NP-2008-05-513-HQ

Aeronautics


and


Space Report


of the 


President


Fiscal Year 


2007 


Activities

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

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, 2006, 

through September 30, 2007. 
Table of ConTenTs 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1

Department of Defense 39

Federal Aviation Administration 43

Department of Commerce 49

Department of the Interior 73

Federal Communications Commission 85

U.S. Department of Agriculture 89

National Science Foundation 99

Department of State 105

Department of Energy 109

Smithsonian Institution 117

Appendices 125

A-1 U S Government Spacecraft Record 126

A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in 

Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond 127

B Successful Launches to Orbit on U S Launch Vehicles 128

C Human Space Flights 131

D-1A Space Activities of the U S Government—Historical Table of Budget Authority 

in Real Dollars 132

D-1B Space Activities of the U S Government—Historical Table of Budget Authority 

in Equivalent FY 2007 Dollars 133

D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget 134

D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget 135

Acronyms 137

F i s c a l Y e a r 2 0 0 7 A c t i v i t i e s 

1 

naTional aeronauTiCs 

and spaCe adminisTraTion 

NASA 

Exploration Systems Mission Directorate 

NASA’s Exploration Program develops capabilities to enable human space expeditions of increasing evolutionary scope and ambition. Beginning in low-Earth 

orbit (LEO), these expeditions will first support the International Space Station 

(ISS) and then expand to encompass missions that will take humankind back to 

the Moon and eventually to Mars and other destinations. During each stage of the 

exploration effort, the knowledge, technology, operational experience, and systems 

developed will provide a foundation for more extensive exploration activities. 

In FY07, through its programs and projects, the Exploration Systems Mission 

Directorate (ESMD) continued to build on the initial steps of this evolutionary 

process by leveraging flight-proven technologies and techniques of earlier human 

exploration efforts, including the ISS, Space Shuttle, and Apollo programs. The 

ESMD also further developed the planning, technology, and hardware to support 

the exploration effort and continued to plan and transition Agency assets in preparation for Space Shuttle retirement. 

Lunar Architecture Team 

In FY07, the ESMD further developed its lunar architecture (addressing 

how humans will live and work on the Moon) through the work of the Lunar 

Architecture Team (LAT), staffed by ESMD members along with other science, 

exploration, and technology experts from NASA Centers and Headquarters. 

Based on the architecture foundation established in the Exploration Systems 

Architecture Study (ESAS) completed in 2005, and the 180 lunar objectives and 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
2 six themes derived from NASA’s collaboration with 13 other space agencies, the 

ESMD commissioned the LAT to conduct an internal study of the lunar surface 

system architecture. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

During FY07, the LAT studied and evaluated six lunar surface system campaign 

options, assessing each architecture against numerous figures of merit, such as crew 

safety, mission success, cost, performance, schedule, and extensibility. From this, 

the LAT provided recommendations for exploration mission requirements, technology needs, and schedule. The mission requirements recommendations served as the 

basis for the ESMD Exploration Architecture Requirements Document (EARD) 

Level 1, signed in August 2007. 

In addition, based on LAT recommendations, the ESMD instituted changes that 

impacted the allocation and plans for ESMD investments. This included realigning 

the research and technology portfolio, placing focus on the near-term requirements 

for lunar missions. In addition, in conjunction with LAT requirements, the ESMD 

ensured the close coordination of technology investments with Constellation 

Program requirements for initial missions, providing an integrated technology 

match to requirements. 

Constellation Systems Division 

Constellation Program 

Orion (Crew Exploration Vehicle) and Ares (Launch Vehicles) 

Both the Orion and Ares projects made significant progress during FY07. 

This included the ongoing, on-schedule work to finalize Orion and Ares I 

design concepts. 

The Constellation Program’s development began with the successful comple

tion of the Systems Requirements Review (SRR) for the Constellation Program 

in November 2006, kicking off a “season of SRRs” for the Constellation ele

ments, including Orion, Ares I, Ground Operations, Mission Operations, and 

Extravehicular Activity Systems (EVA). The SRR serves as the initial phase of a 

formal process that ensures that project requirements are properly defined, imple

mented, and traceable, and that the hardware and software are designed and built 

to the authorized, baseline configuration requirements. This “season of SRRs” cul

minated in a Program Baseline Synchronization Review (PBS) in May 2007, which ­­­­
3 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 

Human Civilization Global Partnerships 

Scientific Knowledge Economic Expansion 

Exploration Preparation Public Engagement 

Figure 1. Six Themes Derived from Global Strategy Inputs 

integrated individual element SRR findings and paved the way for Systems Design 

Reviews (SDR). All Constellation projects now have baselined requirements and 

can move forward to the next design phase. 

As part of the normal systems engineering process, the baseline architecture for 

Orion and Ares I, as well as other Constellation Program elements, was continually refined as the program conducted key system-level and element-level trades 

and analyses to validate the design concepts against the requirements, and/or 

determine whether changes to the baseline design concepts were warranted. This 

activity initiated the project’s SDR phase in late FY07. 
4 Ground Operations Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

In FY07, the Constellation ground operations project (ground support for explo­

ration) developed a comprehensive set of requirements for ground operations and 

baselined a concept of operations around the Orion and Ares vehicles being devel­

oped at other NASA Centers. Reviewed thoroughly, the concept of operations ben­

efited from a Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Broad Agency Announcement, which 

solicited input and suggestions from industry to improve the new Constellation 

ground architecture. Four aerospace corporations with extensive operations experi­

ence responded with input and suggestions that were incorporated back into the 

concept of operations, refining ground processing approaches to improve efficiency 

and lower life-cycle cost. 

The Constellation Program stepped up efforts in FY07 to ensure that the facili­

ties and infrastructure would be in place to provide efficient and timely support 

to Ares and Orion vehicle development. The program began modifying existing 

structures at several locations to reuse key capabilities and lower facility start-up 

costs in support of exploration efforts. This included modifications of the Space 

Power Facility at Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Station, which will provide 

the largest facility in the world for spacecraft environmental testing under one roof. 

In addition, the Constellation Program began construction on a rocket engine test 

stand at Stennis Space Center, which will allow engineers to test the J-2X engine to 

provide power to both Orion and Ares in realistic space conditions, while perform­

ing a full-duration firing of almost 10 minutes. 

Another cooperative effort between the Constellation Program and the Space 

Florida Foundation began in FY07 with the modification of the Apollo-era 

operations and check-out facility at KSC. When complete, the modification will 

provide modern facilities for Orion integration, testing, and refurbishment. To add 

to this project, ongoing KSC Launch Pad 39B modifications included adding new 

lightning protection towers to support future Constellation flights, being careful 

not to impact the Space Shuttle Program’s ability to use the launch pad if needed. 

Finally, at the Army’s White Sands Missile Range, construction started to provide 

facilities for the Orion Launch Abort System’s (LAS) development and qualification 

testing. The LAS will protect the crew in the event of anomalies during the launch 

and flight. 
5 Acquisitions 

Constellation Program acquisition activity involves a strategy that includes a 

combination of sole source and full and open competition opportunities. The overall goal, however, is to maximize competition whenever possible, ensuring that a 

strong industrial base will be maintained across the Nation. 

In 2006, NASA awarded the Orion development contract to Lockheed Martin. 

During FY07, Lockheed Martin continued to make significant progress supporting 

Constellation Program milestones. Also in FY07, NASA awarded the sole source 

contracts related to the Ares I Reusable Solid Rocket Motor 1st Stage and J-2X 

Upper Stage Engine to ATK-Thiokol and to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, respectively. On August 28, 2007, after a full and open competition, NASA awarded 

to the Boeing Company the Ares I upper stage production contract to manufacture the NASA design for the upper stage. These awards mark a milestone in the 

Constellation Program. These awards, along with the proposed selection of the 

Ares Upper Stage Avionics contract in December 2007, complete all major hardware acquisitions for the Ares-Orion integrated stack elements. 

In addition to vehicle-related contracts, extravehicular activity-related acquisition activities commenced with the Constellation Space Suit System Request for 

Proposal (RFP) released in October 2007. Finally, the Ground Operations Project 

initiated procurement activities related to the lightning protection system for 

the launch pad and released an RFP for the construction of a new mobile launch 

platform. 

Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office (C3PO) FY07 Highlights 

Administered out of the C3PO, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

(COTS) project progressed toward the goal of demonstrating an orbital capability 

to the ISS to encourage a commercial market in ISS resupply. During FY07, five 

new entrepreneurial space companies with unfunded Space Act Agreements 

--Constellation Services International, PlanetSpace, SpaceDev, SpaceHab, and 

Transformational Space (t/Space)—joined the C3PO’s two current COTS partners 

with funded Space Act Agreements: Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) 

and Rocketplane Kistler (RpK). Funded partner SpaceX made considerable progress 

toward its goal of demonstrating an orbital capability by 2010 by manufacturing 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
6 flight hardware, conducting successful engine development testing, and successfully 

passing its initial ISS Safety Review. The other funded competitor, RpK, encountered 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

difficulty in its search for funding that was not resolved during FY07. 

Advanced Capabilities 

The ESMD’s Advanced Capabilities Division (ACD) develops and provides 

the type of critical products that reduce operational and technical risks for 

Constellation Systems projects. These products include high-priority technology 

needs for lunar exploration; risk mitigation related to astronaut health and performance using the ISS, free-flyers, and round-based laboratories; and lunar robotic 

missions to gather data relevant to future human missions. 

Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) 

The LPRP plans and executes robotic missions to the Moon to conduct research 

and prepare for future human exploration. Precursor activities include topographic 

mapping, mineral identification and mapping, and radiation and dust characteriza­

tion. Data from LPRP missions is critical to Constellation Systems’ efforts to return 

humans to the Moon by 2020 and will support astronaut safety, landing-site selec­

tion, and engineering requirements for lunar surface hardware. 

The first lunar robotic mission is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), 

which will provide detailed mapping for human landing site selection. A secondary 

payload, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), will 

provide additional data on lunar resources. 

In FY07, the LPRP completed the Critical Design Reviews for the Lunar LRO 

and the LCROSS. 

Human Research Program (HRP) 

The HRP investigates and mitigates the highest risks to astronaut health and 

performance in support of NASA’s exploration missions. The program’s primary 

goal is to develop and provide human health and performance countermeasures, 

knowledge, technologies, and tools that enable safe, reliable, and productive human 

space exploration. 
7 During FY07, the HRP: 

•	 Solicited	and	initiated	studies	aimed	at	more	accurately	understand­

ing the effect of space radiation dose rate on cancer risk, with the goal 

of allowing longer stays in space for exploration missions. The HRP 

also continued evaluating increased risk of carcinogenesis from space 

radiation exposure as a function of age, age at exposure, radiation 

quality, latency, and gender. 

•	 Delivered	 radiation	 design	 tools	 to	 the	 Government	 and	 industry	

that provided current best practices for evaluating spacecraft design 

for radiation exposure. These tools were used in Orion’s design 

cycles to assess the radiation protection provided by the vehicle for 

lunar missions. 

•	 Delivered	human	performance	data	that	will	significantly	affect	EVA	

suit design for lunar surface missions. The human performance data 

characterizes metabolic costs of a planetary suit related to suit weight, 

center of gravity, pressure, inertial mass, and biomechanics. This data 

is used to evaluate the new, surface EVA suit architectures, and it 

provides a testing methodology for new suit designs. One significant 

test evaluated the capability of a suited crew member to walk 10 km to 

perform a self-rescue in case of a rover failure. Results indicated that a 

10 km lunar traverse is possible. 

•	 Matured	several	medical	capabilities	to	higher	technology-readiness	

levels for space exploration missions, including rapidly deployed sensors that are used in monitoring health status during EVA, systems to 

make medical-grade water in space, systems to concentrate oxygen 

from cabin air instead of stored oxygen for ventilation, and information management tools to track the incidence of medical events 

during space flight missions. These technologies allow NASA to meet 

the required level of care standards for long-duration space exploration missions. 

•	 Initiated	 a	 suite	 of	 studies	 evaluating	 the	 human	 toxicity	 of	 longterm exposure to lunar dust and produced an inhalation standard to 

support lunar surface systems. Significantly, the program developed 

techniques to create lunar dust simulants with chemical and size distribution properties similar to actual lunar dust. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
8 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 Completed	two	important	investigations	on	the	ISS	related	to	space	

microbiology. The Surface, Water, and Air Biocharacterization 

(SWAB) experiment—A Comprehensive Characterization of 

Microorganisms and Allergens in Spacecraft Environment—evaluated 

improving microbial population monitoring on spacecraft. The 

microbe experiment (Effect of Space Flight on Microbial Gene 

Expression and Virulence) measured increased virulence of a common 

food-borne microbe, Salmonella, due to exposure to the space flight 

environment. 

•	 Conducted	investigations	on	the	ISS	and	on	Earth	aimed	at	evaluating	

factors related to crew performance degradation, which could lead to 

errors during critical mission operations. The investigations included 

sleep loss and circadian rhythm changes, medication side effects, and 

fatigue related to team cohesion. The program also tested a quick, 

effective method of assessing cognitive status using flight analogs. 

•	 Completed	 flight-testing	 of	 a	 compound	 to	 prevent	 renal	 stone	

formation. Factors leading to renal stone formation are present during 

space flight due to the resorption of bone minerals including calcium. 

Results indicate that the use of potassium citrate reduces the risk 

factors for renal stone formation. 

•	 Initiated	 a	 study	 on	 the	 ISS	 that	 tracks	 the	 status	 of	 nutritional	

markers such as vitamins and minerals. The study requires in-flight 

blood and urine samples. The first frozen samples have recently been 

returned from the ISS for analysis. 

Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) 

The ETDP develops new technologies that will enable NASA to conduct future 

human and robotic exploration missions and reduce mission risk and cost. The 

ETDP’s primary customers are the Constellation Program’s flight systems designers. 

The ETDP also works to reduce the risk of infusing new technologies into flight 

projects by maturing them to the level of demonstration in a relevant environment. 

The ETDP does this in time to support the Preliminary Design Review of a target 

flight system. The ETDP is maturing near-term technologies to enable the first 

flight of Orion in 2014 and developing long-lead technologies needed for the lunar 

exploration missions in 2020. 
9 During FY07, the ETDP: 

•	 Fabricated	a	prototype,	5-meter	diameter	ablative	heat	shield	for	the	

Orion crew exploration vehicle. 

•	 Tested	a	prototype	carbon	dioxide	and	moisture	removal	system	for	

the Orion crew exploration vehicle. 

•	 Demonstrated	11-to-1	throttling	of	a	prototype	liquid	hydrogen-liquid	

oxygen RL-10 rocket engine for the lunar lander descent stage. 

•	 Test-fired	a	liquid	oxygen-liquid	methane	rocket	engine	for	potential	

use on the lunar lander ascent stage. 

•	 Conducted	a	helicopter	flight	test	of	a	laser	sensor	for	detecting	and	

avoiding hazards during lunar landings. 

