department issued an 

Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in March 2019, soliciting public comments to inform the streamlining of commercial space export control regulations. 

The Department also hosted an industry day in April 2019 and used the collected 

feedback to inform interagency deliberations on export control rule changes to be 

released in FY 2020.

Through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 

Department proposed a complete rewrite of its rules on the licensing of private remote 

sensing space systems. NOAA issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in May 2019 

and hosted two public discussions of the proposal through its Advisory Committee 

on Commercial Remote Sensing. The industry feedback received through these processes led to further improvements in the final rule published in FY 2020.

In March 2019, Secretary Ross submitted a report to the President titled “Driving 

Space Commerce Through Effective Spectrum Policy” in March 2019. The report 

makes recommendations for improving the global competitiveness of the U.S. 

space sector through radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation, and U.S. activities at the International Telecommunications Union and other multilateral forums.

In November 2018, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued 

an order waiving its licensing requirements for non-Federal receivers of Europe’s 

Galileo satellite navigation signals. The Department played a significant role in 
95Department of Commerce

advocating for the waiver, which the National Telecommunications and Information 

Administration (NTIA) had recommended to the FCC in January 2015.

Space Situational Awareness Under SPD-3

Through the Office of Space Commerce, the Department developed and began 

implementing a roadmap for its future role, under SPD-3, providing space situational awareness (SSA) data and services to commercial space operators. In April 

2019, the Office issued a Request for Information to collect information on commercial SSA capabilities and future regulatory requirements.

In the second half of FY 2019, the Department established a continuous 

Commerce presence at the Department of Defense’s existing SSA operations center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The Department also obtained 

access to a cloud-based data management platform developed by the Department 

of Defense. It used the platform to demonstrate SSA data dissemination and fusion 

concepts in cooperation with commercial data providers.

The Department promoted the adoption of best practices for space safety 

through a variety of international forums, including the United Nations; bilateral space dialogues with Japan, Europe, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, 

and Thailand; and major SSA conferences, including the June 2019 Space 

Enterprise Summit organized by the Departments of State and Commerce. In 

May 2019, Secretary Ross and the Deputy Prime Minister of Luxembourg signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding on space cooperation, to include collaboration on 

space debris mitigation.

Civil Satellite Operations

During FY 2019, the Department continued to participate in the national management of the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a member of the National 

Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. The 

Office of Space Commerce continued to host the physical offices of the Committee 

as well as the https://www.gps.gov/ website, which remained the leading source of 

online information about GPS.
96Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In FY 2019, NOAA’s satellites remained as critical as ever, monitoring the wildfires in the western United States and Canada; hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico 

and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans; and one of the hottest years on record. 

Twenty-four-hour global coverage from NOAA’s satellites provides the public and 

partners, such as the National Weather Service, with a continuous stream of information used in preparation for events impacting our weather, oceans, and climate. 

NOAA manages and operates geostationary environmental satellites and low-Earth 

orbiting satellites, as well as a deep space satellite for space weather monitoring and 

forecasting. Below is a summary of major accomplishments regarding new NOAA 

and partner satellite assets in FY 2019.

Geostationary Satellites

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, known as the 

GOES-R Series, provides advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of 

Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved 

monitoring of solar activity and space weather. 

GOES-17, formerly GOES-S, became fully operational as NOAA’s GOES West 

satellite on February 12, 2019. The second of NOAA’s advanced geostationary 

weather satellites, GOES West provides high-resolution real-time visible and infrared imagery of the West Coast of the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, 

and much of the Pacific Ocean, and it operates in conjunction with its sister satellite, GOES East (GOES-16), which has the same instruments and capabilities. 

Until recently, high-quality data coverage of the Pacific Ocean was sparse, but 

now GOES West provides forecasters with access to more detailed views of highimpact weather systems, along with environmental hazards such as wildfire smoke, 

volcanic ash, and more. GOES-17 has been especially valuable to Alaska, where 

NOAA’s older geostationary satellites provided far less coverage.

Following is a list of NOAA geostationary satellites in use with date launched:

• GOES West (GOES-S/GOES-17), March 1, 2018

• GOES East (GOES-R/GOES-16), November 19, 2016
97Department of Commerce

• GOES-14, June 27, 2009

Low-Earth Orbiting Satellites

NOAA’s primary low-Earth orbiting environmental satellites, NOAA-20 and 

Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), provide full global coverage with advanced sensors for weather and climate data, collecting information on 

temperature, atmospheric conditions, wind speed, cloud formation, and drought 

conditions over the entire Earth. All major numerical weather prediction (NWP) 

centers around the world use this information as the basis of nearly every mediumterm weather forecast.

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 

(COSMIC) constellation provides precision radio occultation (RO) soundings 

to support improved numerical weather prediction model forecasts. On June 

25, 2019, NOAA supported the successful launch of COSMIC-2—known in 

Taiwan as FORMOSAT-7—in joint collaboration with Taiwan, the National 

Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, the United States Air Force (USAF), and 

the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). The mission 

consists of six satellites designed to improve weather forecasts and space weather 

monitoring via state-of-the-art instruments that provide improved precision and 

performance, as well as five times the number of measurement capabilities, with 

near-real-time numerical weather prediction. By measuring minute bending in the 

GPS signal, the information collected by COSMIC-2 satellites provides meteorologists with details about Earth’s atmosphere—such as temperature, pressure, density, 

and water vapor—that will help meteorologists better observe, study, and forecast 

severe storms. Additionally, COSMIC-2 monitors solar activity that can disrupt 

the power delivered to individuals’ homes and provides global temperature documentation to help scientists understand long-term climate changes on Earth.

Metop is a series of three polar-orbiting meteorological satellites that form 

the space segment component of the overall European Organisation for the 

Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Polar System. The third 

in the series, Metop-C, recently launched on November 7, 2018, is a new state-ofthe-art polar-orbiting satellite that helps improve complex weather forecasts and 
98Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

models as well as long-term climate assessments. This satellite works together with 

its predecessors (Metop-A and -B), as well as Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA 

legacy satellites, to collect more precise weather data as we continue to improve 

forecast errors from combined satellite observations incorporated into models. 

NOAA supplied four of the 13 instruments onboard the satellite, including two 

microwave emitters that measure global atmospheric temperature, humidity, and 

sea ice, as well as a visible/infrared radiometer that delivers imagery of clouds, 

oceans, ice, and land surfaces. The last instrument is the Space Environment 

Monitor (SEM), which monitors space plasma and radiation around the spacecraft. 

Additionally, the satellite’s instruments provide new and improved observations on 

atmospheric aerosols, CO and SO2, soil moisture, and radio occultation soundings 

that can penetrate deeper into the lower troposphere. The launch was a collaborative effort between NOAA, NASA, and international partners at EUMETSAT 

and the European Space Agency.

The following is a list of NOAA low-Earth orbiting satellites in use with date 

launched:

• NOAA-20 (Joint Polar Satellite System [JPSS]-1), November 18, 2017

• Suomi-NPP, October 28, 2011

• NOAA-19, February 6, 2009

• NOAA-18, May 20, 2005

• NOAA-15, May 13, 1998

Following are the partnership satellites with which NOAA partnered for launch 

and/or operations, with date launched:

• COSMIC-2, June 25, 2019

• Metop-C, November 6, 2018

• Jason-3, January 17, 2016

Deep Space (Lagrange Point–1) Satellites

Geomagnetic storms are major disturbances of Earth’s magnetosphere caused by 

shock waves in the solar wind. Geomagnetic storms are the costliest type of space 

weather events as they can cause widespread damage to power grids, satellites, and 

communication and navigation systems. The Deep Space Climate Observatory 
99Department of Commerce

(DSCOVR) mission is NOAA’s first operational deep space mission. The satellite 

has become America’s primary warning system for solar magnetic storms and solar 

wind data while giving Earth scientists a unique vantage point for studies of the 

planet’s atmosphere and climate.

NOAA is partnering with the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) to build a 

Compact Coronagraph (CCOR) for future space weather observations. In FY 2019, 

NRL’s CCOR completed its Critical Design Review, which affirmed that the design 

meets requirements and is ready to proceed with full-scale fabrication, assembly, 

integration, and testing.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

In FY 2019, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continued to provide wide-ranging contributions to the aerospace industry, academia, 

and Federal agencies with the research, standards, products, services, and guidance 

needed to advance the President’s aeronautics and space agenda.

NIST’s primary contributions came in the forms of calibrations, technology 

development, and standards development. These contributions are grouped into 

six main categories: 1) advanced manufacturing for aerospace applications, 2) aerospace systems and supplies, 3) aerospace communications, 4) calibrations and sensor development for satellites, 5) support for terrestrial research, and 6) support for 

extraterrestrial research.

Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace Applications

In FY 2019, NIST used measurement expertise in mass, force, networking, and 

other areas to partner with Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, 

Northrop Grumman, General Electric Aviation, Rolls-Royce, United Technologies 

Aerospace, and others. In addition to providing calibration support, NIST’s broad 

portfolio in advanced manufacturing helped aerospace manufacturing companies 

address needs in many sectors, including additive manufacturing, collaborative 

robotics, smart manufacturing, cybersecurity in manufacturing environments, 

supply-chain logistics, and large-scale manufacturing.
100Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NIST continued to provide the tools, methodologies, standards, and measurement services needed by aerospace parts manufacturers, assemblers, and NASA 

to maintain their accurate and traceable use of the International System of Units 

(SI) units of length, mass, force, acceleration, and sound pressure, as well as the 

electrical SI units of resistance, capacitance, inductance, voltage, and current. For 

instance, NIST provided load cell calibrations and provided manufacturers with 

a traceable means to analyze the integrity of airplane wing box structures. Other 

NIST calibration-related services included the use of NIST-calibrated weights to 

support wind tunnel applications; the weighing of airplanes; and torque, pressure, 

and force measurements. Also, NIST performed calibrations of many standard 

resistors, capacitors, and inductors for U.S. aerospace companies and DOD primary calibration labs to ensure the accuracy and traceability of their electronic test 

equipment, and, consequently, the calibration accuracy of the thousands of flight 

avionics systems that are tested and verified using these calibration instruments.

NIST worked with Boeing, National Research Council (NRC) Canada, and 

others on methods to quantify the performance of laser scanning technology for 

dimensional measurements. Laser scanning is a key new technology for advanced 

manufacturing that offers potential cost savings, increased measurement throughput, and high data densities, and it is especially suited for the manufacture of large 

structures such as aircraft components. Key traceability questions remain to be 

addressed, impeding universal adoption. The NIST work includes developing 

mathematical error models of these instruments, developing test procedures that 

capture these error sources, and leading the development of national and international standards. In December 2017, NIST published an ASTM documentary 

standard (ASTM E3125-17) for the performance evaluation of laser scanners. NIST 

led the standards development work, but it was supported by Boeing; Newport 

News Shipbuilding; NRC Canada; and all leading manufacturers of laser scanners, 

such as FARO, Surphaser, Leica, Trimble, and Z&F.

NIST is working with aerospace companies such as Boeing, Airbus, Spirit Aero, 

Gulfstream, United Technologies, etc., on updates to the American Society of 

Mechanical Engineers (ASME) documentary standard for the performance evaluation of laser trackers, important dimensional measurement technology for the 

manufacture, testing, and monitoring of large structures. The effort to revise the 
101 Department of Commerce

documentary standard came at the request of users of the standard, including those 

in the aerospace industry, for a more comprehensive interim test. NIST is developing the interim test using mathematical error models with additional input from 

users and manufacturers of the technology. Interim testing can be used to verify 

the performance of the laser trackers before they are used for critical measurements. 

This testing is especially important for systems like laser trackers that are portable 

and can be used in a range of different environmental conditions. NIST leads 

this effort with participation from all leading laser tracker manufacturers (API, 

FARO, Hexagon), the defense/communications industry (Lockheed Martin, Harris 

Corp., General Dynamics, Orbital ATK), nuclear power companies (BWXT), other 

National Measurement Institutes (NRC Canada, INMETRO [Brazil], CENAM 

[Mexico]), etc.

NIST continued its program in laser materials processing to implement inline 

process monitoring and offline characterization in laser welding to reduce 

development and operating costs and expand markets for laser-welding applications. In collaboration with Haynes International, NIST developed weldability 

tests, performing hardness and strain mapping, and carried out fatigue testing 

of high-temperature, corrosion-resistant nickel-based alloys, which are used in 

engines, pumps, compressors, and other high-temperature applications within the 

aerospace industry.

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes are proving to be key processing technologies with great potential in aerospace applications—for example, highly complex components such as aircraft engine fuel injectors, turbine blades with complex 

internal cooling channels, and lightweight structural components. NIST continued its program in measurement science in additive manufacturing by developing 

and deploying measurement methods and tools to enable rapid design-to-product 

transformations through advances in material, machine, and process characterization, as well as in-process sensing, monitoring, and control of metal additive manufacturing. In FY 2019, NIST continued collaboration with NASA and the FAA 

to organize a Technical Interchange Meeting with the leading aerospace Original 

Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to determine the maturity level of physics-based 

models in establishing process/part qualification. In FY 2019, NIST also organized a 

workshop titled “AM Materials Database and Data Analytics,” providing hands-on 
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sessions to the AM community, including aerospace OEMs. NIST also collaborated 

with researchers from the Air Force Academy to characterize residual stresses in 

aluminum alloy samples originating during supersonic particle deposition (SPD), a 

characteristic of the Cold Spray Process (CSP) that is well suited for the repair and 

restoration of nonstructural aircraft components.

NIST continues to work in the development of advanced nanometrology for 

nanomanufacturing. The aerospace industry is interested in the potential benefits 

of nanotechnology. The development of accurate nanometrology of small particles 

and structures is critical to the success of this effort. For example, a Reference 

Material has been made available for the scale calibration of optical, scanning 

probe, and scanning particle beam instruments to the same dimensional standard. The use of this standard has also been extended to the measurement and 

monitoring of beam-induced contamination in scanned particle beam instruments. 

Using this standard and the methods developed, NIST has virtually eliminated 

the deposition of contamination on the specimen, which is a common artifact in 

these instruments (which are critical to imaging, measurement, and characterization for nanotechnology). In addition, these methods have applications in other 

areas, such as cleaning optical surfaces. NIST is also conducting research to characterize and monitor instrumentation performance and standardization to ensure 

accurate dimensional metrology of carbon composites and carbon nanotubes. 

Nanocomposite material offers the advantage of lighter airframes, giving better 

fuel economy; however, it still needs to be determined if the material provides the 

high strength and durability required. To facilitate this, NIST developed a new 3D 

scanning electron microscope imaging technique to help to determine the carbon 

nanotube loading in composite materials.

NIST continued to provide leadership and contributions to the standardsdevelopment organizations, such as ASTM, the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers (ASME), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), that provide 

specifications and best practices to the aerospace industry.

Much of NIST’s support for the aerospace supply chain came with interactions through the suppliers themselves. In FY 2019, the Hollings Manufacturing 

Extension Partnership (MEP) National Network engaged in 336 projects with 172 

individual manufacturing clients designated with an aerospace North American 
103 Department of Commerce

Industry Classification System number (NAICS 3364). The MEP post-project, a 

follow-up survey of aerospace NAICS companies, revealed that MEP services had 

resulted in the creation or retention of 4,956 aerospace jobs, over $170 million in 

new sales, over $209 million in retained sales, over $131 million in new investment, 

and over $18 million in cost savings.

Table 1. NIST MEP Aerospace Impact.

Total Sales $379,925,882.00

Total Cost Savings $18,443,740.00

Total Investment (Products and Processes [P&P], 

Plant and Equipment [P&E], Information Technology [IT], 

Workforce, Other) $131,025,121.00

Total Jobs 4,956

Aerospace Systems and Supplies

NIST’s contributions to the manufacturing sector were complemented with support for the design, development, and calibration of aerospace systems and supplies. 

Contributions included collaborative robotics, material development for advanced 

applications, fuel development, weapons calibrations, and thrust calibrations.

In support of materials development and selection, NIST provided technical 

input to manufacturers (airframe, chemical, and fire-suppression equipment) on 

new blends to replace current materials used for aircraft cargo-bay fire suppression. NIST also worked with NASA researchers to develop ASTM test methods to 

evaluate the performance of thermal insulating materials for spacecraft.

In support of equipment development, NIST performed advanced measurements 

and characterizations of high-efficiency solar cells deployed for space and terrestrial 

power applications in collaboration with space solar cell manufacturer Hamadanid. 

NIST worked with SolAero Technologies Corporation to “space-qualify” their 

solar cells. SolAero sent batches of solar cells for irradiation by an electron beam 

from the NIST Van de Graaff accelerator, where exposure experienced by a satellite over several decades in Earth orbit may be delivered in less than one hour. 

The NIST Clinac and Van de Graaff accelerators characterized the electron 

energy response of charged-particle detection systems developed by Assurance 
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Technology Corporation for the joint NASA-NOAA Geostationary Operational 

Environmental Satellites (GOES) program. These detector systems compose part 

of the onboard payload of GOES satellites and provide critical information on 

the charged-particle environment in Earth orbit. Calibrations performed at NIST 

are crucial for providing the most accurate spectral details for more useful space 

weather monitoring and forecasting.

NIST, members from the aerospace field (Thermacore, Marshall Space Flight 

Center, and the Air Force Academy) and members from academia (the University 

of Tennessee, the University of Missouri, and Michigan Technology University) 

used the NIST neutron facility resources to perform unique measurements on 

aerospace-related systems. These groups studied the conservation of cryogenic fuels 

(to help improve the storage and transfer of these cryogens in space) by measuring 

the evaporation and condensation coefficients of cryogenic propellants.

NIST continued efforts to simplify spacecraft cryogenic requirements through 

on-chip electrical cooling of cryogenic detectors, providing a final on-chip stage 

able to cool from 0.3 kelvin to 0.1 kelvin, well matched to cryogenic detectors for 

future NASA missions.

NIST developed airspeed, hydrocarbon liquid-flow, and gas-flow measurements 

that supported equipment and supply development in the aerospace sector. The airspeed calibration service performed calibrations of anemometers used at airports, 

on aircraft, and in wind tunnels used for testing new aircraft. The hydrocarbon 

liquid calibration service calibrated flow meters that are used to meter jet fuel, for 

example, turbine meters used to evaluate jet engine performance on test stands. 

The Laser Power and Energy Meter Calibrations project provided 30–70 calibrations to the aerospace industry and DOD customers, supporting both laser weapons 

systems and target designation systems.

NIST performed radiometric measurements of the collimated output infrared 

beam from a space simulation chamber used at Raytheon Missile Systems, Inc., 

for the calibration of infrared remote sensing systems for the Missile Defense 

Agency. For this work, NIST utilized the NIST-developed Missile Defense Transfer 

Radiometer (MDXR), a portable cryogenic radiometer. NIST is also making progress on the development of the next-generation User Transfer Radiometer (UXR), 

which has additional capabilities and eventually will replace the MDXR.
105 Department of Commerce

Aerospace Communications

NIST contributed to the measurement and development of multiple technologies associated with aerospace communications, including advancements in highprecision clocks used in communication.

In FY 2019, NIST collaborated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on 

the development of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) 

for use in space communications and various quantum information experiments. 

NIST and JPL were able to demonstrate a small array of SNSPDs to increase the 

device area, an essential development for future usage in laser communication systems and exoplanet searches via mid-infrared spectroscopy. Additional efforts by 

NIST and JPL to improve SNSPDs included optimizing ultraviolet light detection 

and exploring the use of new material in SNSPD development.

The NIST antenna calibration facility was instrumental in performing measurements that led to the creation of the space satellite company and small business 

Orbital Micro Systems (OMS). The calibrated antenna pattern data provided by 

NIST allowed better accuracy of their instruments, including the development and 

characterization of additive manufactured antennas, and significantly reducing 

manufacturing costs for OMS. This work led to the first commercially owned and 

operated passive microwave radiometer flown in space, with successful deployment 

from the International Space Station on July 20, 2019. OMS customers rely on the 

accuracy of their radiometric measurements to manage terrestrial and weatherrelated risks.

The Air Force is leveraging NIST in its development of a test system to explore 

the use of the comb-based time transfer for future optically cross-linked GPS satellites. In support of these efforts, NIST transferred frequency comb designs to 

Boeing to help advance future space-based optical clocks. NIST also transferred its 

comb-based optical two-way time-frequency transfer technology to the Air Force 

and its contractors. NIST is also supporting SBIR efforts with Vector Atomic and 

Freedom Photonics to miniaturize key time-transfer components.

NIST participated in NASA’s support of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) 

Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) program and the Space Optical 

Clock (SOC) program, as a high-precision atomic clock for the ISS will support 
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tests of fundamental physics and provide high-accuracy global comparisons of 

ground clocks.

Calibrations and Sensor Development for Satellites

NIST’s contributions to satellite and other space hardware came in both technology development and measurement calibration.

NASA’s next-generation suborbital and satellite observatories require new detectors with improved sensitivity and scalability. With NASA funding, NIST continued to improve two types of sensors: superconducting transition-edge sensors 

(TESes) and microwave kinetic-inductance detectors (MKIDs). These technologies supported the following NASA projects: the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture 

Submillimeter Telescope–The Next Generation (BLAST-TNG), SPIDER, Lite satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background 

Radiation Detection (LiteBIRD), and other next-generation satellites. These sensor technologies offer new capabilities for the detection of electromagnetic signals 

across the spectrum, from millimeter waves like the cosmic microwave background 

(CMB) through x-rays, and can help research aspects of star formation and the 

evolution of galaxies. Improvements to TES technology enable a number of new 

ground-based instruments, including the vast CMB detector arrays that will be 

deployed in the Simons Observatory.

With NASA funding, NIST continued the development of superconducting 

quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and SQUID-based multiplexers to read 

out large arrays of TES detectors in a manageable number of output channels. 

NIST provided SQUID systems to researchers at NASA Centers (Goddard Space 

Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and institutions working on 

NASA-funded projects (California Polytechnic Institute; Stanford University; 

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; 

Princeton University; Cornell University; and others). SQUID technology was 

incorporated into the recently launched sounding rocket Micro-X and into the 

focal-plane demonstration system for the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy 

Astrophysics (ATHENA), a European Space Agency x-ray satellite mission. NIST 
107 Department of Commerce

also used SQUID expertise to assist NASA Goddard in the development of new 

magnetic micro-calorimeters.

In support of satellite and related missions, NIST provided calibration services 

and research to enable the aerospace industry and Government agencies to obtain 

temperature, pressure, vacuum, humidity, and leak thermodynamic measurements 

traceable to international standards. Calibrations provided traceability to maintain quality systems, to maintain process control, and to qualify instrumentation 

for flight and space travel. NIST’s Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility 

(SURF) III provided a source of soft x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light 

to calibrate mirrors, filters, detectors, and spectrometers used in NASA and 

NOAA spacecraft.

Support for Terrestrial Research

NIST measurement science provided support to the development and calibration 

of instrumentation used in researching Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

NIST’s SURF III was used as an absolute calculable source of radiation spanning the spectrum from soft x-rays to the blue end of the visible band to calibrate 

spectrometers and other optical elements used in NASA and NOAA spacecraft. This year, SURF III staff collaborated with a team from the Laboratory of 

Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado to calibrate 

the rocket-borne instruments used to check and maintain the accuracy of the 

EUV Variability Experiment (EVE) instrumentation flying aboard NASA’s Solar 

Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite and new modules of the EUV and X-ray 

Irradiance Sensor (EXIS) for future NOAA GOES-R series satellite missions. 

These instruments are designed to study the soft x-ray and EUV solar irradiance 

and its variability. The NASA EVE measurements are important to the National 

Space Weather Program (NSWP), which tracks solar storms that impact spacebased communications and navigation technologies, and the NOAA EXIS measurements provide NOAA with data on solar inputs to Earth’s atmosphere, which 

are essential for climate modeling.

NIST collaborated with LASP scientists to study the cause of the rapid degradation seen in some of the solar-observing optical components aboard missions such 
108Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

as the GOES-R series and the SDO. Observed losses in EUV transmission on the 

order of some ten percent or more per year require frequent and expensive rocket 

under-flight missions to recalibrate the satellite instruments. For a long time, many 

in the space science community believed that the degradation was a result of the 

optics being carbonized by the reaction of the solar ultraviolet (UV) with the 

adsorbed organics coming from outgassing materials in the spacecraft. Using UV 

radiation from SURF III to simulate the solar spectrum, the collaboration demonstrated that carbonization was highly unlikely to be the cause. This finding turned 

the focus onto oxidation caused by UV-activated adsorbed water as the possible 

culprit. This research is continuing, with the goal of a definitive determination of 

the cause and possible means of mitigation.

NIST continued its collaboration with NOAA on the calibration of the Marine 

Optical Buoy (MOBY) used in the System Vicarious Calibration (SVC) of oceancolor measurements provided by satellite sensors. NIST participates in the MOBY 

Refresh effort, which is resulting in a new optical design and other improvements 

that will reduce the overall measurement uncertainties and allow the current system, which is beyond its design lifetime, to be retired. The MOBY team and NIST 

were selected by NASA to start a new project that will result in the design of 

Refresh and the concept of MOBY-Net to be implemented as a second ocean-color 

SVC site. NIST’s Carbon Nanotube Electrical Substitution Radiometer (CNT 

ESR), built in collaboration with LASP and NASA’s Earth Science Technology 

Office, successfully launched into space on the Compact Solar Irradiance Monitor 

(CSIM) instrument. The CNT ESR is currently performing absolute measurements 

of solar power as a function of wavelength to serve as a baseline for weather and 

climate monitoring. The Compact Total Irradiance Monitor (CTIM, formerly the 

Carbon Absolute Electrical Substitution Radiometer, CAESR) has the purpose of 

performing absolute measurements of total broadband solar power that will provide continuity in total solar irradiance measurements for weather and climate 

monitoring. The teams extended the technologies used in the CSIM and CTIM 

flight instruments into a Broadband Absolute Bolometer Array (BABAR). The 

BABAR aims to improve accuracy and decrease instrument size (therefore reducing 

cost) for solar science, fire detection from space- and airborne platforms, severe 
109 Department of Commerce

weather monitoring from space- and airborne platforms, and Earth radiation budget measurements.

Support for Extraterrestrial Research

NIST’s support for extraterrestrial research included providing support and measurements for extraterrestrial bodies, providing support and measurement for the 

equipment used to observe them, and providing the data for measurements.

An ongoing collaboration with a group of researchers from JPL studied the penetration of high-energy electron beams into the ice of Europa’s surface to assess 

damage to organic molecules. This work will help determine the necessary ice 

depths at which microbes could survive on Europa’s surface.

NIST is working in collaboration with the University of Maryland on a project 

funded under NASA’s Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of 

Solar System Observations (PICASSO) Program to adapt a novel NIST-developed 

neutron detector to enable interplanetary probes to detect water and other hydrogenous materials near the surface of planets or moons. Compared to other detectors 

presently used in this mission space, the NIST detector should use less power, have 

simpler and more reliable support electronics, and be more mechanically robust. In 

addition, NIST has applied its simultaneous Neutron/X-Ray Tomography system 

(NeXT) to measure the hydrogen distribution in meteorites provided by the Lunar 

and Planetary Institute. These ongoing studies aid researchers in determining the 

water content of the solar system.

NIST, in partnership with NASA, the University of Maryland Baltimore 

County, and the University of Guelph, made the most accurate measurements 

ever of the spectral irradiance from the Moon in the visible-to-near-infrared 

from a NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft. NIST and its partners had the goal of 

enabling the Moon to serve as a calibration source for satellite sensors while they 

are in space. A team of Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML) scientists from 

the Sensor Science Division developed a specialized instrument, called Air-LUSI 

(Lunar Spectral Irradiance), over the past two years. This involved integrating 

a NIST-calibrated spectrometer, integrating a sphere and custom-designed telescope system into a wing-pod of the ER-2 aircraft, recalibrating it on-site at NASA 
110Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale, California, and programming its 

computer to operate autonomously to track the moon and measure lunar irradiance 

during the flight. This year the NASA ER-2 flew the NIST Air-LUSI instrument 

on five consecutive nights to provide data that improved upon engineering data 

measured during one night last year. These data will act as tie points for validating/

correcting the ongoing NIST mountain-based lunar-irradiance measurements.

NIST, with partial funding from NASA, provided quality assessment of the 

atomic data used by astronomers who are interpreting observations from NASA’s 

land- and space-based missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the 

Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, and the 

Spitzer Infrared Observatory. In 2019, NIST provided results for neutral and ionized manganese, iron, strontium, and other elements of particularly strong current 

interest and disseminated them publicly through a new release of its online Atomic 

Spectra Database, v.5.7 (http://physics.nist.gov/asd). NIST also initiated the development of a new database of lanthanide opacities, which are highly important for the 

analysis of kilonova events (neutron star mergers).

NIST worked with the Space Science Laboratory and Sensor Sciences, LLC, to 

develop large-area, high-resolution plate detectors used to help x-ray telescopes peer 

into space. With support from NASA and the NSF, NIST developed frequency 

combs that support the detection of Earth-like planets around distant stars. These 

unique frequency combs, with spectral bandwidth spanning 500 to 1,000 nanometers and 30-gigahertz mode spacing, serve as a set of reference markers for 

high-precision astronomical spectrographs. The team completed proof-of-concept 

experiments at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Keck-II Telescope. 

In the past year, NIST also supported a new 30-gigahertz “Astro-comb” at the 

Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which is located at the McDonald Observatory in the 

Davis Mountains of Texas. This infrared-based system validated the detection of a 

Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star (the most common type of star 

in our galaxy).
111 Department of Commerce

International Trade Administration

Industry and Trade Policy

The Office of Transportation and Machinery (OTM) continues to pursue 

multiple paths to promote exports of products and services that support the Next 

Generation Air Transportation System. OTM created and published an online 

NextGen Solutions Vendors Guide to help foreign customers identify U.S. companies that can provide products that meet the requirements of the International 

Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) 

technology roadmaps. The Guide currently is being transferred to the Salesforce 

platform, which will enable a more customer-friendly interface and provide endto-end tracking and communication between vendors, customers, and relevant 

International Trade Administration (ITA) staff. Moreover, this new NextGen 

ATM Toolkit will allow U.S. companies to indicate, if they so choose, that they 

are current contractors with the FAA.

OTM participates in the World Air Traffic Management Congress in Madrid, 

Spain. OTM has worked with the FAA, industry, and the Air Traffic Control 

Association (ATCA) to emphasize U.S. technical capabilities to the global audience that attends. The Congress represents an opportunity to learn about the 

specific air navigation procurement needs of particular countries, to counsel individual companies on NextGen-related prospects as well as Commerce services, and 

to recruit participants for the NextGen Solutions Vendors Guide and potential 

applicants to the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Aerospace Equipment 

(ITAC 1).