•	 Demonstrated	oxygen	production	from	simulated	lunar	regolith	in	the	

laboratory. The regolith was heated in the presence of hydrogen gas to 

produce water vapor, which was then split into hydrogen and oxygen 

using electrolysis. 

•	 Launched	and	tested	a	lab-on-a-chip	instrument	for	detecting	harm

ful bacteria on the ISS. 

­

•	 Discovered	a	new	fluid	behavior	in	microgravity	using	the	Capillary	

Flow Experiment on the ISS. 

•	 Launched	the	Smoke	and	Aerosol	Measurement	Experiment	(SAME)	

to the ISS and conducted experiments to measure the size of smoke 

particles in microgravity. 

•	 Demonstrated	a	hydrogen-air	fuel	cell	power	system	for	a	lunar	rover	

that can carry large payloads over rough terrain. 

•	 Fabricated	a	proof-of-concept	inflatable	habitat	for	the	lunar	outpost.

•	 Developed	a	lithium-ion	battery	for	powering	a	spacesuit	portable	life	

support system and demonstrated the battery in field tests. 

•	 Developed,	in	collaboration	with	the	Department	of	Energy	(DOE)	

and industry partners, a conceptual design for an affordable, 40-kilowatt fission surface power system to provide power for the lunar 

outpost. 

•	 Demonstrated	an	advanced	video	guidance	sensor	for	automated	rendezvous and docking operations on the Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency (DARPA) Orbital Express mission. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
10	t 

Transition Activity 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presiden

NASA defines “transition” as the cross-cutting activities associated with com­

pleting the Space Shuttle Program and the beginning of exploration activities. It 

involves the careful planning and responsive disposition of personnel, processes, 

resources, and real and personal property. It focuses on leveraging existing Shuttle 

and ISS assets for the Exploration programs’ safety and mission success. Successful 

transition is critical to the future of the Exploration programs’ success. 

NASA’s accomplishments in supporting transition during FY07 began in 

November of 2006 with the publishing of the Human Space Flight Transition Plan, 

which describes the Agency’s transition approach to safely fly out the Space Shuttle 

Program, completing the ISS, and developing the Constellation Program. Both the 

Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) and ESMD approach transition 

tasks in a measured and disciplined manner. As such, both Directorates and the 

Constellation Program accomplished the following during FY07: 

•	 Began a revision of the NASA Transition Plan and refined the MultiProgram Integrated Milestones chart that captures all major NASA 

developmental and operational milestones through 2020. 

•	 Used a previously defined board and governance structure, such as the 

Transition Control Board and the Joint Integrated Control Board, to 

make substantial transition progress in the areas of Human Capital 

Planning, instilling project management discipline, and proceeding 

with Constellation Development. 

•	 Worked a concerted effort to share the workforce between multiple 

programs, enabling people to build cross-over skills and personal connections to the future workforce, in a process called workforce synergy, 

or the sharing of skilled personnel among two or more programs. In 

addition, human resources professionals from Headquarters and the 

four major space flight Centers formed a working group to coordinate 

activities, share best practices and lessons learned, and to interact 

with the contractor community. 

•	 The Office of Human Capital Management also initiated a Shuttle-toConstellation Workforce mapping initiative to identify critical skills 

existing in the current program and what the level and need for those 

skills will be on future programs. The first phase, focused on civil 

service employees, was completed in September 2007. A follow-on 
1 1 effort was performed in conjunction with the contractor community 

in December 2007. 

•	 Conducted a second Space Shuttle Program workforce survey, in 

addition to quarterly transition updates, that were supplied to Shuttle 

Project managers and Center management. 

•	 Created transition-related Web sites that included policy documents, 

points of contact for transition-related inquiries, and links to most of 

the Agency’s transition activities. 

•	 Conducted a series of meetings with affected Centers to discuss transition manager plans and their progress on the receiving end of the 

transition process. This facilitated open communication and involved 

the workforce in developmental planning activities. 

•	 Injected more discipline into program management processes that 

govern transition and retirement activities consistent with the intent 

of NASA’s Program Management document, NASA Procedural 

Requirement (NPR) 7120.5. Specifically, developed a preliminary 

schedule for Space Shuttle Program asset disposition based on the 

budgeted manifest along with a set of transition metrics to maintain 

cognizance and influence on progress at both the Mission Directorate 

and Agency levels. 

•	 Assisted the Agency in creating detailed planning guidance for the 

FY09 budget planning cycle that specifically focused on workforce 

and property disposition. This helped to identify major cost drivers 

to transition and retirement, and initiated a requirements refinement 

exercise to reduce projected costs, streamline processes, and optimize 

the life-cycle costs for transition and retirement. NASA also revalidated the ISS Shuttle Transition and Retirement (STaR) budget. 

•	 Through the Human Space Flight Capabilities forum, reviewed 

and evaluated the range of human space flight capabilities affected 

by Shuttle retirement, identified stranded capabilities and overlapping requirements, and provided insight to Agency management for 

realignment of institutional capabilities. 

Space Operations Missions Directorate 

The Space Shuttle has supported the Nation’s space exploration programs 

for more than 26 years, carrying crews and cargo to LEO; performing repair, 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
12 recovery, and maintenance missions on orbiting satellites; providing a platform 

for conducting science experiments; and supporting construction of the ISS. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Mission success continued to depend on a commitment to safety through engineering excellence, maintaining realistic flight schedules, and fostering a culture 

that encourages an informed and open discussion of risks and benefits. Those 

traits will continue to characterize NASA’s management of the Space Shuttle 

through the last flight in 2010. 

The Space Shuttle Program provided direct benefits to the Nation by advancing 

national security and economic interests in space, as well as spurring technology 

development in critical areas such as navigation, computing, materials, and 

communications. Furthermore, due to its heavy-lift capacity, the Space Shuttle 

continued as the only vehicle capable of completing ISS assembly in a manner 

consistent with NASA’s international partnership commitments and exploration 

research needs. The remaining Shuttle flights will be dedicated to ISS construction 

and a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. 

Assembly of the ISS continued in FY07 with the addition of the P5, S3/S4, and 

S5 truss segments. Eleven of the twelve truss segments and three of the four U.S. 

solar arrays are now on-orbit. At the end of FY07, ISS assembly became approxi­

mately 57 percent complete with about 250 tons on orbit. Overall, ISS systems performance remained excellent. Permanent power and thermal control systems were 

activated in FY07 and are operating as designed. The U.S. Oxygen Generation 

System, part of the Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System, 

was also activated and is performing nominally. During 2007, astronauts conducted 

a total of 20 spacewalks for ISS maintenance, science, and assembly, as well as 

research on 35 experiments, bringing the total number of experiments conducted 

on the ISS to 115. 

On November 2, 2006, NASA celebrated six years of continuous, onboard 

human presence on the ISS. In that timeframe, the ISS grew to a state-of-the-art 

laboratory complex and technology test bed. During more than 2,190 consecutive 

days, ISS crews conducted research and experiments related to areas such as human 

life and medical sciences, materials and microgravity sciences, Earth observations, 

plant growth, and technology development. For example, knowledge gained by 

research and experiments in human health while exposed for long durations in a 
13 microgravity environment not only helps current crews but also provides greater 

capability to send humans on longer missions to farther locations. During the first 

six years of continuous presence, 129 people from 13 countries visited the ISS, with 

37 of those visitors living aboard as members of the 15 expedition crews. 

The Space Shuttle flew three successful missions during FY07. The Space Shuttle 

continues to demonstrate new technology and capabilities on nearly every flight, 

and the first flight of the year, STS-116 (December 2006), was no exception. The 

first night launch of a Space Shuttle since 2002, Discovery’s mission to the ISS was 

the first flight of one main engine with the Advanced Health Monitoring System, 

an upgrade package that allows the main engines to safely shutdown in the event of 

an anomaly. STS-116 continued ISS assembly with the installation of the P5 truss 

segment. STS-116 also reconfigured ISS power and thermal control systems into its 

permanent form. As planned, the docked mission also retracted half of the P6 solar 

array. The retraction was more complicated than originally thought due to grommets snagging the guide wires. A spacewalk was needed to clear the array panels 

and assist with the retraction. During these activities, astronaut Robert Curbeam 

set an EVA record for a single Space Shuttle mission with four EVAs totaling more 

than 25 hours. STS-116 also transported U.S. astronaut Sunita Williams to the ISS 

as a replacement for European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter. Williams 

joined her Expedition 14 crewmates, Russian Commander Mikhail Tyurin and 

American Flight Engineer Michael Lopez-Alegria, already aboard the ISS. 

An intense hailstorm struck the Space Shuttle Atlantis stack as it awaited launch 

in February 2007, causing extensive damage to the insulating foam on the top of 

the external tank. This damage led NASA to roll Atlantis back into the cavernous 

Vehicle Assembly Building for repairs to the tank. During the next few months, 

engineers and technicians leveraged the new tools and techniques developed during the previous three years to assess, analyze, and repair more than 6,000 individual areas of foam damage. These repairs proved very successful, and STS-117 

launched in June 2007 without incident. 

STS-117 installed the S3/S4 truss segment and deployed its solar arrays and 

photovoltaic radiators. This is the third of four sets of solar arrays to arrive on 

orbit. During the mission, the second half of the P6 solar array was retracted 

in preparation for its relocation during STS-120 (ISS 10A). However, while the 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
14 Space Shuttle was docked to the ISS, three redundant Russian Service Module 

computers suddenly went offline. Loss of these computers could have affected 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

ISS attitude control through the use of Russian thrusters; environmental control 

through operation of Elektron oxygen generation and Vozdukh carbon dioxide 

removal systems; thermal control through Service Module external cooling loops; 

and Soyuz return vehicle power. Close cooperation between U.S., Russian, and 

European experts enabled quick resolution of the computer problems and a return 

to normal ISS operations. 

STS-117 also transported U.S. astronaut Clay Anderson to the ISS and returned 

crewmember Sunita Williams. During her stay on the ISS, Williams set records 

for the longest duration spaceflight by a woman (195 days) and for the most time 

outside a spacecraft by a woman (29 hours and 17 minutes). 

During a spacewalk on July 23, Clay Anderson jettisoned the Early Ammonia 

Servicer (EAS) from the ISS. The EAS was no longer needed on the ISS; its safe 

lifetime was expiring, and there was no safe way to return the EAS to the ground or 

continue storage on the ISS exterior. Weighing 1,410 pounds and about the size of a 

refrigerator, there is a one in about 4,630 chance of human casualty when the EAS 

reenters the atmosphere likely sometime in 2008. The Space Control Squadron (1 

SPCS) of the U.S. Air Force Space Command, inside Cheyenne Mountain Air 

Force Station in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is tracking the object and will pro­

vide notification to the appropriate agencies when reentry is imminent. 

The last Space Shuttle mission of FY07, STS-118, launched without incident 

in August 2007. STS-118 was also notable for a number of firsts: first flight of the 

Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System (which allows the ISS to feed electricity to 

a docked Space Shuttle and extend the mission duration; 1,186 kWh of electricity 

was transferred during STS-118), first flight of a new Global Positioning System 

avionics package, and first flight of the Advanced Health Monitoring System on 

all three main engines. STS-118 also featured the first flight of astronaut Barbara 

Morgan, a mission specialist and teacher who was also Christa McAuliffe’s backup 

at the time of the Challenger accident in January 1986. The primary mission objec­

tives were all completed, including continued preparations for the P6 truss reloca­

tion, replacement of the Russian Service Module computers, and transfer of 14,740 

pounds of equipment and supplies to the ISS. 
15 Damage was found on an insulating tile underneath Discovery (likely caused 

by a small piece of foam coming off the external tank during ascent), but NASA 

determined that the damage did not warrant the risks of an on-orbit repair. Just as 

weather played a role in delaying the launch of STS-117, STS-118 safely landed a 

day earlier than planned to avoid the consequences of Hurricane Dean in the Gulf 

of Mexico. 

In April, Expedition 15 crewmembers Russian Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin 

and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov were launched to the ISS on Soyuz TMA-10 

14S and replaced Mikhail Tyurin and Michael Lopez-Alegria. Sunita Williams 

remained on board as part of Expedition 15. In June, Yurchikhin and Kotov conducted two spacewalks, completing the mounting of 17 conformal panels on the 

Russian Service Module. These panels provide additional micrometeroid and orbit 

debris protection for the Russian Segment, partially mitigating one of the top risks 

to the ISS. 

The Agency’s Russian partners continued supporting crew and cargo transportation to the ISS. During FY07, automated Russian Progress vehicles resupplied the 

ISS crew four times, and Russian Soyuz vehicles safely transported the ISS crew 

to and from the ISS. Each resupply vehicle contained several thousand pounds of 

food, fuel, oxygen, experiment hardware, spare parts, and other supplies. In 2007, 

NASA and Roscosmos extended the crew-cargo contract through 2011. This cooperation will enable continuous uninterrupted crew presence to be maintained on 

the ISS through assembly complete and into the early stages of full ISS research 

mission operations. 

During FY07, the ISS initiated 25 new experiments and continued 26 experiments, including the Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition), which became the 

most comprehensive in-flight NASA study to date of human physiologic changes 

during long-duration space flight. This study will impact both the definition of 

nutritional requirements and development of food systems for future space exploration missions to the Moon and Mars. Three initiated experiments, the Threshold 

Acceleration of Gravisensing (Gravi), the Optimization of Root Zone Substrates 

(ORZS) and the Analysis of a Novel Sensory Mechanism in Root Phototropism 

(Tropi), will develop plant growth models to support long-duration transits to Mars. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
16 Through the end of FY07, approximately 778 hours of combined crew time were 

dedicated to research. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

KSC received several International Partner elements for launch processing. 

On March 12, 2007, the Japanese Experiments Module - Pressurized Section 

(JEM-PS) arrived at KSC. JEM-PS will be launched on ISS Flight 1J/A (STS-123) 

and installed temporarily on top of Node 2 Harmony. The module will later be 

relocated to its permanent home on top of Kibo Laboratory’s Japanese Experiment 

Module - Pressurized Module (JEM-PM). JEM-PS will provide support and storage 

for research facilities and experiments. 

The Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) JEM Remote 

Manipulator System (RMS) arrived at KSC on January 15, 2007. The RMS is being 

prepared for launch along with Kibo JEM-PM on ISS Flight 1J (STS-124). This 

robotic manipulator will allow remote access and handling of experiments exposed 

directly to the space environment on JEM’s External Facility. 

The Canadian Space Agency’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator or 

“Dextre” arrived at KSC on June 19, 2007. Dextre will be launched on ISS Flight 

1J/A (STS-123). This two-armed robotic manipulator will enhance current Space 

Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) capabilities for ISS maintenance 

and servicing and reduce crew spacewalk requirements. 

On July 27, 2007, the final U.S. pressurized element planned for ISS, Node 3, 

completed development and test. This element, similar to Node 2 Harmony, was 

built by Alcatel Alenia Space-Italia (AASI) and remains in storage at AASI. 