OTM participates in multiple forums regarding the operations and industry 

development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). OTM represents ITA on the 

UAS Executive Committee (UAS EXCOM)—the interagency committee that 

addresses UAS policy writ large across the U.S. Government. OTM also serves 

on the UAS Senior Steering Group (UAS SSG), which carries out policy initiatives derived from the UAS EXCOM. On the SSG, OTM provides industry 

perspective through the SSG and related activities and chairs a working group 

to address data security concerns regarding foreign-made UAS operated by the 
112Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

U.S. Government. OTM also represents ITA on the Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

Standards Collaborative (UASSC) hosted by the American National Standards 

Institute (ANSI). The UASSC coordinates the development of standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the safe integration of UAS into 

the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United States. On the UASSC, OTM 

participates in the UASSC Critical Infrastructure and Environment Working 

Group, with a focus on wide-area inspection, and works with the UASSC to promote international coordination and adaptability to foster the growth of the UAS 

market worldwide.

Throughout the year, OTM organized and led six meetings of ITAC 1. The 

Committee provides advice to the Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade 

Representative on aerospace-related trade policy issues. This year, the Committee 

provided advisory opinions to the Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade 

Representative concerning the U.S.–European Union (EU) and U.S.-Japan freetrade agreement negotiations.

ITA continues to support the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on issues 

relating to the enforcement of U.S. rights under the World Trade Organization 

concerning trade in civil aircraft. In particular, OTM provided support in the 

ongoing U.S.-EU trade dispute over subsidies to manufacturers of large civil aircraft, providing industry expertise in areas relating to changes in the market and 

actions of the major stakeholders. OTM reviewed draft lists of items that may be 

included on tariff lists in response to the WTO’s decision against Airbus.

ITA’s OTM and Office of Finance and Insurance Industries (OFII) continued to 

participate in the Group on the Sector Understanding on Export Credits for Civil 

Aircraft (the “Aircraft Sector Understanding” or ASU) at the Organization for 

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The governments of almost all 

countries with major aircraft manufacturers are signatories to the ASU, an annex to 

the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, which establishes 

rules for export credit agencies. The OECD rules aim to ensure that governmentprovided export financing is not a competitive factor in civil-aircraft sales competitions. Industry feedback and available data on usage of the latest version of 

the ASU, which was finalized in 2011 and was scheduled for review in November 

2019, suggest that the agreement is working as intended, although financing levels 
113 Department of Commerce

declined significantly due to unrelated disruptions in both U.S. and European 

export credit support for aircraft exports. Notably, this included the Export-Import 

Bank’s (EXIM) inability to approve large (over $10 million) transactions due to its 

continued lack of a quorum on its Board of Directors in 2019. As a member of the 

U.S. delegation, ITA helped ensure that the interests of the industry were addressed 

during the 2011 ASU negotiations, continues to monitor implementation, and will 

participate in any review. ITA also closely monitored conditions in the aircraft 

finance market and provided advice on the importance of restoring EXIM to full 

functionality with respect to the aerospace industry and its supply chain.

ITA and NOAA continued their active participation in the implementation of 

the current National Space Council and related policies, which include industrial 

base and competitiveness issues. To ensure that commercial interests continue 

to be adequately addressed, ITA and NOAA continued to ensure that all of the 

policies’ implementation actions will improve the U.S. industry’s competitiveness, 

stimulate the American economy, increase exports, and create U.S. jobs.

ITA continued to play an important role in promoting U.S. aerospace trade 

interests as the industry faced mounting competition from abroad. ITA participated 

in and organized trade events and provided advocacy to support U.S. companies 

in international aerospace competitions, including commercial sales for aircraft, 

helicopters, airport construction, communications, remote sensing satellites, commercial projects, and air traffic management projects. At the close of FY 2019, ITA’s 

Advocacy Center had 33 active space-related cases with a total project value of 

$3.2 billion and U.S. export content of $2.9 billion. The Advocacy Center also had 

400 active cases in the aerospace and defense sectors.

In May 2019, ITA’s U.S. Export Assistance Center in Hartford, Connecticut, 

hosted an “International Space Trade Summit” to connect U.S. commercial space 

suppliers with buyers from the governments and industries of Canada, Australia, 

New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The goal of this first-ever event was to 

bring advanced manufacturing and high-technology supply-chain companies into 

the global space sector by identifying opportunities and educating participants on 

regulations and programs.

In June 2019, ITA organized and supported the Commerce Department’s participation in the Paris Air Show and arranged senior-level meetings with foreign 
114Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

government and industry officials as well as U.S. industry executives. Through a 

Strategic Partnership with Kallman Worldwide, ITA hosted numerous educational 

briefings at the show, which highlighted the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 

Moon landing. Additionally, ITA/OTM met with numerous U.S. and foreign 

government and industry officials to discuss ongoing policy issues impacting the 

competitiveness of U.S. industry.

Industry and Trade Promotion

ITA’s Global Aerospace and Defense Team recorded approximately 225 Written 

Impact Narratives (WIN) in FY 2019, slightly exceeding the number in FY 2018. A 

WIN is an organizational metric that showcases ITA’s contribution to a company’s 

success. These include ITA and particularly Commercial Service (CS) personnelimpacted deals with small- and medium-sized companies, as well as larger corporations such as Bell Helicopter, Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and 

United Technologies Corporation.

The Global Team held over 4,000 counseling sessions with approximately 2,000 

U.S. aerospace companies, helping them to resolve international trade issues, identify new export markets, and develop strategies for entering those markets.

The Global Team participated in over 35 domestic and international aerospace 

trade events at which team members supported the U.S. industry with one-onone counseling sessions, arranged individualized business-to-business meetings 

with international business partners, and provided additional export counseling 

services. ITA trade show support generated hundreds of trade leads for participating companies, allowing them to enter or expand their exports to international 

markets. These international trade events included the Paris Air Show, the 

Australian/Avalon Air Show, the MSPO (Poland) Air Show, F-Air (Colombia), 

Aero India, the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX), and 

Japan Aerospace, among others.
115 Department of Commerce

Bureau of Industry and Security

During this fiscal year, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) continued to 

support the U.S. Munitions List/Commerce Control List efforts as they relate to 

spacecraft. On March 8, 2019, the Departments of State and Commerce published 

requests for public comments on the spacecraft and related items enumerated and 

described therein. The feedback received has informed ongoing interagency discussions on streamlining export control regulations for both the U.S. commercial 

space industry and those of international partners. Consistent with the objectives 

of Space Policy Directive–2, the Departments of State and Commerce seek to 

bolster the U.S. commercial space sector by lowering the administrative burden, 

decreasing regulatory compliance costs, and increasing U.S. exports.

On May 23, 2019, the Bureau of Industry and Security added aircraft specially 

designed to be air-launch platforms for space-launch vehicles to the Commerce 

Control List. Covering such platforms under export controls addresses the military 

utility of the air-launch method, which is increasingly popular in the commercial space community. This change reflects agreements made with international 

export control partners to place controls on this emerging technology for national 

security reasons.

117 Department of the Interior

Department of the In

DOI

Remotely sensed data and derived information contribute substantially to 

mission-critical work across the Department of the Interior (DOI). This DOI section highlights a sample of DOI remote sensing applications and illustrates a range 

of technology, platforms, and specialized sensors employed.

U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was both a user and a provider of remotely 

sensed data in 2019. The USGS managed the Landsat satellite series and a webenabled archive of global Landsat imagery that dates back to 1972. Landsat 

represents the world’s longest continuously acquired collection of spaceborne 

moderate-resolution land remote sensing data, and the entire archive became available for download at no charge in December 2008. The USGS also distributed aerial photography through the National Map. It archived and distributed historical 

aerial photography; light detection and ranging (lidar) data; declassified imagery; 

hyperspectral imagery; data collected by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS); and 

imagery from a variety of Government, foreign, and commercial satellites. These 

data were used for a wide variety of applications, such as mineral resource development; monitoring the health of U.S. and global ecosystems; land-use change; 

emergency response; and assessments of natural hazards such as fires, hurricanes, 

earthquakes, droughts, and floods.
118Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Alaska Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar Elevation Data Status

The USGS coordinated a 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) effort with other 

Federal agency partners and the State of Alaska to acquire new statewide Alaska 

elevation data. Under its Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC), the 

USGS contracted with vendors to acquire 5-meter-resolution elevation data using 

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR) sensors flown on aircraft. The 

data products derived from this effort include a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) representing the bare earth, a Digital Surface Model (DSM) representing the tops 

of vegetation and structures, and an orthorectified radar intensity image (ORI). 

These new data replace decades-old 60-meter-resolution elevation data that have 

known vertical and horizontal errors. With the 2019 acquisition of Kodiak, St. 

Lawrence, St. Matthew, St. Paul, St. George, Chirikof, Middleton, and the western 

Aleutian Islands, complete statewide IfSAR coverage has been achieved.

IfSAR data are being used in a wide variety of mapping, resource management, 

and human safety applications. The new elevation data serve as a foundational 

layer for new USGS digital topographic maps that 

are being generated statewide for Alaska. IfSAR 

data are also being used 

to update and refine the 

digital water-surface layer 

for Alaska that is critical 

to many applications. 

These Alaska mapping 

efforts are coordinated 

through the Alaska Mapping Executive Committee (AMEC), an executive body 

cochaired by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Commerce. 

AMEC members represent multiple Federal agencies and the state. 

IfSAR hillshade depiction of the Mendenhall glacier terminus, 

Alaska.
119 Department of the Interior

Deriving Forest Canopy Connectivity and Change Analysis from 

Aerial Imagery

USGS biologists at the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan’s Upper 

Peninsula are studying how wildlife is reacting to the canopy cover and food availability changes caused by beech bark disease (BBD). This study will provide the 

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore biologists with a canopy connectivity layer 

that shows change over time, allowing them to see where the forest has changed 

the most.

To create the forest canopy 

layer, the USGS Upper Midwest 

Environmental Sciences Center 

leveraged NASA’s Ames Stereo 

Pipeline and aerial imagery as 

part of the Natural Resources 

Preservation Project (NRPP). 

The Ames Pipeline used a 

DTM to create DSMs from stereo aerial imagery. Using imagery of the National Lakeshore 

from different time periods, the DSMs will allow the park to visualize where canopy 

has been lost and replaced historically. Canopy height models will be derived from 

the DTM and DSM, and an R script will identify forest canopy connectivity for 

each time period. A time-change analysis will be conducted between 2005 and the 

current time to identify areas with the greatest change due to the BBD infestation.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore 2004 true-color imagery 

showing forest connectivity and time-change analysis.

Launching the Continuous Monitoring of U.S. Lands: Land-Change 

Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

In 2019, the USGS initiated a capacity to monitor land-surface change across 

the conterminous United States to meet increasing demands for timely and frequent integrated land-cover and -change information. Land Change Monitoring, 

Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) is enabling nationwide tracking and 
120Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

characterization of annual changes in land cover, use, and condition and will 

produce in-depth assessments of current and historical land change. The goals of 

LCMAP include developing a capability to detect and characterize historical land 

change from data in the 1985–present Landsat archive, producing a suite of validated annual land-change and land-cover maps and area statistics, and ultimately 

modeling past and future change not covered by the satellite record.

Historical land-surface change and land-cover data are created from all available cloud- and shadow-free pixels in the Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) 

archive using the Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) 

algorithm. CCDC is an automated time-series modeling approach that identifies 

different change events and characterizes a large variety of land-cover types, uses, 

and conditions. By using the historical depth of the Landsat archive processed 

with high geometric fidelity and gridded to a common tiling scheme, LCMAP 

reveals trajectories of land change from the mid-1980s to the present at 30-meter 

spatial resolution.

Tree cover

90 percent

Spectral change products Land cover products

Pixel

modeled 

daily

Time of spectral change

Days in current state

Days since last change

Change magnitude

Time since last change

Landsat through time

Spectral stability period

Spectral model quality

Primary land cover

Primary land cover confidence

Secondary land cover

Secondary land cover confidence

Land cover change

Model

Grass/shrub

10 percent 

No change Change No change

20 percent

Cropland

80 percent

Grass/shrub

Model

Day of change

Measure of change

1990 2000 2010

LCMAP produces land-cover change information for every location in the United States for the 

Landsat 4 through Landsat 8 record. Analysis Ready Data, coupled with the Continuous Change 

Detection and Classification algorithm, provide models for every location based on the spectral and 

temporal properties of the land surface. The five spectral change products and five land-cover products 

listed on the right are derived from these model results.

The LCMAP Collection 1 product suite includes 10 annual historical landchange and land-cover map products. The initial release covers a 33-year period 
121 Department of the Interior

from 1985 to 2017, with more recent years to follow. Sample products are now 

available for a single tile over central California, and the national production is 

in progress. LCMAP products’ accuracy was assessed using an independent reference dataset including land-cover observations for each year from 1984 to 2018 at 

25,000 randomly selected sample sites across the United States. A national accuracy assessment report for LCMAP monitoring products will be produced from 

these data. 

Mapping Long-Term Landscape Dynamics in the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

Spruce bark beetle outbreaks, natural and human-caused wildfires, shrub expansion, lake drying, permafrost thaw, and industrial activities have all contributed to 

extensive land-cover change across the peninsula. Detecting, mapping, and tracking the cumulative effects of these disturbances are important for state and Federal 

resource management agencies.

USGS researchers are developing a Landsat-based time series of spatially explicit 

vegetation maps that are better suited to capturing the extent and magnitude of 

various and prominent land-cover changes that have occurred across the Kenai 

Peninsula over the last 40 years and more. This study aims to develop a simplified 

and consistent series of spatially explicit vegetation and land-cover types estimated 

from Landsat legacy imagery across the Kenai Peninsula between 1973 and 2017. 

While the main focus is on forest and non-forest, land-cover types include needleleaf, broadleaf, and mixed-species forests. Non-forest cover types include shrubs, 

upland and wetland graminoid, alpine, barren, and water. A time series composed 

of these classifications allows for the detection and quantification of forest losses, 

growth, and transitions as well as other major changes, such as wetland loss due to 

drying and woody vegetation encroachment. This work provides a new record of 

landscape change and better quantifies how disturbance events and natural succession have shaped the distribution of vegetation types across the peninsula, an 

important resource for local, state, and Federal land managers tasked with monitoring and managing natural resources across the Alaskan peninsula.
122Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Monitoring Exotic Annual Grasses Around Energy Development Sites with 

Landsat Time Series

Once established, exotic annual plants like red brome (Bromus rubens) and 

cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) can rapidly alter community composition and 

increase wildfire risk. Red brome and cheatgrass become green earlier than native 

vegetation, producing a distinct “pulse” of greenness in the early spring. This pulse 

can be exploited to identify the location of these annual plants by using the difference between a spring satellite image with peak cheatgrass greenness and an 

early summer image where cheatgrass is dormant. Using these 

approaches, researchers are developing annual Landsat time series 

to analyze trends and patterns 

of early-season invasive grasses 

around disturbed wind turbine 

sites as well as mapping invasive 

trends across the entire Mojave 

Desert of southern California.

The top image shows the difference in early-season invasives index values before and after turbine construction 

compared to surrounding control areas. Green indicates 

turbines with higher index values in the period after construction, and yellow indicates no change or lower invasive index values after construction. The five-year average 

early-season invasives index values for 1989–93 (middle) 

and 2014–18 (bottom) illustrate trends across the larger 

landscape. Green values indicate persistent yearly high 

NDVI values over each period (greater than 0.2).

The team used a cloud-based 

approach to analyze Landsat 

imagery from 1985 to 2018 and 

develop estimates of invasive 

grasses surrounding 1,755 wind 

turbines installed between 1988 

and 2013. An annual invasive 

species index was developed that 

uses the contrast in early-season 

and late-season Normalized 

Difference Vegetation Index 

(NDVI) to estimate the relative amounts of invasive annual 

plants each year at turbine and 
123 Department of the Interior

control sites. The maximum greenness, as indicated by NDVI, was used for the 

early season (January through June), and median greenness for the later dry season 

(July through October).

The results showed an increase in early-season invasive species after turbines 

were installed, but also a similar increase over time in some surrounding control 

areas. Maps of the invasive index show a region-wide increase during the study 

period. Much of the regional increase occurred near the wind development sites, 

but the extent to which the disturbance caused by energy development contributed to the spread of invasive species across the greater landscape is unknown, 

considering the possible role of confounding land use and climatic factors on 

invasive spread.

Advances in cloud computing allow rapid calculation of dense time series of 

NDVI and other spectral indices. These methods show promise for helping land 

managers identify and map other annuals and exotic weeds that have a less predictable phenological signal but respond to individual precipitation events or summer 

precipitation.

National Land Cover Database 2016 Completed and Released

In 2019, the USGS completed and released the National Land Cover Database 

(NLCD) 2016 for the United States. NLCD 2016 documents land cover in the conterminous (lower 48) United States from 2001 to 2016. The database includes seven 

layers that portray the Nation’s land cover for the years 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 

2011, 2013, and 2016, as well as four products on urban impervious surfaces for 

the years 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. The NLCD 2016 is fundamentally based on 

the analysis of Landsat imagery with an emphasis on year-to-year consistency that 

enables the accurate measurement of change in land cover and impervious surface. 

The NLCD 2016 provides the ability to understand both current and historical 

land cover and land-cover change while also enabling monitoring and trend assessments. Data downloads and links to Web Mapping Services are available at the 

Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium website, https://www.mrlc.gov.
124Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NLCD land cover for 2016, which is the most recent land-cover product available at 30-meter resolution within a consistent, integrated database dating back to 2001 (released in 2019).

Post-Contamination Restoration Monitoring Using Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems

Imagery collected using Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are used to 

document baseline vegetation conditions and to monitor the progress of bottomland forest restoration at the Little Saint Francis River Chat Pile (LSFR) site. 

Structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry are used to monitor the survival 

and growth of planted woody stems in the bottomland forest restoration and to 

monitor the effectiveness of invasive species eradication efforts throughout the 

site. Measurements captured by 

UAS imagery and derived elevation products include overall and 

species-level survival rate, growth 

between UAS sample images, and 

variation in plant species condition 

between UAS sampling events. The 

efficiency and effectiveness of data 

derived from UAS imagery will be 

compared to that of field-collected 

data to identify appropriate applications of UAS technology.

Imagery from UAS is used to assess and monitor the 

progress of a small bottomland forest restoration and 

invasive plant species eradication efforts at a former 

mining site along the Little Saint Francis River in 

southeastern Missouri.
125 Department of the Interior

Shorebird Habitat Usage, Change on Gulf Barrier Islands

Migratory species depend on a chain of habitats for survival, including breeding habitats, overwintering sites, and migratory stopover locations. Barrier islands 

in the northern Gulf of Mexico provide habitat for all three of these life-history 

phases and are important habitat for many shorebird species, such as red knots, 

piping plovers, and western sandpipers. Natural resource managers require tools for 

predicting how an island’s characteristics and a species’s use of an available habitat 

may change over time and under varying management scenarios.

As part of the Coastal Resource Evaluation for Management Application 

(CREMA) project, scientists from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine 

Science Center and the Wetlands Aquatic Research Center investigated how barrier island habitats were used by shorebirds and how those habitats changed on 

Pelican and Little Dauphin Islands, Alabama, over a single winter.

(a) USGS scientists fly a UAS over (b) Pelican Island, Alabama, to collect data used to derive (c–d) 

natural-color ortho-mosaics and (e–f) digital surface models. UAS flights were repeated monthly from 

September 2018 through April 2019 in order to investigate how landscape features and shorebird 

wintering habitat availability change through time over a single winter. Note: Elevations over water 

do not accurately represent water depth.
126Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

For this effort, monthly surveys were conducted using a UAS from September 

2018 through April 2019 to derive centimeter-level natural-color and multispectral 

ortho-mosaics as well as digital surface models using SfM photography. In addition 

to UAS efforts, scientists conducted extensive vegetation and elevation surveys 

using a Real-Time Kinematic Global Positional System (RTK GPS) for training 

and validation. These data are being used to develop probabilistic maps of water 

levels on barrier islands and to produce bare-earth digital elevation models from 

the SfM products. The lidar data and derivatives are coupled with field data, tide 

data, and high-resolution orthophotography within a geomorphology-based mapping framework to produce a time series of maps of barrier island habitats (e.g., 

intertidal habitats, beach, and dune). The mapping framework uses a rule-based, 

geographic object–based image analysis approach and applies Monte Carlo analyses 

for the treatment of elevation uncertainty for elevation-dependent habitats. Finally, 

the team is conducting monthly shorebird surveys to document bird behaviors and 

habitat use.

These products will be combined with other ecogeomorphic variables at multiple scales, such as distance from shoreline and vegetation cover, in a probabilistic 

model that relates shorebird habitat usage with landscape characteristics. This 

project aims to provide natural-resource managers with tools needed to protect 

sensitive coastal ecosystems despite uncertainty in future conditions.

Special Geologic Studies: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining of 

Conflict Minerals

This project, led by the USGS Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, focuses on 

the illegal artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) of small and low-grade mineral 

and gemstone deposits. Project scientists employ field mapping, geomorphological 

techniques, and remote sensing to map, monitor, and evaluate mineral deposits and 

ASM activities in conflict zones and during complex emergencies. The research 

is directly applied to addressing issues of international peace and security, terrorism and conflict financing, money laundering, trans-boundary material flows, and 

human and environmental health degradation.
127 Department of the Interior

Satellite image mapping and monitoring of small-scale emerald mining in the Panjshir Valley, 

Afghanistan.

Using Imagery to Crowdsource The National Map

The National Map Corps (TNMCorps), a crowdsourced mapping project, relies 

on volunteers to assist the USGS National Geospatial Program by collecting and 

editing humanmade structures data for The National Map. Through their participation, volunteers make important contributions to the USGS’s ability to provide 

the Nation with accurate mapping information.

Volunteers collect and update different structure feature types in all 50 states, 

as well as in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The structure feature types 

include schools, colleges and universities, fire and emergency management stations, 

law enforcement, prisons and correctional facilities, hospitals, ambulance services, 

cemeteries, post offices, courthouses, and city/town halls. Through a tiered-editing 

approach, volunteers improve the structures data by adding new features, removing 

obsolete points, and correcting existing data. The updates are then incorporated 

into The National Map and ultimately into U.S. Topo maps. As of July 2019, more 

than 1,800 users have made over 546,000 edits to over 433,000 unique points.
128Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

USGS TNMCorps volunteer contributions from March 29, 2012, to July 31, 2019. Each point on 

the map represents a single volunteer-edited structure feature. These volunteer contributions include 

edited, added, verified, and deleted points.

Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data to Validate 3DEP

To validate the quality of light detection and ranging (lidar) data collected for 

the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), the USGS uses methods detailed in “Accuracy 

Standards for Digital Geospatial Data” developed by the American Society for 

Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS). These methods involve using 

survey-grade global positioning system (GPS) checkpoints for validation on the 

bare-earth surface distributed throughout the project site in flat open areas and 

under vegetation. While this method is sufficient for evaluating the bare-earth 

digital elevation models (DEMs), it is inadequate to understand the quality of the 

lidar point cloud data for points above the ground, such as for vegetation and buildings. As a result, the end user may incorrectly assume that the root mean square 

error (RMSE) derived for the bare-earth DEM applies to every lidar point in the 

dataset. This pilot project used survey-grade terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data 

to compare and assess all lidar points collected for 3DEP in plots spread throughout 

several projects. Initial findings show that having more TLS scans available as 

“ground truth” information for 3DEP improves the understanding of 3DEP data 

accuracy and measurement uncertainties. 
129 Department of the Interior

This sample graphic shows Z differences between terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and 3DEP data 

for single plot. Points colored white are 3DEP points that are very close in the vertical dimension to 

ground-based lidar points. Knowing vertical differences between 3DEP lidar and “ground truth” TLS 

scans help end users better understand the amount of uncertainty in the 3DEP measurements and 

identify any potential calibration issues.

Wolf Population Monitoring Using Noninvasive Aerial Telemetry Methods

To evaluate the health and status of wolf populations in east-central Superior 

National Forest (SNF) of northeastern Minnesota, the USGS Northern Prairie 

Wildlife Research Center monitors their movements and population dynamics. 

Since 1968, researchers have used Very High Frequency (VHF) and/or Global 

Positioning System (GPS) radio collars to locate and monitor individual wolves. 

During winter, the collars are located by aerial tracking, which allows observation of collared wolves and their packs, thus providing data for annual surveys of 

populations and long-term population trajectories. However, noninvasive methods 

are preferred over physically capturing animals to radio-collar them. The USGS, 

in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, tested the 

utility of a suite of noninvasive methods to monitor the wolf population in the SNF 

while using traditional aerial radiotelemetry results for comparison.
130Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Photo: GPS-collared Wolf 7248 following his packmate, captured on a trail camera during winter 2019. 

Map: GPS-collared Wolf 7248’s movements during winter 2018. 

Recent advances in noninvasive methods, such as genetic surveys and camera 

trapping, combined with ground and aerial observations of tracks in the snow, 

may now provide reasonably accurate population estimates. Information on wolf 

pack size and territory obtained from snow tracks, camera trapping, genetic analysis 

of scats, and citizen-scientist observations was compared with aerial observations 

of radioed wolves and their packmates. The first planned January–March 2019 

test was shortened due to the Federal Government shutdown. However, results 

were encouraging enough that the methods will be tried again during winter 2020. 

Preliminary conclusions suggest that noninvasive methods reduce reliance on 

trapping wolves for radio-collaring, although they may or may not entirely replace 

radio-collaring, depending on research questions.

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leverages ground, air, and spaceborne 

remote sensing technologies to support its mission to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and 

future generations. These technologies include aerial and close-range photography; multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal infrared camera/imaging systems; 

and radar and light detection and ranging (lidar). The BLM also utilizes passive 

and active imaging system information collected by Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAS). Remote sensing data and products are being used to address a host of BLM 
131 Department of the Interior

monitoring requirements, including energy development, mine production verification, assessment of land-cover condition through time, and wildfire response and 

mitigation. Finally, the BLM requires field-based measurements to support management decisions covering vast expanses of land. By integrating remote sensing 

into the BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring strategy, the bureau uses 

field-based data to generate information and maps that would otherwise be too 

expensive to produce. The BLM is leveraging remote sensing to provide an integrated, quantitative monitoring approach to efficiently and effectively document 

the impacts from authorized and unauthorized disturbance and land-treatment 

activities at local and regional scales.

Avalanche Debris Flow Monitoring and Structural Imaging

Above-average snowpack across Colorado in 2018–19 led to an unprecedented 

avalanche season, with the concomitant deposition of debris in streams creating 

flooding hazards across the state. This was especially true for Lake City in Hinsdale 

County, sitting at the confluence of Henson Creek and the Lake Fork of the 

Gunnison River, which together had more than 30 avalanches upstream of town. 

Compounding the threat to Lake City is the presence of two historic, unmaintained dams on Henson Creek built in the late 1800s. While both dams had been 

partially breached to ease flooding concerns in the past, emergency managers were 

concerned that the sheer quantity of debris in the streams could plug the breaches 

in each dam, filling the historic reservoirs with snowmelt.

The BLM National Operations Center (NOC) assisted the Gunnison Field 

Office and the State of Colorado with emergency mapping and analysis to 1) quantify the capacity of the upstream reservoirs should the historic dams become 

clogged, 2) document structures that would be threatened by flooding, and 3) provide timely catchment-wide imagery to monitor snowmelt. Given the need for both 

ultra-fine resolution and broad-scale remotely sensed products, the NOC leveraged 

UAS and multiple satellite imaging systems to accomplish these objectives.

Within two weeks of initial contact, UAS pilots from the NOC and the USGS 

National UAS Office traveled to Lake City, conducting nearly 20 imagery and 

video acquisition flights over two days. By week’s end, the NOC team had created 
132Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

a 2.5-centimeter-resolution base map and estimate of reservoir extent and capacity. 

Additional processing generated aesthetically pleasing three-dimensional models 

of important structures that will serve as a historical record should they be damaged by flooding. Sentinel-2 and WorldView-2 and -3 satellite imagery was used to 

provide multi-scale, multitemporal environmental monitoring of the greater area. 

Taken together, these data allowed the BLM field office staff and state emergency 

managers to make more informed decisions regarding mitigation efforts.

1) Textured mesh of Ute Ulay Dam, 2) point cloud of water tower, and 3) areal extent of historic 

reservoir.

Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Postfire Imagery Support

Since 2014, the National Operations Center (NOC) has provided remotely 

sensed geospatial data products to support management officials conducting 

Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) activities on wildfire-affected 

BLM lands. The ESR program is implemented to lessen postfire effects, such as 

erosion, and to restore affected habitats. Remote sensing products assist management officials in monitoring vegetation treatments and reforestation, as well as 

rehabilitating land cover. To support 2019 ESR efforts, the NOC provided products 
133 Department of the Interior

derived from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites to requesting officials. The products included pre- and post-event Sentinel-2 visible to shortwaveinfrared (VSWIR) imagery, which have been spatially subset to the fire-affected 

area to reduce file storage space. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), 

Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Delta NDVI (dNDVI), Delta NBR (dNBR), and 

fire-retardant location products are also disseminated to meet ESR objectives. 

In addition, the NOC provided a classification product identifying burned and 

unburned cover.

Sentinel-2 products derived in response to the Drummond Basin Fire in Oregon (from left to right): 

prefire multispectral image, postfire multispectral image, dNBR from pre- and postfire NBRs, and a 

vector classification identifying burned and unburned cover.

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) has a substantial investment in and a long 

history of using aerial and spaceborne remote sensing and GPS technologies. The 

NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program conducts baseline inventories for more 

than 270 parks across the Nation. Remote sensing data are a critical source of 

information regarding geology, soils, vegetation, and infrastructure. NPS utilized 

aerial photography and satellite imagery to compile vegetation maps—a monumental task, given that the agency has responsibility for over 30 million acres. These 

data are particularly critical for NPS activities in Alaska because of its remote 
134Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

and vast expanses of public land and the fact that the Arctic is warming rapidly 

in response to climate change. The NPS took advantage of the open and freely 

available Landsat archive to quantify decadal changes in glacier ice cover and 

document land-cover change in national park units. The NPS has been DOI’s 

sponsoring agency to map all large wildland and prescribed fires as part of the 

DOI Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity project, using the Landsat archive. GPS 

supported field data collection, navigation, and search-and-rescue operations conducted by the agency.

The Vegetation-Mapping Project of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress 

National Preserve

The Everglades National Park (EVER) and Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) 

vegetation-mapping project is part of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration 

Plan (CERP). The CERP 

is a cooperative effort 

between the South Florida 

Water Management District 

(SFWMD), the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers (USACE), 

and the National Park Service 

(NPS) Vegetation Mapping 

Inventory (VMI) Program. 

The goal of this project is to 

produce a spatially and thematically accurate vegetation 

map of these two park units 

prior to the completion of 

restoration efforts for use in 

management, research, and 

monitoring. Footprint of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress 

National Preserve vegetation-mapping project showing mapping regions and completed areas. The project covers an area 

of approximately 7,400 square kilometers (1.84 million acres).

The project is near completion. The project covers an 
135 Department of the Interior

area of approximately 7,400 square kilometers (1.84 million acres) and consists of 

seven mapping regions: four regions in EVER (Regions 1 through 4) and three 

regions in BICY (Regions 5 through 7). Photo-interpretation is performed by 

superimposing a 50-meter × 50-meter (1⁄4-hectare) grid cell vector matrix over stereoscopic color infrared aerial imagery on a digital photogrammetric workstation. 

Photo-interpreters identify the dominant vegetation community in each cell by 

applying majority rule algorithms, recognizing characteristic community-specific 

spectral signatures, and referencing an extensive ground-truth database.

All regions have been mapped except for a portion of Region 1. Thematic 

accuracies of completed regions range from 85 percent to 93.1 percent, while 

lower 90th percentile confidence intervals range from 82 percent to 90.8 percent. Region 2 and Region 3 are available for download from the NPS Integrated 

Resource Management Applications (IRMA) portal at https://irma.nps.gov/

DataStore/Reference/Profile/2244641 and https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/

Profile/2257752, respectively. The map for eastern Big Cypress (Regions 5 and 6) 

was completed in 2019 and will be available on IRMA by 2020. The Region 4 vegetation map is pending quality assurance and quality control (QAQC), evaluation 

and the Region 7 vegetation map is pending peer review.

Tracking Snowmelt and the Onset of Wildfire Season in Alaska

A part of Alaska’s boreal forest burns every summer. To predict which areas are 

most susceptible to wildfire, managers use weather data collected at remote stations 

to assess fuel dryness and burnability. Managers must start gathering these data 

within just a few days after the snow has melted away from a weather station in 

the spring. But snow melts unevenly. Aspect, elevation, and weather all influence 

the pattern and speed at which snow melts. Land managers thus face a challenge: 

how to monitor the melting of the snow in detail across a huge region that is topographically complex and only sparsely populated. Such monitoring has previously 

been accomplished subjectively from aircraft.

This study pairs subjective airborne assessments with objective assessments of 

snowmelt captured remotely by various satellites. Using data from the Interactive 

Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System (IMS), the Alaska wildland fire 
136Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

community can track the changes in snow cover near individual weather stations 

and across broader spatial scales. Data from IMS were combined with point data 

representing the location of remote weather stations to produce a continuous, rolling summary of snow and ice conditions. In turn, this information was used to 

inform decisions on when to start calculating fire weather indices.

Use of these data was first applied in Alaska midway through the melting process 

in the spring of 2019.

Sample IMS grid at 1-kilometer spatial resolution. Green pixels represent snow-free ground, while 

gray pixels indicate remaining snowpack. The tabular data at the bottom of the image indicate the 

presence or absence of snow at specific points where weather stations are located. For example, the 

Upper Charley River Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) was surrounded by snow-covered 

ground until May 13.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in concert with its international, 

Federal, Tribal, state, local, and nongovernmental organization (NGO) partners, 

used a large number of remote sensing technologies to find optimal solutions to 

monitor and manage fish and wildlife populations, habitats, waters, wetlands, and 

landscapes. The FWS utilized acoustic geographic positioning systems (GPS) and 
137 Department of the Interior

radio telemetry sensors on fish and wildlife for time and location information tied 

to a variety of remote sensing image products such as aerial and satellite optical 

imagery, as well as thermal, radar, sonar, and lidar imagery. This time and geospatial system of imagery and location is used to map habitats, find invasive plants, 

determine flight paths of birds and bats, conduct fish and wildlife inventories, 

watch over refuge lands, and monitor trust species.

Early-Detection, Rapid-Response Treatment of Cheatgrass

Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is a highly invasive, non-native grass that 

threatens wildlife habitat, migratory corridors, and agricultural production in the 

sagebrush ecosystems of the western United States. Furthermore, it creates an 

increased risk of wildfire that threatens infrastructure and human safety. Once an 

area becomes heavily invaded by cheatgrass, restoration to a native state is difficult 

and expensive. Early-detection, rapid-response herbicide treatments are an effective 

way to manage cheatgrass when infestations are small, but they require the ability 

to detect small patches of cheatgrass across vast acreages.

The FWS Region 6 Division of Scientific Resources worked with remote sensing 

researchers at the University of Montana to use high-resolution multispectral imagery from the WorldView satellites to map cheatgrass on Red Rock Lakes National 

Wildlife Refuge and other areas within the Centennial Valley of Montana. This is 

part of an early-detection, rapid-response management effort being carried out by 

multiple Federal and state agencies, NGOs, and private landowners.

Studying Great Lakes Migration with Radar and Acoustics

During 2019, the Avian Radar Project surveyed the migration of birds and bats 

in the Detroit, Michigan, area using mobile avian radar units. Sites located on Lake 

St. Clair and Western Lake Erie assessed how migrants moved when approaching 

and leaving urban areas. The mobile avian radar units can track thousands of 

individual birds or bats simultaneously within about a three-mile range and do so 

passively, with no need for tagging the animals.
138Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Migration was strong throughout the month of September and included sporadic 

movements through the beginning of November. These timeframes are in line 

with what has been observed around the rest of the Great Lakes. Interestingly, 

many effects witnessed on the main Great Lakes were also observed on Lake St. 

Clair, including dawn movement toward shore where migrants come in off the 

water to look for safety amongst the shoreline habitat. In addition to the radar 

units, researchers deployed ultrasonic microphones near the radar sites and on 

the Detroit River National Wildlife Refuge property to sample bat activity. These 

monitors allow researchers to home in on bat activity itself and track the activity 

levels of the different bat species.

Data gathered this season will 

be combined with that from 

prior years to produce a regional 

map of migration for the Great 

Lakes. This map will highlight 

high-usage areas and help land 

managers prioritize conservation 

efforts on areas with the highest 

importance to migrating birds 

and bats. Once this map has been 

developed, it will be combined 

with data from other sources, 

including acoustic monitors, to 

develop a Decision Support Tool that can be used directly by land managers, planners, and policy makers. This tool and the raw data from this and other seasons 

of the project will be available on the project’s website: https://www.fws.gov/radar/.

One hour of migration activity near Lake St. Clair. Each 

line represents one bird or bat that was tracked, and they 

are colored by their direction of movement.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Environmental Studies 

Program (ESP) develops, funds, and manages rigorous scientific research specifically to inform policy decisions on the development of energy and mineral resources 

on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). BOEM uses remote sensing to inform 
139 Department of the Interior

its research, which covers physical oceanography, atmospheric sciences, biology, 

protected species, social sciences and economics, submerged cultural resources, and 

environmental fates and effects. Mandated by Section 20 of the Outer Continental 

Shelf Lands Act, the ESP is an indispensable requirement informing BOEM’s decisions on offshore oil and gas, offshore renewable energy, and the marine minerals 

program for coastal restoration. Through its ESP, BOEM has provided over $1 billion for research to this end since its inception in 1973.

Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species II

The Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS) II 

is the continuation of a study to assess the abundance, distribution, ecology, 

and behavior of marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds throughout the U.S. 

Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). AMAPPS II represents a collaboration between BOEM, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the U.S. Navy. Broadly, 

the goals of AMAPPS II are to place the creatures listed above in an ecosystem 

context and to provide spatially explicit density estimates in a format that can 

be used when making marine resource management decisions. Achieving these 

objectives will provide to managers enhanced data that are essential to supporting 

conservation initiatives mandated under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), Marine Mammal Protection 

Act (MMPA), Migratory Bird Treaty 

Act (MBTA), and Endangered Species 

Act (ESA).

Satellite-tagged weaned gray seal pup 

(Halichoerus grypus grypus). (Photo credit: 

Sophie Whoriskey, Mystic Aquarium, authorized via NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science 

Center [NEFSC] to conduct seal research activities during the study under Permit No. 17670-02 

issued to the NEFSC by the National Marine 

Fisheries Service [NMFS] Office of Protected 

Resources and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

Special Use Permit #53514-130003).

Because marine ecosystems are complex and involve dynamic assemblages of 

many coexisting species, a suite of data 

collection and analytical techniques are 

being used to understand these marine 

ecosystem processes and achieve the 

AMAPPS II’s objectives. To enumerate 
140Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

distribution and abundance, the following types of data are collected: visual sightings of cetaceans, seabirds, sea turtles, and seals from shipboard and aerial surveys; 

acoustic detections of vocalizing cetaceans and fish from ship-towed and bottommounted passive acoustic recorders; and location/depth information telemetered to 

satellites from radio tags affixed to turtles, seals, and cetaceans.

More information about the status of AMAPPS II can be found on BOEM’s 

website and from NOAA at https://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/psb/AMAPPS/.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) uses Landsat data to help monitor consumptive water use throughout the western United States. BOR analysts use Landsat 

imagery to map irrigated crops for estimating water demand and to monitor 

interstate and inter-basin water compact compliance. The BOR is also involved 

in ecological restoration of a number of rivers in the West. Light detection and 

ranging (lidar), multispectral aerial imagery, and sonar data are used to generate 

maps of topography, vegetation, and river channel bathymetry, which help guide 

restoration activities.

Estimates of Evapotranspiration and Evaporation Along the Lower 

Colorado River

The Colorado River is the principal source of water for agriculture and riparian 

vegetation in Arizona, southern California, and southern Nevada. The BOR Lower 

Colorado Region accounts for water use in each state, verifies water conservation 

programs, and fulfills other water management information needs in the Lower 

Colorado Basin. To accomplish this, BOR monitors more than 3.5 million acres 

of agricultural land and riparian vegetation along the Lower Colorado River, from 

Hoover Dam south to the international border with Mexico.

Four times per year, BOR performs supervised classifications on every field along 

the main stem Colorado River and the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, and along 

the Gila River. This is accomplished using a combination of multispectral satellite data, aerial images, and ground-based field verifications. Roughly half of the 
141 Department of the Interior

collected verified fields are used to train the satellite imagery and determine the 

crop growing on each field for each time period. The other half of verified field 

data are used to assess the accuracy of each classification. Subsequently, data about 

the crop type and acreage along with evapotranspiration (ET) crop coefficients are 

used to estimate the evapotranspiration from crops within each area.

The BOR uses remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) data to map agricultural 

fields, riparian vegetation, and open water in order to estimate evapotranspiration and evaporation 

within the Lower Colorado Region (left). Examples of the riparian/open water databases near the 

Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, Arizona (top right), and the agricultural database near Yuma, 

Arizona (lower right).

BOR also maintains riparian vegetation and open water datasets to determine 

evapotranspiration and evaporation from these sources. Each year, these datasets are updated using the best possible imagery (satellite or aerial) by performing 

change detection analyses. Results from these efforts are reported annually in the 

report Lower Colorado River Annual Summary of Evapotranspiration and Evaporation.

This information assists the BOR in meeting its U.S. Supreme Court mandate to 

provide detailed and accurate records of diversions, return flows, and consumptive 

use estimates of water diverted from the mainstem of the Lower Colorado River. 
142Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

This program is an example of implementing remote sensing–based methodologies 

to meet the BOR’s water management needs.

Disclaimer: Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only 

and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
143 Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communicati

Commission

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formulates rules to facilitate the provision of commercial satellite services in the United States. It also 

issues licenses for the deployment and operation of all nongovernmental U.S. 

satellites. Internationally, the FCC coordinates satellite radio frequency usage 

with other countries. The FCC’s activities in FY 2019 related primarily to commercial communications satellites and Earth observation satellites, as well as 

experimental satellites.

The FCC took a number of significant actions in administrative and rulemaking 

proceedings in FY 2019, among these:

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC partially granted a request by the 

European Commission for waiver of the FCC rules in order to permit nonFederal devices in the United States to access specific signals transmitted 

from the Global Navigation Satellite System known as Galileo. As a result 

of this action, consumers and industry in the United States will be permitted to access satellite signals from the Galileo system to augment the 

U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and benefit from improved availability, reliability, and resiliency of these position, navigation, and timing 

services in the United States.

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC initiated a comprehensive review of its 

orbital debris mitigation rules, including proposing new rules and updates 

to its current rules regarding orbital debris mitigation. These revisions 

would address technological and market changes that have occurred since 
144Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

the adoption of the Commission’s rules in 2004 and would incorporate 

improvements in debris mitigation practices into the Commission’s rules, 

which will help preserve the space environment for continued innovation. 

The proposed changes include improvements to the disclosure of debris 

mitigation plans, as well as proposals related to satellite disposal reliability and methodology, deployment altitudes, and on-orbit lifetime, with a 

particular focus on large, nongeostationary satellite orbit systems. Other 

aspects of the proposals include rules for geostationary orbit license term 

extensions, as well as consideration of disclosure requirements related to 

several emerging technologies and new types of commercial operations.

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC proposed to streamline its rules by 

permitting some types of satellite networks to be licensed under a single 

license that would include both earth stations and space stations and by 

adopting rules that consider the network as a whole with respect to deadlines for beginning operations. The FCC also proposed to eliminate some 

annual reporting requirements for satellite operations.

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC proposed new rules applicable to earth 

stations in motion (ESIMs), such as earth stations located aboard ships, 

aircraft, and vehicles. The proposed rules would expand on previous rules 

adopted for ESIMs and cover communications with nongeostationaryorbit satellites operating in the fixed-satellite service.

• On August 1, 2019, the FCC adopted revisions to its rules that produced a 

streamlined application process for a category of satellites known as small 

satellites. The revisions created an alternative, lower-cost, more flexible 

authorization process for these smaller-scale operations. Under the new 

FCC process, applicants for small-satellite systems meeting certain characteristics, such as having a low number of satellites, a relatively short 

satellite on-orbit lifetime, and the ability to share radio frequency use with 

other operators, will be able to take advantage of streamlined processing.

• On September 26, 2019, the FCC adopted revisions to its rules applicable 

to the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service. These rules align the FCC’s 

DBS processing procedures with procedures used for geostationary-orbit 

fixed-service satellites. The revised rules adopt a process for considering 
145 Federal Communications Commission

applications on a first-come, first-served basis, adopt deadlines and performance bond requirements for beginning operations to DBS services, 

and lengthen the standard license term for most DBS space stations. The 

FCC also ended a “freeze” on the filing of applications for DBS licensees.

During FY 2019, the FCC issued rulings facilitating the deployment and operations of a number of nongeostationary satellite systems designed to provide communications services, including high-speed broadband. These rulings included 

the following:

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC authorized Space Exploration Holdings, 

LLC (SpaceX), to construct, deploy, and operate a new satellite system 

consisting of up to 7,518 satellites operating in very-low-Earth orbit at 

approximate altitudes between 335 kilometers and 346 kilometers and 

utilizing the V-band. The FCC also authorized SpaceX to communicate 

using the V-band with the nongeostationary satellite system that the FCC 

had previously authorized during FY 2018, which would also utilize the 

Ku- and Ka-bands. Using the combined satellite systems, SpaceX would 

have the capacity to provide diverse geographic coverage and support 

a wide range of broadband and communication services for residential, 

commercial, institutional, governmental, and professional users in the 

United States and globally.

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC issued a ruling outlining the conditions under which Kepler Communications, Inc., could obtain a license 

for earth stations in the United States for use with its system, which would 

operate under the authority of Canada. The system would consist of up to 

140 satellites operating at an approximate altitude of 500–600 kilometers 

and utilizing frequencies in the Ku-band. The planned satellite system 

would offer global connectivity for a range of communications uses, 

including transferring data from sensors and devices used in what is often 

referred to as the “Internet of Things.”

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC issued a ruling outlining the conditions 

under which Telesat Canada can obtain a license for earth stations in the 

United States for communications in the V-band with its system, which 

will operate under the authority of Canada. The system would consist of 
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up to 117 satellites operating at approximate altitudes of 1,000 and 1,250 

kilometers. This planned nongeostationary satellite constellation would 

provide high-speed, low-latency communications services.

• On November 15, 2018, the FCC issued a ruling outlining the conditions 

under which LeoSat MA, Inc, can obtain a license for earth stations in 

the United States for use with its system, which was planned to operate 

under the authority of the Netherlands, utilizing a French International 

Telecommunications Union filing. The system would consist of up to 78 

satellites operating at an approximate altitude of 1,400 kilometers and 

utilizing frequencies in the Ka-band. The FCC subsequently declared 

the ruling to be null and void as of September 28, 2019, because LeoSat 

did not meet its obligation to maintain a performance bond until certain 

operational deadlines were met, as specified in the FCC’s ruling.

• On April 26, 2019, the FCC granted a request from SpaceX for a modification of its authorization for a nongeostationary-orbit constellation utilizing Ku- and Ka-band spectrum, in order to reduce the total number of 

satellites in the constellation from 4,425 to 4,409 and to operate 1,584 

of the authorized satellites at an altitude of 550 kilometers rather than 

1,150 kilometers.

• On May 9, 2019, the FCC authorized Theia Holdings A, Inc., to construct, deploy, and operate a satellite system consisting of 112 satellites 

operating at an approximate altitude of 800 kilometers and utilizing the 

Ku-, Ka-, and V-bands. This planned nongeostationary satellite constellation would provide high-resolution Earth-imaging data in the United 

States and globally.

The FCC also granted authority for the operations of nongeostationary satellites, including small satellites, in low-Earth orbit for remote sensing activities. 

Specifically:

• On October 3, 2018, the FCC granted authority to BlackSky Global, LLC, 

to construct, deploy, and operate up to four satellites at orbital apogee 

altitudes ranging from 460 to 585 kilometers. On May 16, 2019, the FCC 

granted the request of BlackSky Global, LLC, for a license modification 

to change the range of orbital apogee altitudes to 435–585 kilometers, and 
147 Federal Communications Commission

the specified propulsion system for one of its satellites to a water-based 

rather than butane-based propulsion system.

• On November 29, 2018, the FCC granted authority to Spire Global, Inc., 

to construct, deploy, and operate up to 872 satellites at orbital altitudes 

between 385 and 650 kilometers.

• On June 13, 2019, the FCC granted authority to DG Consents Sub, Inc., 

as part of a license modification for its existing constellation, to construct, 

deploy, and operate 12 remote sensing satellites. The satellites will operate 

at various orbital altitudes between 450 and 870 kilometers.

In FY 2019, the FCC authorized a number of other commercial communication 

satellite deployments and operations. These authorizations included the following:

• October 3, 2018: To Sirius XM Radio, Inc., to construct, deploy, and 

operate a satellite providing Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service at the 

longitude 85.15° west orbit location.

• October 3, 2018: To Sirius XM Radio, Inc., to construct, deploy, and 

operate a satellite providing Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service at the 

longitude 115.25° west orbit location.

• November 14, 2018: To Intelsat License, LLC, to construct, deploy, and 

operate a C-, Ku-, and Ka-band satellite to be located at the longitude 125° 

west orbit location. Intelsat was also authorized to operate the satellite in 

the L-band to provide support to the Federal Aviation Administration’s 

Wide Area Augmentation System for air navigation.

• March 27, 2019: To DIRECTV Enterprises, LLC, to construct, deploy, 

and operate a Ka-band satellite to be located at the longitude 102.7° west 

orbit location.

• December 4, 2018: To Intelsat License, LLC, to construct, deploy, 

and operate a Ku-band satellite to be located at the longitude 85° east 

orbit location.

In addition, on June 20, 2019, the FCC granted the request of Space Logistics, 

LLC, in connection with an application granted in part during FY 2018, to permit telemetry, tracking, and command communications with its satellite-servicing 

vehicle, Mission Extension Vehicle–1 (MEV-1), following rendezvous, proximity 

operations, and docking of the MEV-1 with the Intelsat 901 spacecraft at a location 
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several hundred kilometers above the geostationary arc, and during the subsequent 

maneuver to and operation of the “stacked” spacecraft at the longitude 27.5° west 

orbit location. On the same date, the FCC also granted the request of Intelsat 

License, LLC, to modify its license to include authority related to these operations. 

Both licenses also included authority for future operations to raise the stacked 

spacecraft above the geostationary arc and to undock.

In addition to these commercial operations, the FCC continued to grant applications for experimental operations by nongovernmental small satellites. Many of the 

experimental grants by the FCC for small-satellite operations were to universities 

and institutions conducting research and developing new spacecraft technologies. The satellites’ missions included testing new equipment for use on satellites, 

including communications and navigation technologies, propulsion systems, and 

solar sails, as well as measuring weather and climate conditions on Earth, measuring properties of the ionosphere, and tracking satellite orbital decay, among other 

things. Other experimental licenses granted in FY 2019 included grants for communications with launch vehicles and for testing satellites on a noncommercial 

basis for future commercial missions.

The FCC granted a number of license modifications and Special Temporary 

Authorizations for satellite networks. Many involved routine testing or redeployment of satellites with a multi-satellite system. Several of these actions, however, 

warrant particular mention:

• October 12, 2018: The FCC granted special temporary authority to 

Spaceflight, Inc., to communicate for a period of less than four hours with 

two nongeostationary spacecraft deployers, known as the Upper Free Flyer 

and Lower Free Flyer, in order to deploy up to 74 small spacecraft.

• May 22, 2019; July 10, 2019; July 25, 2019; and August 20, 2019: The FCC 

issued a series of grants of special temporary authority to DG Consents 

Sub, Inc., related to relocation of the WorldView-4 non geostationary-orbit 

satellite due to technical issues with the satellite’s control movement gyros.

• June 13, 2019: The FCC granted the request of Hughes Network Systems, 

LLC, for a license modification to permit operation of the EchoStar XXIV 

satellite, also known as HNS-95W or Jupiter 3, at the longitude 95.2° west 
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orbit location using additional frequencies in the Ka- and V-bands for 

service in the United States.

• September 4, 2019: The FCC granted Iridium Constellation, LLC, special 

temporary authority for communications operations related to replace-

ment of its last remaining first-generation satellite with a satellite in its 

second-generation Iridium NEXT constellation.

• September 6, 2019: The FCC granted EchoStar Satellite Operating 

Corporation special temporary authority to extend the service coverage 

area of the EchoStar 9 satellite at the longitude 121° west orbit location to 

cover the Bahamas for emergency operations following Hurricane Dorian.

The FCC also added non-U.S.-licensed space stations to its permitted list to 

allow the space station to provide domestic and international satellite service 

to U.S. earth stations that have routine technical parameters. These included 

the following: • On February 26, 2019, the FCC added SES Americom, Inc.’s NSS-11 satellite to the permitted list, operating under the authority of the United 

Kingdom (Gibraltar) and using the Ku-band at the longitude 176° east 

orbit location.

• On September 12, 2019, the FCC added New Skies Satellites B.V.’s 

NSS-6 satellite to the permitted list, operating under the authority of 

the Netherlands and using the Ku-band at the longitude 169.5° west 

orbit location.

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USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on 

public policy, best available science, and effective management. Remotely sensed 

data and derived information directly support mission-critical work of the USDA. 

A wide variety of data and technology, including aerial and satellite imagery, highquality elevation data, and ground-based collections validated with GPS, are used 

in daily operations.

Agriculture Research Service

As the primary research agency of the USDA, the Agricultural Research Service 

(ARS) conducts research to solve problems affecting global food security, agricultural air quality, biofuels, ecosystem services such as watersheds, and ways to adapt 

to climate change. ARS collaborates with NASA in partnership with other USDA 

agencies (the Natural Resources Conservation Service [NRCS], Risk Management 

Agency [RMA], World Agricultural Outlook Board [WAOB], Foreign Agricultural 

Service [FAS], National Agricultural Statistics Service [NASS], and Animal and 

Plant Health Inspection Service [APHIS]) to develop technologies that help the 

agencies carry out their missions. Partnerships with other Federal agencies, universities, industry, and state governments are integral to ARS research. ARS developed technologies for the management of water and soil resources, crop production, 

and rangeland resources. The sensor systems used by ARS included satellite 
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systems, airborne systems including small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS), onthe-go sensors mounted on field equipment, and other ground-based systems.

Water quality and quantity management continued to be the largest area of 

emphasis for ARS remote sensing activities. Soil moisture remote sensing research 

continued with the development of algorithms for soil moisture estimation from 

aircraft and satellites. ARS scientists also contributed to the development of the 

next generation of satellite remote sensing systems through the Soil Moisture 

Active Passive (SMAP) mission, with ARS providing key evaluation validation 

data for the evolution of the algorithms to the most accurate and high-resolution 

soil moisture products available today. Researchers contributed extensively to 

the development and implementation of the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal 

Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) mission, which provides 

high-resolution evaporation stress estimates from the International Space Station. 

Additional research into more efficient fertilizer application using remote sensing 

of crop nitrogen status reduced excess fertilizer losses to the environment, thus 

leading to improved water quality and better economic returns to farmers.

Farm Service Agency

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers farm commodity, credit, conservation, disaster, and loan programs as laid out by Congress through a network 

of Federal, state, and county offices. Land-based information has always played a 

fundamental role in daily operations and administration of those programs. FSA 

used a diverse set of remotely sensed data, typically from traditional aerial images, 

to support a wide variety of agency activities. Examples of those applications are 

recording producer-reported crop plantings and supporting conservation, commodity, and agriculture-based lending programs.

FSA did not directly operate any crewed aircraft or Unmanned Aerial Systems 

(UAS) this past reporting period; however, it did issue several remote sensing contracts to acquire airborne imagery that required the use of the National Airspace 

System (NAS). The main contracts supported orthorectified imagery collection for 

the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). NAIP is a multi-departmentfunded program that provides current high-resolution imagery of the contiguous 
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United States (CONUS) into the public domain. The NAIP imagery is collected 

every two to three years, and is used by nearly all civilian Federal agencies as a 

base layer in their geographic information system (GIS) to support a wide variety 

of activities, such as conservation and land management. Complete border-toborder CONUS coverage under NAIP requires broad access to restricted and other 

special-use airspace. Data from several military areas are not typically collected 

due to national security concerns. Areas whose imagery was not collected in 2019 

were Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada.

FSA also uses remotely sensed data collected from space-based systems, such as 

the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Pleiades-HR 

constellation, and other high-resolution satellite imagery, to support disaster recovery programs, including Emergency Loan and Emergency Conservation Programs, 

on an ad hoc basis. In addition to the civilian-managed space-based systems, 

FSA received imagery from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) 

through Maxar’s Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery (G-EGD) (formerly known 

as DigitalGlobe’s Enhanced View Web Hosting Service) during 2019. FSA does not 

directly manage any space-based systems and acquires all remote sensing data from 

other Federal agencies and commercial vendors.

Foreign Agriculture Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Global Market Analysis (FAS/GMA) 

program area serves as a major source of objective and reliable global agricultural 

production information to the USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and 

Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the primary source of the USDA’s global 

commodity outlook. The monthly WASDE report provides public access to information affecting world food security and is crucial to decisions affecting U.S. agriculture, trade policy, and food aid. The Office of Global Analysis (FAS/OGA) 

uses satellite imagery at regional, national, and subnational scales to operationally 

monitor and analyze monthly changes in global crop production. FAS archives and 

displays monthly, country-level crop production, supply, and distribution (PSD) 

data from the USDA’s WASDE report on the FAS PSD Online website at https://

apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/app/index.html#/app/home.
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During 2019, the International Production Assessment Division (IPAD) operated the remote sensing program at FAS/GMA. IPAD is an operational user of 

remotely sensed imagery and processed multiple U.S. and international sources 

of global imagery and satellite-derived weather information. Landsat 7 and 8, as 

well as Sentinel 2A and 2B, served as the primary satellites used by FAS/GMA/

IPAD for mapping crop area and crop type for numerous countries worldwide. 

NASA’s MODIS sensor, on board the Aqua and Terra satellites, was used by 

IPAD to monitor crop conditions and relative crop yields. The USDA–NASA 

Global Agricultural Monitoring (GLAM) web system displayed and archived historical MODIS-Terra (i.e., 2000–present) and MODIS-Aqua (i.e., 2002–present) 

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery, and the GLAM-NDVIMODIS web interface (http://glam1.gsfc.nasa.gov/) easily allowed public users to 

analyze and compare current crop conditions with past years’ crop conditions. FAS/

GMA plans to utilize NDVI time-series data from the Visible Infrared Imaging 

Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor as a replacement for the NDVI-MODIS (Terra 

and Aqua) data streams that will end after 2020.

FAS/GMA also maintained several public global agricultural datasets by processing, archiving, and displaying a variety of satellite imagery products on the FAS/

GMA Crop Explorer web system. Crop Explorer allows users to monitor, analyze, 

and display rainfall, temperature, soil moisture, and vegetation conditions by utilizing satellite imagery from NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), 

NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), and the 

European Space Agency’s Proba-V, as well as satellite-derived weather information 

from the U.S. Air Force’s 557th Weather Wing. In addition, the Global Reservoir 

and Lake Monitor (G-REALM) allows users to monitor and display reservoir and 

lake water heights by utilizing satellite radar altimeter data from NASA’s Ocean 

Topography Experiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3 satellites 

(https://ipad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/). Lastly, the Global Agricultural and Disaster 

Assessment System (GADAS) is a new state-of-the-art geographic information 

system available to the public online. This system integrates a vast array of highly 

detailed Earth observation data streams from NASA, NOAA, the U.S. Air Force, 

and other agencies, with tools and cropland datasets to support agricultural and 

disaster assessment analysis. GADAS will help USDA/FAS remain a leader in the 
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use of geospatial data for crop condition monitoring and support collaboration 

between FAS teams working around the globe. (Find GADAS at https://ipad.fas.

usda.gov/ or directly at https://geo.fas.usda.gov/GADAS/index.html.)

FAS/GMA was part of the early-adopter program for Soil Moisture Active 

Passive (SMAP), and the USDA’s global crop production monitoring system was 

enhanced by the SMAP two-layer soil moisture products processed by the USDA’s 

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and NASA researchers. The SMAP twolayer soil moisture product currently operates at 25-kilometer resolution.