Node 3 will be shipped to KSC in July 2009 for launch on ISS Flight 20A in 

2010. At the end of FY07, ISS development is substantially complete. 

As the Space Shuttle’s retirement in FY10 approaches, the program faces two 

main challenges. First, NASA must maintain the skilled workforce and critical assets 

needed to safely complete the Shuttle manifest. Second, NASA must manage the 

process of identifying, transitioning, and dispositioning the resources that support 

the Shuttle in anticipation of the Shuttle’s retirement. The Shuttle transition and 

phase-out effort will be complex and challenging, occurring at the same time as the 

Shuttle is set to carry out the most complicated sequence of flights ever attempted-­

carrying tons of hardware to the ISS, where astronauts and cosmonauts will conduct 

a number of spacewalks to assemble and maintain the orbiting facility. 
17 The Space Shuttle Program occupies 654 facilities and uses more than 900,000 

pieces of equipment. The replacement cost is more than $12 billion and located in 

hundreds of Government and contractor facilities across the United States. The 

net book value of Shuttle equipment is $948 million. The total facilities cost is 

approximately $5.7 billion, which accounts for approximately one-fourth of the 

value of the Agency’s total property, plant, and equipment. NASA currently has 

more than 1,200 suppliers located across the country. Retiring these assets and 

facilities, or transitioning them to new human exploration efforts, remained a formidable challenge. NASA established a number of working groups and control 

boards to monitor and control the transition process. These boards and processes 

manage and reduce the risks associated with Shuttle flight while transitioning from 

this spacecraft to other exploration vehicles. 

A number of significant transition and retirement activities took place in FY07. 

Rocket engine test stand A-1 at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, which 

the Space Shuttle Program used to conduct tests of the main engines, was turned 

over to the Constellation Program for J-2X engine use. At KSC in Florida, the 

Operations and Checkout Building and Firing Room 1 in the Launch Control 

Center were transferred to the Constellation Program for modifications to support 

Orion processing and launch activities. Completed during FY07, the Constellation 

Program refined its understanding of what Space Shuttle assets would be needed 

to support future programs through a series of System Requirements Reviews. The 

Constellation and Space Shuttle Programs continued to document their first and 

last need dates for facilities and capabilities to minimize gaps and produce the best 

value from the Nation’s investments in exploration. Also, in FY07 there was an 

increase in the number of contractors and civil servants sharing time between the 

Space Shuttle, ISS, and Constellation Programs. This kind of workforce sharing 

is vital for maintaining critical skills and migrating the expertise and experience 

from existing programs to NASA’s future exploration missions. 

NASA’s COTS projects, directed from the C3PO at the Johnson Space Center, 

made considerable progress toward the goal of encouraging the demonstration of 

an orbital capability to the ISS. In FY07, five new entrepreneurial space companies with unfunded Space Act Agreements joined C3PO’s two COTS partners 

with funded Space Act Agreements—SpaceX and RpK. These companies were 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
18 Constellation Services International, PlanetSpace, SpaceDev, SpaceHab, and t/ 

Space. One of the funded partners, SpaceX, made considerable progress toward 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

its goal of demonstrating an orbital capability by 2010 by manufacturing flight 

hardware, conducting successful engine development testing, and successfully 

passing the initial ISS safety review. NASA plans to purchase cargo delivery services competitively from these or other commercial companies to fill the ISS cargo 

requirements gap. 

During FY07, Space Communications provided high-proficiency services via 

the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system network, the Near Earth 

Network, the Deep Space Network, and the NASA Integrated Services Network 

(NISN) to all NASA missions and a number of other national missions. Notable 

missions included the Shuttle and the ISS; the Hubble Space Telescope; such 

Earth-observing satellites as Aqua and Aura; and the Mars Exploration Rovers 

and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Communications services also were provided to 

launch vehicles including Sea Launch and the Atlas. 

The Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) office completed the cen­

tralization of all NASA space communications activities within the SOMD. SCaN 

now oversees the total Agency space communications infrastructure as a single 

entity, as contrasted with the distributed oversight of the past several years. 

The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 directed the Agency to “develop a plan 

. . . for updating NASA’s space communications architecture for both low-Earth 

orbital operations and deep space exploration so that it is capable of meeting 

NASA’s needs over the next 20 years.” NASA delivered the report to Congress during the summer of 2007. It outlined key SCaN program goals based on the Agency’s 

strategic plan. The report addressed potential major upgrades and development 

activities during the next 20 years to support the Vision for Space Exploration, as 

well as missions in near-Earth orbit. 

During FY07, NASA initiated the acquisition of two replenishment TDRS sys­

tem satellites, in partnership with other U.S. Government agencies. 

Radio spectrum management remained an important focus in FY07 to ensure 

success of all NASA aeronautical and astronautics missions. NASA worked with 

U.S. Government agencies to ensure adoption of NASA’s interests at the 2007 

World Radiocommunication Conference. 
19 NASA also continued dialogue with several other spacefaring countries to 

ensure space communications interoperability and radio spectrum-free operations 

for future lunar/Mars missions. 

The SOMD Launch Services Program (LSP) successfully managed the 

launches of five missions on expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) during FY07. 

Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), Time History of Events and 

Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS), Phoenix, and Dawn were 

launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Aeronomy of Ice in the 

Mesosphere (AIM) launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. A twoyear mission that will provide a unique and revolutionary view of the Sun-Earth 

System, the STEREO, launched aboard a Delta II rocket on October 25, 2006. 

The third mission in NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Probes Program, the STEREO, is 

tracing the flow of energy and matter from the Sun to Earth. Taking multitasking 

to new heights, NASA launched the five THEMIS satellites aboard a single Delta II 

rocket on February 27, 2007. NASA took on this mission to investigate what causes 

auroras in Earth’s atmosphere to change in appearance and dissipate. Phoenix, a 

Mars Lander, also launched aboard a Delta II rocket on August 4 and will face a 

challenging seven-minute descent through the Mars atmosphere to land on the 

far northern face on May 25, 2008. After landing, it will use a robotic digging 

arm and other instruments during a three-month period to investigate whether 

the icy soil of the Martian arctic could have ever been a favorable environment 

for microbial life. On September 28, Dawn launched on a Delta II heavy rocket 

to study a pair of very different asteroids, Vesta and Ceres, that never grew large 

enough to become planets. By observing both minor planets with the same set of 

instruments, Dawn will provide new answers to questions about the formation and 

evolution of the early solar system. The AIM mission embarked on a Pegasus 

XL Rocket on April 25, and it is the first mission dedicated to the exploration of 

mysterious ice clouds that dot the edge of space in Earth’s polar regions. For all 

of these missions, NASA competitively procured launch services from domestic 

commercial companies. 

In a continuing effort to encourage emerging commercial launch service providers 

to provide significant cost savings to the science and exploration community, 

the LSP completed an Agency strategic review of medium ELV options. The 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
20 recommendation accepted by the Agency gave significant attention to enabling 

emerging launch services providers to become certified for NASA use. The LSP 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

also coordinated an Agency review of NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 8610.7, Risk 

Mitigation Policy for NASA-Owned and/or NASA-Sponsored Payloads/Missions, 

to evaluate the feasibility of changes to Agency policy that would enable the use 

of emerging launch service providers sooner. In 2007, the Rocket Propulsion Test 

(RPT) Program continued to provide a common entry point for RPT customers, 

including NASA, industry, the Department of Defense (DOD), other Government 

agencies, and academia. The RPT Program has worked to develop and coordinate 

RPT activities to support Constellation rocket propulsion testing milestones 

by providing an Agency-level RPT Plan to prioritize and implement facility 

maintenance and modernization projects to ensure the continued safe and reliable 

operation of test facilities and associated infrastructure/systems. 

Science Mission Directorate 

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) successfully launched four new 

space science missions designed to improve our understanding of solar processes, 

Earth, and the history of the solar system: • The THEMIS mission successfully launched on February 17, 2007. 

THEMIS became NASA’s first five-satellite mission launched aboard 

a single rocket. The mission will help resolve the mystery of what triggers geomagnetic substorms, or atmospheric events, that appear in the 

Northern Hemisphere as a sudden brightening of the Northern Lights 

(Aurora Borealis). The findings from the mission may help protect 

commercial satellites and humans in space from the adverse effects of 

particle radiation. THEMIS’ satellite constellation lined up along the 

Sun-Earth line and began collecting coordinated measurements and 

observing substorms. Data collected from the five identical probes will 

help pinpoint where and when substorms begin, a feat impossible with 

any previous single-satellite mission. 

• The AIM mission launched on April 25, 2007. This became the first 

mission dedicated to the exploration of mysterious ice clouds that dot 

the edge of space in Earth’s polar regions. The mission will study noctilucent clouds, which appear visible from the ground only at night 

when sunlight no longer visible from Earth’s surface illuminates them. 
21 AIM observed the first of these noctilucent clouds on May 25, 2007, 

nearly 2 weeks before they were visible to observers on the ground. 

• The Phoenix mission to Mars blasted off on August 4, 2007, aiming 

for a May 25, 2008, arrival at the Red Planet for a close-up examination of the surface of the northern polar region. Phoenix will be the 

first mission to touch water-ice on Mars. Its robotic arm will dig to 

an icy layer believed to lie just beneath the surface. The mission will 

study the history of the water in the ice, monitor the weather of the 

polar region, and investigate whether the subsurface environment in 

the far-northern plains of Mars has ever been favorable for sustaining 

microbial life. 

• The Dawn spacecraft began its 1.7 billion-mile journey through the 

inner solar system to study a pair of asteroids on September 27, 2007. 

Dawn will begin its exploration of Vesta in 2011 and Ceres in 2015. 

The two icons of the asteroid belt are located in orbit between Mars and 

Jupiter, and they have witnessed much of the solar system’s history. 

NASA and university scientists made substantial progress understanding the 

processes governing ice sheets and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. A 

team of NASA and university scientists found clear evidence that extensive areas 

of snow melted in west Antarctica in January 2005 in response to warm temperatures. This was the first widespread Antarctic melting ever detected with NASA’s 

QuikScat satellite and the most significant melt observed using satellites during 

the past three decades. The affected regions encompassed a combined area as big 

as California. Changes in the ice mass of Antarctica, Earth’s largest freshwater 

reservoir, are important to understanding global sea-level rise. Large amounts of 

Antarctic freshwater flowing into the ocean also could affect ocean salinity, currents, and global climate. The 2005 melt created an extensive ice layer when water 

refroze after the melt. However, the surface melt was not prolonged enough for the 

melt water to flow into the sea. 

In another study, scientists using NASA satellites discovered an extensive 

network of waterways beneath a fast-moving Antarctic ice stream; the discovery 

provides clues as to how “leaks” in the waterway network impact sea level and the 

world’s largest ice sheet. This exciting discovery of large lakes exchanging water 

under the ice sheet surface radically altered scientists’ view of what is happening at 

the base of the ice sheet and how ice moves in that environment. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
22 In 2005, scientists found that the Arctic replaced very little of the thick sea 

ice it normally loses and replenishes each year. In 2005--from another NASA 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

study--replenishment of this thick, perennial sea ice each year remains essential 

to the maintenance and stability of the Arctic summer ice cover. Using satellite 

data from NASA’s QuikScat and other data, scientists studied six annual cycles of 

Arctic perennial ice coverage from 2000 to 2006. The scatterometer instrument on 

QuikScat sent radar pulses to the surface of the ice and measured the echoed radar 

pulses bounced back to the satellite. These measurements allowed scientists to differentiate the seasonal ice from the older, perennial ice. The scientists found that 

after the 2005 summer melt, only about four percent of the nearly 965,000 square 

miles of thin, seasonal ice that formed the previous winter survived the summer 

and replenished the perennial ice cover. This was the smallest replenishment seen 

in the study. As a result, perennial ice coverage in January 2006 decreased about 

14 percent from January 2005. 

NASA satellite data helped scientists solve a decades-old puzzle about how vast 

blooms of microscopic plants can form in the middle of otherwise barren midocean regions. The research team published findings in May that used the data to 

show that episodic, swirling current systems (known as eddies) can act to pump 

nutrients up from the deep ocean to fuel such blooms. Data sets came from NASA’s 

TOPEX/Poseidon, Jason, Aqua, and QuikScat satellites. The fate of all this biomass 

becomes important because plankton blooms can remove substantial amounts of 

carbon dioxide from surface waters and sink the carbon dioxide into the deep 

oceans. The plants can die and sink when the bloom runs its course, or animals 

consume them, producing fecal pellets that drop to the sea floor. 

In July 2007, NASA’s Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling 

(TC4) field campaign began in San Jose, Costa Rica, with an investigation into 

how chemical compounds in the air get transported vertically into the stratosphere 

and how vertical transport affects cloud formation and climate. The campaign 

became an unprecedented opportunity to use NASA’s complete suite of satellite 

and airborne Earth-observing capabilities to investigate a largely unexplored region 

of the atmosphere. A NASA ER-2 aircraft soared high above the cloud systems, 

which can reach an altitude of 70,000 feet, or three miles into the stratosphere. A 

NASA WB-57 aircraft flew into the cirrus clouds, measured cloud properties, and 
23 sampled the chemical make-up of the storm systems’ outflow. NASA’s DC-8 aircraft 

probed the troposphere and the region between the troposphere and stratosphere 

(the tropopause transitional layer) with remote-sensing and in situ instruments. 

The DC-8 sampled cloud particles and air chemistry at lower altitudes. NASA 

deployed weather radar and meteorological balloons in Panama to support the campaign. NASA launched additional balloons from Costa Rica and San Cristobal 

Island in the Galapagos Archipelago. Observations from seven satellites provided 

the observational framework for the aircraft measurements with large-scale views of 

many different features of the atmosphere. For example, the Aura spacecraft focused 

on the chemical composition of the tropopause transitional layer and measured 

ozone, water vapor, carbon monoxide, and particles. NASA’s Aqua satellite mapped 

thin cirrus clouds, some of which appear so faint that they are almost invisible 

to the naked eye. Instruments on the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites pierced 

the atmosphere to provide vertical profiles of clouds and aerosol particles that can 

control how clouds form. 

Using some of the first observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 

scientists were able to view both layers in exposed areas and minerals within those 

layers. This allows scientists to match mineralogy with topography and identify 

the most interesting areas for study by future landers and rovers. The most powerful telescopic camera ever sent to Mars began examining the planet last year and 

revealed these ancient patterns. The camera showed features as small as approximately three feet across. 

During 2007, after having explored Mars for 3.5 years in missions originally 

designed for three months, NASA’s Mars rovers faced perhaps their biggest challenge as severe storms blanketed the planet. The rovers faced dusty winds, power 

starvation, and other challenges; they survived. Now the rovers will continue their 

groundbreaking field work on Mars. 