FAS/GMA managed the USDA’s Satellite Imagery Archive (SIA) program and 

displayed all moderate-resolution satellite imagery archived via SIA’s Archive 

Explorer (AE). In 2000, the USDA’s Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee 

(RSCC) established the SIA program, which is chaired by the USDA’s Remote 

Sensing Advisor. During 2019, USDA/FAS purchased satellite imagery with 

22-meter spatial resolution from the Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 (Disaster Monitoring 

Constellation) and archived it at SIA’s AE. FAS/OGA/SIA also provided funding to collect Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) (56-kilometer) and Linear 

Imaging Self Scanning (LISS)–III Sensor (24-kilometer) imagery from the Indian 

Resourcesat–2 (IRS-2) satellite. The IRS-2 imagery is now available for download 

through the USGS Earth Explorer website at https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/. The 

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service used Deimos-1, UK-DMC2, and 

IRS-2 satellite imagery covering the lower 48 states to map crop type for the 2019 

United States crop season.

Forest Service

As the primary forestry agency of the United States and the largest agency in 

the USDA, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) continues to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of 

present and future generations. This work encompasses partnerships with states, 

Tribes, and other Federal agencies to address forestry and natural resource issues; 

administration and management of 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands 

collectively known as National Forest System (NFS) lands, totaling 193 million 

acres; and assistance to private land owners and state, Tribal, and community 
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forestry agencies in the stewardship of approximately 500 million acres of nonFederal forest lands.

In FY 2019, the USFS collaborated with NASA, NOAA, the USGS, other agencies, and other external agency partners and cooperators to apply operational satellite and airborne imagery and the most advanced remote sensing and geospatial 

technologies. Specific accomplishments included the following:

• Planned, organized, and conducted a joint Forest Service/NASA workshop entitled “Forest Service/NASA Applications Workshop: Satellite 

Data to Support Natural Resource Management in April 2019.” The 

three-day workshop focused on sharing and demonstrating the capabilities 

of NASA data products, as well as establishing connections and strengthening partnerships between NASA and the USDA Forest Service.

• Collected comprehensive Earth Observing System (EOS), MODIS, and 

Suomi NPP VIIRS near-real-time data and Landsat 8 Operational Land 

Imager (OLI) data via the USGS’s Earth Resources Observation Systems 

(EROS) for the United States and Canada. Provided operational processing and disseminated near-real-time fire-mapping and geospatial data 

products to fire managers and the general public, including all sciencesanctioned fire detection algorithms for MODIS (1-kilometer), VIIRS 

(750-meter and 375-meter) and Landsat (30-meter). (See https://fsapps.

nwcg.gov/afm/.)

• Continued activities with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Direct 

Readout Laboratory under a USFS-NASA interagency agreement to 

test and operationally implement near-real-time satellite data-processing 

technologies, including land, atmospheric, and ocean science–processing 

algorithms for EOS and Suomi NPP sensors, to support evolving resource 

management and operational information needs. (See https://fsapps.nwcg.

gov/directreadout/.)

• Continued operational processing and analysis of MODIS and Landsat 

imagery for systematic detection of damage and changing health conditions in Federal, state, and private forested lands throughout the continental United States. Monitoring data products provided early warning 

information to Forest Health Protection staff of forest areas potentially 
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affected by pests/pathogens and supported targeted monitoring and suppression activities. Also continued to initiate efforts to leverage operational VIIRS imagery for comprehensive forest monitoring and ensure 

future continuity with current MODIS-based monitoring approaches.

• Utilized MODIS imagery to conduct coarse-level forest damage assessments for large geographic areas of the continental United States in 

the immediate aftermath of significant forest disturbance events. This 

strategic information supported the agency in targeting areas for fuels 

management activities and/or areas where higher-resolution forest damage 

assessments are required.

• Continued to maintain and distribute 250-meter forest attribute data surfaces derived from MODIS imagery and other geospatial predictor data 

using nearest neighbor imputation methods. (See http://data.fs.usda.gov/

geodata/rastergateway/forest_type/index.php.)

• Continued to maintain and distribute 250-meter forest carbon estimates 

derived from MODIS imagery and other geospatial predictor data using 

nearest neighbor imputation methods. (See http://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/

rastergateway/biomass/index.php.)

• Continued coordination with NASA Ames Research Center to upgrade 

Autonomous Modular Sensor (AMS) electronics and sensor components 

and further develop the AMS firmware and software for onboard processing system capabilities and user interface to support operational integration flights on USFS aircraft.

• Operationally applied Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) and 

Landsat 8 OLI imagery to respond to 78 requests to map the location, 

extent, and severity of large wildfires amounting to more than 650,000 

acres in FY  2019. These rapid-response products supported postfire 

emergency stabilization/hazard-mitigation activities conducted by Forest 

Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams. (See https://

fsapps.nwcg.gov/baer/.)

• Applied Landsat 7 ETM and Landsat 8 OLI imagery to respond to map 

and estimate postfire basal area loss and canopy cover loss for 119 large 

wildfires totaling nearly 3.1 million acres in FY  2019. These products 
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supported forest restoration planning management activities and the efficient use of resources to support those activities. (See https://fsapps.nwcg.

gov/ravg/.)

• Continued to apply Landsat 4/5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 ETM, 

and Landsat 8 OLI imagery to inventory, map, and characterize historical 

large fires to assess the effectiveness of national fire management policies as part of the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project. 

MTBS mapping activities through FY 2019 included the completion of an 

additional 1,296 fires, which increased the extent of the historical MTBS 

data record to include 22,969 fires covering more than 165 million acres 

of burned lands. (See https://www.mtbs.gov.)

• Coordinated with the University of Maryland, NASA, and the USGS 

under the auspices of a NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth 

Sciences (ROSES) A35 Wildfires Project to execute Landsat 8’s active 

fire detection algorithm, refine as needed, and provide output products 

to support USFS operational fire support activities. FY 2019 efforts also 

included advancements on extending the Landsat 8 algorithm to support 

the development of an active fire detection algorithm for Sentinel 2A/2B.

• Continued technology transfer activities between the USFS and Ames 

Research Center on wildland fire remote sensing–related technologies under the guidance of the Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory 

Committee (TFRSAC), which is a technical exchange forum jointly 

cochaired by NASA and the USFS.

• Used imagery from Landsat 8 OLI and NAIP to initiate, complete, and 

update mid-level vegetation-mapping, riparian-mapping, and Field Sampled 

Vegetation (FSVeg Spatial) update products for national forest lands and 

adjacent land areas throughout the country. Mapped areas included six 

National Forests encompassing approximately 10 million acres.

• Successfully built Tree Canopy Cover (TCC) data for 2016 for CONUS, 

coastal Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, using 

imagery from Landsat and NAIP.

• Used Landsat TM/ETM/OLI and NAIP imagery in conjunction with 

other core geospatial datasets to conduct ecological land-type associations 
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and soil-type mapping on NFS lands in the northeast and western United 

States, which the USFS, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), 

and other agencies apply to resource management, planning, and decision 

making. (See http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/programs/teui/about.html.)

• Progressed toward a comprehensive and consistent land-cover/land-use 

monitoring system, the Landscape Change Monitoring System (LCMS), 

for the continental United States. LCMS utilizes Landsat TM/ETM/OLI 

time-series stacks within Google Earth Engine to detect and monitor 

land-cover/land-use change from the mid-1980s to the present across all 

administrative ownerships. Efforts included the continued development of 

an annual CONUS change product since 1984. In FY 2019, the 1984-to2017 CONUS change product was extended to include 2018. This effort 

is being conducted in collaboration with several Federal and academic 

partners. (See http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/?p=10868.)

• Continued to develop and refine standards and practices for integrating 

light detection and ranging (lidar) into forest and resource management 

(defining acquisition specifications, performing data-quality assessments, 

developing analysis/modeling procedures for forest parameters, etc.).

• Continued to expand USFS involvement in the USGS 3D Elevation 

Program to ensure consistent acquisition specifications and minimize 

redundant collections by partnering with other state and Federal entities 

on data acquisitions.

• Continued to provide operational web mapping and data services for 

NAIP imagery and selected moderate resolution imagery from NASA 

satellite assets for consumption/use by Forest Service and Bureau of Land 

Management staff. The nearly one-petabyte data archive that provides 

the source data for these services provides spatially and temporally comprehensive coverage for the United States and is essential for daily Forest 

Service operational business information needs.

• Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and Forest Health Protection (FHP) 

staff continued in FY 2019 to utilize CONUS and OCONUS (Outside 

CONUS) Landsat 8, MODIS, and NAIP imagery products to support 
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inventory and monitoring of the Nation’s forests, including mapping and 

use in post stratification to improve forest attribute estimates.

• Conducted a geotechnical evaluation on joint lidar-hyperspectral datasets 

and analyses for use in forest applications. The pilot study assessed the 

practicality of the use of NASA’s Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and 

Thermal Imager (G-LiHT) data for land-cover classification. Results of 

the study indicated that the integration of G-LiHT lidar and hyperspectral data improved land-cover classification accuracy.

• FIA and FHP continued in FY  2019 to use NASA G-LiHT data with 

NAIP imagery throughout CONUS to assess and monitor forest conditions. Additionally, FIA worked with NASA scientists to continue the 

use G-LiHT data to support forest inventory of interior Alaska, including initiating investigations for its use to estimate tree canopy height and 

canopy cover.

National Agricultural Statistics Service

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) used remote sensing data 

to construct and sample area frames for agricultural statistical surveys; estimate crop 

area and yield; visualize crop condition and crop area via data-visualization applications; impute for survey non-response; and provide geospatial data products for 

decision support to assess flooding impact on agriculture from Hurricane Dorian, 

Tropical Storm Barry, and extreme springtime precipitation in the Midwest. NASS 

used Landsat imagery, digital NAIP imagery, and other remotely sensed inputs for 

the contiguous United States to select the yearly area-based samples for the 2019 

June Area Survey. In addition, NASS finished updating a new area-based sampling 

frame for Texas.

The remote sensing acreage estimation program used satellite imagery from the 

Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and Resourcesat-2 

to produce crop acreage estimates for crops at state, agricultural statistics district 

(ASD), and county levels. Remote sensing–based acreage indications for all states 

were derived from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) for all market-sensitive crops. 

The DMC imagery was provided by the Foreign Agricultural Service Satellite 
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Imagery Archive, which provided growing-season coverage with DMC imagery 

through a cooperative partnership. The NASS Agricultural Statistics Board 

(ASB) utilized the remote sensing acreage indications as independent input for 

setting official estimates for monthly crop production reports. In addition, NASS 

distributed the CDL for 48 states to stakeholders for the previous 2018 crop season 

via the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway and the CropScape application at https://

nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape.

The NASS online geospatial GIS application CropScape continued to provide 

data users with access to a variety of geospatial resources and information, including all historical CDL data and derivative cultivated data-layer and crop-frequency 

data-layer products. This application offers advanced tools such as interactive visualization, web-based data dissemination, geospatial queries, and automated data 

delivery to systems such as Google Earth. It delivers crop-specific land-cover data 

and visualization tools directly to the agricultural community without needing 

specialized expertise or GIS software. This information can be used for addressing 

issues related to agricultural sustainability; land-cover monitoring; biodiversity; and 

extreme events such as flooding, drought, and disaster assessment.

The CDL data and the CropScape Web application were used directly for June 

Area Survey imputation. The CDL data, which have an 11-year record of planting 

information for every field for the contiguous 48 states, is a reliable alternative 

and independent data source for imputation. Moreover, CropScape can be used for 

accessing, navigating, visualizing, and summarizing the CDL data within selected 

areas of interest. This tool and CDL data are used to help NASS statisticians estimate acreage information missing from non-respondent and inaccessible farmers.

Geospatial decision-support data products were delivered for rapid flooding 

assessments, including from Hurricane Dorian, Tropical Storm Barry, and the 

extensive flooding in the Midwest in May and June of 2019. Dorian, Barry, and 

the Midwest assessments included flooding extent and potential crop and livestock 

losses. The products included crop and pastureland inundated areas, estimated 

precipitation totals, CDL crop area maps, and wind swaths or surface winds overlaid onto crop areas identified from the CDL product over impacted areas and 

available on https://www.nass.usda.gov/Research_and_Science/Disaster-Analysis/. 

The Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite was used to provide a 
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see-through-the-clouds opportunity to capture real-time storm inundation over 

crop and pasturelands, providing flooding assessments and sharing of critical data 

for both USDA and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) usage.

NASS utilized NASA MODIS NDVI and Land Surface Temperature (LST) 

products for modeling corn and soybean yield estimates covering the 16 largest 

corn and 11 largest soybean production states. Updated yield estimates were delivered operationally to the ASB as an independent indication for setting official 

August, September, and October yield estimates by state, ASD, and county.

The web-based national vegetation condition geospatial portal VegScape (https://

nassgeodata.gmu.edu/VegScape) continued to deliver timely crop condition vegetation indices based on MODIS daily, weekly, and biweekly products throughout 

the growing season. VegScape showed crop condition/vegetation greenness and 

drought anomaly assessments. NASS continued monitoring the ongoing California 

drought, providing monthly growing-season CDL-based fallowed-land estimates for 

California water resource stakeholders.

NASS is continuing to collaborate with George Mason University, the USDA/

Risk Management Agency, and the University of Colorado in developing a remote 

sensing–based flood disaster crop loss assessment system. The proposed system will 

provide the capability of flood disaster crop acreage loss and crop yield loss assessments using NASA remote sensing data and science results.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRCS helps America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners conserve the 

Nation’s soil, water, air, and other natural resources. To fulfill this mission, NRCS 

assesses, acquires, develops, interprets, analyzes, and delivers natural-resource 

information to enable knowledge-based natural-resource planning and decision 

making at all landscape levels. Various types of geospatial systems, data, and information are crucial to the successful delivery of NRCS services.

Orthoimagery, elevation data, and Global Positioning Systems are essential 

geospatial data integrated into NRCS program applications, service centers, 

state offices, and national centers. Since the 1930s, NRCS (formerly the Soil 

Conservation Service) used aerial photography and orthoimagery for conservation 
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and soil survey purposes. Today, NRCS offices use geospatial data daily to support 

conservation programs.

NRCS coordinates acquisitions of orthoimagery and digital elevation data with 

other Federal and state agencies through interagency committees like the National 

Digital Orthoimagery Program (NDOP) and the USGS 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP). Participation in NDOP and 3DEP assists NRCS in maximizing geospatial 

investments and avoiding duplication of acquisitions for orthoimagery and digital 

elevation datasets.

Aerial Imagery

In FY 2019, NRCS executed a contract to acquire high-resolution aerial photography (4-inch ground-resolving distance) and scans of more than 70,000 sites in the 

contiguous United States, 477 sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 

344 sites in Hawaii. All the sites possess confidential location information. NRCS 

continued to use natural-color negative film for these collections. Despite the 

known advantages of direct digital imagery, film continued to be the least costly 

method to acquire high-spatial-resolution imagery for the National Resources 

Inventory (NRI). The scanned film imagery is georeferenced and interpreted at one 

of NRCS’s three Remote Sensing Labs. The resulting data were sent to the Center 

for Survey Statistics and Methodology at Iowa State University for statistical analysis. (See https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/nri/.)

Through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), the 

Healthy Forest Reserve Program (HFRP), and the Emergency Watershed Protection 

Program–Floodplain Easements (EWPP-FPE), NRCS holds title or enforcement 

rights to approximately 17,800 Stewardship Land easements, providing protection to more than 3.4 million acres nationally. Stewardship land easements are 

easements that the agency (as NRCS, the Soil Conservation Service [SCS], or 

the Commodity Credit Corporation [CCC]) acquired on behalf of the United 

States as a holder or for which it has other responsibilities outlined in the easement deed. Annual monitoring of these easements is critical to ensure that the 

objectives of each easement program and relevant easement authorities, as well 

as legal requirements, are being met on the enrolled lands. Additionally, NRCS 
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is required to report the “condition” of its easements as part of its annual federal 

financial accountability reporting. Starting in FY 2014, the NRCS conducted a 

pilot project using high-resolution direct digital imagery to test the efficiency of 

having imagery available to state offices early in the fiscal year for monitoring 

activities. In FY 2019, NRCS continued the pilot project to acquire imagery for 

monitoring purposes. Information on easement programs can be found at https://

www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/easements/.

The National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) is a high-resolution imagery 

program that usually collects data during leaf-on time periods during the summer 

months. This dataset is the foundation layer for geospatial data used in USDA 

offices and those of our cooperators. NRCS; USFS; USGS-DOI; and the NAIP 

Leader, FSA, have successfully funded and supported NAIP since the program’s 

inception in 2003. NAIP orthoimagery is used extensively within NRCS and is 

used in most NRCS offices in the continental United States. NAIP orthoimagery 

is delivered to NRCS at a 1.0-meter or higher ground resolution and with four 

multispectral bands (Natural Color and Color Infrared [CIR]). NRCS makes use 

of NAIP in many programs, such as the Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.

sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm) and Conservation Planning (https://www.nrcs.

usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/cgate/), and it is used as the base imagery for 

NRI for orthorectification. NRCS makes NAIP data available to the general public 

via compressed county imagery mosaics on the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway at 

https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/. In FY 2019, NAIP collected 23 states’ worth of imagery. 

All were collected at 0.6-meter resolution and in four multispectral bands (Natural 

Color and CIR). NAIP collects data from all areas of the United States, including 

agricultural land, public lands (Federal, state, and local), and urban areas.

Satellite Imagery

In 2019, NRCS responded to geospatial imagery needs from all states and territories, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth 

of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and parts of Micronesia. 

NRCS requires high-resolution imagery at one meter or higher for most agency 

programs. Acquisition of imagery in non-CONUS areas was challenging because 
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of remoteness and weather. NRCS used satellite imagery from the DigitalGlobe 

EnhancedView Web Hosting Service (https://evwhs.digitalglobe.com) and purchased 

imagery from commercial sources for areas such as these and over-restricted airspace. NRCS also used DigitalGlobe imagery for pre- and post-event disaster 

response and in cases where other imagery is outdated.

Elevation

NRCS participates in the USGS 3DEP to acquire high-quality 3D elevation data 

through remote sensing. (See https://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/.) The map depicts areas 

of actual lidar topographic acquisition projects that NRCS and 3DEP partners 

awarded in FY 2019.

In FY 2019, 3DEP and its partners significantly increased the coverage of lidar 

and IfSAR, resulting in a cumulative total of 64 percent of the Nation with 3DEPquality data available or in progress. NRCS invested $21.3 million of the $136.8 million total 3DEP investments for FY 2019 awards. The goal of 3DEP is to complete 

the acquisition of nationwide lidar (IfSAR in Alaska) in eight years to provide the 

first-ever national baseline of consistent high-resolution elevation data—both bareearth and 3D point clouds—collected in a timeframe of less than a decade.

Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Signals from Space

The United States Global Positioning System (GPS) is the primary source of 

space-based signals for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT). The NRCS 

utilizes GPS signals from space, as well as the FAA Wide Area Augmentation 

Service (WAAS) signals and ground-based cellular Real Time Kinematic (RTK) 

corrections to space-based PNT to put conservation practices on the ground daily 

in every state of the United States, as well as in the Caribbean and Pacific basins. 

The use of PNT services, free from radio spectrum interference, continues to support the NRCS mission of “Helping People Help the Land.” Please see https://www.

nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/newsroom/features/?cid=nrcseprd1441031

for more information regarding NRCS conservation activities enabled and 

enhanced by GPS PNT services.
166Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Employees of NRCS, located in more than 2,000 Field Service Centers across 

the United States, as well as in the Caribbean and Pacific basins, performed the 

following activities utilizing GPS and WAAS PNT services in FY 2019:

• NRCS technical specialists and contractors used GPS as an aid for the 

collection of National Resources Inventory (NRI) plant composition 

and ecology information in 49 states on more than 3,000 sample areas 

known as area segments. Most area segments contain three individual 

sample points. Each sample point represents a physical location on Earth’s 

surface. NRCS and contracted personnel used GPS PNT services to navigate to two of the three sample points and perform location validation 

upon arrival at the points. Accurate navigation, free from radio spectrum 

interference, to sample sites was required to achieve statistically valid data 

collection. Results of the data collection were compiled and analyzed for 

use in reports such as the “2019 NRI Rangeland Resource Assessment” 

report and the “2019 NRI Pastureland Assessment Report.” Please see 

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/nri/

for further information on the data produced by this nationwide field data 

collection effort.

• The National Resources Inventory contracted the collection of aerial 

imagery on nearly 72,000 area segments in FY 2019. Accurate GPS PNT 

airborne navigation, free from radio spectrum interference, to sample site 

locations continues to be required for data collection to support trend 

analysis. Results of the aerial imagery component of NRI continue to be 

published in reports that support the 1972 Rural Development Act. Please 

see https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/nra/

nri/ for further information.

• Many NRCS states utilized GPS PNT services to navigate to and document the condition of conservation easements under the authority of 

the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). More NRCS 

personnel in multiple states utilized GPS PNT services along with smart 

devices to collect monitoring information on thousands of easements 

across the country. The collected data, as well as supporting photos and 

notes, were uploaded into an enterprise content management system and 
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were used to support the analysis of easements. GPS PNT services aided 

aerial imagery contractors in acquiring thousands of aerial images for contract compliance review. Private-sector Registered Land Surveyors used 

survey-grade GPS PNT services to establish and record boundaries of new 

agricultural easements and validate the boundaries of existing easements.

• NRCS soil scientists routinely used GPS PNT services to navigate to soilsampling sites and conduct follow-up investigations. GPS PNT services 

were also used to provide technical soil survey assistance to farm and 

ranch operators.

• The NRCS Water and Climate Center continued to utilize GPS PNT 

services to map locations of instrumentation, provide timing for telemetry signals, and enhance safety for employees. The coordination and 

delivery of data from 867 Snow Survey Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations and 

226 Soil Climate (SCAN) stations required nanosecond precision that 

interference-free timing signals from GPS PNT services provide. The 

Water Climate Center also utilized the NOAA Geostationary Operational 

Environmental Satellite (GOES) network to provide telemetry services for 

remote monitoring sites at more than 25 locations. Telemetry data services 

have also been procured for Iridium satellite commercial communications 

on nearly 100 locations. 

• In FY  2019, the NRCS and cooperating partners utilized GPS, along 

with other geospatial data, to put conservation practices on the ground. 

GPS positions marked the locations of resource concerns on the landscape. Agency personnel and cooperating partners transferred resource 

concern position information from GPS receivers to a USDA Enterprise 

Geographic Information System (GIS) application called Conservation 

Toolkit. Planners used the Toolkit to prepare conservation and alternative 

plan maps. Farm and ranch owner/operators used the plan maps to choose 

conservation practices that addressed the identified resource concerns. 

They also used GPS to verify measurements and document established 

practices for contract cost-sharing payments. NRCS clients, agricultural 

owners, and operators utilized GPS PNT services to mark up NRCS plan 

maps while in the field, identify new or additional resource concerns, and 
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map crop damage. Use of GPS PNT services increased among NRCS 

clients, with the top uses being assisted steering of machinery, precision 

application of nutrients and pesticides, and harvest yield monitoring. The 

use of interference-free GPS PNT services enables producers to implement 

precision farming practices that save fuel and reduce the amount of fertilizer and pesticides applied to the landscape. More agricultural producers 

are utilizing sUAS to perform monitoring of crop health and map damage. 

The use of GPS PNT services was essential for accurate mapping of crop 

issues by sUAS.

• NRCS engineers utilized GPS PNT services to perform detailed topographic surveys of agricultural operations to support conservation planning. Additional GPS surveying was performed to design and lay out 

conservation practices that managed or controlled the flow of water across 

the landscape. Many NRCS contractors utilized GPS through all phases 

of engineering design and construction. Examples of the use of design-toconstruction machine control, enabled by the use of GPS PNT services, 

were reported in Alaska and Wyoming. In each case, machine control was 

used to achieve more accurate results and reduce time and cost to restore 

stream channels and waterways damaged by flooding. NRCS engineers 

have explored the use of sUAS to perform as-built inspection of drainage structures and rehabilitated dams. The use of interference-free GPS 

PNT services for engineering design and construction as well as sUAS 

inspection operations assures accurate results that can be compared to 

future inspections for the identification of changes during the monitoring 

of structure performance and integrity.

• Acquisitions of aerial imagery, such as NAIP and aerial elevation acquisitions using lidar, were enabled by the use of GPS PNT services. NAIP 

imagery and lidar were utilized by all NRCS conservation planning, 

engineering, and inventory/monitoring activities and were core to the 

implementation of the agency mission. The use of interference-free GPS 

PNT services in the acquisition of geospatial base imagery and elevation 

data provided a high level of quality assurance for agency end users and 

external customers.
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• NRCS invested more than $2,955,000 in FY 2019 for the replacement of 

existing GPS PNT technology for engineering survey and for conservation planning applications. The provision of an interference-free radio 

spectrum environment for GPS PNT services will assure continued 

Return on Investment (ROI) in succeeding years.

Risk Management Agency

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), established in 1996, serves 

America’s agricultural producers through effective, market-based risk management tools to strengthen the economic stability of agricultural producers and rural 

communities. RMA manages the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) to 

provide innovative crop insurance products to America’s farmers and ranchers. 

Geospatial systems and analytics data, including space-based remote sensing systems, have played a fundamental role in RMA’s program delivery, particularly in 

the compliance and oversight program areas.

Through crop insurance, RMA provided assistance to farmers and ranchers 

impacted by natural disasters, including flooding, hurricanes, and fires. In 2019, 

RMA used remote sensing data, such as Landsat, Sentinel-2, DMC, MODIS, and 

high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery for supporting crop insurance and program integrity. Many of these imagery products were collected as a result of the 

USDA’s interagency coordination.

RMA incorporated many different geospatial decision-support products that 

have been provided to the USDA and RMA leadership for situational awareness. 

These products help mitigate many natural disasters that have significant impacts 

to agricultural areas that use crop insurance. The products included impacted 

program estimates, estimated precipitation, and natural-disaster extents with such 

things as flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. Orthoimagery, elevation data, and 

GPS information were essential geospatial data integrated into RMA program 

applications. RMA offices used geospatial data daily to support crop insurance.

RMA staff were active participants in Science Teams, such as the USGS-NASA 

Landsat Science Team and the USDA Soil Moisture Working Group that focuses 

on the use of data from the NASA SMAP mission. As an operational user of 
170Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

remote sensing products, RMA’s participation in these work groups provided 

insight to scientists in developing applications that benefit crop insurance delivery 

and oversight, as well as farmers and ranchers across America.

In addition, RMA often partnered with scientists and researchers to develop 

products to meet agency business needs, including with Oregon State University–

Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM); George 

Mason University and USDA NASS on developing an agricultural flood-loss estimation system; and Tarleton State University–Center for Agribusiness Excellence 

(CAE) on integrating satellite imagery for enhancing program integrity models.
171 National Science Foundation

National Sc

Foundati

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) continued to serve as the lead Federal 

agency for the support of ground-based astronomy and space science. Through the 

divisions of Astronomical Sciences, Physics, Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, 

and Polar Programs, the NSF sponsored a broad base of observational, theoretical, 

and laboratory research aimed at understanding the states of matter and physical 

processes in the universe. Areas of research ranged from the most distant reaches 

of the universe and the earliest moments of its existence to nearby stars and planets—including our own Sun and planetary system—as well as Earth’s atmosphere 

and space environment.

Division of Astronomical Sciences

The Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) within the Mathematical and 

Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate supported the development of advanced technologies and instrumentation for astronomical sciences, in addition to providing 

core support for the optical and radio observatories with state-of-the-art instrumentation and observing capabilities accessible to the community on the basis of scientific merit. The NSF’s national astronomical facilities included the National Radio 

Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Arecibo Observatory (AO), the National 

Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the Green Bank Observatory, and the 

National Solar Observatory (NSO). The NSF also served as the executive agency 

for the Gemini Observatory—an international partnership operating optical/
172Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

infrared telescopes in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres—providing 

the United States’ share of support for the program.

During FY 2019, AST, in partnership with the European Union, Canada, Japan, 

the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan, continued science operations of the Atacama 

Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), an interferometric array located 

near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. ALMA continued to receive a high number of 

observing proposals (approximately 1,800). Capabilities offered to the community 

included simultaneous observations with arrays of 12- and seven-meter-diameter 

antennas, observations with antenna separations of up to 16 kilometers, and observations at frequencies of up to 900 gigahertz. ALMA continued to provide unique 

insights across a broad range of topics, including planets and planet formation, 

proto-stellar and debris disks, low- and high-mass star formation, stellar evolution, 

normal galaxies, galactic centers, and galaxy formation and evolution. ALMA, as a 

component of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), was a major contributor to the 

observation of the supermassive black hole in M87.

Construction of the NSF’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) continued 

through FY 2019. DKIST is the result of the collaboration of scientists from more 

than 20 institutions representing a broad segment of the U.S. solar physics community, and it had previously earned the strong recommendation of the National 

Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. After completion, DKIST 

is planned to be the world’s flagship ground-based telescope designed specifically 

for the study of solar magnetic fields on scales as small as 30 kilometers. The baseline cost for the DKIST project is $344.13 million. The project is approximately 

93 percent complete and is both on budget and on schedule. In early FY 2019, 

DKIST achieved its first images of starlight and completed its first pointing model 

using a temporary Nighttime Acquisition Telescope mounted at the telescope 

prime focus. The project continued to carry out the critical Integration, Testing 

and Commissioning (IT&C) phase of construction. In preparation for the next 

Level-1 milestone, “first (Sun)light,” installation of the Gregorian Optical Station 

was completed, along with installation of the Visible Broadband Imager (VBI) 

instrument and Wave Front Correction (WFC) system in the Coudé lab.

The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is the lead organization for the construction of DKIST. In FY 2019, funding for DKIST operations completed a 
173 National Science Foundation

five-year ramp to a steady-state level of approximately $16.5 million per year. NSO 

is currently building a new DKIST Data Center at its headquarters in Boulder, 

Colorado. The Data Center is expected to process up to 12 terabytes of DKIST data 

per day. In FY 2019, the Data Center passed its Critical Design Review, receiving 

a recommendation to move forward with implementation from the review panel.

Personnel from MPS-AST, along with colleagues from the Directorate for 

Geosciences’ Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (GEO-AGS), 

participated in the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Space 

Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation (SWORM) multi-agency task force. 