NASA’s Spirit rover analyzed a patch of Martian soil so rich in silica that it may 

provide some of the strongest evidence yet that ancient Mars was much wetter 

than it is now. The processes that could have produced such a concentrated deposit 

of silica require the presence of water. The evidence also reinforced the fact that 

significant amounts of water were present in Mars’ past, which continues to spur 

the hope that Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
24 NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft came within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter on 

February 28, 2007, using the planet’s gravity to trim three years from the space-

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

craft’s travel time to Pluto. For several weeks before and after this closest approach, 

the piano-sized robotic probe trained its seven cameras and sensors on Jupiter and 

its four largest moons, storing data from nearly 700 observations on its digital 

recorders and gradually sending that information back to Earth. These new views 

included the closest look yet at the Earth-sized “Little Red Spot” storm churning 

materials through Jupiter’s cloud tops, detailed images of small satellites herding 

dust and boulders through Jupiter’s faint rings, and views of volcanic eruptions and 

circular grooves on the planet’s largest moons. 

In August, scientists from the Cassini-Huygens mission announced that they 

might have identified the source of one of Saturn’s more mysterious rings. Saturn’s 

rings are an enormous, complex structure, and their origin remains a mystery. The 

relatively large, icy particles that reside within a bright arc on the ring’s inner edge 

likely produced Saturn’s “G ring.” The plasma in the giant planet’s magnetic field 

sweeps through this arc continually, dragging out the fine particles, which create 

the G ring. The finding provides evidence of the complex interaction between 

Saturn’s moons, rings, and magnetosphere. One of the mission’s objectives focuses 

on studying this interaction. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project 

of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. 

Instruments on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft also found evidence for seas, likely 

filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high northern latitudes of Saturn’s 

moon Titan. Cassini viewed one such feature larger than any of the Great Lakes of 

North America and about the same size as several seas on Earth. Titan is the second 

largest moon in the solar system and about 50 percent larger than Earth’s Moon. 

NASA’s twin STEREO spacecraft made the first three-dimensional images of 

the Sun. The new view will greatly aid scientists in understanding solar physics 

and thereby improving space weather forecasting. STEREO’s depth perception also 

will help improve space weather forecasts. Scientists remain particularly concerned 

about a destructive type of solar eruption called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). 

CMEs cast large clouds of electrically charged gas, called plasma, into space from 

the Sun’s atmosphere. A CME cloud can contain billions of tons of plasma and 

move at one million miles per hour. 
25 In April, one of the STEREO satellites captured the first images of a collision 

between a comet and a solar hurricane caused by a CME. The collision resulted in 

the complete detachment of the plasma tail of Encke’s comet. Observations of the 

comet revealed the brightening of its tail as the coronal mass ejection swept by and 

the tail’s subsequent separation as it was carried away by the front of the ejection. 

A new technique using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) now 

enables scientists to forecast solar radiation storms, giving future astronauts traveling to the Moon and Mars time to seek shelter and ground controllers time to 

safeguard satellites. The new method, for the first time, offered as much as one hour 

of advance notice when a storm approaches. Spacecraft and satellites would also 

benefit. Subatomic particles striking computer processors and other electronics can 

cause on-board computers to suddenly reboot or issue nonsense commands. If a satellite operator knows about a coming storm, the craft can be placed in a protective 

“safe mode” until the storm passes. The SOHO project showcases international 

cooperation between the European Space Agency and NASA. 

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope announced in May 2007 

that they have discovered a ghostly ring of dark matter, which formed long ago 

during a titanic collision between two galaxy clusters. Dark matter makes up most 

of the universe’s material. Ordinary matter, which makes up stars and planets, 

comprises only a small percentage of the universe’s matter. The ring’s discovery 

was among the strongest evidence yet that dark matter exists. Astronomers have 

long suspected the existence of the invisible substance and theorized about it as the 

source of additional gravity that holds galaxy clusters together. Also using Hubble, 

an international team of astronomers created the first three-dimensional map of 

the large-scale distribution of dark matter in the universe. This new map provided 

the best evidence to date that normal matter, largely in the form of galaxies, accumulates along the densest concentrations of dark matter. 

The brightest stellar explosion ever recorded may be a long-sought new type of 

supernova, according to observations by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and 

ground-based optical telescopes. This discovery indicated that violent explosions 

of extremely massive stars were relatively common in the early universe, and a 

similar explosion may occur in this galaxy. Astronomers think that many of the 

first generation of stars became this massive, and this new supernova may provide 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
26 a rare glimpse of how these stars died. It is unprecedented, however, to find such a 

massive star and witness its death. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

In August 2007, NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer spotted a surprisingly long 

comet-like tail behind a star streaking through space at supersonic speeds. The star, 

named Mira after the Latin word for “wonderful,” has been a favorite of astronomers for approximately 400 years. It is a fast-moving, older red giant that sheds 

massive amounts of surface material. The space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer 

scanned the popular star during its ongoing survey of the entire sky in ultraviolet 

light. Astronomers then noticed what looked like a comet with a gargantuan tail. 

Material blowing off Mira forms a wake 13 light-years long, a wake about 20,000 

times the average distance of Pluto from the Sun. Nothing like this has been seen 

before around a star. 

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope captured the light, for the first time, from two 

known planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. The findings announced in 

March marked the beginning of a new age in planetary science, in which extrasolar 

planets can be directly measured and compared. Scientists indirectly discovered 

all confirmed extrasolar planets, including the two recently observed by Spitzer. 

Scientists mainly used the “wobble” technique to find these extrasolar planets and, 

more recently, the “transit” technique. In the first method, a planet is detected by 

the gravitational tug that it exerts on its parent star, which makes the star wobble. 

In the second, a planet’s presence is inferred when it passes in front of its star, caus­

ing the star to dim, or blink. Both strategies use visible-light telescopes and reveal 

the mass and size of planets. 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) remained committed to expanding the boundaries of aeronautical knowledge for the benefit of the 

Nation and the broad aeronautics community. The ARMD conducted cutting-edge 

research that included: 

•	 Foundational	research	across	a	number	of	core	competencies	that	sup­

ported aeronautics and space exploration activities. 

•	 Research	in	key	areas	related	to	the	development	of	advanced	aircraft	

technologies and systems, including those related to aircraft safety, 

environmental compatibility, and fuel efficiency. 
27 •	 Research	 that	 supported	 the	 Next	 Generation	 Air	 Transportation	

System (NextGen) in partnership with the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). 

The ARMD’s research plans directly supported the goal and objectives of the 

National Aeronautics Research and Development (R&D) Policy established by 

Presidential Executive Order 13419 in December 2006. The ARMD ensured that 

it aligned with the National Aeronautics R&D Policy by focusing on the following 

five strategic objectives: 

1.	 Conduct high-quality, cutting-edge research that benefits the constituents of the entire aeronautics community. 

2.	 Disseminate the results of all research to the widest practical and 

appropriate extent (consistent with national security and foreign policy). During FY07, the ARMD generated one book, 132 peer-reviewed 

journal articles, 11 NASA technical publications, 39 NASA technical memorandums, and 426 papers presented at technical conferences 

not requiring review. 

3.	 Pursue a coordinated approach to managing the Nation’s research, 

development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) infrastructure. In 

January 2007, the ARMD established the National Partnership for 

Aeronautics Testing. 

4.	 Foster intellectual partnerships with industry and academia by means 

of cooperative Space Act Agreements (SAA) and full and open competitive research awards that emphasize true collaborations among all 

partners by means of the NASA Research Announcements (NRA). 

In FY07, the ARMD received 625 proposals through the NRA process and selected 179 for negotiation of an award. The ARMD also 

established 23 SAAs. 

5.	 Establish strong partnerships with other Government agencies and 

organizations, especially the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 

DOD, and the JPDO. In FY07, the ARMD established a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Army. In addition, the ARMD 

continued its strong participation with the USAF and with its partner 

Federal agencies in the JPDO. 

As a member Agency of the JPDO, NASA, along with its partner agencies, 

worked on solutions that will mitigate the forecasted increase in air traffic demand 

during the next two decades, ranging from a factor of two to three, by 2025.1 The 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
28 JPDO predicted that noise and emissions will become a bigger problem at airports 

and already constrain the growth of the air transportation system. The JPDO 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

anticipates that emissions will also become a problem en route.2 

NASA successfully flight tested one potential solution, the Blended Wing-Body 

(BWB), in partnership with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and Boeing 

Phantomworks, at the Dryden Flight Research Center. The BWB is a hybrid aircraft configuration combining the best attributes of a conventional tube-and-wing 

aircraft with a flying wing. Potentially, if optimized for noise, a BWB could achieve a 

52 decibel cumulative reduction below Stage III standards;3 or alternatively, reduce 

nitrous oxide emissions by 80 percent over Committe on Aviation Environmental 

Protection (CAEP)/2 levels;4 or reduce fuel consumption by at least 40 percent; or 

most likely, some intermediate “global optimum.” 

Also, NASA and its partners continued to work together on powered lift con­

cepts to enable aircraft to operate from much shorter runways. Such aircraft could 

lead to better utilization of smaller airports and provide direct service to more 

communities. The BWB is one advanced aircraft configuration that might benefit 

from that research, and while the BWB concept may not be the ultimate solution, 

the concept represents the improvements possible in future aircraft. 

Theoretically, the BWB should be more stable than a pure flying wing, but less 

stable than a conventional aircraft with a prominent tail. Wind tunnel tests dem­

onstrated this, but until FY07, no realistic, properly scaled model of a BWB had 

ever been flown to test its true flying qualities. During this past year, the ARMD 

conducted several flight tests on an aerodynamically scaled, mass balanced BWB. 

Boeing Phantomworks and Cranfield Aerospace built the experimental aircraft, 

with a wingspan of 21 feet (8.5 percent of full scale). The flight tests explored the 

basic low-speed flying qualities of the BWB, including stability and control, and 

tested the onboard flight control system. The aircraft successfully flew under a wide 

range of flight conditions and has not shown any unsafe or anomalous behavior. 

The BWB represented a mutually beneficial partnership. Boeing Phantomworks 

supplied the test vehicle; NASA provided proven ground and flight test expertise; 

and the AFRL provided wind tunnel access for transonic stability and control 

tests, as well as contractual and project management support. Coupled with recent 
29 ground tests at NASA facilities, the ARMD established an extensive ground-toflight database that brings this concept closer to reality. 

In addition, the following describes and represents the technical accomplishments of the ARMD Programs during FY07. 

Aviation Safety Program 

The Aviation Safety Program built upon the unique safety-related research capabilities of NASA to develop tools, methods, and technologies that will improve the 

intrinsic safety attributes of current and future aircraft, as well as overcome aircraft 

safety technological barriers that would otherwise constrain the full realization of 

NextGen. 

The Aviation Safety Program consisted of four projects. The Integrated Vehicle 

Health Management (IVHM) project addressed the challenge of using a prognostic 

approach to vehicle health management, in particular the integration, processing, 

and effective use of large amounts of data across highly integrated and complex 

flight critical systems. The Aircraft Aging and Durability (AAD) project addressed 

the challenge of improving the operational resiliency of future structures and 

advanced materials against aging-related hazards. The Integrated Intelligent Flight 

Deck (IIFD) project conducted research to ensure the proper integration of the 

human operator in a highly automated and complex operational environment. 

The Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) project addressed the challenge 

of using advanced adaptive control concepts to prevent the loss-of-control of an 

aircraft in the event of an upset or off-nominal condition. 

During FY07, researchers in the AAD project assessed capabilities at NASA, 

other agencies, and the aerospace industry to establish a baseline for state-of-theart aircraft aging and durability technologies, refine the approach for subsequent 

research tasks, and initiate partnerships for collaborative research. For example, 

researchers evaluated existing and emerging methods for the analysis of damage 

progression on several materials systems, including integral lightweight metallic, 

high-temperature metallic, hybrid laminate, and polymer matrix composite materials. Further, they developed novel materials modeling approaches, mainly coupling 

molecular dynamics and continuum methods for metallic materials with variable 

fidelity methods for the development of progressive damage models in composite 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
30 materials. The assessment focused on in-house research and identified topics for 

partnerships through the NRA process. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The IVHM project conducted hardware-in-the-loop testing of selected fault 

modes for Electro-Mechanical Actuators (EMA) in collaboration with Moog, 

Inc. Measurements using actuator instrumentation showed distinguishable fault 

signatures between nominal and injected fault conditions. These signatures will be 

used to develop prognostic algorithms to predict remaining useful life while operating under degraded operations. By predicting remaining useful life of an EMA, a 

vehicle health management system can assist the vehicle to maintain safe opera­

tions, whether the EMA operates as designated or begins to exhibit characteristics 

of future failure. 

In addition, a silicon carbide (SiC) differential amplifier integrated circuit chip, 

fabricated and packaged for the IVHM propulsion systems activity, demonstrated 

2,000 hours (and still counting) of continuous electrical operation at 500° C. Prior 

to this work, such integrated circuit chips only operated at such high temperatures 

for a few hours before degrading or failing. These extremely durable transistors and 

packaging technologies will enable highly functional, but physically small, inte­

grated circuitry to be used for sensing and control electronics within harsh envi­

ronments such as hot-sections of jet engines as well as long-duration spacecraft. 

The IIFD project conducted initial experiments to measure the influence of 

vision-aiding technology on pilot performance while flying a critical phase of flight 

such as the final approach segment. The project began the definition for quantita­

tive, experimentally derived, performance-based criteria for all-weather Equivalent 

Visual Operations (EVO). Twenty-three pilots conducted approaches and landings 

in visibilities ranging from 2,400 feet down to 1,200 feet, with various simulated 

airport approach lighting systems. Subjective results indicated that vision-based 

displays offer improvements in situational awareness, workload, and approach and 

landing performance. Subsequent work will characterize the pilot’s awareness and 

reaction to the non-normal events that were introduced into the experiment. 

The IRAC project successfully tested a dynamic tool on the Airborne Subscale 

Transport Aircraft Research (AirSTAR) flight research testbed. The project 

intended AirSTAR to allow testing that appears too high risk for manned air­

craft, especially in off-nominal conditions that are critical for assessing safety 
31 concepts and technologies. The dynamic tool consisted of a parameter identifica

tion algorithm developed to learn and predict changes in aircraft dynamics and 

aerodynamic coefficients. Such dynamic tools will enable advanced flight control 

systems to automatically detect and adapt to off nominal situations such as a 

malfunctioning flight actuator or damaged control surface. 

­

Airspace Systems Program 

The main objective of the Airspace Systems Program directly addresses the 

fundamental air traffic management research needs of NextGen in collaboration with member agencies of the JPDO. The program consisted of two projects, 

NextGen-Airspace and NextGen-Airportal, and the ARMD expects each project 

to make major contributions to air traffic needs of the future by the development 

of en route, transitional, terminal, and surface capabilities. Both projects remain 

highly integrated, much like the airspace system itself, as they pay close attention to information management at critical transition interfaces in the national 

airspace system. 

The Airspace project developed an operational concept and procedural document, safety analysis, and simulation of oceanic in-trail procedures. The project also 

conducted human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation on very closely spaced parallel 

approaches addressing techniques for safely getting more and varied aircraft types 

into the terminal domain. In addition, the project developed an initial concept for 

Airspace Super Density Operations that met the multiple objectives of NextGen 

terminal airspace operations: significantly increased capacity, robustness to varied 

and chaotic weather conditions, reduced environmental impact, and coordination of arrival and departure operations to/from multiple proximate airports in a 

Metroplex.5 The project conducted initial assessments of core elements, including: 

closely spaced approach procedures, continuous descent arrival operations, 4D trajectory navigation, and delegated spacing function and dynamic routing to avoid 

adverse weather. This work provided an example of the close interplay between the 

Airspace and Airportal projects. Ongoing efforts directed at the integration of surface movement and airport planning functions will be closely coordinated between 

the Airspace and Airportal projects, leading toward a comprehensive assessment of 

proposed capabilities and potential benefits. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
32 To ensure wide dissemination of research results to the broad aeronautics com

­

munity, the Airspace project held its first Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

in March 2007, focusing on foundational research. This event included discussions 

about the project’s research thrust areas and technical presentations by the princi­

pal investigators for each of the 15 FY06 NRAs. More than 150 participants from 

NASA, the FAA, industry, and academia shared ideas across the research commu­

nity. Additionally, in February 2007, the project sponsored an international workshop on Dynamic Airspace Configuration with more than 65 participants from the 

U.S. and Europe including academia, industry, and government. This workshop 

addressed the challenges of migrating from the current structured, static homog­

enous airspace to a dynamic, heterogeneous airspace that adapts to user demand 

and meets changing constraints (weather, traffic congestion, diverse fleets). 

The Airportal project moved into implementation in May 2007 after completing 

reformulation. Whereas the Airspace project is aimed at the en route and approach 

airspace, the Airportal project develops and validates algorithms, concepts, and 

technologies to increase throughput of the runway complex and achieve high 

efficiency in the use of airportal resources, such as gates, taxiways, runways, and 

final-approach airspace. Since every airport has a unique environment and demand 

is not expected to increase equally at each airport as the system grows, the project 

will develop and evaluate a suite of capacity-increasing concepts and system analy­

sis capability to aid in tailoring solutions to specific needs. During FY07, the project 

identified key airport capacity constraint factors and ranked them according to 

airport demand forecasts as a basis for future research and study to accomplish this 

long-term goal. The project developed the initial Airportal operational concepts, 

including Airportal functions, requirements, and procedures to supplement the 

Airspace project’s definition of the initial concept for NextGen superdensity opera­

tions. Additionally, the Airspace and Airportal projects jointly selected three NRA 

proposals to conduct research on the characteristics and roles of a Metroplex. 

Fundamental Aeronautics Program 

The main goal of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program ensures the intellec­

tual stewardship of key core competencies of aeronautics for the Nation across all 

flight regimes. For this purpose, the Fundamental Aeronautics Program conducted 

long-term research focused and integrated across disciplines that provided feasible 
33 solutions to the performance and environmental challenges of future air vehicles. 

The program also pursued innovative research ideas and modeling techniques 

relevant to low-cost and reliable access to space, as well as the entry and descent 

phase of planetary exploration. The program pursued and developed technological 

capabilities that range from basic knowledge of underlying physical phenomena to 

the understanding of system-level interactions. 

The program was structured by flight regime and encompassed research in the 

four thrust areas of Subsonic Rotary Wing, Subsonic Fixed Wing, Supersonics, and 

Hypersonics. The Subsonic Fixed Wing project addressed the challenge of future 

aircraft to be quieter and cleaner to meet stringent noise and emissions regulations resulting from the expected growth in the air transportation system (two to 

three times higher capacity by 2025). These aircraft must also meet challenging 

performance requirements to provide greater efficiency and expanded service to 

the public. The Subsonic Rotary Wing project addressed the technical barriers 

that constrain rotorcraft from reaching widespread use in civil aviation. These 

barriers included improved range, speed, payload capacity, fuel efficiency, and environmental acceptance. The unique ability of rotorcraft to operate independent of 

a runway could greatly expand access to air travel. The Supersonics project conducted research to address the efficiency, environmental, and performance barriers 

that prevent practical supersonic cruise over land, as well as the critical issue of 

supersonic deceleration to enable safe, precision planetary entry/descent/landing 

(EDL) of human and large science missions in any atmosphere. Because all access 

to space and all entry from space through any planetary atmosphere requires hypersonic flight, the Hypersonics project addressed the key fundamental research issues 

required to facilitate hypersonic flight and reentry. Specifically, the Hypersonics 

project focused on air-breathing technologies for the first stage of a highly reusable 

two-stage-to-orbit launch system and technologies for hypersonic entry and descent 

of very heavy payloads into planetary atmospheres, unique to NASA missions. 

As noted previously, in FY07, the Subsonic Fixed Wing project, in partnership 

with the USAF and Boeing, successfully completed flight experiments of the X-48B 

BWB advanced aircraft at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. 

The Subsonic Rotary Wing project, in partnership with Bell Helicopter Textron 

and the University of Maryland, conducted a helicopter noise test near Hollister, 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
34 California, to acquire ground-based acoustic data for maneuvering flight. This test 

measured the noise from a Bell Model 206 helicopter in both steady and maneuverAeronautics and Space Report of the President 

ing flight. The NASA Portable Programmable Guidance Display (PPGD) guided 

aircraft flight conditions and maneuvers to enable precision, repeatable trajectories 

to be flown. This critical step moved the project toward enabling commercial rotorcraft to operate quietly over populated areas. 

The Supersonics project successfully completed a flight validation experiment 

at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), in which a series of reducedstrength, noncoalescing shocklets produced by the Gulfstream QuietSpikeTM device 

were measured and propagated to the ground to assess the effectiveness as a sonic 

boom mitigation strategy. Increasing aircraft length and slenderness effectively 

reduces sonic boom; however, this results in a very heavy aircraft with little usable 

interior volume and poor low-speed performance. Gulfstream Aerospace developed 

the QuietSpike, an innovative approach that extends a specially tailored “spike” 

from the nose of the aircraft, during cruise, to simulate a much longer, much more 

slender aircraft. The tests conducted on a modified NASA F-15 aircraft demon­

strated the feasibility of the QuietSpike concept and could lead to a commercial 

supersonic aircraft without a disturbing sonic boom. 

The Hypersonics project completed 10 successful engine tests of the X-1 scram-

jet engine in NASA Langley Research Center’s (LaRC) 8-foot High Temperature 

Tunnel at simulated Mach numbers of 4.6 and 5.0, with two partially successful 

tests at 6.5. The most notable accomplishments included quantifying engine performance and operability, developing an engine start approach, similar to that 

planned for flight, and demonstrating fuel staging between fuel injection sites. Fuel 

staging remains one of the most critical issues in developing a viable hypersonic 

propulsion system, or the ability to accommodate the transition from partly sub­

sonic flow in the engine combustor (dual-mode) to fully supersonic flow (scram 

mode) operation as the vehicle accelerates through the hypersonic regime. Failure 

to properly manage this transition potentially causes an engine flameout or unstart, 

both of which would likely result in a loss of mission. The tests conducted at the 

Langley Research Center provided the necessary data and confidence to allow the 

AFRL to proceed toward a series of flight tests in FY09. 
35 Aeronautics Test Program 

The Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) supported the NASA ARMD objective 

to ensure the continuous availability of a portfolio of NASA-owned wind tunnels/ 

ground test facilities and flight operations/test infrastructures that are strategically 

important to meeting national aerospace program goals and requirements. 

In FY06 and FY07, the ATP invested approximately $25 million in targeted 

facility maintenance projects to improve the reliability and ensure the continuous 

availability of a portfolio of NASA-owned wind tunnels and ground test facilities. This investment reduced the NASA deferred-maintenance liability for these 

national assets by an estimated 10 percent. 

In FY07, the ATP collaborated with the NASA Centers to establish a clear and 

consistent pricing structure and charging policy for wind tunnel testing across 

its facility portfolio. As a result of this effort, the facility cost elements recovered 

by the wind tunnel charge rates are now standardized across all NASA Centers, 

and the charge rates will be stabilized to the greatest extent possible through the 

continued ATP involvement. This approach assisted test customers in their costestimating activities and long-range test planning. 

In addition, the ATP involved the USAF’s Arnold Engineering Development 

Center in its quarterly aeronautics test facility meetings with the NASA Centers. 

This collaboration included sharing information on charge rate structure and 

content, maintenance and capital investment activities, and test facility schedules 

and long-range planning. By collaborating with the USAF on facility planning, 

operation, investments, and test schedules, the ATP continued to develop a vision 

and funded plan that reflects the priorities of the long-term needs of the Nation. 

This activity also broadened the vital network of wind tunnel test professionals 

with exchange of staff and experiences among NASA Centers and between NASA 

and the DOD. 

As part of its continuous efforts to improve facility operational efficiencies, the 

ATP sponsored a National Strain Gage Balance Team, which completed a technical review and concluded that NASA’s capability to use strain gage balances in 

wind tunnel testing has severely eroded. The ARMD reviewed several recommendations for FY08 implementation. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
36 National Aeronautics R&D Plan Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

During FY06, the Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee of the 

National Science and Technology Council, co-chaired by the ARMD Associate 

Administrator, developed the Nation’s first Presidential Policy for Aeronautics 

R&D. The policy, along with its accompanying Executive Order (EO) 13419, 

“National Aeronautics Research and Development,” signed by President Bush on 

December 20, 2006, will guide U.S. aeronautics R&D programs through 2020. The 

policy defined the principles upon which Federal Government aeronautics R&D 

will be based and describes the roles and responsibilities of the involved executive 

departments and agencies. In addition, the policy called for the development of a 

national aeronautics R&D plan to set R&D priorities and objectives and produced 

roadmaps to achieve the identified objectives with timelines. During FY07, the 

NASA ARMD Associate Administrator continued to co-lead the subcommittee as 

it worked to develop the follow-on R&D plan released in December 2007. 

Partnerships with Government and Industry 

The ARMD continued to create strong intellectual partnerships with the broad 

aeronautics community during FY07 through the NRA process and SAAs, as 

described above. 

In addition to conducting research that directly addresses NextGen challenges, 

NASA worked in conjunction with all partner agencies of the JPDO to develop 

core planning documents for NextGen, such as an enhanced version of the 

NextGen Concept of Operations (ConOps), which provided a common vision 

of “what” the NextGen future state will be in the 2025 timeframe and beyond; 

the NextGen Enterprise Architecture, which stated “how” NextGen will operate; 

the NextGen R&D Plan, which described the “needs” for R&D to achieve the 

NextGen capabilities; and the first draft of the NextGen Integrated Work Plan 

(IWP), which laid out “who, when, and how” the NextGen capabilities will be 

researched, developed, and implemented. In addition, the documents placed 

significant emphasis on enhancing communications with the JPDO in FY07 by 

the initiation of quarterly reviews between NASA and JPDO senior management 

teams. NASA also worked with the JPDO to promote a consistent long-term vision 

for NASA’s NextGen R&D by developing and vetting a white paper describing 
37 how NASA R&D supports NextGen and assisting in characterizing NextGen work 

in terms of near-, mid-, and far-term “epochs.” 

In January 2007, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with 

the DOD that created the National Partnership for Aeronautical Testing (NPAT) 

to facilitate the establishment of an integrated national strategy to manage their 

respective aeronautics test facilities. The MOU considered all aeronautical test 

facilities owned and operated by NASA and the DOD within the purview of the 

NPAT. The MOU defined aeronautical test facilities as facilities used for testing of vehicles (e.g., aircraft, missiles, or space vehicles) or for related scientific 

and engineering studies of the flow of a test medium around or through objects. 

Aeronautical test facilities included wind tunnels, air breathing propulsion test 

facilities, simulation facilities, and open-air ranges. 

In September 2007, NASA and the U.S. Army signed an MOU that built 

upon and expanded the longstanding relationship between the two organizations. 

“Although NASA and the Army have different missions, we share a common 

goal of pursuing innovative research that will enable revolutionary capabilities in 

rotorcraft,” said Lisa Porter, former NASA Associate Administrator, Aeronautics 

Research Mission Directorate. “There are common challenges facing rotorcraft 

for both the military and civilian sectors—payload, range, noise, and efficiency, to 

name just a few. It just makes sense for us to work together to advance our rotorcraft aeronautical capabilities for the nation’s benefit.” The MOU covered rotorcraft 

aeronautics and includes flight dynamics and control, vehicle structures, propulsion, 

avionics, aeromechanics, safety, and airspace management. The MOU ensures the 

free exchange of research information, reduces duplication, and enhances long-term 

research planning for both organizations. 

The following are examples of other aeronautics partnerships: 

•	 NASA’s	Fundamental	Aeronautics	Program	continued	its	partnership	

with Alliant Techsystems, Inc. (ATK) to conduct the Hypersonics 

Boundary Layer Transition (HyBoLT) and Sub-Orbital Aerodynamics 

Re-Entry Experiment (SOAREX), a small flight experiment scheduled 

to launch in 2008. ATK will provide space on the initial flight of their 

new launch vehicle. It will deploy NASA’s HyBoLT entry vehicle at 

about 500 km. The vehicle will enter at about Mach 11 and provide 

fundamental data on hypersonic transition between laminar and 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
38 turbulent flow. SOAREX, which will be deployed from the HyBoLT 

entry vehicle, will test a new small-scale decelerator concept. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 The	 Aviation	 Safety	 Program	 participated	 with	 the	 FAA	 and	 the	

Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) to develop the Aviation 

Safety Information and Analysis Sharing (ASIAS) system. ASIAS 

enabled a system-wide conduit to various sources of operational 

aviation data that will be continuously monitored and analyzed, as 

necessary, to detect and identify trends or anomalies that could lead 

to an unsafe situation in the Air Transportation System. During 

2007, NASA worked collaboratively with the FAA to transition a 

proof-of-concept research system developed by NASA into the operational ASIAS system. For FY08 and beyond, NASA will continue to 

develop new data-mining tools and techniques to help further evolve 

the capabilities of the ASIAS system to meet the needs of NextGen. 

•	 The	ATP	collaborated	with	several	national	organizations	and	spon­

sored or cosponsored several working group meetings for the purpose 

of promulgating the National Aeronautics R&D Policy and fostering 

effective partnerships and working relationships. National partners 

included the DOD Test Resource Management Center and the 

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’s (AIAA) U.S. 

Industry Test Facilities Working Group. The program held meetings 

at several sites during FY07. 

Aeronautics Research Relevance and Benefits to the Public 

NASA’s aeronautics program ensures long-term focus in fundamental research 

in both traditional aeronautical disciplines and relevant emerging fields for inte­

gration into multidisciplinary, system-level capabilities for broad application. This 

approach will enable revolutionary change to both the airspace system and the 

aircraft that fly within it, leading to a safer, more environmentally friendly, and 

more efficient national air transportation system. 