The NSTC tasked SWORM with developing a National Space Weather Strategy 

(NSWS) and an associated National Space Weather Action Plan (NSWAP). NSO’s 

Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) provides detailed synoptic solar data 

crucial to operational space weather forecasting. Operations of the GONG facility 

are jointly funded through a five-year Interagency Agreement between the NSF 

and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project continued 

in FY 2019, with realized risks remaining within the originally assigned cost and 

schedule contingencies. Construction is over 73 percent complete. The Telescope 

Mount Assembly, the primary-tertiary mirror, the secondary mirror, and the mirror 

coating plant have all safely arrived on the summit. The coating plant has successfully delivered a science-grade coating to the secondary mirror. The Base Facility 

in La Serena was also completed in FY 2019. In LSST’s planned ten-year prime 

mission, imaging the entire accessible sky many hundreds of times, the multicolor 

survey will populate a science-ready database of unprecedented size, enabling 

breakthrough research in dark energy and dark matter, in galactic structure, and in 

solar system astronomy. The relentless, repeated observations will also open up the 

time domain and revolutionize the study of transient events. The Federal partners, 

NSF and the Department of Energy (DOE), expect this survey to generate about 

20 terabytes of data every night, night after night, throughout its operational life. 

DOE is funding the camera in a project led by the SLAC National Accelerator 

Laboratory. NSF is funding the telescope, building, site, network and software 

pipelining, and data management systems that allow specialized access separately 

for research and for education and public outreach. Private, non-Federal funding 
174Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

provided long-lead-time items and technology development essential for mitigating 

early risks. The NSF and DOE support installation and commissioning together. 

Operations support has been requested from both agencies and will be augmented 

by negotiated non-Federal and international in-kind contributions. Pre-operations 

ramp-up activity began in FY 2019.

Also in FY 2019, AST’s Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP) supported 21 

programs, with five-year project costs typically in the range of $3–10 million. A 

landmark result was obtained by the MSIP-supported Event Horizon Telescope 

(EHT), which was announced on April 10, 2019, in press conferences that generated intense interest and headlines throughout the world. The striking image of 

the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy M87 was years in the making and involved an international collaboration of over 200 scientists, engineers, 

and students. This image, and its conformance to Einstein’s General Theory of 

Relativity, constitutes the strongest evidence to date for the existence of black 

holes in the universe. In addition to becoming a popular cultural phenomenon, the 

EHT was the subject of a dedicated hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives 

Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and the team and Principal 

Investigator (PI) have begun to receive awards for their efforts, including the newly 

created NSF Diamond Award given to the PI and the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in 

Fundamental Physics awarded to the team.

In FY 2019, a new NSF foundation-wide midscale initiative, the Mid-scale 

Research Infrastructure Program, held its first competition, where it awarded a 

$12.6 million grant to support the design and development of the next phase of the 

EHT, with improved instrumentation and eight new antennas to be added to the 

array. This Next Generation EHT will enable time-resolved imaging to provide the 

first movies of activity near the event horizons of black holes.

Damage to the Arecibo Observatory (AO) resulting from Hurricane Maria, 

which hit the island of Puerto Rico in September 2017, was assessed, and the most 

critical damage was repaired during FY 2018 and FY 2019. The observatory was 

closed for a short time but resumed operations within weeks, albeit with some 

systems still disabled. A 29-meter-long line feed for use at 430 megahertz was torn 

from its moorings above the antenna and plunged into the surface of the dish, 

while the lower sections of the dish were flooded with water. Fortunately, none of 
175 National Science Foundation

the staff were injured. In the aftermath of the storm, the observatory was used as 

a command center for emergency activity in the surrounding countryside. Funds 

in the amount of $12.3 million for repairs to AO infrastructure and instrumentation were appropriated by Congress in FY 2018, and a comprehensive repair plan 

was approved in FY 2019 after a thorough merit review panel. AO also received a 

$19 million NASA grant in FY 2019 to observe and characterize potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, setting a record in 2019 for the most asteroids observed 

in a single year (more than 100) at the facility. AO also continued to be a critical 

facility in the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves 

(NANOGrav) NSF Physics Frontier Center, observing dozens of pulsars with the 

goal of detecting and studying very-low-frequency gravitational waves.

Division of Physics

The Division of Physics (PHY) continued to operate its Laser Interferometer 

Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which underwent commissioning work 

during the first part of this calendar year in preparation for the third observational 

run (O3) that started in April 2019. After a very successful six months of operation, 

LIGO took an additional commissioning break during the month of October and 

started the second part of O3 on November 1. LIGO has released 49 trigger alerts 

so far in 2019, of which 35 are currently considered gravitational-wave events and 

14 have been retracted.

Complementing LIGO, the Division of Physics, in partnership with AST, continued its funding of NANOGrav. NANOGrav uses large radio telescopes to study 

the arriving clocklike signals from over 70 rapidly spinning pulsars to search for 

deviations in the timing that could indicate the passage of a single gravitational 

wave through our galaxy or the presence of a stochastic background of many gravitational wave sources throughout the universe. A typical source of gravitational 

waves for NANOGrav would be a black hole pair with millions of times the mass 

of the Sun, in contrast to LIGO’s tens of times, and the wave itself would have a 

period of several years.

For a description of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, partially supported by 

PHY, see the Division of Polar Programs section below.
176Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

During FY 2019, the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation 

(SWORM) Working Group under the Space Weather, Security, and Hazards 

(SWSH) subcommittee within the Committee for Homeland and National Security 

(CHNS) of the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) issued a new 

a National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan (NSW-SAP, found at https://

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/National-Space-Weather-Strategyand-Action-Plan-2019.pdf). This new plan has three main objectives, the second 

of which requires agencies to “Develop and Disseminate Accurate and Timely 

Space Weather Characterization and Forecasts.” The NSW-SAP, monitored by 

the SWORM subcommittee, encourages the NSF to support fundamental research 

linked to societal needs for space weather information and to work with other 

agencies, specifically to “Improve Observations and Modeling for Characterization 

and Forecasting.” The NSF is fulfilling this goal through its science programs 

in the Atmospheric and Geospace Science Division (AGS), the Directorate for 

Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS), and the Directorate of Geosciences 

program Prediction and Resilience against Extreme Events (PREEVENTS). 

Additional support comes through interagency collaborations, such as the joint 

sponsoring of the Community Coordinated Modeling Center located at NASA’s 

Goddard Space Flight Center and the NSF-DOE plasma partnership.

The NSF, through AGS and MPS participation, remained active in SWORM 

activities. Representatives from the NSF participated in the efforts that led to the 

release of the new NWS-SAP. In addition, NSF/AGS has a leading role in the 

efforts to improve the initial space weather benchmarks that were published in 

FY 2017. In FY 2019, this effort focused on supporting the evaluation of the space 

weather benchmarks developed in FY 2018. This work included supporting a team 

of scientists to gather input from the research and operations communities through 

a series of town halls culminating in the development of an evaluation report that 

was released to the community through a workshop in the fall of 2019. A final 

report will be developed and released in FY 2020.

The Geospace Section (GS) within AGS supported a wide variety of research 

programs in space science in FY 2019. These included the funding of advanced 
177 National Science Foundation

radar systems to study the ionosphere and magnetosphere, ground-based optical equipment to study the aurora and airglow, partial support to ground-based 

solar telescopes and instruments, and a wide-ranging portfolio of basic research 

in space physics. Major GS-funded activities in FY 2019 included the Geospace 

Facilities (GF) program; the Space Weather Research (SWR) program; the SolarTerrestrial Research (STR) program; the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics 

of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program; and the Geospace Environment 

Modeling (GEM) program.

The Geospace Section runs the Faculty Development in Space Sciences (FDSS) 

Program to ensure the health and vitality of solar and space sciences within university teaching faculties; it offers five-year awards for the creation of new tenuretrack faculty positions within the intellectual disciplines that compose the space 

sciences. In FY 2019, the GS conducted a new competition for FDSS positions that 

resulted in the creation of seven new faculty positions. While the selection was 

made in FY 2019, one of those positions was funded in the beginning of FY 2020.

In FY 2019, the GS supported four new CubeSat missions. Two missions were 

selected as part of the ongoing CubeSat-based small-satellite science missions 

for geospace and atmospheric research and education. The IMpulsive Phase 

Rapid Energetic Solar Spectrometer (IMPRESS) experiment is a CubeSat science mission to study hard x-ray emission from solar flares. The Climatology of 

Anthropogenic and Natural Very Low Frequency (VLF) wave Activity in Space 

(CANVAS) CubeSat will measure VLF wave energy that originates from lightning 

and ground-based transmitters and propagates to the outer reaches of Earth’s magnetic field. Through a partnership with the Computer and Information Science 

and Engineering Directorate and the Engineering Directorate, AGS conducted 

an IdeasLab to support the Cross-cutting Initiative in CubeSat Innovations. This 

process led to support for two additional CubeSat missions. The Virtual Superresolution Optics with Reconfigurable Swarms (VISORS) mission supports the use 

of constellations of CubeSats for space weather through designing, building, and 

operating three satellites that together form an ultraviolet telescope for observing 

the Sun. The Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment 

(SWARM-EX) project provides an important step in the advancement of designing 

and building CubeSat constellations for space weather.
178Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

In FY 2019, the GS continued to support the satellite-based Active 

Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE), 

which is now in its second implementation phase, AMPERE-II. AMPERE utilized 

the 66 networked satellites of the existing Iridium constellation to create a new 

facility for collecting geomagnetic field data. The AMPERE facility continued to 

provide the first-ever global observations of the electric currents that link Earth’s 

magnetosphere and ionosphere and the first-ever continuous global observations 

for tracking geomagnetic storm-time dynamics. Geomagnetic storms occur when 

charged particles emitted by solar eruptions interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. 

Large geomagnetic storms can cause major disruptions of power and high-frequency 

(HF) communications systems on the ground and degrade the accuracy of satellitebased navigation services. During FY 2019, the data collection for AMPERE continued and the data remained freely available to researchers.

Research facilities remained as the key component of GS efforts. The Geospace 

Facilities program in FY 2019 continued to enable basic research on the structure 

and dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere. In particular, the CEDAR and GEM 

programs conducted research efforts utilizing these facilities. Throughout FY 2019, 

observations made by the Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar (AMISR) 

at Poker Flat, Alaska, examined the ionospheric effects of auroral particle precipitation in three dimensions. AMISR is ideally situated to observe the properties of 

the ionosphere in the polar cap, a region that is characterized by high ionospheric 

variability that often causes disruption of important navigation and communication systems. In collaboration with the Division of Astronomy, the GS supervised 

a cooperative agreement with a consortium led by the University of Central Florida 

for the operation the radar facility at Arecibo. In addition, the NSF has made an 

award of $12 million to repair damages caused by Hurricane Maria.

In FY 2019, the AGS’s Atmosphere Section (AS) continued to support the 

Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 

(COSMIC). The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and 

its collaborator, Taiwan’s National Space Organization, designed and built the 

COSMIC six-satellite constellation, which launched on April 14, 2006, with the 

support and assistance of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program. As this mission 

is well past its designed lifetime, only a limited number of GPS radio occultation 
179 National Science Foundation

measurements were made and provided to the research community. The UCAR 

group also processes data for several radio occultation satellite missions, including KOMPSAT-5 and PAZ, which are used operationally. Support for this activity 

comes from NASA as well as NSF. The follow-on COSMIC 2 mission was launched 

by the USAF and will be operated through a collaboration between NOAA, the 

USAF, and Taiwan.

Office of Polar Programs

For FY 2019, the primary activities of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in 

ground-based space science and astronomy included continued full-scale observations at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with the 10-meter 

off-axis radio South Pole Telescope (SPT); the battery of five small-aperture 

(26-centimeter) telescopes called the Small Polarimeter Upgrade for Degree 

Angular Scale Interferometer (SPUD) array; and another, stand-alone Background 

Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP3) telescope—a wide-field 

cryogenic refractor with a 55-centimeter aperture and fast optics that achieves an 

order-of-magnitude increase in throughput. These telescopes have a total of 5,120 

detectors (“pixels”) in their focal planes. Recent scientific results from the BICEP 

Collaboration include deep multi-frequency (95-, 150-, 220-, and 270-gigahertz) 

maps of degree-scale B-mode polarization that measure gravitational lensing and 

foregrounds to unprecedented precision. This project also produced the deepestever maps of CMB polarization at four different frequencies, or colors, of light. The 

constraints that BICEP telescopes have produced on primordial gravitational waves 

continue to improve, leading the way in probing models of inflation that operate 

near grand-unified theory (GUT) energy scales.

The SPT continued observations with the third-generation receiver SPT-3G, 

which has wide-field optics to measure the CMB polarization at high sensitivity with the total 15,234 detectors in its focal plane. Both the SPT and BICEP 

research groups are currently focusing on measurements of the CMB polarization 

anisotropy. They target measurements of the B-mode polarization where primordial 

gravitational waves should have their imprint, as well as on the B-mode signal 

caused by the gravitational lensing of the intrinsic CMB’s E-mode polarization 
180Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

signal. Polarization measurements on smaller angular scales measured with the 

SPT are being used to increase the precision of the CMB-lensing determination of 

projected mass maps of the sky.

The SPT-3G camera has three observing bands (centered at 95, 150, and 

220 gigahertz) and represents a fundamental step forward in CMB polarization 

measurements. Recent SPT results for delensing the CMB polarization signal from 

gravitational effects of galaxy clusters are helping to form a better understanding of 

foregrounds at the degree-scale anisotropies in the CMB.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO, jointly operated at the South Pole 

by the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs and Division of Physics) has now collected 

data for nine full years of operation from a complete array of 86 strings of optical 

photodetectors deployed in the ice under the South Pole Station in Antarctica at 

depths between 1.4 and 2.4 kilometers. The existing detector is capable of observing cosmogenic neutrinos with energies of 100 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) to 10 petaelectronvolts (PeV).

“NSF is excited about the current upgrade to the IceCube observatory, as well 

as the long-term plans for IceCube-Gen2,” said NSF Director France Córdova 

in her video message remarks to the International Cosmic Ray Conference 

held in Madison, Wisconsin, in July 2019. “And we are excited about our plans 

to invest in midscale research infrastructure that will enhance a wide range of 

research facilities.”

The ICNO has produced the world’s best limit on the flux of cosmogenic neutrinos, which places very strong constraints on the sources of ultra-high-energy 

cosmic rays. The petaelectronvolt neutrinos observed by IceCube have a thousand 

times the energy of the highest-energy neutrinos produced with Earthbound accelerators and a billion times the energy of the neutrinos detected from supernova 

SN1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the only neutrinos that had been detected 

on Earth from outside the solar system prior to IceCube’s breakthrough. However, 

the most surprising property of these cosmic neutrinos is their large flux rather 

than their high energy or their origination outside our galaxy.

In 2013, observations made by researchers using the IceCube detector at the 

South Pole and verified by ground- and space-based telescopes have produced 

the first evidence of one source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. These ghostly 
181 National Science Foundation

subatomic particles can travel unhindered for billions of light-years, journeying 

to Earth from some of the most extreme environments in the universe. In 2017, 

the ICNO revealed an answer to a century-old quest for the origin of high-energy 

cosmic rays, tracing the path of a very-high-energy neutrino back to a previously 

known but little-studied blazar—the nucleus of a giant galaxy that fires off particles in massive jets of elementary particles, powered by a supermassive black hole 

at its core.

The ICNO results opened a new window to the universe, providing novel 

insights into the engines that power active galactic nuclei and generate highenergy cosmic rays, gamma-ray bursts, and other violent and energetic astrophysical processes. ICNO’s exploration of scientific frontiers has already changed and 

expanded our understanding of the universe. These achievements show neutrinos 

to be a key cosmic messenger, revealing an unobstructed view of the universe at 

wavelengths where it is opaque to light and radio emissions, including x-rays and 

gamma rays.

The NSF’s Office of Polar Programs also supports NASA’s Long Duration 

Balloon (LDB) Program in the Antarctic. McMurdo Station provides the necessary 

logistics for astrophysics payload assembly and final testing and then helps launch 

the balloons and support payload recovery after the flights in various regions of the 

Antarctic continent. A total of 55 LDB science payloads were successfully launched 

from McMurdo since the first interagency Memorandum of Understanding was 

signed in August 1988.

183 Department of State

Department of

DOS

The Department of State (DOS) carries out diplomatic and public diplomacy 

efforts to strengthen United States leadership in space exploration, applications, 

and commercialization by increasing understanding of, and support for, U.S. 

national space policies and programs and to encourage the foreign use of U.S. space 

capabilities, systems, and services. The Office of Space and Advanced Technology 

within the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific 

Affairs (OES/SAT) directly supports these missions through the negotiation of 

bilateral and multilateral engagement with partner countries and by leading U.S. 

participation in numerous international space and technological activities and 

international organizations.

Multilateral Activities

The Department of State and U.S. Department of Commerce’s space offices 

organized and led the first Space Enterprise Summit in Washington, DC, during 

July 2019. Over 500 participants from all over the world attended the Summit. 

The Summit provided an opportunity for senior representatives from government, 

industry, and space organizations to strengthen international cooperative efforts 

relating to the administration’s high-priority issues, such as long-term sustainability in space and the development and utilization of outer space. The OES 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science moderated several of the Summit’s panel 

discussions on the key space economy issues prompted by foreign ministry officials 

and CEOs.
184Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

OES/SAT successfully led efforts in June to ensure the adoption of 21 LongTerm Sustainability (LTS) guidelines at the United Nations (UN) Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in Vienna. These guidelines 

largely reflect current U.S. Government and industry best practices and highlight 

our commitment to the safety and accessibility of outer space. OES/SAT then 

worked with other like-minded nations to highlight the 21 LTS guidelines at the 

74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) in the fall of 2019. Working with NASA 

Deputy Administrator James Morhard, Executive Secretary of the National Space 

Council Scott Pace, the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the 

Permanent Mission of Italy, and the Government of Zambia, OES/SAT leadership co-organized with UNOOSA the first-ever outer space–related side event at 

UNGA on September 23, 2019, called “Bringing the Benefits of Space to Everyone, 

Everywhere: The UN and the Private Sector.” The event was intended to showcase 

how the UN is building an exciting partnership with the international private 

space sector to bring the benefits of space to everyone, everywhere. Also, OES/SAT 

met in Vienna several months before the UNGA event to highlight notable developments in the U.S. National Space Policy. OES/SAT discussed efforts to enhance 

the sustainability of space activities and the importance of U.S. leadership in promoting international space cooperation as well as fostering best practices for outer 

space activities to ensure a transparent and international framework under which 

governments and industry may operate.

OES/SAT successfully led U.S. participation in the 25th Asia-Pacific Regional 

Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) the week of October 31, 2018, promoting the 

administration’s space policy goals of maintaining U.S. leadership in future space 

exploration plans, expanding space cooperation with nations in the Asia-Pacific 

region, and raising the visibility of U.S. industry in space exploration. The U.S. 

delegation, which consisted of Government, nongovernmental organizations 

(NGOs), and private-sector representatives, made progress in all these areas. The 

U.S. side also worked closely with Japan to promote civil and commercial space 

activities in the Asia-Pacific region.

In September 2019, OES/SAT advanced U.S. leadership and cooperation in 

planetary defense by participating in the International Asteroid Warning Network 

(IAWN) and Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) meetings in 
185 Department of State

Garching, Germany, to discuss issues concerning near-Earth object detection, 

tracking, intervention, and scientific discovery. The meeting brought together 

interested member states and private-sector representatives, including representatives from Avio International (Italy), Virgin Galactic (United States), and Maxar 

Technologies (United States), to highlight the value of space programs and activities and the importance of the commercial space sector.

Working-level discussions with the EU on GNSS also continued in FY 2019 

through working groups formed by the 2004 U.S.-EU GPS-Galileo Cooperation 

Agreement, administered for the United States by OES/SAT. The working group 

on next-generation GNSS applications and its three subgroups, Service Evolution, 

Resiliency, and Service Provision Coordination, along with the working group on 

Trade and Civil Applications, were supported by OES/SAT representatives.

Science Envoy for Space

Since the summer of 2018, OES/SAT managed several highly productive overseas trips for the Department’s first Space Envoy, Charles Bolden, Jr.—former 

NASA Administrator, Space Shuttle commander, and astronaut—to promote 

U.S. leadership in space exploration and the commercialization of space. In March 

2019, OES/SAT led Bolden’s visit to Paris, France, and Bangalore and New Delhi, 

India, and in June 2019, the team visited Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, 

and Kuala Lumpur and Penang, Malaysia. In India, OES/SAT coordinated with 

public diplomacy officers from the embassies of all of these countries to have Envoy 

Bolden’s engagement with young engineers and law students covered extensively by 

media outlets with a combined reach in excess of 60 million people. A significant 

outcome of this trip was Envoy Bolden’s meetings with the Indian Space Research 

Organization to open significant commercial opportunities for U.S. space-related 

businesses. As the guest of honor for Embassy Hanoi’s Independence Day event, 

Envoy Bolden delivered remarks regarding the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 

Moon landing and U.S.-Vietnam relations through his lens as a Vietnam War veteran. He met with the Director General of the Vietnam National Space Center, as 

well as the Minister of Science and Technology. The Minister expressed interest 

in signing a bilateral Space Framework Agreement with the United States during 
186Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

President Nguyen Phu Trong’s February visit to Washington. Envoy Bolden delivered space presentations for thousands of students and faculty in numerous universities and venues throughout Vietnam. During a day trip to Kuala Lumpur, Bolden 

spoke at a public event featuring the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, 

Environment, and Climate Change, and he met with Malaysian Space Agency representatives at the planetarium. In Penang, the American Chamber of Commerce 

Penang Chapter hosted a science and technology reception, which allowed Envoy 

Bolden to meet with U.S. companies and Malaysian vendors. Envoy Bolden bylined 

an OES/SAT-drafted State Department media blog about the envoy’s world tour as 

U.S. Science Envoy for Space.

50th Anniversary Moon Landing Events

In coordination with George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, 

the State Department public affairs division and OES/SAT organized a panel discussion featuring Envoy Bolden and Apollo 11 astronauts Michael Collins and Buzz 

Aldrin. This public event commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 

Moon landing with opening remarks from Economics Bureau Undersecretary Keith 

Krach about space exploration and the space economy. During Envoy Bolden’s 

trip to Malaysia, OES/SAT collaborated with a local film crew to make a short 

documentary featuring Envoy Bolden and his one-year stint as space envoy in front 

of Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers. The film included a personal message 

about the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. State public affairs 

and OES/SAT released a blog and the film on social media. OES/SAT authored a 

widely distributed cable that proved successful in convincing a multitude of embassies to celebrate July 4 with a space theme to commemorate the 50th anniversary 

of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. As a result, most of the embassies and consulates 

featured space-themed decorations, films, and guest speakers, including former 

astronauts, and captured the festivities with numerous photos on social media. 

Many diplomatic posts were so inspired that they held numerous space-related 

events throughout the year and have continued some of these events as an effort to 

stimulate STEM outreach activities.
187 Department of State

Agreements

Throughout 2019, OES/SAT continuously led the interagency coordination 

efforts for the clearance and authorization of over 60 international binding space 

agreements from NOAA, NASA, and USGS under the C175 (congressionally 

mandated) process. Most of the agreements’ requests come from NASA for implementing arrangements with their main space agency counterparts from Italy, India, 

Japan, France, Germany Argentina, Brazil, and the European Space Agency, but 

they also included several new space partners this fiscal year from Armenia, Israel, 

Indonesia, and United Arab Emirates government agencies and commercial space 

organizations. During FY 2019, some of the most well-known space agreements 

were renewed through this C175 process: the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided 

Tracking (COSPAS-SARSAT), Hubble, Chandrayaan-2, SpaceIL (first privately 

funded and first Israeli Moon lander), and James Webb Space Telescope agreements. 

OES/SAT led the international negotiations for the renewal and renegotiation of 

COSPAS-SARSAT, the more-than-50-year-old intergovernmental, humanitarian 

cooperative of 45 nations and agencies dedicated to search and rescue.

International Astronautical Congress

The 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) took place in Washington, 

DC, the week of October 21–25 (see https://www.iac2019.org/), and to inaugurate 

the first official day, OES/SAT led a high-level VIP reception for over 300 industry 

and government leaders in the space sector from more than 30 countries. The 

event, which featured remarks by NASA Administrator James Bridenstine, former OES Senior Advisor Jon Harrison, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic 

and Business Affairs Manisha Singh, CEO of Lockheed Martin Marilyn Hewson, 

and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) President John 

Langford, highlighted the administration’s priorities for the commercialization of 

space, a return to the Moon, and venturing onward to Mars. OES/SAT represented 

State on the IAC Local Organizing Committee for the full year prior to the event 

and provided valuable foreign policy perspectives and input that helped shape the 

weeklong event. OES Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science held several meetings 
188Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

with CEOs from several foreign and domestic space industries on the margins to 

promote commercial space opportunities internationally. OES/SAT coordinated 

with State’s Consular Affairs and embassies to handle visa-processing concerns for 

many of the 10,000 foreign guests. OES/SAT worked closely with State, NASA, 

and other press representatives to write media notes and several tweets that were 

broadcast once a week leading up to the event. Several hundred local school children were engaged and supported by OES/SAT in multiple hands-on STEM activities presented by NASA, space industry, and private partnership organizations on 

the sides of the conference.

Bilateral Engagement

On April 4, 2019, OES/SAT conducted a successful first U.S.-Indonesia Civil 

Space Dialogue that focused on space applications such as Earth observation, satellite navigation, and civil maritime domain awareness. The Executive Secretary 

of the National Space Council, Dr. Scott Pace, cochaired the session, addressing 

the Presidential space directives and the review of export control regulation. This 

dialogue will further our U.S. long-term foreign policy strategy and objectives as 

articulated in the U.S. National Space Policy and the recent Asia Reassurance 

Initiative Act (ARIA) and plays a vital role in making Indonesia a key partner in 

the broader U.S. economic and national security outreach in the region. During 

late summer, OES Senior Advisor Jon Harrison and Director of Space Commerce 

Kevin O’Connell led the U.S. delegation to the second U.S.-Thailand Civil Space 

Dialogue in Bangkok. Through our emphasis on the emerging challenges and 

opportunities in the space sector, the U.S. delegation was able to break new ground 

with the entire Thai government. Furthermore, by welcoming participants from 

industry, nonprofit organizations, academia, and civil society on the second day, 

the delegation was able to broaden the conversation on economic and scientific 

opportunities for space cooperation.

Another important bilateral space dialogue that the Department of State facilitated during 2019 was with the European Commission (EC), whose space agenda 

continues to expand. On June 12, 2019, the European Commission hosted the 

tenth meeting of the U.S.-EU Dialogue on Space Cooperation at the European 
189 Department of State

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) Agency Headquarters in Prague, 

Czech Republic. Although this bilateral discussion is to take place every year, 

16 months had passed since the previous meeting in Washington, DC, on January 

18, 2018. Twenty U.S. officials traveled to Prague for this meeting, including 

representatives from the departments of Commerce (NOAA), Defense, Interior 

(USGS), and State. OES/SAT coordinated the interagency participation, presentations, and policy goals for the U.S. delegation, led by OES and the Arms Control, 

Verification, and Compliance Deputy Assistant Secretaries. The European side was 

led by the special envoy on space from the European External Action Service and 

the EC’s Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and 

Small Medium Enterprise. The civil dimension of the dialogue was dominated by 

detailed discussions on US-EU cooperation in two major European space systems: 

the Galileo program on GNSS and the Copernicus Earth observation program. 

Both of those programs continue to receive growing financial investments from 

the European Union. This year, the Commission’s space request to the European 

Parliament’s Multi-year Financial Framework (2021–27) was 16 billion euros. The 

2019 U.S.-EU Space Dialogue also included topics such as space security; space policy and governance; space situational awareness; space traffic management; space 

policy developments on commercial space; joint implementation of the COPUOS 

Long Term Sustainability Guidelines; and collaboration in space fora such as the 

Group on Earth Observations, Committee on Earth Observations, Consultative 

Group on Meteorological Satellites, International Committee on GNSS, and 

COPUOS. The next meeting of this dialogue will take place in Washington in 

early 2020.

OES/SAT met during the summer of 2019 with interagency and foreign embassy 

counterparts for Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Israel to promote President Donald 

Trump’s space directives on U.S. leadership in space exploration and the commercialization of space. To further joint space activities under the U.S.-Ukraine 

Space Framework (SFA) agreement, OES/SAT was successful in generating 

more U.S. Government space agency involvement to justify the SFA’s renewal. 

When Pakistan announced its plans to select and fly an astronaut by 2022, OES/

SAT proactively worked with U.S. Embassy Islamabad’s science officers through 

Envoy Bolden and with the U.S. space industries to encourage Pakistan to utilize 
190Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

American companies to achieve its space objectives and to market certain aspects 

of human and robotic commercial spaceflight.

Commercialization of Space

Throughout the year, OES/SAT has promoted American leadership in outer 

space by carrying out diplomatic efforts domestically and internationally to 

strengthen our U.S. national space policies, programs, and Presidential directives. 

OES/SAT has drafted policy and briefing materials for State’s principals and represented the State Department at all of the National Space Council meetings. OES/

SAT regularly meets with numerous private-sector space company officials and 

has authored a soon-to-be released, all-diplomatic-posts cable on State’s activities 

relating to the international and domestic expansion of space commercialization.
191 Department of Energy

Department of En

DOE

The Department of Energy (DOE) participates in the national effort to further 

U.S. interests in space. Organizations within DOE that provide this capability are 

the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), 

Office of Science (SC), and Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). In FY 2019, DOE 

participated in the National Space Council and established an internal Space 

Coordination Working Group to facilitate these activities, highlights of which are 

summarized below.

Mission Contributions Within the National Nuclear Security 

Administration

In 2019, the NNSA supported the national plan to defend the planet from potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, conducted numerous Strategic Partnership 

Projects that use NNSA technical capabilities to support civil space missions, and 

continued to provide dual-purpose sensor and satellite development/deployment 

work with applications to national security and civil space programs. In addition, 

NNSA continues to provide space weather information. Each of these activities is 

described below.

Planetary Defense: NNSA worked with NASA and the interagency community relative to U.S. interests in space. NNSA participated in the Detecting and 

Mitigating the Impact of Earth-Bound Near-Earth Objects (DAMIEN) initiative 

and, as part of the Mission Executive Council initiative, developed a strategic framework for space protection, primarily focusing on satellites. The DAMIEN initiative 

developed the June 2018 National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and 
192Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Action Plan to help improve our Nation’s preparedness to address the hazard of 

near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. This plan had two strategic goals pertaining to 

NNSA: to improve NEO modeling, predictions, and information integration, and to 

develop technologies for NEO deflection and disruption missions. The Interagency 

Agreement regarding planetary defense between NNSA and NASA fulfilled the 

actions of these two strategic goals. NNSA indirectly supports the other strategic 

goals of enhancing deflection, tracking and characterization capabilities; increasing 

international cooperation; and strengthening impact emergency preparedness.