1 JPDO Progress Report, December 2006.
 2

 NASA & NextGen; http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov.

3 Stage III refers to a limit imposed by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) on the 


maximum allowable noise levels for current aircraft. 

4 CAEP/2 refers to the second stage of regulation recommended by the Committee on Aviation 

Environmental Protection. 

5 A group of two or more airports whose arrival and departure operations are highly interdependent. 
39 

deparTmenT of defense 

DOD 

During FY07, the DOD remained involved in a wide variety of exciting and 

challenging space activities, from continuing efforts to grow the Evolved 

Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program into a world-class system to supporting our Nation’s military operations and combat activities around the world including Iraq and Afghanistan. The DOD also continued its close relationship with 

NASA to further our Nation’s civil space programs. The DOD launched three 

NASA spacecraft during FY07: the Dawn mission to the asteroid belt, the THEMIS 

scientific and robotic spacecraft, and the Phoenix mission to Mars. All three successfully launched from U.S. Air Force space launch ranges on board a Delta II 

expendable rocket. All four total launches of the Delta II launch vehicle during 

FY07 proved successful. The Delta II launch on September 18 marked the 75th time 

in the program’s history that the Air Force successfully launched a vehicle. This 

historic launch also took place on the 60th Anniversary of the United States Air 

Force’s founding in 1947. 

The EELV program matured significantly during FY07, paving the way for 

critical Atlas V and Delta IV launches of long-anticipated Air Force and National 

Reconnaissance Office spacecraft. These launches, scheduled for the first quarter 

of FY08, will include the first operational launch of the EELV Delta IV Heavy carrying the last Air Force Defense Support Program satellite (DSP). This launch will 

herald the transition of that mission to the Space Based Infra-Red System (SBIRS), 

a multiple payload and satellite system designed to provide missile warning, technical intelligence battle space characterization data, and support missile defense. 

FY07 also became a historic year in the Nation’s military space programs. 

June 11 marked the 50th anniversary of the first Atlas launch vehicle in 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
40 1957. The Atlas launch vehicle continued to serve as the mainstay of America’s 

launch programs, supporting national needs first as the original operational 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), then as the vehicle of choice during 

NASA’s Mercury program, and lately as the most dependable vehicle in our Nation’s 

expendable fleet. Variants of the Atlas launched almost 600 times; and since 1993, 

they hold a 100-percent record of success in 80 consecutive launch attempts. 

December 1 marked the first anniversary of the forming of United Launch 

Alliance (ULA), a joint Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Company venture 

combining the two defense giant’s rocket programs. The goal of this venture is to 

provide world-class launch services to America’s space industry and ensure mul­

tiple avenues of access to space for national security and defense payloads for the 

foreseeable future. 

On March 8, the first Atlas V EELV (ninth Atlas V launch overall) lifted off at 

Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida, and it also became the first launch for the 

ULA. This successful launch of a DOD Space Test Program (STP) mission carried 

space experiments designed to fly on the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA). 

Located between the rocket and the main payload, the ESPA ring can carry up to 

six small satellites. This mission, known as STP Sat-1, placed a total of six satellites 

into two different LEOs. The main payload consisted of the DARPA 2 satellite 

Orbital Express mission and four small satellites on the ESPA ring. Orbital Express 

successfully validated the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous on-orbit refu­

eling and reconfiguration of satellites for future national security and commercial 

space programs. The other four small satellites included the following: •	 STPSat-1,	built	by	Aero	Astro	for	the	STP,	was	a	343-pound	(156-

kilogram) satellite carrying two Naval Research Lab experiments to 

collect atmospheric data and demonstrate spacecraft technologies. 

•	 Cibola	Flight	Experience,	built	by	Surrey	Satellite	Technology	Lim­

ited (SSTL) for Los Alamos National Laboratory, was a 350-pound 

(159-kilogram) satellite testing inflatable boom antennas, a new 

power supply, and a prototype supercomputer designed to process data 

on board rather than sending raw information directly to Earth. 

•	 FalconSAT-3,	built	by	the	U.S.	Air	Force	Academy,	was	a	119-pound	

(54-kilogram) satellite carrying five experiments to study the near­
41 Earth space plasma environment, test new hardware, and demonstrate 

a Micropropulsion Attitude Control System. 

•	 MidSTAR-1-1,	built	by	the	U.S.	Naval	Academy,	was	a	265-pound

(116-kilogram) satellite carrying the Eclipse experiment to examine 

electrochemical membranes in space for NASA and Eclipse Energy 

Systems; it also carried a prototype microdosimeter sponsored by the 

National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) to make a 

pair of space computer payloads. 

Since the first Gulf War, Desert Storm, the DOD has worked hard to ensure 

that its space-based capabilities support the warfighter. These efforts provided 

successful results, as space professionals forward deploy to support the Global War 

on Terrorism (GWOT) and participate in combat activities in the Mid-East and 

wherever American forces deploy. These deployed space professionals remained 

the key to ensuring that space assets remain responsive to the operational forces 

and to driving the requirements to better provide communications, increased 

bandwidth, more precise navigation support, and earlier warning of threats. The 

talent needed to operate these more sophisticated systems continued as a key factor 

in developing a professional, dedicated space cadre to support the DOD and the 

national security community. 

To better manage the rapidly evolving needs of the national security space community, the Air Force moved to a block acquisition approach to acquire new systems. This block approach allowed updated systems to move to operational status 

faster and provide better capability to end users, while still developing advanced 

future capabilities in the system. The back-to-basics approach already revealed 

rapid results as industry and the DOD worked together to provide systems to support national security space programs. The Global Positioning System (GPS) Block 

III will be one of the first programs to benefit from this approach. 

Two new communications spacecraft programs, the Wideband Global System 

(WGS) and the Advance Extremely High Frequency Satellite Communications 

System (AEHF), will greatly increase the bandwidth available to end-users. These 

systems will provide increased and new capabilities to complement the existing 

Defense Communications System (DSCS). Following these two systems, the 

DOD designed the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) 

to support many of the bandwidth needs. These new satellite communications 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
42 systems will greatly increase the bandwidth available to the combat forces facing 

challenging new threats on the battlefield. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The DOD found the militarization of space by other nations of growing concern. 

China’s interception and destruction of one of their own dead weather satellites 

became highly provocative and resulted in a thousand-fold increase in space debris. 

This debris will potentially remain in orbit for hundreds of years and remains a 

threat to all spacecraft passing near that orbit. The efforts to prevent on-orbit 

collisions and conjunctions will require significant additional efforts by the Space 

Surveillance System to track and identify dangerous debris. Recognizing these 

growing threats to orbital safety, the DOD increased its efforts to improve Space 

Situational Awareness (SSA). 

Throughout 2007, the DOD made significant progress establishing program 

management structures and processes for Operationally Responsive Space (ORS), 

as well as executing ORS-related research and development efforts. In April, the 

DOD provided Congress with a plan that laid out an organizational structure 

and defined the responsibilities of the Joint ORS Office, which was created in 

May. The plan also described an approach for satisfying warfighter needs. With 

regards to operational experimentation and research and development, TacSat-2, 

launched in December 2006, operated in orbit until December 2007, meeting 

significant technical and operational milestones. TacSat-3 and TacSat-4 missions 

continued through their design phases into integration and testing on schedule for 

launches in 2008 and 2009, respectively. In addition, the ORS Office initiated the 

mission selection process for TacSat-5. Progress continued in developing interface 

standards for satellite buses and in sponsoring efforts aimed at acquiring low-cost 

launch vehicles. 

From providing launch facilities and range support to civil and commercial 

programs and providing critical battlefield support to combat forces involved in 

dangerous missions around the world, the DOD shows unwavering commitment 

to providing first-class space professionals and assets for the national security space 

mission. From sharing the advanced technologies of the GPS, at no cost to all 

users, to developing the next generation metrological satellites with our civil partners, the DOD remains fully committed to keeping the United States the world’s 

premier spacefaring Nation. 
43 

federal aviaTion

adminisTraTion

FAA

Aviation is a vital resource with critical strategic, financial, and social impact 

on nearly every aspect of the global economy. The United States aviation system 

is the world-class leader, attracting investment in business, local and state 

economies, and opening new domestic and international markets and supply 

chains. To continue to realize and expand on these benefits, the United States 

must have an aviation system that is responsive to rapidly changing and expanding 

transportation needs. 

Fiscal Year 2007 saw significant R&D success for researchers, scientists, and 

engineers directed by the FAA Office of Research and Technology Development. 

Additionally, the office maintains many liaisons with public agencies, private 

companies, and academic institutions that share common safety goals at airports 

and aboard aircraft. 

The strain of increasing air traffic demand is especially apparent in the arrival 

and departure airspace surrounding major metropolitan areas, particularly those 

where there are multiple airports whose arrival and departure flows interact. In 

2007, the FAA conducted a simulation study, Integrated Arrival/Departure 

Control Service or “Big Airspace” (BA), to develop and validate an operational 

concept for improving operational efficiencies in major metropolitan areas. The 

FAA performed the study with a combination of procedures, integrating arrival 

and departure airspace into one control service and one facility and employing 

other concepts such as dynamic airspace reconfiguration of bi-directional arrival/ 

departure routes. Each technique showed unique strengths, thus enabling a comprehensive evaluation of the BA concept regarding impacts on efficiency, capacity, 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
44 safety, and human performance. The study also helped drive operational and tech

­

nical requirements for further development of the concept. Using generic airspace 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

as a platform for analysis, the simulation evaluations supported the BA concept by 

demonstrating service provider improvements and operational efficiencies. These 

benefits were evaluated in terms of workload, task performance, safety, and control­

ler acceptance. Operational efficiencies included savings in flight time and distance 

flow with more efficient flow strategies. A preliminary cost-benefit analysis showed 

that all of the sites evaluated are expected to produce cost benefits with a short 

payback period. 

The Wake Turbulence Research Program also met a milestone in 2007 in 

support of reduced separation for departures from Closely Spaced Parallel Runways 

(CSPRs). NASA and the FAA developed and evaluated a wind-dependent 

departure solution prototype, called Wake Turbulence Mitigation for Departures 

(WTMD), at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and Houston’s George Bush 

Intercontinental Airport. NASA and the FAA evaluated a simple WTMD decision 

support tool and found it suitable for performing reduced separation operations for 

departures from one runway when a Heavy or B757 aircraft departed from the 

adjacent parallel runway. 

In the continental United States, 72 percent of low cloud ceiling and poor 

visibility related accidents result in fatalities. To mitigate these types of accidents, 

FAA-funded researchers developed a National Ceiling and Visibility Analysis 

(NCVA) and a forecast capability to warn users of areas with low ceilings and 

poor visibility. The NCVA provides users in the lower continental states with 

an automated graphical display, updated every 15 minutes, showing current 

ceiling, visibility, and flight category conditions along their route of flight. The 

NCVA capability also incorporates tools that allow concurrent examination 

of other weather data, including satellite and radar imagery. The joint FAA/ 

National Weather Service (NWS) Aviation Weather Technology Transfer Board 

approved the NCVA for experimental use in FY05. User feedback obtained 

during the experimental phase resulted in NCVA improvements, including an 

enhanced cloud-mask that identifies cloud free areas between data sites. The 

NCVA completed development this year, and it is expected to be approved for full 

operational use in FY08. 
45 The FAA and the International Aircraft Material Fire Tests Working Group 

conducted a series of full-scale fire tests to determine the performance of lightweight seat cushions under realistic post-crash fuel fire conditions. These seat 

cushions performed as well as heavier cushions that were compliant with the FAA 

fire test criteria. Therefore, a new criterion, Corrected Allowable Weight Loss 

(CAWL), was developed for lightweight seat cushions. CAWL is a sliding scale 

that specifies an increasing allowable percentage weight loss as the weight of the 

foam cushion decreases. To be conservative, more restrictive allowable cushion 

surface burn lengths are imposed as the foam weight decreases. The recently published FAA Final Report DOT/FAA/AR-06/49, “Laboratory-Scale and Full-Scale 

Fire Testing of Lightweight Aircraft Seat Cushion Materials,” authored by Tim 

Marker, described the full-scale test results and the development of the CAWL for 

lightweight aircraft seat cushions. Based on this report, the Transport Airplane 

Directorate will issue an FAA policy letter, ANM-100, which addresses the CAWL 

fire test criteria for lightweight aircraft seat cushions. 

In 2007, human factors researchers completed a Future En Route Workstation 

(FEWS) simulation test. The researchers designed the FEWS test on the principles 

of integrating currently independent automation tools, providing information when 

and where needed, and reducing the number of housekeeping tasks that controllers 

currently perform, thus freeing resources to focus on critical tasks of sequencing 

and separating aircraft. The results indicated that two controllers using the FEWS 

along with data communications can safely and efficiently manage approximately 

30 percent more traffic than a single controller with Display System Replacement 

(DSR) and voice communications only. The FEWS interface resulted in a near 

50-percent reduction in the number of data entries that controllers must make 

with either DSR or En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM). The FEWS 

design features (e.g., automatic handoff acceptance, automatic data block drop 

off, preferred leader line orientations, and data block dragging) will be ready to 

incorporate in the near term. Work begins with a follow-on simulation to include 

airborne capabilities envisioned in the Next Generation Air Traffic Management 

System (e.g., pilot self-spacing) and ways to reduce the number of objects that controllers need to actively monitor on the radar screen. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
46 On February 13, 2007, new regulations established requirements for crew and 

space flight participants involved in private human space flight. These regula-

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

tions required launch vehicle operators to provide safety-related information and 

identify what an operator must do to conduct a licensed or permitted launch with 

a human on board. Launch operators must inform space flight participants of the 

risks inherent in space travel in general and the risks of travel in their particular 

vehicle. The regulations also established requirements for medical qualifications 

and training as well as requirements governing environmental control and life 

support systems. These regulations resulted from the Commercial Space Launch 

Amendments Act (CSLAA), passed by Congress in December 2004. Recognizing 

that human space flight is a fledgling industry, Congress required a phased 

approach in regulating commercial human space flight, with regulatory standards 

evolving as the industry matures. 

To facilitate research, development, and testing of new vehicle designs, including 

those intended to carry humans into space, the FAA also issued regulations for 

experimental permits that allow a more streamlined approach to testing prior to, or 

instead of, issuance of a commercial launch license. The permits are only allowed 

for suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs). A single experimental permit will 

cover multiple launch vehicles of a particular design and allow an unlimited num­

ber of suborbital launches. Permit authority also came from the 2004 CSLAA. 

Ten commercial suborbital experimental permit launches took place in 2007, the 

first of their kind. Armadillo Aerospace conducted seven low-altitude flights from 

locations in both New Mexico and Oklahoma, and Blue Origin, LLC carried out 

three low-altitude flights from their launch site in Texas. 

The FAA licensed four orbital commercial space launches in 2007, including 

two by the Sea Launch multinational partnership from a mobile platform in the 

Pacific Ocean and two by the Boeing Company using the Delta II launch vehicle 

from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 

The FAA also released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for Requirements for 

Amateur Rocket Activities in 2007. Since current regulations were outdated and 

did not reflect industry practice, the FAA proposed revisions to amateur rocket 

regulations and activities to preserve the level of safety associated with amateur 

rocketry in the National Airspace System. 
47 The FAA completed three R&D projects: Human Space Flight Training 

Preparation Study; Safety and Operations Personnel Duty and Rest Analysis; and 

Historical Database of Failures and Reliability of Rocket-Powered Vehicles. In addition, 

the FAA advanced the fidelity of its flight safety analysis tools by researching better 

methods of estimating vulnerability of aircraft from launch vehicle debris and better methods of estimating appropriately sized buffer areas around Reusable Launch 

Vehicle operating areas. 

Applying lessons learned from the Space Shuttle Columbia failure, the FAA coordinated with NASA in real time during each Space Shuttle reentry. The FAA has 

the ability to void appropriate airspace of air traffic in case of a reentry failure. 

In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, the FAA signed an agreement on safety 

for space transportation and range activities, assisted in the development of Air 

Force requirements for Reusable Launch Vehicles at Federal ranges, and cohosted 

a second Reusable Launch Vehicle Summit in Colorado. 

The FAA completed an environmental assessment for rockets competing in 

the 2007 X Prize Cup at Holloman Air Force Base. The FAA developed a draft 

Environmental Impact Statement for Spaceport America in New Mexico and a 

draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement to analyze environmental 

impacts for rockets operating under experimental permits. 

The FAA released several informative reports of interest to the public, the space 

industry, and the U.S. Government including the following: FY-2007 Research 

and Development Accomplishments; 2007 U.S. Commercial Space Transportation 

Developments and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, and Spaceports; Quarterly 

Launch Reports; Commercial Space Transportation: 2006 Year In Review; and the 

2007 Commercial Space Transportation Forecasts. The forecasts, prepared by the 

industry-led Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee and the 

FAA, projected an average worldwide demand of about 15 launches per year to 

geosynchronous orbit and eight launches per year to nongeosynchronous orbits 

between 2007 and 2016. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
48
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 
49 

deparTmenT of CommerCe 

DOC 

In FY07, the Department of Commerce (DOC) engaged in a wide variety of 

activities that furthered U.S. interests in aeronautics and space, including national 

policy development, satellite operations, technology development, measurement and calibration, international cooperation, trade promotion, and spectrum 

management. 

At the departmental level, the DOC continued its active role on the National 

Security Council’s Space Policy Coordinating Committee (SpacePCC) through 

the direct participation of the Deputy Secretary of Commerce and staff from 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Office of 

Space Commercialization (OSC), the International Trade Administration (ITA), 

the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), 

the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Bureau of 

Industry and Security (BIS). 

The Office of Space Commercialization 

The OSC continued to play a key role in the national management of the GPS. It 

continued to host the meetings and offices of the National Executive Committee for 

Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, which advises and coordinates 

Federal departments and agencies on matters concerning the GPS and related 

systems. As part of this activity, the OSC continued to support the www.PNT.gov 

and www.GPS.gov Web sites, expanding the latter into five international languages 

for broader outreach and education. 

In January 2007, the OSC hosted the first meeting of the GPS-Galileo Working 

Group “B” on Trade and Civil Applications, opening a dialogue with the European 

Union on nondiscrimination as Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system enters 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
50 the market. Among other things, the meeting resulted in the issuance of a joint 

statement on cooperation and joint fact sheet on GPS-Galileo cooperation. During 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

FY07, the OSC also participated in successful U.S. consultations with Australia 

and Japan, both of which produced joint announcements on GPS cooperation. 

On October 19, 2006, the OSC and the Space Enterprise Council of the U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce cohosted a public workshop on Geographic Information 

Systems (GIS). The event brought together commercial providers and civil­

ian Government users of GIS technology. More than 100 participants attended 

the event. 

The OSC released a strategic plan in early 2007 that outlines its vision, mis­

sion, functions, objectives and outcomes, and plan of action based on inputs from 

stakeholders in the space commerce community. 

In 2007, the DOD’s National Security Space Office (NSSO) and the U.S. Air 

Force partnered with the DOC’s BIS to conduct a comprehensive survey of the U.S. 

space industrial base. The OSC worked with the BIS to identify companies to participate in the survey and provide key inputs and guidance into the survey and final 

report. The BIS data was presented to the Space Industrial Base Council (SIBC) of 

the NSSO in June 2007 and was used in the U.S. Air Force Defense Industrial Base 

Assessment Report of the U.S. Space Industry issued on August 31, 2007. 

On September 10, 2007, the OSC cohosted the NASA Commercial Crew 

and Cargo Program Office’s LEO Working Group “kick-off” meeting to discuss 

the development of LEO commercial markets. Representatives from NASA, the 

FAA, the DOC, and the entrepreneurial space industry participated in the daylong event. 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

In 2007, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite 

System (NPOESS) program completed full restructuring of this tri-agency satellite 

program. A $4.2 billion modification of the contract culminated in a rigorous yearlong effort to replan virtually every aspect of the NPOESS program. The new plan 

included two development satellites and an option for two additional production 

satellites. In 2013, the first NPOESS satellite will begin to collect and disseminate 

data on Earth’s weather, atmosphere, oceans, land, and near-space environment. 
51 Additionally during 2007, the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) completed all 

Engineering Design Unit interface testing with the spacecraft. NOAA also added 

the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb back to the NPP manifest, marking the first reintroduction of an instrument after its removal during the NunnMcCurdy certification. When operational, the improved capabilities in NPOESS 

will improve NOAA’s ability to save lives and property. 

Early in 2007, as part of the United States’ contribution to the international 

Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA repositioned a geostationary satellite, GOES-10, over South America to provide better meteorological 

coverage for that region. In addition to increasing NOAA’s ability to track eastern Atlantic hurricanes, the move helps South American meteorological centers 

improve weather forecasting and demonstrates the goals of the intergovernmental 

Group on Earth Observations (GEO). Shifting GOES-10 will also help protect 

lives and property in North, Central, and South America by significantly improving satellite detection of such natural hazards as severe storms, floods, drought, 

landslides, volcanic ash clouds, and wildfires. 

During 2006, NOAA’s Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites 

(POES) continued to provide an uninterrupted flow of global environmental information. The POES supported oceanic and space environmental modeling, tropical 

storm analysis and forecasting, local weather forecasting, ecosystem monitoring, 

and climate monitoring. NOAA’s weather and climate prediction numerical models 

extensively used the global data from these satellites. NOAA and NASA’s contractor, Lockheed Martin, successfully completed the rebuild of the last POES satellite, 

NOAA-N Prime, and began preparations for environmental testing of the satellite 

in 2007. This satellite will be launched in 2009. 

NOAA and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological 

Satellites (EUMETSAT) continued their cooperation in an initial joint polarorbiting satellite system. Under a joint agreement, NOAA provides NOAA-18 

and NOAA-N Prime, for an afternoon orbit of the globe, carrying a EUMETSAT 

instrument. In return, EUMETSAT will provide and launch three European-built 

satellites carrying key NOAA instruments, the MetOp series, into morning orbits 

during the next ten years, NOAA provided critical support to EUMETSAT in its 

preparation for the launch of the first European Polar System satellite, Metop-A. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
52 NOAA also signed a four-partner agreement with NASA, the French Space 

Agency Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES), and EUMETSAT for the 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM). 

The international satellite-aided tracking search and rescue system, called 

COSPAS-SARSAT, celebrated 25 years of success, resulting in more than 22,000 

rescues worldwide. During 2007 alone, this program rescued more than 330 people. 

The program involves 38 nations and two independent search and rescue organiza­

tions. The SARSAT system uses NOAA satellites in low-Earth and geostationary 

orbits to detect and locate aviators, mariners, and land-based users in distress. The 

satellites relay distress signals from emergency beacons to a network of ground sta­

tions and ultimately to the U.S. Mission Control Center (USMCC) in Suitland, 

Maryland. The USMCC processes the distress signal and alerts the appropriate 

search and rescue authorities to who is in distress and their location. 

On October 12, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 

received the Nobel Peace Prize along with former Vice President Al Gore “for their 

efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate 

change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract 

such change.” Several National Environmental Satellite Data and Information 

Service (NESDIS) scientists and staff members contributed to this effort, serving 

as authors, editors, and contributors for IPCC reports. These scientists contributed 

key information that led to this prestigious award. The international recognition 

highlighted the importance of oceanic and atmospheric research and climate data 

to the global community and how critical NOAA’s work is to this effort. 

Smoke from wildfires leads to significant air pollution and deteriorates air quality 

in the United States every year. Lightning-ignited or accidental wildfires inject 

large amounts of smoke aerosols into the atmosphere. This smoke becomes detri­

mental to human health and the economy. Smoke plumes can cause upper respira­

tory problems leading to increased emergency hospital visits. Satellite instruments, 

such as NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) 

Imager, detect and track the movement of these smoke plumes. In 2007, a newly 

developed smoke product from the GOES Imager became operational. This product 

used a pattern-recognition technique that combines GOES Aerosol Optical Depth 

(AOD) imagery and fire hot spots. The NWS used this new GOES smoke product 
53 in its operational smoke forecast verification system. Air quality forecasters used 

GOES aerosol imagery and other air quality forecasting tools to warn the public of 

elevated smoke concentrations so preventive measures could be taken. 

Satellite-based analysis of the potential for heavy rainfall from tropical systems is 

integral to determining the magnitude and extent of flooding due to these systems. 

The Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) product, which was completely automated 

in 2007, objectively analyzes the amount of rainfall associated with tropical systems. 

This product provided significantly more information to users. In addition, NOAA 

redesigned the TRaP customer portal to simplify and increase the efficiency of 

information searches and display capabilities for users. The TRaP product can help 

forecast flooding conditions from tropical systems, thereby helping to save lives 

and property. 

In 2007, scientists in NOAA’s National Oceanographic Data Center studied the 

relationship between salinity and freshwater distribution in the North Atlantic 

during the past half century using in situ data and an ocean circulation model. 

This distribution relationship is an essential aspect of the global climate system 

and variations can impact global climate change. Their findings, published in three 

papers during 2007, showed that net precipitation (precipitation minus evaporation 

plus melted ice) has a strong influence on the salinity distribution in the North 

Atlantic Ocean, which has a strong influence on the strength of the overturning circulation in that ocean. As surface waters become less saline, overturning 

circulation weakens (and vice versa). This overturning circulation is a component 

of the global ocean salinity conveyor belt, the system of currents that links the 

different ocean basins; and increased salinity in the North Atlantic can lead to 

downstream changes in overturning circulation in the North Pacific. The amount 

of heat the ocean moves from one part of the globe to another reflects such circulation changes. This in turn can cause changes in seasonal weather patterns around 

the world. The results of this research assist in verifying the accuracy of climate 

change prediction models. It also will improve understanding of the global climate 

system and how to predict and respond to climate change. 

In 2007, the Washington Volcanic Advisory Center (W-VAAC), a joint 

office between NESDIS and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction 

(NCEP), contributed to the National Volcanic Ash Operations Plan for Aviation. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
54 This plan, completed in July 2007, will improve the safety of flight operations in 

U.S.-controlled airspace by establishing interagency agreements for the detection 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

of volcanic ash. Volcanic ash presents hazards to aircraft, and introducing common 

standards for volcanic ash-based advisories and warnings and providing universal 

formats will improve public safety. The Federal Coordinator for Meteorological 

Services and Supporting Research prepared and published the plan after many 

working group meetings among the FAA, U.S. Air Force, NOAA, the USGS, 

NASA, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. 

The U.S. Total Electron Content (US-TEC) product became fully operational in 

2007. This system, established by the National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) 

during several years of development, provided measurements of the ionosphere’s 

TEC. Active electrons in the atmosphere delay GPS signals traveling toward Earth; 

US-TEC provided measurements of the delay magnitude for different GPS satellites 

at different times of day. Incorporating US-TEC products allowed GPS users to 

obtain more accurate positions with their standard GPS receivers. The US-TEC 

system contained GPS data from the Continually Operating Reference Stations, 

the International GPS Services, and GPS/Met networks to estimate vertical and 

slant TEC every 15 minutes. Real-time US-TEC output is available at https://www. 

sec.noaa.gov/ustec, and historical data can be found at http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/ 

stp/IONO/USTEC. 

NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center continued to work with other U.S. 

Government agencies on the National Integrated Drought Information System 

(NIDIS). The NIDIS is a drought risk information system that provides users with 

the ability to determine the potential impacts of drought. Using data collected 

from airborne and satellite sensors, it also provides decision support tools necessary 

to better prepare for and mitigate the effects of drought. In November 2007, the 

U.S. Government unveiled a new Web site for public and civic managers to monitor 

U.S. drought conditions; get forecasts; know how drought impacts their communi

ties; and know what mitigation measures exist. Called the U.S. Drought Portal, the 

http://www.drought.gov site provided a weekly updated map on drought conditions. 

Along with the existing international cooperation on a monthly product called the 

North American Drought Monitor, these tools served as an international model to 

help coordinate drought preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery activities. ­
55 Drought blankets about a third of the United States at any given time. These 

efforts affect many aspects of everyday life, from water management to human 

health to energy consumption and conservation. 

During FY07, NOAA delivered more than 300 terabytes of climate data online, 

an 84-percent increase compared to FY06. Rapid growth in the in situ, radar, satellite, and model data availability meant that 1.5 petabytes of data are now accessible 

from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) Web site. New software and 

online services included the following: 1) numerous GIS services enhancements; 

2) a new National Solar Radiation Database; and 3) surface data “climograms,” in 

which colorized graphical displays show frequency distributions of various parameters. These new products and services provided many benefits to decision makers 

and the public, such as enhanced and more efficient data availability via GIS services; easier access to solar radiation data to support issues like solar energy studies 

and heating/cooling loads for buildings; and data visualization that collects more 

than 100,000 weather observations for a location into a single image. The online 

services improved access to climate data and associated information products for 

the public. 