NASA leverages NNSA-unique engineering, scientific, and high-performance 

computing capabilities to analyze asteroids. This work helps to develop and exercise capabilities that are relevant to the weapons program, including two- and 

three-dimensional simulations, weapon effects, system engineering, and weapon 

component design.

Under the NNSA-NASA interagency agreement, the two agencies collaborated 

on the following:

• Characterized the potentially hazardous asteroid target sets, defined mission requirements, and identified capability gaps.

• Helped define design requirements, including instruments for future 

reconnaissance missions to support asteroid characterizations.

• Examined the effects of either a kinetic impactor and/or a nuclear detonation, either at the surface or at a standoff distance from a model asteroid, 

using simulations from petascale computers at the National Laboratories.

• Defined additional development and system engineering requirements addressing technical gaps such as arming, fusing, and firing a 

deflection device.

• Participated in planetary defense tabletop exercises and technical interchange meetings.

• Advised on risk-assessment analysis and the effectiveness of mitigation 

approaches.

Strategic Partnership Projects: NNSA supported Strategic Partnership Projects 

in FY 2019, funded by NASA, with the following capabilities:

• Provided metrology support with calibration on standards and measuring test 

equipment supporting metrology areas at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility.
193 Department of Energy

• Monitored satellite visible-light sensor data for bolide occurrences worldwide and generating reports detailing bolide parameters.

• Modeled asteroid entry, airburst, and surface impact effects.

• Enabled joint exploration of sounding rocket technologies at NASA’s 

test ranges.

Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Launch: NNSA, NE, and NASA worked 

collaboratively during the preparation for and execution of the RPS launch at 

Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This work is complementary to the work done by NE.

• During the preparation phase, NNSA, NE, and NASA reviewed and 

updated procedures and conducted training, drills, and exercises with 

the state, Tribal, and local emergency management organizations and 

agencies. NNSA, NE, and NASA worked together to validate the ability to manage the consequences of a launch anomaly that may result in 

an uncontrolled release of radiological materials into the atmosphere and 

surrounding environment.

• During the execution phase, NNSA will stage technical specialists and 

sensors in the vicinity of the launch site to respond immediately in the 

unlikely event of a launch anomaly. NNSA personnel will be assigned 

to the KSC Primary Agency Representative Management Group, 

Radiological Control Center, and Joint Information Center to provide 

real-time radiological consequence assessment and risk communication support to KSC. Should the radiological consequences of a launch 

anomaly adversely impact the environment surrounding KSC, an NNSAled Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center would be 

established off-site to provide technical advice and assistance to state and 

local incident management on characterizing and mitigating those consequences on the public and the environment.

NASA’s Environmental Continuous Air Monitors: NNSA maintained the 

NASA-owned Environmental Continuous Air Monitors for deployment around 

the launch site in advance of a launch to provide indication of a release of radiological materials, should one occur. NASA has agreed to lend these sensors in support of NNSA’s nuclear incident response mission when those devices are not being 

used for mission launch support. These devices have been upgraded to provide 
194Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

real-time associated data telemetry systems and will be interoperable with NNSA’s 

existing data telemetry capability.

Global Nuclear Monitoring: NNSA builds the Nation’s operational sensors 

to monitor the entire planet from space in order to detect and report surface, 

atmospheric, or space nuclear detonations. NNSA provides much of the Nation’s 

capability to detect, report, locate, and identify nuclear explosions using orbiting satellites. NNSA develops, builds, and delivers these satellite payloads to meet 

interagency performance and schedule commitments. NNSA also provides launch 

and on-orbit operational support for the current generation of the U.S. Nuclear 

Detonation Detection System (USNDS).

Since the 1960s, beginning with the Vela satellite program, NNSA and its 

predecessors have provided the underlying science and technology capability for 

space-based detection of foreign nuclear weapon detonations to meet Test Ban 

Treaty monitoring needs. This fiscal year, NNSA continued full-scale production 

and delivery of sensor payloads as needed to meet national security requirements. 

To ensure that the technologies and capabilities developed for the program support 

stakeholder needs, NNSA actively engaged in intergovernmental working groups 

to reduce duplication of effort, refine user requirements, and improve the quality of 

relevant technologies across funding agencies.

The NNSA weapons laboratories—Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), 

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 

(LLNL)—supply the science, technology, and engineering required for USNDS. 

LANL and SNL lead the production of sensor-laden payloads, and LLNL contributes to the end-to-end modeling of USNDS. These laboratories have a unique 

and comprehensive understanding of nuclear weapons, as well as the observables 

associated with nuclear detonations and the propagation of signals to sensors. 

Moreover, these laboratories have extensive capabilities in the design, construction, calibration, deployment, and operation of satellite-based instruments, along 

with detailed modeling and analysis. To support continuous global monitoring, the 

operations communities routinely receive analysis, insights, and computer codes 

based on this research.

Two payload suites built at the NNSA laboratories accomplished the nuclear 

detonation reporting mission: the Global Burst Detector (GBD) and the Space 
195 Department of Energy

and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System (SABRS). The GBD is hosted on all 

GPS satellites, and SABRS is carried on satellite hosts in geosynchronous orbit. In 

order to maintain a vital capability to design and implement these systems, NNSA 

supported demonstration-validation payloads both to explore new technologies and 

new sensing modalities and to increase the Technology Readiness Level for parts 

that might be used in future payload designs.

Research Sponsored by the DOE Office of Science

In FY 2019, SC supported several activities that contribute to a broad range 

of space interests. These activities included SC fundamental research that is of 

mutual interest to NASA and SC, collaborative research efforts with NASA, and 

the operation of SC scientific facilities that are available to NASA and the broader 

scientific community for space-related research.

SC supports frontier plasma science research that contributes to SC-NASA 

mutual interests in the knowledge of heliospheric and astrophysical systems. 

Some of the research supported by SC’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) 

enables the development of a comprehensive understanding of heliospheric and 

astrophysical magnetized plasma processes, including magnetic reconnection, particle energization, and turbulent cascade processes in the solar corona and Earth’s 

magnetosphere; Alfvén wave acceleration of auroral electrons; eruptive instabilities leading to solar flares and coronal mass ejections; plasmoid instability in fast 

reconnection; collisional and collisionless shock; magneto rotational instability in 

generating turbulence in accretion disks; and dynamo processes creating planetary/

galactic magnetic field structures.

Specific examples of FES-supported activities in FY 2019 included 1) the Large 

Plasma Device at the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the University of California, 

Los Angeles, which enabled controlled studies of Alfvén waves that carry energy 

and momentum from the Sun to Earth and throughout the universe; 2)  the 

Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX) at DOE’s Princeton Plasma Physics 

Laboratory (PPPL), which permitted laboratory studies of magnetic reconnection 

and particle-energization processes in the solar corona and Earth’s magnetosphere; 

3)  the Big Red Plasma Ball and Madison Symmetric Torus experiments at the 
196Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory (WiPPL) at the University of Wisconsin–

Madison, which allowed comprehensive experiments, isolating the key effects of 

magnetic reconnection, dynamo, turbulence, and particle-energization processes 

with high fidelity; and 4) the Max-Planck-Princeton Center for Plasma Physics, 

which specifically explored the application of plasma science to solar and astrophysical problems and their connections to fusion science. Both WiPPL and MRX 

data have been used to validate and compare with observations from the NASA 

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission. 

In addition, FES sponsored unmagnetized plasma and high-energy-density laboratory plasma research, focusing on areas such as increased understanding of the 

role of dusty plasmas in planetary rings and interstellar media. FES also performed 

laboratory studies of ice dusty plasma to understand the scientific connections 

between Saturn’s rings and Earth’s high-altitude noctilucent clouds, as well as to 

understand the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, the study of nuclear astrophysics, 

and the properties of warm dense matter similar to that found in planetary cores 

(e.g., “diamond rain” in the interior of icy giant planets like Uranus and Neptune). 

Recently, SC charged the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee to conduct 

a long-range planning activity for the entire program, including fusion and discovery plasma science. The first part of this activity consists of community-organized 

meetings led by the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics, including members of the NASA research community.

SC also funds the development of experimental techniques and instrumentation for use on NASA space missions to study fundamental physics and investigate high-priority national science objectives through SC’s Office of High Energy 

Physics (HEP). Examples of these efforts include the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 

(AMS) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST). The AMS is a particle 

physics experiment supported by HEP and international partners, who designed 

and built the AMS-02 detector and associated systems. Launched on Space Shuttle 

Endeavour on Space Transportation System (STS) mission STS-134 in May 2011 

and mounted on the International Space Station (ISS), AMS searches for various types of unusual matter in the cosmos through its exquisite accuracy in the 

measurement of cosmic rays. AMS science goals include a search for evidence of 

dark matter and cosmic domains of antimatter, as well as for novel features in 
197 Department of Energy

cosmic-ray spectra. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between 

HEP and NASA defined NASA’s responsibilities to include provision of power, 

data handling, and other services on the ISS, while HEP’s responsibilities include 

experimental operations and data analysis. As of 2019, more than 120 billion 

cosmic-ray events have been collected, with data-taking continuing to enable precision measurements of the abundance and spectra of cosmic-ray antimatter, which 

can give information about dark matter, and to search for heavy antimatter. Recent 

results include precision measurements based on 1.9 million high-energy cosmic-ray 

positrons. The positron production at low energies is due to collisions with cosmic 

rays. At high energies, the data show that positrons originate either from dark 

matter annihilation or other astrophysical sources.

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument on NASA’s FGST, is 

a particle physics detector in space whose purpose is to study the gamma-ray sky for 

high-energy acceleration mechanisms generated by supermassive black holes and 

supernovae and to search for dark matter. It does a complete survey of the entire 

sky in high-energy gamma rays every three hours and enables searches for transient 

phenomena over a wide range of timescales. HEP managed the LAT fabrication 

and now carries out critical roles at the LAT Instrument Science Operations 

Center. In FY 2019, the LAT collaboration published competitive limits on dark 

matter annihilation from observations of the nearby M31 and M33 galaxies. The 

collaboration also published a search for velocity-dependent (p-wave) annihilation 

of dark matter from LAT observations of the center of the Milky Way.

SC also made crucial contributions to the European Space Agency–NASA 

Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) mission, which took data from 2009 

to 2013. Planck measures the CMB, which allows studies of the inflationary epoch 

in the early universe as well as dark energy, dark matter, and neutrino properties. 

A NASA and DOE MOU enabled dedicated DOE National Energy Research 

Supercomputing Center (NERSC) supercomputing resources for the Planck mission. 

NERSC resources have made it possible to understand and mitigate systematic effects 

to the exquisite precision needed for the data analysis. This enabled the Planck 

team to conduct the most precise CMB data analysis ever achieved, providing 20 to 

30 percent lower noise and systematic errors, leading to better science results. The 

resources provided by NERSC are especially important since the science available 
198Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

from the all-sky and high-frequency CMB observations in space is not likely to be 

surpassed for at least a decade. The head of the Computational Cosmology Center 

at DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory received the NASA Exceptional 

Public Achievement Medal for leading the Planck efforts at NERSC.

SC also engaged in many collaborative research efforts with NASA through 

SC’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the areas of atmospheric 

science and terrestrial ecology. During FY 2019, SC’s Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement Research Facility (ARM) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) 

activities supported measurements of atmospheric trace gases in Oklahoma to 

improve understanding of the influence of atmospheric and terrestrial processes 

on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. ARM provided support for groundbased measurements of carbon dioxide in Oklahoma as part of the Total Column 

Carbon Observing Network; these measurements are being used to validate 

NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite. SC’s ARM user facility 

supported the launch of dedicated radiosonde observations during satellite overpasses at three sites (Southern Great Plains, Oklahoma; Graciosa Island, Azores; 

and Barrow, Alaska) to obtain profiles of temperature and moisture for the validation of algorithms for the Cross-track Infrared Sounder and Advanced Technology 

Microwave Sounder on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite and 

Joint Polar Satellite System satellites.

SC’s ARM user facility also supported campaigns at the ARM Oklahoma site 

for test deployments and validation of two new NASA-funded instruments—a 

differential absorption radar developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

to retrieve water vapor within clouds and the balloon-borne transverse electromagnetic measurement instrument, which is supported by NASA’s Planetary 

Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations program.

The SC TES activity supports the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment 

(NGEE)-Arctic, which has collaborated with the NASA Arctic-Boreal 

Vulnerability Experiment study to couple real-time ground-based and airbornebased measurements of soil moisture, temperature, carbon dioxide, and methane 

flux over Barrow and Council, Alaska. A Memorandum of Agreement between 

the two activities enables the leveraging of complementary expertise, such as the 

generation of high-resolution lidar and elevation data products, as well as including 
199 Department of Energy

representatives on each project’s science team to provide coordination of data and 

modeling efforts. NASA’s G-LiHT airborne imager is being used to characterize 

tropical forest dynamics across a range of edaphic, climatic, and land-use gradients (both prior to and following Hurricane Maria) in Puerto Rico to support 

SC’s NGEE-Tropics activity. Through interagency agreements, SC’s Atmospheric 

System Research activity also supported collaboration with NASA scientists on 

studies using ARM and NASA observations to investigate aerosol and cloud processes and their role in Earth’s energy balance.

SC has been working with NASA in several areas to help support NASA’s mission interests, providing scientific user facilities, including particle accelerators 

and ion beams, for biological and electronic systems radiation studies. The NASA 

Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), a leading facility for radiobiology studies 

in the United States, was established at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory 

(BNL) to study the effects of cosmic radiation exposure on astronauts. The NSRL 

uses beams of heavy ions extracted from BNL’s Booster accelerator (these are also 

produced for SC’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider [RHIC] facility) to increase our 

understanding of the link between ionizing radiation and cell damage, leading to 

safer space exploration for astronauts. NASA and SC’s Office of Nuclear Physics 

(NP) have collaborated on upgrades of mutual benefit, most recently enhancing 

the jointly funded upgrades to the Electron Beam Ion Source at RHIC to provide 

increased ion-beam intensities for gaseous elements, including light ions such as 

hydrogen and helium. SC also supports fundamental research on nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest, contributing to SC-NASA mutual interests in the 

knowledge of stellar evolution, neutron star mergers, gamma-ray bursts, and the 

composition of interstellar space.

A 2018 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study supported by SC, NASA, 

and other agency stakeholders, Testing at the Speed of Light: The State of U.S. 

Electronic Parts Space Radiation Testing Infrastructure, focused on a comprehensive 

assessment of the future needs of the electronics space-radiation effects testing 

program in the United States. Electronics space-radiation effects testing that is 

necessary for NASA mission assurance occurs at two DOE accelerator facilities, 

BNL and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-inch cyclotron. NP 

and NASA have an interagency agreement for NASA to provide funding for the 
200Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

88-inch cyclotron operations to conduct electronics testing. SC and other stakeholders are initiating research and development that could lead to enhanced capabilities for radiation effects testing at the 88-inch cyclotron.

Capabilities Developed via DOE Office of Nuclear Energy 

Sponsorship

NE supports NASA’s planetary science and human exploration programs by 

working with NNSA to maintain capabilities to develop, produce, and deliver 

Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) for Federal user agencies, such as NASA. The 

RPS infrastructure capabilities, funded by NASA and managed by NE, support 

NE’s production of RPS for current space mission applications. NE and its predecessors have provided RPS that have safely powered more than two dozen space 

exploration and national security missions for over five decades. RPS convert the 

heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium (Pu)-238 into electricity. RPS 

reliably operate for decades under the harsh conditions encountered in deep space 

or on the surfaces of other planets where solar energy or stored energy devices are 

ineffective or impossible to use. Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators are flightproven RPS that provide power and heat to a spacecraft.

In FY 2019, through Interagency Agreements with NASA and Strategic 

Partnership Projects with the DOE National Laboratories, NE continued to support the next RPS-powered mission, Mars 2020, completing a number of major 

milestones. As part of the preparations for Mars 2020, a trailblazer activity at 

NASA- KSC was successfully conducted in January 2019. This was a large, multiorganization dry run of all procedures that involved handling a multi-mission 

radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG) with Idaho National Laboratory, 

the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, United Launch Alliance, NASA-KSC, security 

organizations, and health physics organizations. The flight MMRTG F-2 was successfully fueled in August 2019 and produced 120 We

 at 28 V (spec. power 110 We). 

Acceptance testing was under way at year’s end with vibrational testing finished 

in September 2019. Additionally, NE continued to work with Sandia National 

Laboratory to prepare the Mars 2020 Safety Analysis Report, which was successfully submitted in August 2019 to NASA.
201 Department of Energy

With NASA funding support, NE continues to invest in current RPS production infrastructure through an approach called constant-rate production (CRP). 

The CRP strategy addresses NASA’s needs by positioning the RPS infrastructure 

to support a level of sustained production of certain components. This strategy 

focuses on long-lead-time components that would support the production of Pu-238 

heat-source material, heat source (fueled clads), specialized materials that support 

the production of heat sources (iridium-clad vent sets and carbon-bonded carbonfiber sets), and the placement of the heat sources into a stable configuration for 

storage (up to several years). The CRP goals are as follows:

1. Producing 1,500 grams of heat-source Pu-238 oxide annually by FY 2025.

2. Manufacturing 10–15 fueled clads a year by FY 2020.

The outcome of the CRP strategy is an underlying base of shelf-ready, flightquality components that are readily available once NASA selects a nuclear-enabled 

mission, thus reducing overall mission schedule risks. This approach also has a 

net positive effect on the NASA mission of reducing the mission-specific cost 

for utilizing RPS because the support for CRP would eliminate the costly, cyclical approach in standing up and standing down fuel production activities. DOE 

national laboratories have already demonstrated results toward achieving the CRP 

goals. Since 2015, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has produced approximately 350 grams of heat-source plutonium-238 oxide over three campaigns at the 

High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and completed a fourth campaign in the fall of 

2019 to provide another 220 grams of material. Efforts are under way to optimize 

the HFIR beryllium reflector for Pu-238 production and to certify the Advanced 

Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for production in the early 

2020s, utilizing a standard neptunium target. The HFIR suffered a fuel anomaly 

early in FY 2019, which had the reactor down for the entire year. However, readiness reviews were successfully concluded by both ORNL and DOE by the fourth 

quarter of FY 2019 for the reactor to start up in FY 2020. The target qualification 

effort for ATR is under way, with placement of a neptunium target into a medium 

I-position (I-7); the target will remain there for several cycles. Efforts in FY 2020 for 

the INL will revolve around qualifying other positions in ATR for Pu-238 production, such as A, B, H, and flux traps.
202Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NE, through the DOE national laboratories, provided technical expertise, procurement coordination, and review planning and support to NASA in conducting basic and applied energy conversion research and development to advance 

state-of-the-art performance in heat-to-electrical-energy conversion. Both static 

and dynamic energy conversion projects are under way at this time; however, 

dynamic conversion, which can achieve higher efficiency, has not been developed 

to flightworthy status as yet. The goal of these investments is to provide higher 

conversion efficiency and improve mission performance over design life through 

robustness. Increased efficiency would benefit the program by extending the effective use of the Pu-238 supply. There are three development efforts currently under 

way that encompass both static and dynamic conversion systems: the enhanced 

multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator, the next-generation radioisotope thermoelectric generator, and a small selection of dynamic generators (both 

Brayton and Stirling types).

A new approach to launch safety is being explored using safety documents 

framed around the technology employed rather than being mission-specific. The 

initial test case for this approach is using a documented safety analysis for the lightweight radioisotope heater unit. This has been released as part of an environmental 

assessment for their use going forward in the summer of 2019.

NE, through the DOE national laboratories, provides technical support for 

surface fission system development. Following the completion of the Kilopower 

Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) test in March 2018, NASA and 

DOE have begun to evaluate system concepts that can successfully meet the mission requirements for surface power needs on the Moon and Mars. NASA’s Space 

Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) provided technical and performance 

requirements, including a target launch date of 2027. NASA’s Glenn Research 

Center provided funding in FY 2019 to LANL to develop a detailed project plan, 

including an evaluation of current reactor technology options and a strategy for 

technology maturation and component fabrication, qualification, and acceptance 

testing. This work involves close collaboration with INL.

Finally, NE, through the DOE national laboratories, provides technical support 

for the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system development led and funded 

by NASA. NASA has renewed its efforts to design, develop, and deploy a nuclear 
203 Department of Energy

thermal propulsion system with the objective of demonstrating the feasibility of 

using NTP to support human missions to Mars. Congress has shown support for 

the technology development effort by funding an NTP flight demonstration that 

is scheduled to be completed by the mid-2020s. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight 

Center provided funding in FY 2018 and FY 2019 to INL to continue efforts on 

NTP. The collaborative effort, which also involves LANL, ORNL, and Babcock 

and Wilcox Technologies, Inc., will involve new work for the Transient Reactor 

Test Facility to support NASA experimental-fuel testing. The DOE NTP scope also 

includes technical project oversight, ground-test trade study development, reactor 

conceptual design, fuel/fuel element fabrication technology development and testing, high-temperature materials research and development, NTP instrumentation 

and control development, and project support activities. The current project builds 

on previous efforts by NASA, DOE, and industry, including the Nuclear Engine 

for Rocket Vehicle Application engine development program that ended in 1972.

205 Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Insti

The Smithsonian Institution continued to contribute to national aerospace 

goals through a variety of activities in FY 2019. The Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory (SAO) is a partner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 

Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and represents the largest component of the Smithsonian’s space contributors. The organization has more than 

300 scientists engaged in a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, 

Earth and space sciences, and science education. In addition, the Smithsonian 

National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and the Smithsonian National Museum 

of Natural History (NMNH) in Washington, DC, contributed to reaching national 

aerospace goals through their research and education activities.

Three widely reported news stories featured Smithsonian astronomers and 

space historians in FY 2019. Featured in an “above-the-fold” front-page New York 

Times article and in newspapers around the world were the results of the first-ever 

imaging of a black hole. This monumental achievement was undertaken by the 

international Event Horizon Telescope consortium led by SAO astronomer Shep 

Doeleman. The consortium uses a global array of radio telescopes involving dozens 

of institutions and hundreds of scientists, including SAO’s Submillimeter Array 

facility on Mauna Kea. The breakthrough discovery is an image of the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy Messier 87, located about 55 million 

light-years away. This black hole contains 6.5 billion times the mass of our Sun. 

Six initial journal papers were published announcing aspects of this groundbreaking result. “This fulfills our dream to take the first picture of a black hole,” said 

Dr. Doeleman, “We now have access to a cosmic laboratory of extreme gravity 

where we can test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and challenge our fundamental assumptions about space and time.”
206Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

This radio-wavelength image of a black hole is a dramatic 

first. The radiation arises from hot gas swirling around the 

object and is distorted into outlining the black hole by the 

powerful gravitational fields. The object is the supermassive 

black hole at the nucleus of the galaxy Messier 87. (Credit: 

The Event Horizon Telescope consortium).

The National Air and Space 

Museum led the Nation’s commemoration of the Apollo 50th 

anniversary, crowning the week 

on the National Mall with a fullscale Saturn V rocket projected 

on the Washington Monument, 

along with a 17-minute fullmotion projection depicting the 

launch of Apollo 11 and the 

story of the mission.

Imaging Saturn V on the Washington Monument. (Photo credit: Jim Preston/Smithsonian National 

Air and Space Museum)

The Very Energetic Radiation 

Imaging Telescope Array 

System (VERITAS) was used for 

the first time to measure the diameter of two stars by precise timing of the occultation of the stars by asteroids. The large mirror diameters of VERITAS (12 meters) 

enabled them to obtain about ten times more precision in the direct measurement 
207 Smithsonian Institution

than previously possible with conventional optical telescopes. The project was led 

by SAO astronomer and VERITAS Director Dr. Winston Benbow.

View of SAO’s Fred L. Whipple Observatory basecamp in Arizona and the VERITAS telescope array.

The Smithsonian plays an ongoing leadership role in space research. NASA’s 

Chandra X-ray Observatory is operated by SAO for NASA, and this year SAO 

opened Chandra’s new Operations Control Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Chandra orbits Earth in a three-day elliptical orbit extending about a third of the 

way to the Moon, and it has exquisite spatial resolution unmatched by any other 

x-ray telescope, either currently in operation or planned for the future. Chandra 

operates with high (~70 percent) efficiency, observing critical targets proposed by 

scientists around the world. Chandra’s results appear in an average of 480 highly 

cited refereed papers per year. Chandra celebrated 20 years of operation in FY 2019, 

having been launched on July 23, 1999, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. It 

continues to play a pivotal role in studying celestial targets as diverse as comets, 

black holes, galaxy clusters, supernova remnants, supernovae, dark matter, and 

dark energy. Recent Chandra discoveries include x-ray emissions from relativistic 

jets emitted by supermassive black holes in the nuclei of galaxies, complex structures in the hot gas in clusters of galaxies, cosmic-ray acceleration in supernova 

remnants, and an off-axis jet in a pair of merging neutron stars discovered via 

gravitational waves.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, now in its 16th year of operation, has continued to produce exciting new views of the universe at infrared wavelengths. 

Spitzer is the fourth and final space telescope in NASA’s Great Observatory series. 

Spitzer’s infrared array camera (IRAC) was developed at SAO with Giovanni 

Fazio as Principal Investigator, and it was constructed at NASA’s Goddard Space 
208Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

Flight Center. IRAC has been the only instrument operating since Spitzer ran out 

of cryogens nearly 11 years ago. In 2019, IRAC breakthroughs included studying 

the atmospheres of several exoplanets (stars around other stars) flaring from the 

supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as making 

measurements on the first known interstellar asteroid, ‘Oumuamua, showing that 

it was not a comet.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft provides better-than-highdefinition-quality images of the Sun’s surface and outer atmosphere, measuring 

physical conditions that help scientists model the stellar wind and its influence 

on the “space weather” around Earth. SAO is a major partner in one of its instruments, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), a group of four telescopes that 

photograph the Sun in ten different wavelength bands once every 12 seconds, producing the most spectacular images ever recorded of the active surface of the Sun. 

NASA’s Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite offers a unique 

view of the Sun’s mysterious chromosphere and transition regions. SAO built the 

telescope feed and has an active role in IRIS operations, calibration, and science. 

IRIS is providing information on particle acceleration in hot coronal loops, providing a better understanding of the physical processes powering solar flares. During 

2019, SAO scientists also continued their involvement in other solar satellites, 

including Hinode and the Deep Space Climate Observer.

FY 2019 marked continued progress for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), 

on which SAO is a team leader. The GMT is a facility for optical and infrared 

observations that will combine seven huge mirrors to create the world’s largest 

telescope. It will address key questions in cosmology, astrophysics, and the study of 

planets outside our solar system. NASA’s space-based James Webb Space Telescope 

and the GMT will provide access to complementary biomarkers from exoplanet 

atmospheres. Four of the seven eight-meter-diameter mirror segments have been 

fabricated, and two of them have been polished and prepared for shipment to 

the site in Chile, where this year the excavation of the pier and foundations 

was completed.

The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) mission has made 

excellent progress in 2019. TEMPO successfully completed its development by Ball 

Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and secured a launch with Maxar Technologies 
209 Smithsonian Institution

scheduled for 2022. The mission will study the constituents of the atmosphere in 

more detail and precision than ever before, compiling a new dataset of atmospheric 

chemistry as measured from space. TEMPO will be the first space-based instrument 

to monitor major air pollutants every daylight hour across the North American 

continent at high spatial resolution.

SAO is a team member of a successful 2019 NASA Medium-Class Explorer 

(MIDEX) selection, Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch 

of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx), a space-based telescope that will 

conduct four all-sky infrared spectral surveys of the sky. SAO manages the Science 

Center for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is engaged 

in a two-year mission to discover transiting exoplanets with an all-sky survey. 

Optical follow-up observations of exoplanet candidates found with TESS rely on 

SAO’s facilities in Arizona and Chile to confirm an exoplanet classification.

SAO pursued a wide variety of nationwide STEM education and outreach 

initiatives, many of which were aimed at broadening public participation in and 

maximizing the societal benefits of the astrophysics research efforts of the institution. The MicroObservatory is a robotic network of telescopes operated by the 

CfA for research and public outreach purposes. In 2019, more than 50,000 U.S. 

students, teachers, members of the public, and amateur astronomers used the 

MicroObservatory facilities to investigate the Moon, solar system objects, stars, 

nebulae, galaxies, exoplanets, and other astronomical phenomena. Over the year, 

SAO continued its popular monthly Observatory Night lectures and observing sessions. Begun by observatory director Harlow Shapley in 1930, these public nights 

offer the local community an opportunity to learn about the latest advances in 

astronomy and to view the Moon, stars, and planets through a variety of telescopes. 

Observatory Night talks also reach worldwide audiences via YouTube.

In FY 2019, the National Air and Space Museum led the Nation’s commemoration of the Apollo 11 50th anniversary with a series of programs and events 

honoring the achievement of Apollo 11 and bringing this story to new generations. 

First up was “The Spirit of Apollo,” an evening at the National Cathedral where 

speakers, including NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Apollo astronaut 

Jim Lovell, reflected on the legacy of Apollo 8 and its stunning Earthrise photo 

that dramatically changed our view of Earth.
210Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

In the months leading up to the anniversary, programs across the country 

included the “Destination Moon” and “New Moon Rising” traveling exhibits, a 

virtual race challenging runners to combine their miles to equal the mileage to the 

Moon, and “Apollo in the Parks,” in which the museum placed accurately detailed 

statues of Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit in 15 Major League ballparks.

During the anniversary week, the museum ran numerous educational and engaging commemorative programs. The newly restored spacesuit that Neil Armstrong 

wore on the Moon was displayed in a state-of-the-art climate-controlled case. This 

exhibit is the culmination of a conservation effort in which NASM has set the 

standard for the treatment and display of spacesuits. NASM also presented an 

educational family program, “Discover the Moon Day,” in which visitors could 

interact one-on-one with museum scientists and educators to learn about Apollo 

and lunar science. The museum stayed open late on the evening of July 20, welcoming over 30,000 visitors to a variety of activities in its “The Eagle Has Landed” 

public program.

On December 15, 2018, the museum marked a different anniversary—15 years 

of operation at NASM’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Approximately 20 million 

visitors have walked through the doors to see iconic aircraft and spacecraft such as 

an SR-71, a Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Discovery. In June, the Udvar-Hazy 

Center also hosted the museum’s commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day 

with a daylong program of hands-on activities and talks by aeronautical experts.

The museum added the last operational EA-6B Prowler to the aircraft collection 

this year. The Prowler is a highly significant aircraft in the history of electronic 

warfare. The Aeronautics Department also acquired several works of renowned 

artist Chesley Bonestell. Opening in February in Orlando, “The Art of the Airport 

Tower” traveling photography exhibit was curated by Carolyn Russo, who also 

received a 2019 Archives Research Residency award from the Robert Rauschenberg 

Foundation. In other Aeronautics research, a study was done on aluminum alloy in 

the construction of 20th-century aircraft.

The museum’s Space History Department published five books, making highly 

acknowledged contributions to the field, for both scholarly and public audiences. 

Spaceflight in the Shuttle Era and Beyond, by Valerie Neal, received the 2019 

Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award from the AIAA. Apollo to the 
211 Smithsonian Institution

Moon: A History in Fifty Objects, by Teasel Muir-Harmony, received broad attention 

worldwide. Two books were published in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

(MIT) Press Essential Knowledge Series: GPS, by Paul Ceruzzi, and Spaceflight: A 

Concise History, by Michael Neufeld. Historian Martin Collins oversaw the production of another scholarly volume as managing editor of the Artefacts Studies in 

the History of Science and Technology: Behind the Exhibit: Displaying Science and 

Technology at World’s Fairs and Museums in the Twentieth Century.

Scientists in the museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) participated on the science teams of numerous spacecraft missions and played significant roles in mission operations and planning. They have served this year in 

such positions as the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Science Operations Working 

Group Chair and Cochair of the Mars 2020 Landing Site Steering Committee, 

leading the process for the crucial landing site selection in Jezero Crater. CEPS 

staff also served on the InSight Instrument Site Selection Working Group, which is 

charged with finding locations to deploy instruments. NASM scientists are on the 

science teams for Mars Express, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), InSight, 

the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), 

Dawn, the Europa Clipper, and the proposed Trident Triton flyby mission. In addition, the museum’s Director contributed to the development of the Dragonfly mission to Titan that was selected this year for NASA’s New Frontiers Program. In 

this innovative new mission, a drone-like rotorcraft will explore multiple sites on 

Titan’s surface.

This year’s science research highlights include groundbreaking research in lunar 

tectonics. A new look at Apollo seismic data increased our understanding of the 

shrinking Moon and demonstrated that the Moon is still seismically active today. 

For Venus, CEPS led the study in which 29 years of Earth-based radar observations determined a mean rotation rate for the planet, which is vital for planning 

any future landing missions. In Martian fluvial studies, evidence was shown that 

intense runoff occurred in river channels on Mars much later than previously 

thought, during a time when the climate was thought to be too cold and dry for 

such water-related activity.

Other research topics on Mars included the timing of water-related activity in 

Gale crater and implications for Mars habitability; the degradation history of the 
212Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

InSight and rover landing sites over time; the global history of water activity on 

Mars and its role in shaping the landscape through time; lava flows in comparison 

with other terrestrial planets; subsurface layering of the polar caps; and aeolian 

studies with implications for understanding the geologic and climatic history of the 

planet, as well as for mission operations and future mission planning.

Through our Education Directorate programming, NASM continued to inform 

and inspire millions nationwide. STEM in 30, the museum’s Emmy-nominated 

television show for middle school students, produced nine full episodes covering 

topics from World War I to Apollo 11 to hurricanes. These videos garnered over 

200,000 views and were used by over 100 local cable access networks. Additional 

video content produced by the museum’s education team included hands-on demos 

with experts (astronauts, engineers, etc.) and segments designed to expose students 

to diverse people and careers. These videos had over 2.6 million views in FY 2019.

The Teacher Innovator Institute is an intensive STEM professional development 

program for middle school educators across the United States. Sixty teachers spent 

two summers expanding their practice to include informal STEM education techniques and learn about authentic learning and integrating real-world problems into 

their teaching. The Soaring Higher Explorers (S.H.E.) Can STEM summer camp 

helped 58 middle school students in underrepresented populations and underresourced schools the Washington, DC, area build confidence and competence 

in STEM subjects. Some of the fundamental elements of the camp included daily 

STEM-focused design challenges, field trips to meet aerospace professionals, flight 

training on simulators, and discovery flights with an instructor. In addition, the 

museum completed its third year of Holt Scholars programming. The focus has narrowed to better meet the needs of sixth-grade students and teachers, but the mission remains the same: to ignite learning and imagination around STEM subjects 

through the power of our awe-inspiring collection and unique museum experience.

NASM’s Explainers Program provides meaningful interactions around STEM 

topics for visitors of all ages. Staffed by 105 high school and college students over 

two locations, Explainers facilitated approximately 300,000 interactions with visitors, connecting them to the museum’s scientific and historical content. Explainers 

also extend the reach of the museum via NASM’s interactive videoconferencing 

program with partner schools, engaging over 3,000 middle schoolers who were not 
213 Smithsonian Institution

able to visit in person. Explainers deployed a wide variety of programs, activities, 

and engagement strategies to make the science and history of flight, astronomy, 

and space exploration accessible to all.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History continued, through 

the Department of Mineral Sciences and the Offices of Education and Exhibits, 

its mission of education, research, and curation related to space exploration. 

Approximately one million people per year visit the Moon, Meteorites and Solar 

System Gallery of the Geology, 

Gems and Meteorites Hall, where 

they can see one of the finest displays of meteorites anywhere in the 

world, ranging from presolar diamonds separated from the Allende 

meteorite; to the carbonate-bearing 

Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, which 

spurred the debate about past 

microbial life on Mars; to impactites, including a square-meter 

section of the Cretaceous-Tertiary 

(K–T) boundary.

The asteroid Bennu as imaged by the OSIRIS-REx 

spacecraft.

The collections of the Division of Meteorites continue to grow. Notably, 

the Smithsonian’s partnership with the NSF and NASA in the U.S. Antarctic 

Meteorite Program surpassed 27,000 individual meteorites collected in Antarctica, 

including samples from Mars, the Moon, and numerous poorly known asteroids. 

Provided free of charge to qualified scientists, these samples have addressed fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of our solar system.

Scientists in the Department of Mineral Sciences remain engaged in the study 

of meteorites and asteroids to unravel their origin in the early solar nebula, their 

evolution, the differentiation of asteroids in the early history of the solar system, 

and the geologic evolution of Mars. Glenn MacPherson continues his work on 

understanding processes in the solar nebula and linking observations made in the 

laboratory with those made from astronomical observations. Catherine Corrigan 

continued her studies of fragments of meteorites formed during melting caused 
214Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

by collisions. Age-dating these samples is key to understanding the extent and 

duration of the intense impact history of the early solar system. NMNH scientists 

remained actively engaged in spacecraft missions, with Tim McCoy serving as 

Co-Investigator on the OSIRIS-REx and Psyche missions. OSIRIS-REx has arrived 

at asteroid Bennu, having completed the global imaging campaign and beginning 

intense local imaging for site selection for sample return. In 2020, the spacecraft 

will sample the surface; in 2023, it will return samples to Earth for study. McCoy, 

in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow Erica Jawin, is leading efforts to map the 

geology of the asteroid and will study the mineralogy and origin of the samples 

when they return to Earth in 2023. He will lead efforts to exhibit a sample of 

Bennu at NMNH. The Psyche mission, which was selected as one of the newest 

Discovery missions and is now in the spacecraft construction phase, will visit the 

asteroid of the same name, which is a 200-kilometer-diameter asteroid thought to 

be composed of metallic iron, similar to Earth’s metallic core. McCoy will lead 

efforts to study the role of oxidation and reduction in the formation of this asteroid. 

Public outreach beyond the exhibit continues to be a focus of our efforts, with 

numerous “Scientist Is In” presentations in the Q?rius learning center at NMNH 

and outreach efforts beyond the National Mall, including digital outreach through 

our website.
Appendices

215

Appendic

Appendices

217

Appendix A-1

U.S. Government Spacecr

(Includes spacecraft from cooperating countries launched by U.S. launch vehicles.)

Calendar 

Year

Earth Orbita Earth Escapeb

Success Failure Success Failure

1957 0 1 0 0

1958 5 8 0 4

1959 9 9 1 2

1960 16 12 1 2

1961 35 12 0 2

1962 55 12 4 1

1963 62 11 0 0

1964 69 8 4 0

1965 93 7 4 1

1966 94 12 7 1b

1967 78 4 10 0

1968 61 15 3 0

1969 58 1 8 1

1970 36 1 3 0

1971 45 2 8 1

1972 33 2 8 0

1973 23 2 3 0

1974 27 2 1 0

1975 30 4 4 0

1976 33 0 1 0

1977 27 2 2 0

1978 34 2 7 0

1979 18 0 0 0

1980 16 4 0 0

1981 20 1 0 0

1982 21 0 0 0

1983 31 0 0 0

1984 35 3 0 0

1985 37 1 0 0

1986 11 4 0 0

1987 9 1 0 0

1988 16 1 0 0

Calendar 

Year

Earth Orbita Earth Escapeb

Success Failure Success Failure

1989 24 0 2 0

1990 40 0 1 0

1991 32c 0 0 0

1992 26c 0 1 0

1993 28c 1 1 0

1994 31c 1 1 0

1995 24c, d 2 1 0

1996 30 1 3 0

1997 22e 0 1 0

1998 23 0 2 0

1999 35 4 2 0

2000 31f 0 0 0

2001 23 0 3 0

2002 18 0 0 1b

2003 28c, f 0 2 0

2004 8c 0 1 0

2005 10 0 2 0

2006 20d 0 2 0

2007 16 2 2 0

2008 22f 0 0 0

2009 24f 1 0 0

2010 15 0 0 0

2011 16 1 3 0

2012 13 0 0 0

2013 18 0 1 0

2014 22 1 0 0

2015 12 1 1 0

2016 27 3 2 0

2017 20 1 0 0

2018 33 0 3 0

2019g 26 1 0 0

TOTAL 1,854 164 116 16

a. The criterion of success or failure used is attainment of Earth orbit or Earth escape rather than judgment of mission success. “Escape” flights include 

all that were intended to go to at least an altitude equal to lunar distance from Earth.

b. This Earth-escape failure did attain Earth orbit and, therefore, is included in the Earth-orbit success totals.

c. This excludes commercial satellites. It counts separately spacecraft launched by the same launch vehicle.

d. This counts various sets of microsatellites as a single payload. 

e. This includes the Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) Lewis spacecraft that began spinning out of control shortly after it achieved Earth orbit.

f. This includes American spacecraft not launched in the United States.

g. Through September 30, 2019.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

218

Appendix A-2

World Record of Space Launches S

in Attaining Earth Orbit o

(Enumerates launches rather than spacecraft; some launches orbited multiple spacecraft.)a

Calendar 

Year

United

Statesb

USSR/

CIS Francec Italyc Japan

People’s 

Republic

of China Australia

United

Kingdomc

European 

Space

Agency India Israel Iran

North

Korea

South

Korea

New 

Zealand

1957 2

1958 5 1

1959 10 3

1960 16 3

1961 29 6

1962 52 20

1963 38 17

1964 57 30

1965 63 48 1

1966 73 44 1

1967 57 66 2 1 1

1968 45 74

1969 40 70

1970 28 81 2 1 1 1

1971 30 83 1 2 2 1 1

1972 30 74 1 1

1973 23 86

1974 22 81 2 1

1975 27 89 3 1 2 3

1976 26 99 1 2

1977 24 98 2

1978 32 88 3 1

1979 16 87 2 1

1980 13 89 2 1

1981 18 98 3 1 2 1

1982 18 101 1 1

1983 22 98 3 1 2 1

1984 22 97 3 3 4

1985 17 98 2 1 3

1986 6 91 2 2 2

1987 8 95 3 2 2

1988 12 90 2 4 7

1989 17 74 2 7 1

1990 27 75 3 5 5 1

1991 20 62 2 1 9 1

1992 31 55 2 3 7 2

1993 24 45 1 1 7

1994 26 49 2 5 6 2

1995 27 33 1 2 12 1
Appendices

219

Appendix A-2 (cont.)

World Record of Space Launches S

in Attaining Earth Orbit o

(Enumerates launches rather than spacecraft; some launches orbited multiple spacecraft.)a

Calendar 

Year

United

Statesb

USSR/

CIS Francec Italyc Japan

People’s 

Republic

of China Australia

United

Kingdomc

European 

Space

Agency India Israel Iran

North

Korea

South

Korea

New 

Zealand

1996 32 25 1 3 10 1

1997 37 28 2 6 12 1

1998 34 24 2 6 11

1999 32 26 4 10 1

2000 30 34 5 12

2001 23 23 1 1 8 2

2002 18 23 3 4 11 1 1

2003 26 21 2 6 4 2

2004 19 22 8 3 1

2005 16 26 2 5 5 1

2006 15 16 5 3 5

2007 25 33 3 13 8 3 1

2008d 19 26 1 11 7 3

2009 25 29 3 4 9 4 1

2010 15 30 2 15 6 1 1

2011 17 33 3 18 7 3 1

2012 13 27 2 19 10 2 1 1

2013e 19 29 3 14 7 3 1

2014e 22 31 4 16 10 4 1

2015 13 16 3 9 8 4 1

2016 29 25 5 32 14 8 1 1

2017 20 13 4 8 9 5

2018 36 12 7 34 8 4 1

2019f 26 19 3 30 11 7 1

TOTAL 1,612 3,091 10 8 110 314 1 1 281 69 8 4 2 1 2

a. This includes commercial expendable launches and launches of the Space Shuttle as well as launches to useless orbit.

b. Launches from U.S.-Russia joint platform are included in U.S. totals.

c. Since 1979, all launches for ESA member countries have been joint and are listed under ESA.

d. Since 2008, the ESA statistics include the Soyuz launches from Guiana Space Centre.

e. The data published in the FY 2014 report reflect incorrect totals and have been adjusted.

f. Through September 30, 2019.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

220

Appendix B

Successful Launches to Orbit on U

October 1, 2018–September 30, 2019

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

October 8, 2018

SAOCOM-1A

2018-076A

Falcon 9 v1.2

Radar Imaging 633

626

97.2

98

Radar imaging satellite. Can measure moisture in soil 

to 2 meters.

October 17, 2018

AEHF-4 (Advanced 

Extremely High Frequency 

satellite-4, USA 288)

2018-079A

Atlas 5-551

Communications 35,790

35,781

1,435.10

0.05

November 15, 2018

Es’hail 2

2018-090A

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications 35,798

35,788

1,436.10

0.1

Communications satellite carrying special non-specified 

military package; equipped with “sophisticated antijamming capabilities.”

November 17, 2018

Cygnus NG-10

2018-092A

Antares 230

International Space Station ISS

December 3, 2018

Spaceflight SSO-A

2018-099A-Y

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications/

Earth Observation/

Technology Development 

590

573

97.7

96.246

December 5, 2018

CRS-16

2018-101A

Falcon 9 v1.2

International Space Station ISS

December 23, 2018

Navstar GPS III-1 (Navstar 

SVN 74, PRN 04, USA 

289)

2018-109A

Falcon 9v1.2

20,189

20,171

717.88

54.9

First of third generation.

January 11, 2019

Iridium NEXT 8

2019-002A-K

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications 626

609.7

97

86.7

January 19, 2019

NROL-71

2019-004

Delta 4H

Surveillance/Military N/A N/A U.S. National Reconnaissance Office

February 22, 2019

Nusantara Satu+usats

2019-009A, D

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications/ 

Technology Development

35,931

35,915

1,442.85

0.25

Space situational awareness. Part of a project called 

Small Satellite System for Space Surveillance. 

Piggybacked all the way to GEO on a communications 

satellite.

First Indonesian High Throughput Satellite, to provide 

broadband services across the vast archipelago of 

Indonesia.

March 2, 2019

DM-1/Crew Dragon

2019-011A

Falcon 9v1.2

Demo of crew vehicle ISS Demo of crew vehicle

* U.N. Committee on Space Research
Appendices

221

Appendix B (cont.)

Successful Launches to Orbit on U

October 1, 2018–September 30, 2019

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

March 15, 2019

NROL 71

2019-014A

Delta 4H

Communications 35,795

35,765

1,436.10

0

April 11, 2019

Arabsat 6A

2019-021A

Falcon Heavy

Communications 35,811

35,774

1,436.00

0.01

April 17, 2019

NG-11 Cygnus

2019-022A

Antares 230

International Space Station ISS

May 4, 2019

CRS-17

2019-025A

Falcon 9v1.2

International Space Station ISS

May 24, 2019

Starlink 0.9 (60 sat)

2019-029A-Z

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications 541

536

95.7

53

June 12, 2019

Radar Constellation 

Mission (RCM)

2019-033A-C

Falcon 9v1.2

Communications 603

584

96.6

97.7

Three-satellite constellation, $900 million mission 

surveying the Arctic, maritime waters, forests, and 

farmland for the Canadian government.

June 25, 2019

STP-2

2019-036A-AB

Falcon Heavy

Earth Observation/

Technology Development

1,321

767

108.014

27.01

Collect atmospheric data for weather prediction and for 

ionosphere, climate, and gravity research. 

July 25, 2019

CRS-18

2019-044A

Falcon 9 v1.2

International Space Station ISS

August 6, 2019

AMOS-17

2019-050A

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,793

35,777

1,436.04

0

Replaces Amos 5, which failed in 2015.

August 8, 2019

AEHF-5 (Advanced 

Extremely High Frequency 

satellite-5)

2019-051A-B

Atlas 5-551

Technology Development 35,224

216

620.20

25.9

Testing orbital debris tracking capabilities.

August 22, 2019

Navstar GPS III-2

2019-056A

Delta 4M+4.2

Navigation/Global 

Positioning

20,203

20,188

718.01

55.1

Appendices

223

Appendix C

Human Spacefli

October 1, 2018–September 30, 2019

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew

Flight Time 

(d:h:min) Highlights

Soyuz MS-10

Expedition 57

October 11, 2018 Alexey Ovchinin

Nick Hague

19:41 Aborted shortly after launch.

Soyuz MS-11

Expedition 58

December 3, 2018 Oleg Kononenko

Anne McClain

David Saint-Jacques

203:15:15 Robotic Refueling Mission-3

Study on Wound Healing

CASIS Protein Crystal Growth-16

Soyuz MS-12

Expedition 59

March 14, 2019 Nick Hague

Christina Koch

Alexey Ovchinin

202:15:46 Study on Effectiveness of Potential Pharmaceuticals in 

Humans

Astrobee

Hermes Facility

Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3

Soyuz MS-13

Expedition 60

July 20, 2019 Andrew Morgan

Luca Parmitano

Alexander Skvortsov

200:16:44 BioFabrication Facility

Inertial Spreading

Biorock

Goodyear Tire

Soyuz MS-15

Expedition 61

September 25, 2019 Jessica Meir

Oleg Skripochka

Hazzaa Ali Almansoori

171:11:11 AMS-02

AstroRad Vest

ANALOG-1

Targeting Improved Cotton Through Orbital Cultivation

AzTechSat-1
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

224

Appendix D-1A

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of real-year dollars)

FY

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1959 331 261 490 34 34 785

1960 524 462 561 43 43 1,066

1961 964 926 814 68 68 1,808

1962 1,825 1,797 1,298 199 148 51 3,294

1963 3,673 3,626 1,550 257 214 43 5,433

1964 5,100 5,016 1,599 213 210 3 6,828

1965 5,250 5,138 1,574 241 229 12 6,953

1966 5,175 5,065 1,689 214 187 27 6,968

1967 4,966 4,830 1,664 213 184 29 6,707

1968 4,587 4,430 1,922 174 145 28 0.2 1 6,526

1969 3,991 3,822 2,013 170 118 20 0.2 1 31 6,005

1970 3,746 3,547 1,678 141 103 8 1 1 28 5,366

1971 3,311 3,101 1,512 162 95 27 2 1 37 4,775

1972 3,307 3,071 1,407 133 55 31 6 2 39 4,611

1973 3,406 3,093 1,623 147 54 40 10 2 41 4,863

1974 3,037 2,759 1,766 158 42 60 9 3 44 4,683

1975 3,229 2,915 1,892 158 30 64 8 2 54 4,965

1976 3,550 3,225 1,983 168 23 72 10 4 59 5,376

TQ* 932 849 460 43 5 22 3 1 12 1,352

1977 3,818 3,440 2,412 194 22 91 10 6 65 6,046

1978 4,060 3,623 2,738 226 34 103 10 8 71 6,587

1979 4,596 4,030 3,036 248 59 98 10 8 73 7,314

1980 5,240 4,680 3,848 231 40 93 12 14 72 8,759

1981 5,518 4,992 4,828 234 41 87 12 16 78 10,054

1982 6,044 5,528 6,679 313 61 145 12 15 80 12,520

1983 6,875 6,328 9,019 327 39 178 5 20 85 15,674

1984 7,458 6,858 10,195 395 34 236 3 19 103 17,448

1985 7,573 6,925 12,768 584 34 423 2 15 110 20,277

1986 7,807 7,165 14,126 477 35 309 2 23 108 21,768

1987 10,923 9,809 16,287 466 48 278 8 19 112 1 26,562

1988 9,062 8,322 17,679 741 241 352 14 18 115 1 26,742

1989 10,969 10,097 17,906 560 97 301 17 21 121 3 28,563

1990 12,324 11,460 15,616 506 79 243 31 25 124 4 27,582

1991 14,016 13,046 14,181 772 251 251 29 26 211 4 27,999

a. DOD reported that improvements to the estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated budget authority and outlays starting in FY 2013.

b. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total column 

because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as space. For the years 1989–97, this Other column also includes small figures for 

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as $2.1 billion for the replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

c. DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

d. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
Appendices

225

Appendix D-1A (cont.)

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of real-year dollars)

FY

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1992 14,317 13,199 15,023 798 223 327 34 29 181 4 29,020

1993 14,310 13,064 14,106 731 165 324 33 25 180 4 27,901

1994 14,570 13,022 13,166 632 74 312 31 31 179 5 26,820

1995 13,854 12,543 10,644 759 60 352 31 32 278 6 23,946

1996 13,884 12,569 11,514 828 46 472 36 37 231 6 24,911

1997 13,709 12,457 11,727 789 35 448 42 39 219 6 24,973

1998 13,648 12,321 12,359 839 103 435 43 39 213 6 25,519

1999 13,653 12,459 13,203 982 105 575 59 37 200 6 26,644

2000 13,601 12,521 12,941 1,056 164 575 60 44 207 6 26,518

2001 14,230 13,304 14,326 1,062 145 577 60 36 232 12 28,692

2002 14,868 13,871 15,740 1,180 166 644 64 28 266 12 30,791

2003 15,364 14,360 19,388 1,305 191 649 74 42 337 12 35,053

2004 15,379 14,322 19,115 1,464 209 745 71 61 366 12 34,901

2005 16,198 15,234 19,690 1,551 229 807 70 73 360 12 36,475

2006 16,623 15,765 22,114 1,647 245 860 82 84 364 12 39,526

2007 16,285 15,568 22,418 1,680 200 912 87 65 404 12 39,666

2008 17,117 16,502 24,795 1,698 195 862 90 59 479 13 42,995

2009 17,775 17,275 26,528 1,868 200 1,078 64 27 485 14 45,671

2010 18,725 18,228 26,463 2,057 203 1,261 67 27 484 15 46,748

2011 18,432 17,898 27,234 2,186 229 1,444 66 20 412 15 47,318

2012 17,773 17,203 26,677 2,580 199 1,876 76 7 406 16 46,460

2013 17,395 16,865 10,818 2,578 185 1,865 84 20 409 15 30,261

2014 17,647 17,081 10,400 2,839 174 2,087 82 19 461 16 30,320

2015 18,010 17,359 10,325 3,010 182 2,223 83 19 485 18 30,694

2016 19,285 18,645 6,967 3,159 178 2,346 87 19 508 22 28,771

2017 19,653 18,993 10,316 2,995 172 2,214 85 20 480 24 32,305

2018 20,736 19,976 7,861 2,953 175 2,099 79 16 556 29 30,790

2019 21,500 20,775 9,970 12,305 217 1,667 84 19 581 36 43,050
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

226

Appendix D-1B

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 2019 dollars)

FY

Inflation 

Factors

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1959 6.866 2,273 1,792 3,364 233 233 5,390

1960 6.771 3,548 3,128 3,798 291 291 7,217

1961 6.682 6,442 6,188 5,439 454 454 12,081

1962 6.615 12,073 11,888 8,587 1,316 979 337 21,791

1963 6.538 24,015 23,708 10,134 1,680 1,399 281 35,523

1964 6.456 32,925 32,382 10,323 1,375 1,356 19 44,080

1965 6.347 33,319 32,608 9,989 1,530 1,453 76 44,127

1966 6.213 32,154 31,470 10,494 1,330 1,162 168 43,294

1967 6.030 29,945 29,125 10,034 1,284 1,110 175 40,443

1968 5.827 26,728 25,813 11,199 1,015 845 163 1 6 38,028

1969 5.573 22,241 21,299 11,218 950 658 111 1 6 174 33,467

1970 5.290 19,815 18,763 8,876 746 545 42 5 5 148 28,385

1971 5.034 16,668 15,610 7,611 815 478 136 10 5 186 24,037

1972 4.806 15,893 14,759 6,762 641 264 149 29 10 189 22,162

1973 4.605 15,685 14,244 7,474 679 249 184 46 9 190 22,397

1974 4.299 13,056 11,861 7,592 679 181 258 39 13 189 20,132

1975 3.897 12,583 11,359 7,373 615 117 249 31 8 209 19,346

1976 3.643 12,933 11,749 7,224 613 84 262 36 15 216 19,586

TQ* 3.536 3,296 3,002 1,627 152 18 78 11 4 42 4,781

1977 3.398 12,972 11,688 8,195 657 75 309 34 20 219 20,540

1978 3.183 12,924 11,532 8,715 719 108 328 32 25 226 20,967

1979 2.946 13,538 11,870 8,943 730 174 289 29 24 215 21,543

1980 2.709 14,196 12,679 10,425 626 108 252 33 38 195 23,730

1981 2.467 13,612 12,314 11,910 578 101 215 30 39 193 24,802

1982 2.306 13,940 12,750 15,404 721 141 334 28 35 184 28,875

1983 2.210 15,193 13,984 19,931 723 86 393 11 44 188 34,638

1984 2.134 15,912 14,632 21,752 842 73 504 6 41 219 37,226

1985 2.065 15,635 14,298 26,361 1,205 70 873 4 31 226 41,864

1986 2.019 15,765 14,469 28,526 963 71 624 4 46 218 43,958

1987 1.975 21,574 19,373 32,168 920 95 549 16 38 221 2 52,461

1988 1.913 17,338 15,922 33,824 1,418 461 673 27 34 220 2 51,164

1989 1.839 20,170 18,566 32,925 1,030 178 553 31 39 223 6 52,521

1990 1.774 21,861 20,328 27,700 897 140 431 55 44 219 7 48,925

1991 1.713 24,006 22,345 24,289 1,323 430 430 50 45 362 7 47,956

a. DOD reported that improvements to the estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated budget authority and outlays starting in FY 2013.

b. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total column 

because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as space. For the years 1989–97, this Other column also includes small figures for 

the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as $2.1 billion for the replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

c. DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

d. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
Appendices

227

Appendix D-1B (cont.)

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 2019 dollars)

FY

Inflation 

Factors

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1992 1.671 23,924 22,056 25,104 1,333 373 546 57 48 302 7 48,493

1993 1.633 23,364 21,330 23,031 1,193 269 529 54 41 294 7 45,554

1994 1.598 23,281 20,808 21,038 1,011 118 499 50 50 287 8 42,856

1995 1.565 21,675 19,624 16,653 1,187 94 551 49 50 435 9 37,464

1996 1.536 21,322 19,302 17,682 1,271 71 725 55 57 354 9 38,256

1997 1.509 20,686 18,797 17,695 1,191 53 676 63 59 331 9 37,683

1998 1.490 20,340 18,362 18,419 1,251 154 648 64 58 318 9 38,032

1999 1.471 20,089 18,332 19,427 1,445 154 846 87 54 294 9 39,204

2000 1.442 19,610 18,053 18,658 1,522 236 829 87 63 298 9 38,233

2001 1.409 20,044 18,740 20,179 1,496 204 813 85 51 327 17 40,415

2002 1.386 20,612 19,230 21,821 1,636 230 893 89 39 369 17 42,687

2003 1.362 20,918 19,551 26,397 1,777 260 884 101 57 459 16 47,725

2004 1.330 20,448 19,043 25,416 1,947 278 991 94 81 487 16 46,405

2005 1.290 20,900 19,656 25,405 2,001 295 1,041 90 94 464 15 47,063

2006 1.250 20,783 19,710 27,648 2,059 306 1,075 103 105 455 15 49,417

2007 1.217 19,820 18,948 27,285 2,045 243 1,110 106 79 492 15 48,277

2008 1.192 20,411 19,678 29,567 2,025 233 1,028 107 70 571 16 51,269

2009 1.179 20,954 20,364 31,272 2,202 236 1,271 75 32 572 17 53,838

2010 1.169 21,885 21,305 30,929 2,404 237 1,474 78 31 566 18 54,638

2011 1.146 21,121 20,510 31,208 2,504 262 1,655 76 22 472 17 54,222

2012 1.125 19,988 19,346 30,001 2,901 224 2,110 85 8 457 18 52,249

2013 1.104 19,209 18,624 10,818 2,847 204 2,059 93 22 452 17 33,417

2014 1.083 19,119 17,081 10,400 2,839 174 2,087 82 19 461 16 32,850

2015 1.071 19,290 17,359 10,325 3,010 182 2,223 83 19 485 18 30,694

2016 1.062 20,474 18,645 6,967 3,159 178 2,346 87 19 508 22 28,771

2017 1.043 20,501 18,993 10,316 2,995 172 2,214 85 20 480 24 32,305

2018 1.019 21,138 19,976 7,861 2,953 175 2,099 79 16 556 29 30,790

2019 1.000 21,500 20,775 9,970 12,305 217 1,667 84 19 581 36 43,050
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

228

Appendix D-2

Federal Space Activiti

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2017

actual

2018

actual 

2019

actual

2020

est.

2017

 actual

2018

 actual

2019

 actual

2020

 est.

NASA1 18,993.3 19,976.1 20,775 21,775 18,074 19,792 20,886 21,232

DOD2, 3 10,136 7,861 9,970 11,887 10,400 9,296 9,970 11,887

DOE4, 5 172 175.39 217 191 173 165.4 193 208

DOC6 2,214 2,099.269 1,666.64 1,444.61 1,938 2,068.22 1,666.64 1,444.61

DOI7 85.4 78.5 84.3 84.3 85 78.5 84.3 84.3

USDA8 20.1 15.96 18.57 20.69 18.4 16.08 20.08 20.69

DOT 24.2 28.959 36.449 64.569 24.2 28.959 36.449 64.569

NSF9 480.1 555.59 581.08 429.31 352.7 462.15 444.62 406.33

1. The FY 2020 estimate is based on the prior year’s Outlays versus Budget Authority. FY 2020 Enacted Funding Levels were not available at the time this 

report was requested. The FY 2020 Budget Authority Estimate is based on the 2020 President’s Budget Request.

2. Does not include DOD or Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) intelligence programs. DOD FY 2017, FY 2018, and FY 2019 figures 

for Budget Authority and Outlays are estimated at the time of preparing this report. Improvements to the estimating methodology resulted in a change 

in estimated Budget Authority and Outlays starting in FY 2013.

3. At the time of preparing this report, DOD submitted estimates as billions of dollars, so the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred million.

4. In prior years, the High Energy Physics program also reported Ground- and Underground-Based Astrophysics Projects. These projects and the associated funding are no longer included, starting in the FY 2009 report.

5. At the time of preparing this report, DOE submitted estimates, not actuals.

6. The Budget Outlays columns reflect dollars “costed” in a fiscal year specific to that same fiscal year’s appropriated dollars.

7. The USGS has recalculated its space and aeronautics expenditures for 2019. For this submission to the Aeronautics and Space Report of the President, 

the USGS is only reporting on outlays for Satellite Operations (space funding), shown here in Appendix D-2, and the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) 

(aeronautics funding), shown in Appendix D-3.

8. At the time of preparing this report, the USDA submitted FY 2019 estimates, not actuals.

9. “Actual” = actual obligations.
Appendices

229

Appendix D-3

Federal Aeronautics Activit

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2017

actual

2018

actual 

2019

actual

2020

est.

2017

 actual

2018

 actual

2019

 actual

2020

 est.

NASA1 660 760 725 784 629 650 705 703

USDA2, 3 38.6 42.21 70.22 76.70 70.7 47.34 63.16 66.56

DOD4, 5 53,440 51,466 58,236 57,660 33,213 55,208 58,236 57,660

DOI6 35 37.7 37.7 35.1 37.5 37.7

DOT 3,014.9 3,420.91 3,173.09 3,399.897 2,674.90 2,696.659 2,956.3 3,692.435

1. The FY 2020 estimate is based on the prior year’s Outlays versus Budget Authority.

2. At the time of preparing this report, the USDA submitted estimates, not actuals.

3. FY 2017 was the first time the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) reported state expenditures for this report. FY 2017 Outlays represent 

national lidar initiatives, where NRCS spent $3 million and state offices spent another $33 million.

4. DOD FY 2017, FY 2018, and FY 2019 figures for Budget Authority and Outlays are estimated at the time of preparing this report. Improvements to the 

estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated Budget Authority and Outlays starting in FY 2013.

5. At the time of preparing this report, DOD submitted estimates as billions of dollars, so the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred million.

6. The USGS has recalculated its space and aeronautics expenditures for 2019. For this submission to the Aeronautics and Space Report of the President, 

the USGS is only reporting on outlays for Satellite Operations (space funding), shown in Appendix D-2, and the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) 

(aeronautics funding), shown here in Appendix D-3.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

230

Appendix E

Space Policy Directive-4 of February 

Establishment of the United States Space Force

Section 1. Introduction. Space is integral to our way of life, our national security, and modern warfare. 

Although United States space systems have historically maintained a technological advantage over those 

of our potential adversaries, those potential adversaries are now advancing their space capabilities and 

actively developing ways to deny our use of space in a crisis or conflict. It is imperative that the United 

States adapt its national security organizations, policies, doctrine, and capabilities to deter aggression 

and protect our interests. Toward that end, the Department of Defense shall take actions under existing 

authority to marshal its space resources to deter and counter threats in space, and to develop a legislative 

proposal to establish a United States Space Force as a sixth branch of the United States Armed Forces 

within the Department of the Air Force. This is an important step toward a future military department 

for space. Under this proposal, the United States Space Force would be authorized to organize, train, and 

equip military space forces of the United States to ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, 

space, and to provide vital capabilities to joint and coalition forces in peacetime and across the spectrum 

of conflict.

Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this memorandum and the legislative proposal directed by section 3 of this memorandum, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) The term “United States Space Force” refers to a new branch of the United States Armed Forces 

to be initially placed by statute within the Department of the Air Force.

(b) The term “Department of the Space Force” refers to a future military department within the 

Department of Defense that will be responsible for organizing, training, and equipping the United 

States Space Force.

(c) The term “United States Space Command” refers to a Unified Combatant Command to be established pursuant to the Presidential memorandum of December 18, 2018 (Establishment of United 

States Space Command as a Unified Combatant Command), that will be responsible for Joint Force 

space operations as will be assigned in the Unified Command Plan.

Sec. 3. Legislative Proposal and Purpose. The Secretary of Defense shall submit a legislative proposal 

to the President through the Office of Management and Budget that would establish the United States 

Space Force as a new armed service within the Department of the Air Force.

The legislative proposal would, if enacted, establish the United States Space Force to organize, train, 

and equip forces to provide for freedom of operation in, from, and to the space domain; to provide 

independent military options for national leadership; and to enhance the lethality and effectiveness 

of the Joint Force. The United States Space Force should include both combat and combat support 

functions to enable prompt and sustained offensive and defensive space operations, and joint operations 

in all domains. The United States Space Force shall be organized, trained, and equipped to meet the 

following priorities:

(a) Protecting the Nation’s interests in space and the peaceful use of space for all responsible actors, 

consistent with applicable law, including international law;

(b) Ensuring unfettered use of space for United States national security purposes, the United States 

economy, and United States persons, partners, and allies;

(c) Deterring aggression and defending the Nation, United States allies, and United States interests 

from hostile acts in and from space;

(d) Ensuring that needed space capabilities are integrated and available to all United States Combatant 

Commands;
Appendices

231 (e) Projecting military power in, from, and to space in support of our Nation’s interests; and

(f) Developing, maintaining, and improving a community of professionals focused on the national 

security demands of the space domain.

Sec. 4. Scope.

(a) The legislative proposal required by section 3 of this memorandum shall, in addition to the provisions required under section 3 of this memorandum, include provisions that would, if enacted:

(i) consolidate existing forces and authorities for military space activities, as appropriate, in order to 

minimize duplication of effort and eliminate bureaucratic inefficiencies; and

(ii) not include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, the National Reconnaissance Office, or other non-military space organizations or missions of the United States Government.

(b) The proposed United States Space Force should:

(i) include, as determined by the Secretary of Defense in consultation with the Secretaries of the 

military departments, the uniformed and civilian personnel conducting and directly supporting space 

operations from all Department of Defense Armed Forces;

(ii) assume responsibilities for all major military space acquisition programs; and

(iii) create the appropriate career tracks for military and civilian space personnel across all relevant 

specialties, including operations, intelligence, engineering, science, acquisition, and cyber.

Sec. 5. United States Space Force Budget. In accordance with the Department of Defense budget process, 

the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget a proposed budget for the United States Space Force to be included in the President’s Fiscal Year 2020 Budget 

Request.

Sec. 6. United States Space Force Organization and Leadership.

(a) The legislative proposal required by section 3 of this memorandum shall create a civilian Under 

Secretary of the Air Force for Space, to be known as the Under Secretary for Space, appointed by the 

President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(b) The legislative proposal shall establish a Chief of Staff of the Space Force, who will be a senior 

military officer in the grade of General or Admiral, and who shall serve as a member of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff.

Sec. 7. Associated Elements.

(a) A Unified Combatant Command for space, to be known as the United States Space Command, 

will be established consistent with law, as directed on December 18, 2018. This command will have 

all of the responsibilities of a Unified Combatant Command in addition to the space-related responsibilities previously assigned to United States Strategic Command. It will also have the responsibilities of the Joint Force provider and Joint Force training for space operations forces. Moving 

expeditiously toward a Unified Combatant Command reflects the importance of warfighting in 

space to the Joint Force. The commander of this command will lead space warfighting through 

global space operations that may occur in the space domain, the terrestrial domains, or through the 

electromagnetic spectrum.

(b) With forces provided by the United States Space Force and other United States Armed Forces, 

the United States Space Command shall ensure unfettered access to, and freedom to operate in, space 

and provide vital effects and capabilities to joint and coalition forces during peacetime and across the 

spectrum of conflict.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

232 Sec. 8. Relationship with National Intelligence. The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National 

Intelligence shall create and enhance mechanisms for collaboration between the Department of Defense 

and the United States Intelligence Community in order to increase unity of effort and the effectiveness 

of space operations. The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence shall provide a 

report to the President within 180 days of the date of this memorandum on steps they have taken and are 

planning to take toward these ends, including legislative proposals as necessary and appropriate.

Sec. 9. Operational Authorities. In order to ensure that the United States Space Force and United 

States Space Command have the necessary operational authorities, the National Space Council and 

the National Security Council shall coordinate an accelerated review of space operational authorities. 

Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Defense shall present to the National 

Space Council and the National Security Council proposed relevant authority changes for the President’s 

approval. The National Space Council and the National Security Council shall then conduct an interagency review of the Secretary’s proposal and make recommendations to the President on appropriate 

authorities, to be completed no later than 60 days from the date the Secretary of Defense presents his 

proposal to the councils.

Sec. 10. Periodic Review. As the United States Space Force matures, and as national security requires, 

it will become necessary to create a separate military department, to be known as the Department of 

the Space Force. This department will take over some or all responsibilities for the United States Space 

Force from the Department of the Air Force. The Secretary of Defense will conduct periodic reviews to 

determine when to recommend that the President seek legislation to establish such a department.

Sec. 11. General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and United States 

national and homeland security requirements, and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or 

procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, 

agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of Defense is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal 

Register.

Donald J. Trump

The White House,

February 19, 2019
233 c Acrony

ronyms

3DEP 3D Elevation Program

A

AAM Advanced Air Mobility

ACEP Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

ACES Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space

ACN Aircraft Notebook

ACO Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast

AE Archive Explorer

AEFS Advanced Electronic Flight Strips

AEHF Advanced Extremely High Frequency

AES Advanced Exploration Systems

AFB Air Force Base

AFCSCO Air Force Commercial SATCOM Office

AFSPC Air Force Space Command

AGBRESA Artificial Gravity Bed Rest-ESA

AGS Atmospheric and Geospace Science Division

AHE Advanced Hawkeye

AIA Atmospheric Imaging Assembly

AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

AIS Automated Information System

ALE Air Launched Effects

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array

AM additive manufacturing

AMAPPS Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species

AMEC Alaska Mapping Executive Committee

AMISR Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar

AMPERE Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment

AMS Autonomous Modular Sensor; Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

ANSI American National Standards Institute

AO Arecibo Observatory

AoA Analysis of Alternatives

AoR Area of Responsibility

APD Astrophysics Division

APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

APKWS Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System

APL Applied Physics Laboratory

APRSAF Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum

ARD Analysis Ready Data

ARIA Asia Reassurance Initiative Act

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Research Facility

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

ARS Agricultural Research Service

ARTCC Air Route Traffic Control Center

ARTEMIS Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with 

the Sun

AS Atmosphere Section

ASB Agricultural Statistics Board
234Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

ASBU Aviation System Block Upgrade

ASD agricultural statistics district

ASE Aviation Survivability Equipment

ASM artisanal and small-scale mining

ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers

ASPRS American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing

AST Office of Commercial Space Transportation; Division of Astronomical Sciences

ASU Group on the Sector Understanding on Export Credits for Civil Aircraft (the “Aircraft Sector 

Understanding”)

ASuW Anti-Surface Warfare

ATC air traffic control

ATCA Air Traffic Control Association

ATHENA Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics

ATLAS Advanced Twin Lifting and Aerobic System

ATM air traffic management

ATR Advanced Test Reactor

AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor

B

BAA Broad Agency Announcement

BABAR Broadband Absolute Bolometer Array

BAER Burned Area Emergency Response

BBD beech bark disease

BICEP3 Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization

BICY Big Cypress National Preserve

BIS Bureau of Industry and Security

BLAST-TNG Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope–The Next Generation

BLM Bureau of Land Management

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory

BoD Board of Directors

BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

BOR Bureau of Reclamation

BPS Biological and Physical Sciences

C

C&N communication and navigation

C2 command and control

CAB Combat Aviation Brigade

CAE Center for Agribusiness Excellence

CAESR Carbon Absolute Electrical Substitution Radiometer

CAL Cold Atom Laboratory

CANVAS Climatology of Anthropogenic and Natural Very Low Frequency wave Activity in Space

CAPS Control and Planning Segment

CAPSTONE Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment

CAS Commercial Augmentation System

CCAFS Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

CCC Commodity Credit Corporation

CCDC Continuous Change Detection and Classification

CCOR Compact Coronagraph

CCP Commercial Crew Program

CCS Counter Communications System

CCSC Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities

CCSDS Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems
235 Acronyms

CDD Capability Development Document

CDL Cropland Data Layer

CEDAR Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions

CENTCOM Central Command

CEPS Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

CERP Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

CfA Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

CFT Crewed Flight Test; Cross-Functional Team

CHNS Committee for Homeland and National Security

CHOMPTT CubeSat Handling of Multisystem Precision Time Transfer

CIR Color Infrared

CMB cosmic microwave background

CMWS Common Missile Warning System

CNES Centre National d’Études Spatiales

CNT ESR Carbon Nanotube Electrical Substitution Radiometer

CO carbon monoxide

COMSATCOM Commercial SATCOM

CONOPS Concept of Operations

CONUS contiguous United States

COPUOS Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

COSMIC-2 Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 2

COSPAS-SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking

COWVR Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer

CP Competitive Prototype

CPT Command Post Terminals

CREMA Coastal Resource Evaluation for Management Application

CREWS Crew Recommender for Effective Work in Space

CRP constant-rate production

CRS Commercial Resupply Services

CS Commercial Service

CSG Carrier Strike Group

CSIM Compact Solar Irradiance Monitor

CSLI CubeSat Launch Initiative

CSM Crew and Service Module

CSP Cold Spray Process

CT computerized tomography

CTIM Compact Total Irradiance Monitor

CVN aircraft carrier with nuclear propulsion

CVW Carrier Air Wing

CY calendar year

D

DAC Design Analysis Cycle

DAMIEN Detecting and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-Bound Near-Earth Objects

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DART Double Asteroid Redirection Test

Data Comm Data Communications

DBS direct broadcast satellite

DEM digital elevation model

DKIST Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

DLR German Aerospace Center

DMC Disaster Monitoring Constellation

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
236Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

dNBR Delta NBR

dNDVI Delta NDVI

DOC Department of Commerce

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOI Department of the Interior

DON Department of the Navy

DOS Department of State

DSAC Deep Space Atomic Clock

DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory

DSM Digital Surface Model

DSN Deep Space Network

DTM Digital Terrain Model

E

EBL extragalactic background light

EC European Commission

ECOSTRESS ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station

eCRYO Evolvable Cryogenics Project

EDU engineering design unit

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle

EGS Exploration Ground Systems

EHT Event Horizon Telescope

ELaNa Educational Launch of NanoSatellites

ELV expendable launch vehicle

EOC Early Operational Capability

EOS Earth Observing System

EPS Enhanced Polar System

EPS-R EPS-Recapitalization

ERAM En Route Automation Modernization

EROS Earth Resources Observation Systems

ESA European Space Agency; Endangered Species Act

ESBMC2 Enterprise Space Battle Management Command and Control

EscaPADE Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers

ESD Exploration Systems Development; Earth Science Division

ESG Expeditionary Strike Group

ESIM earth station in motion

ESM European Service Module

ESP Efficient Space Procurement; Environmental Studies Program

ESR Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation

ESS Evolved Strategic SATCOM

ET evapotranspiration

ETM Enhanced Thematic Mapper

EU European Union

EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUV extreme ultraviolet

EVA extravehicular activity

EVE EUV Variability Experiment

EVER Everglades National Park

EWPP-FPE Emergency Watershed Protection Program–Floodplain Easements

EWS Electro-optical/infrared Weather System

EWS-G EWS-Geostationary

EXIM Export-Import Bank

EXIS EUV and X-ray Irradiance Sensor
237 Acronyms

F

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FAB-T Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals

FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act

FARA Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service

FAS/GMA Foreign Agricultural Service/Global Market Analysis

FAS/OGA Foreign Agricultural Service/Office of Global Analysis

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FCIC Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

FDSS Faculty Development in Space Sciences

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

FES Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

FHP Forest Health Protection

FIA Forest Inventory and Analysis

FLRAA Future Long Range Assault Aircraft

FOC Final Operational Capability

FORGE Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution

FRP Full Rate Production

FSA Farm Service Agency

FSVeg Spatial Field Sampled Vegetation

FTUAS Future Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems

FVEY Five Eyes

FVL Future Vertical Lift

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service

FY fiscal year

G

GADAS Global Agricultural and Disaster Assessment System

GBD Global Burst Detector

Gbps gigabits per second

GDC Geospace Dynamics Constellation

GEDI Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation

G-EGD Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery

GEM Geospace Environment Modeling

GEO Geosynchronous Earth Orbit

GEO-AGS Directorate for Geosciences’ Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

GeV gigaelectronvolt

GF Geospace Facilities

GIS geographic information system

GLAM Global Agricultural Monitoring

G-LiHT Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager

GMT Giant Magellan Telescope

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GOES-T Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite–T

GONG Global Oscillations Network Group

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement

GPS Global Positioning System

GPS IIIF GPS III Follow-on

GPS SAR GPS Search and Rescue

GPSC Geospatial Products and Services Contract
238Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

G-REALM Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor

GRC Glenn Research Center

GS Geospace Section

GUT grand-unified theory

H

HALO Habitation and Logistics Outpost

HEP Office of High Energy Physics

HF high-frequency

HFIR High Flux Isotope Reactor

HFRP Healthy Forest Reserve Program

HLS Human Landing System

HPD Heliophysics Division

HPTC high-pressure transcritical combustion

HRP Human Research Program

HTV H-II Transfer Vehicle

I

IAC International Astronautical Congress

IAWN International Asteroid Warning Network

IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer

IC Intelligence Community

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

ICESat-2 Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite–2

ICNO IceCube Neutrino Observatory

ICPS Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage

IDA international docking adapter

IDEX International Defence Exhibition and Conference

IfSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

ILLUMA-T Integrated LCRD Low-Earth Orbit User Modem and Amplifier Terminal

IMAP Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe

IMPRESS IMpulsive Phase Rapid Energetic Solar Spectrometer

IMS Interactive Multisensor Snow and Ice Mapping System

INL Idaho National Laboratory

InSight Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport

IOAG Interagency Operations Advisory Group

IOC Initial Operational Capability

IOP Interoperability Plenary

IPAD International Production Assessment Division

IR infrared

IRAC infrared array camera

IRIS Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

IRMA Integrated Resource Management Applications

IRS-2 Indian Resourcesat–2

ISARA Integrated Solar Array and Reflectarray Antenna

ISIL, ISIS Islamic State

ISP In Space Propulsion

ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

ISR&T Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting

ISRU In-Situ Resource Utilization

ISS International Space Station

IT Information Technology

IT&C Integration, Testing and Commissioning
239 Acronyms

ITA International Trade Administration

ITAC 1 Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Aerospace Equipment

ITE Improved Turbine Engine

IVM Ion Velocity Meter

IXPE Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer

J

JAGM Joint Air-to-Ground Missile

JASD Joint Agency Satellite Division

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JFMCC Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander

JMR-TD Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPSS Joint Polar Satellite System

JSC Johnson Space Center

JUICE Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer

JWST James Webb Space Telescope

K

K-T Cretaceous-Tertiary

KRUSTY Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology

KSC Kennedy Space Center

L

LAANC Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

LAS Launch Abort System

LASP Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics

LAT Large Area Telescope

LCMAP Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

LCMS Landscape Change Monitoring System

LCRD Laser Communication Relay Demonstration

LDB Long Duration Balloon Program

LEO low-Earth orbit

lidar light detection and ranging

LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory

LIMWS Limited Interim Missile Warning System

LIS Lightning Imaging Sensor

LISS Linear Imaging Self Scanning

LiteBIRD Lite satellite for the studies of B-mode polarization and Inflation from cosmic background 

Radiation Detection

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LORRI Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager

LRA Laser Retro-reflector Array

LRASM Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile

LRIP Low-Rate Initial Production

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LSA Launch Service Agreement

LSFR Little Saint Francis River Chat Pile

LSP Launch Services Program; Launch Service Procurement

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

LST Land Surface Temperature
240Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

LTS Long-Term Sustainability

LUSI Lunar Spectral Irradiance

LVSA Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter

M

MANPADS Man Portable Air Defense Systems

MarCO Mars Cube One

MBTA Migratory Bird Treaty Act

MDO Multi-Domain Operations

MDXR Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer

MEDLI2 Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation 2

MEF Marine Expeditionary Force

MEO Medium-Earth Orbit

MEOSAR Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue

MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership

MER Mars Exploration Rover

MEV Mission Extension Vehicle

MGUE Military GPS User Equipment

MIDEX Medium-Class Explorer

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MKID microwave kinetic-inductance detector

ML Mobile Launcher

MMPA Marine Mammal Protection Act

MMRTG multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator

MMS Magnetospheric Multiscale

MOBY Marine Optical Buoy

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MOSA Modular Open System Architecture

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

mph miles per hour

MPRF Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force

MPS Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate

MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

MRX Magnetic Reconnection Experiment

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center

MSIP Mid-Scale Innovations Program

MTA Middle Tier of Acquisition

MTBS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

Multi-Int multiple intelligence

N

NAC NextGen Advisory Committee

NAICS North American Industry Classification System

NAIP National Agriculture Imagery Program

NANOGrav North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves

NAS Naval Air Station; National Airspace System; National Academy of Sciences

NASM National Air and Space Museum

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NBR Normalized Burn Ratio

NDAA National Defense Authorization Act

NDOP National Digital Orthoimagery Program
241 Acronyms

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NE Office of Nuclear Energy

NEFSC Northeast Fisheries Science Center

NEK Nezemnyy Eksperimental’nyy Kompleks

NEN Near Earth Network

NEO near-Earth object

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

NERSC National Energy Research Supercomputing Center

NeXT Neutron/X-Ray Tomography

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System

Next-Gen OPIR Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared

NextSTEP Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships

NFS National Forest System

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

NGEE Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment

NGLAW Next Generation Land Attack Weapon

NGMS Northrop Grumman Mission Systems

NGO nongovernmental organization

NGSC Next Generation Strike Capability

NIAC NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

NISAR NASA–Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NLCD National Land Cover Database

NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service

NMNH National Museum of Natural History

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory

NOC National Operations Center

NP Office of Nuclear Physics

NPS National Park Service

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRC Canada National Research Council Canada

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRHO near-rectilinear halo orbit

NRI National Resources Inventory

NRL Naval Research Laboratory

NRO National Reconnaissance Office

NROL National Reconnaissance Office Launch

NRPP Natural Resources Preservation Project

NSF National Science Foundation

NSO National Solar Observatory

NSpC National Space Council

NSPO National Space Organization

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

NSS National Security Space

NSSL National Security Space Launch

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

NSW Navy Special Warfare

NSW-SAP National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan

NSWAP National Space Weather Action Plan

NSWP National Space Weather Program

NSWS National Space Weather Strategy

NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration

NTP Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
242Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

NWP numerical weather prediction

O

O3 third observational run

OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory

OCONUS Outside CONUS

OCS Outer Continental Shelf

OCSD Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration

OCX Operational Control System

ODNI Office of the Director of National Intelligence

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OEM Original Equipment Manufacturer

OES/SAT Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs/Office of Space and 

Advanced Technology

OFII Office of Finance and Insurance Industries

OFT Orbital Test Flight

OLI Operational Land Imager

OMS Orbital Micro Systems

OPP Office of Polar Programs

ORI orthorectified radar intensity image

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORR Operations Readiness Review

OSA Orion Stage Adapter

OSIRIS-REx Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer

OTAP On Time As Promised

OTM Office of Transportation and Machinery

P

P&E Plant and Equipment

P&P Products and Processes

PACE Plankton, Aerosol, Clouds, and ocean Ecosystem

PBN Performance Based Navigation

PBS Plum Brook Station

PEO Program Executive Office

PeV petaelectronvolt

PHY Division of Physics

PI Principal Investigator

PICASSO Planetary Instrument Concepts for the Advancement of Solar System Observations

PML Physical Measurement Laboratory 

PNT Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites

PONDS Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System

POR Program of Record

PPE Power and Propulsion Element

PPPL Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

PREEVENTS Prediction and Resilience against Extreme Events

PRISM Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model

PSD Planetary Science Division; production, supply, and distribution

PTES Protected Tactical Enterprise Service

PTS Protected Tactical SATCOM

Pu plutonium

PUFFER Pop-Up Flat-Folding Explorer Robot
243 Acronyms

Q

QAQC quality assurance and quality control

QueSST Quiet SuperSonic Technology R

RAWS Remote Automated Weather Station

RECOVER Rehabilitation Capability Convergence for Ecosystem Recovery

RF Radio Frequency

RFB Radio Frequency Beacon

RFI request for information

RFP request for proposals

RHIC Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

RMA Risk Management Agency

RMSE root mean square error

RNAV Area Navigation

RNP Required Navigation Performance

RO radio occultation

ROI Return on Investment

ROSES Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences

RPS Radioisotope Power Systems

RPT Rocket Propulsion Testing

RR Rodent Research

RSCC Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee

RSLP Rocket Systems Launch Program

RSTA Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition

RTK Real Time Kinematic

RTK GPS Real-Time Kinematic Global Positional System S

SABRS Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System

SAE Society of Automotive Engineers

SAM Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar

SATCOM Satellite Communications

SBEM Space Based Environmental Monitoring

SBIR Small Business Innovative Research

SBIRS Space Based Infrared System

SC Office of Science

SCALE Shared Cognitive Architectures for Long-term Exploration

SCaN Space Communications and Navigation

SCAN Soil Climate

SCLT Systems Capability Leadership Team

SCS Soil Conservation Service

SDB II Small Diameter Bomb II

SDI Space Data Integrator

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory

SEACS suitably equipped air capable ships

SEIS Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure

SEM Space Environment Monitor

SERB Space Experiments Review Board

SET Space Environment Testbeds
244Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

SFA Space Framework

SfM structure-from-motion

SFS Space and Flight Support

SFWMD South Florida Water Management District

SGSS Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment

S.H.E. Soaring Higher Explorers

SHIIVER Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation and Vibration Evaluation Rig

SI International System of Units

SIA Satellite Imagery Archive

SLPSRA Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications

SLS Space Launch System

SMAP Soil Moisture Active Passive

SMC Space and Missile Systems Center

SMD Science Mission Directorate

SMPAG Space Mission Planning Advisory Group

SN Space Network

SNF Superior National Forest

SNL Sandia National Laboratories

SNOTEL Snow Survey Telemetry

SNSPD superconducting nanowire single-photon detector

SO2 sulfur dioxide

SOC Space Optical Clock

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies

SPD Space Policy Directive; supersonic particle deposition

Spectrum Spectrum Multi-Fluorescence Spectral Imager

SPHEREx Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer

SPLICE Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution

SpRCO Space Rapid Capabilities Office

SPT South Pole Telescope

SPUD Small Polarimeter Upgrade for Degree Angular Scale Interferometer

SQUID superconducting quantum interference device

SSA Space Situational Awareness

SSAEM Space Situational Awareness Environmental Monitoring

SSDP Space Security and Defense Program

SSMIS Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder

SSN Space Surveillance Network

SSTI Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative

SSV Space Service Volume

STARS Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System

STDT Science and Technology Definition Team

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

STMD Space Technology Mission Directorate

STP Space Test Program

STR Solar-Terrestrial Research

STS Space Transportation System

STTR Small Business Technology Transfer

sUAS small Unmanned Aerial Systems

Suomi NPP Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership

SURF Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility

SVC System Vicarious Calibration

SWARM-EX Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment

SWIM System Wide Information Management

SWORM Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation

SWR Space Weather Research

SwRI Southwest Research Institute
245 Acronyms

SWSH Space Weather, Security, and Hazards

SWxSA Space Weather Science Application

SynBio Space Synthetic Biology

T

TACTOM Tactical Tomahawk

TAMR Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement

TBFM Time Based Flow Management

TBO Trajectory Based Operations

TCC Tree Canopy Cover

TCL Technical Capability Level

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

TEMPO Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution

TES transition-edge sensor; Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

TFDM Terminal Flight Data Manager

TFMS Traffic Flow Management System

TFRSAC Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee

TGRS Tri-GNSS Radio occultation System

THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms

TIA Technology Investment Agreement

TLS terrestrial laser scanning

TM Thematic Mapper

TNMCorps The National Map Corps

TOI TESS Object of Interest

TOPEX Ocean Topography Experiment

TRACON terminal radar approach control

Tri-GNSS Tri-Global Navigation Satellite System

TRISH Translational Research Institute for Space Health

TRN terrain relative navigation

TSAS Terminal Sequencing and Spacing

TT&C telemetry, tracking, and communication

TTPs Tactics, Techniques and Procedures

U

UAG Users’ Advisory Group

UAS Unmanned Aircraft Systems; Unmanned Aerial Systems

UAS EXCOM UAS Executive Committee

UAS SSG UAS Senior Steering Group

UASSC Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standards Collaborative

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

ULA United Launch Alliance

ULI University Leadership Initiative

UN United Nations

UNGA UN General Assembly

UNOOSA UN Office for Outer Space Affairs

URT Underway Recovery Test

USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

USAF U.S. Air Force

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USFS U.S. Forest Service

USGS U.S. Geological Survey
246Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2019 Activities

USMC U.S. Marine Corps

USN U.S. Navy

USNDS U.S. Nuclear Detonation Detection System

UTM Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management

UV ultraviolet

UWMS Universal Waste Management System

UXR User Transfer Radiometer

V

VBI Visible Broadband Imager

VCLS Venture Class Launch Services

VERITAS Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System

VHF Very High Frequency

VIIRS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite

VISORS Virtual Super-resolution Optics with Reconfigurable Swarms

VLF Very Low Frequency

VMI Vegetation Mapping Inventory

VSWIR visible to shortwave-infrared

W

WAAS Wide Area Augmentation Service

WAOB World Agricultural Outlook Board

WASDE World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

WFC Wave Front Correction

WGS Wideband Global SATCOM

WIN Written Impact Narratives

WiPPL Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory

WRC World Radiocommunication Conference

WSF Weather System Follow-on

WSF-M WSF-Microwave

WSTF White Sands Test Facility

X

XVS eXternal Vision System

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