The System-Wide Monitoring Program operating at National Estuarine Research 

Reserves in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon allowed shellfish growers in the 

Pacific Northwest to get near real-time water quality data. The monitoring stations 

at all 27 National Estuarine Research Reserves transmitted water quality and 

weather data every 30 minutes via satellite, which strengthens the growing 

Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS). The telemetering capabilities, which 

measure, receive, and transmit data automatically from distant sources, make the 

data available. Through a Web site (http://www.nanoos-shellfish.org/) established by 

NOAA’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and IOOS and jointly 

sponsored by the National Estuarine Research Reserve System and the Northwest 

Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS), growers view 

up-to-date water temperature, salinity, oxygen, turbidity, pH, and chlorophyll data 

from reserves in Kachemak Bay, Alaska; South Slough, Oregon; and Padilla Bay, 

Washington, as well as from four buoys in Hood Canal--a long arm of Puget Sound 

west of the main basin--operated by the University of Washington. The project 

received funding support from NOAA, the National Estuarine Research Reserve 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
56 Association, and NANOOS. The Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association and 

the Pacific Shellfish Institute provided technical assistance. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Changes in the ocean, ranging from sea-level rise and coastal flooding to harmful 

algal blooms and dead zones, impact U.S. society. To prepare for and help manage 

these changes, NOAA established the U.S. IOOS Program. The IOOS Program 

will advance data integration and support regional IOOS development within the 

long-term goals of improving the Nation’s understanding of climate change, safety 

and efficiency of marine operations, mitigation of natural hazards, and protection 

and restoration of marine ecosystems. 

Ocean observations increased in importance for scientists who characterize, 

understand, predict, and monitor changes in coastal and ocean environments and 

ecosystems. Integration of data from ocean observations also became critical to 

commercial fisheries incorporating climate forecasts into management and harvest 

decisions. Ocean observation networks potentially improve NOAA’s storm surge 

forecasts and allow emergency managers to make better decisions about evacuation 

plans. In 2007, NOAA announced an IOOS merit-based competition to support 

regional IOOS development as an opportunity for FY08. In addition, the IOOS 

Program published the first version of the National High Frequency radar plan, 

representing needs of Federal and state governments and established a formal 

requirement for this system within NOAA. Working with interagency partners, 

NOAA published a national near-shore waves plan, which documents a national 

requirement for wave measurement that will define type and location of systems, 

applicable standards, and data products. 

To build a comprehensive IOOS and provide quality-controlled ocean and Great 

Lakes data, NOAA worked with numerous ocean data providers. The IOOS used 

satellites as one of the major observation platforms. During 2007, NOAA worked 

with NASA to identify the needs of IOOS end users to ensure that the appropriate 

data is being gathered. NOAA’s Coastal Services Center used Coastal Land Cover 

Baseline Completed Remote sensing technology, which offered the best way to 

document and monitor land cover changes over time. The resulting land cover 

maps became useful in a variety of ways, from land use planning to evaluation of 

the cumulative impacts of development. The NOAA Coastal Change Analysis 

Program provided the land cover data. NOAA completed a multiyear effort to 
57 create a baseline of coastal land cover changes for the lower 48 United States and 

Hawaii. The standardization of collection methods and data products will allow 

users to compare maps over a period of years to more accurately document changes 

in land cover. The goal is to update the baseline every five years. 

NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services completed a three-year effort to upgrade the technology of its National Water Level 

Observation Network (NWLON). The NWLON station provides mariners, first 

responders, and the public with real-time tide and water-level information. Network 

stations normally equipped to transmit water level and other environmental data at 

hourly increments via NOAA GOES now transmit data every six minutes, enabling 

users to access it much more quickly. Real-time data from the NWLON supports 

safe and efficient navigation, tsunami and storm-surge warnings, and HAZMAT 

emergency response efforts. In addition, the data supports marine boundaries, habitat restoration, long-term sea-level trends, and other important applications. 

Through a partnership with Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research 

Reserve and the Elkhorn Slough Foundation, NOAA’s Center for Operational 

Oceanographic Products and Services installed two water level stations at the 

California reserve in May 2007. Both stations will support ongoing monitoring 

efforts at the reserve and provide data for hydrodynamic models to predict water 

movement in the estuary and address increasing tidal range (greater distances 

between low and high tides). NOAA provided assistance with global positioning 

system techniques, geodetic heights, and biological monitoring. Field personnel 

from the reserve and NOAA conducted surveys to establish a project baseline for 

long-term monitoring. 

In 2007, NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science mapped a total of 

3,755 square kilometers of shallow-water benthic habitat in the Republic of Palau 

and on the Main Hawaiian Islands using high-resolution color satellite imagery 

from GeoEye’s IKONOS sensor. The habitat maps of Palau revealed that live coral 

covers approximately 35 percent of the sea floor, one of the higher percentages of 

coral relative to other areas that NOAA has mapped. The habitat maps of Palau 

and Hawaii will enhance local monitoring efforts and identify new areas for conservation including ecological hot spots. NOAA also used high-resolution, IKONOS 

satellite imagery to generate benthic habitat maps of the Florida Keys, the third 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
58 longest reef tract in the world. Mapping the estimated 13,000 square kilometers of 

coral ecosystems in the Florida Keys will be complete in 2012. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

In addition, NOAA and a contractor collected airborne bathymetric Light 

Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) for 889 square kilometers in Southwest 

Puerto Rico. This technology provided efficient characterization of shallowwater topography and also enhances identification of habitat type. 

The U.S. Coral Reef Task Force charged NOAA with the development and 

implementation of a plan to produce comprehensive digital coral-reef ecosystem 

maps for all U.S. States, Territories, and Commonwealths, as well as jurisdictional 

partners. To date, NOAA has mapped six of seven U.S. States and Territories, 

along with Freely Associated States, like Palau. 

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are naturally occurring events that can have a 

negative impact on marine life, human health, tourism, and the local economy. 

NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science synthesized satellite imagery 

along with other data to monitor ocean conditions and predict the onset, trans­

port, and potential impact of these blooms to the coastal states along the Gulf of 

Mexico. Operational for three years in Florida, the HAB forecast system extended 

to include Texas in a demonstration phase. NOAA sent a detailed analysis of bloom 

conditions to state/local managers to guide their sampling and mitigation efforts. 

In addition, NOAA offers a public Web site that provides information regarding 

expected conditions at the coast during an ongoing event. In its third year of 

operation, the system provided forecasts for both Texas and Florida on a biweekly 

basis during an ongoing event, and weekly during nonbloom conditions. This 

system synthesized SeaWiFS OrbView-2 and/or MODIS-aqua ocean color imagery 

with field observations, meteorological data, and transport models to produce the 

HAB information. NOAA plans similar near real-time advance warning systems 

for other HAB species in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Maine, Central California coast, 

and the Pacific Northwest. 

Following the 2005 mass coral bleaching event in the Caribbean, NOAA’s 

National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science conducted an island-scale bleach­

ing assessment for Buck Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Using high-resolution 

multispectral IKONOS satellite imagery from before and after the event, analyses 

indicated that severe bleaching of reefs could be detected. This methodology was 
59 also applied to remote islands in the Pacific, which remain difficult to monitor on a 

short-term basis for seasonal bleaching events. Further refinement of this technique 

may yield powerful tools for quantitatively assessing coral bleaching on large spatial 

scales, particularly in remote or underserved locations. 

The NWS now provides the official national smoke products on the National 

Digital Guidance Database (NDGD) air quality Web site at http://www.weather.gov/ 

aq/. NOAA’s Air Resources Laboratory produces smoke forecasts using the Hybrid 

Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) dispersion model. Fire 

locations for the dispersion simulation are obtained daily for previous fires from the 

NESDIS Hazard Mapping System. Fire products from satellite imagery from GOES, 

POES, and MODIS provide key input at the regional and local levels as fire fighting 

resources are positioned to battle fires at their most critical times and locations. 

During the past year, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey used the GPS to achieve a 

number of goals and applications to better serve America, as well as other nations, 

in terms of protecting lives and property from the possibility of extreme weather 

and climatic occurrences. 

NOAA published new elevations for more than 340 benchmarks in Southern 

Louisiana during 2007. The published values provided official elevations in 27 

parishes across the southern portion of the state, which suffered extensive damage 

from hurricanes Katrina and Rita. NOAA’s Height Modernization program conducted this effort, which provides accurate height information by integrating GPS 

technology with existing survey techniques. For years, NOAA used the GPS to 

determine accurate positions (latitude and longitude), but now, by following Height 

Modernization standards, specifications, and techniques, the GPS can efficiently 

establish accurate elevations for all types of positioning and navigational needs. A 

cooperative agreement between NOAA and the Federal Emergency Management 

Agency (FEMA) provided much of the funding, and the Louisiana Spatial 

Reference Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge was involved in 

the project. 

NOAA, in cooperation with the University of New Orleans and the U.S. 

Geological Survey, measured coastal wetland elevations in southeastern Louisiana 

in March 2007. The project promoted the integration of ecosystem observations 

through Height Modernization techniques that increase the accuracy of elevation 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
60 measurements, and provided baseline data to help researchers differentiate between 

the many potential causes of relative sea-level change in coastal areas, including 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

land subsidence (sinking), land accretion due to water-borne sediment deposits, ero­

sion, and local sea-level rise. As a program within NOAA, Height Modernization 

provides accurate height information by integrating GPS technology with existing 

survey techniques. 

NOAA completed a two-year project to readjust the National Spatial Reference 

System (NSRS) in March 2007. NOAA defines and maintains the NSRS, which 

provides the Nation’s positioning infrastructure for transportation and communi­

cation, mapping and charting, and a multitude of scientific and engineering appli­

cations. The NSRS readjustment updated all GPS survey control point positions in 

North America. NOAA released the readjusted coordinates with local and network 

accuracies and made them available through online data sheets. This accomplish­

ment significantly improved the Nation’s fundamental positioning infrastructure. 

Representatives from NOAA traveled to Benin in West Africa in January 2007 

to provide technical assistance to the Institut Géographique National (IGN), in 

support of its efforts to modernize the country’s spatial reference frame. With fund­

ing support from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and working with 

technical specialists from IGN, NOAA staff traveled to six major communities to 

review sites for the installation of a network of Continuously Operating Reference 

Stations. The stations will provide the spatial framework for the efficient use of 

global positioning to support multimillion-dollar, MCC-sponsored efforts for land 

and port improvements over the next five years. They also will have a positive 

impact on the activities of GPS users in neighboring countries, which will contrib­

ute to the development of the unified African Reference Frame initiative. 

In 2007, NOAA started work on a five-year project with the Commonwealth of 

Puerto Rico to create Puerto Rico’s first geodetic network. Licensed Puerto Rican 

surveyors will work primarily under NOAA oversight. This will be Puerto Rico’s 

first geodetic network and will build the capacity for performing high-accuracy, 

vertical control surveys in the commonwealth, which did not previously exist. This 

geodetic network will also provide the foundation for transportation and communication; mapping and charting; and a multitude of scientific, GPS, and engineering 

applications requiring precise elevations. 
61 In 2007, NOAA was selected as the Analysis Center Coordinator (ACC) for 

the International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service (IGS) for the next 

four years, beginning in January 2008. Of the ten current IGS Analysis Centers, 

one center will perform the main product combination and quality-control 

operations. NOAA will be responsible for the basic integrity and quality of all the 

IGS products, which are widely used for most high-accuracy Global Navigation 

Satellite Systems (GNSS) applications. The core efforts for which NOAA will 

be responsible are the Ultra-rapid (for real-time uses), Rapid (for high-accuracy, 

near-term uses), and Final (for definitive results) products, which consist of satellite 

orbits, clocks, and associated Earth-orientation parameters. NOAA handles the 

clock, station coordinate, troposphere, and ionosphere functions jointly with 

other specialized product coordinators, but the ACC holds general oversight. The 

IGS became a service of the International Association of Geodesy in 1994, with 

NOAA as a founding participant. The IGS exists as a voluntary federation of more 

than 200 worldwide organizations that pool resources to provide continuous, global 

satellite-tracking data, as well as precise analysis products and GNSS expertise. 

For almost two decades, NOAA generated accurate GPS orbits by processing 

data collected by a global network of ground-based satellite tracking stations. 

During 2007, NOAA collaborated with seven other international GPS-analysis 

organizations to provide valuable meteorological information in the vicinity of 

150–200 tracking stations around the world. At stations with known barometric 

pressure, the meteorologists can accurately infer the amount of water vapor situated 

above the tracking station. This information helps meteorologists improve weather 

forecasts because adverse weather usually correlates with water-vapor content. 

NOAA installed the 1,001st Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) 

in January 2007. The station ushered in a new generation of CORSs by becoming the first to provide precise global positioning data in real time from both the 

U.S.-based GPS and the Russian-based GNSS. The 1,001st CORS also takes part 

of the IOOS and is co-located with a NOAA tide station in Key West, Florida, 

where it collects local sealevel data for the globally consistent, rigorously defined 

International Terrestrial Reference System. 

Managed by NOAA, the CORS is a cooperative effort involving 175 organizations. Each CORS sits at a known, precise location and receives GPS radio signals 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
62 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The National Ocean Service (NOS) processed information collected through the CORS network and made it available to surveyors, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

engineers, scientists, and others around the world. CORS data remains essential 

for ensuring the reliability of transportation and communication systems, mapping 

and charting, and many scientific and engineering applications. 

Bureau of Industry and Security 

The BIS, with involvement from the OSC and ITA, completed a comprehen­

sive survey of the U.S. space industry that collected specific information regarding 

the industrial, economic, and financial performance of more than 350 individual 

companies. The DOD’s National Security Space Office requested the survey to 

investigate the health and competitiveness of the U.S. space industrial base with 

a focus on the impact of export controls. The U.S. Air Force published an indus­

trial base assessment of the U.S. space industry, based on the survey responses, on 

August 31, 2007. 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology 

The NIST performed a broad array of aeronautics and space-related measure­

ments, technology development, and industry support activities in FY07. As 

described below, NIST efforts included development, transfer, and implementation 

of measurements and standards, as well as manufacturing expertise. NIST research 

ranged from the insides of jet engines to satellites studying the outer reaches of the 

cosmos, from climate change on Earth to surviving fires in space, from optics and 

electronics to sensors, all with relevance to aircraft, spacecraft, and astronomy. 

The NIST used unique facilities and expertise to improve the effectiveness 

of existing and planned devices and facilities. NIST’s SURF III Synchrotron 

Ultraviolet Radiation Facility continued to be used to calibrate mirrors, detectors, 

and spectrometers used in NASA spacecraft with a wide range of missions, includ­

ing the atomic radiation intensities required for interpreting data from the Hubble 

Space Telescope. With funding from NASA and its partner, the European Space 

Agency, the NIST measured the properties and assessed the lifetimes of platinum/ 

neon hollow cathode lamps, such as the lamps that will be used for in-flight calibra­

tion of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph scheduled to be installed during the 2008 

Hubble Servicing Mission. The NIST also developed a highly effective technique 
63 for deblurring color imagery that has generated striking enhancements of images 

from the Hubble Space Telescope as well as the Kitt Peak Observatory. 

With NASA funding, the NIST continued to expand online numerical and 

bibliographic databases that facilitate the interpretation of observations carried 

out with NASA space observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the 

Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, and the 

Spitzer Infrared Observatory. This included production and critical compilation of 

atomic spectroscopic data that are needed by space astronomers. The NIST effort 

centered on the spectra of neutral chlorine and nitrogen with critical data compilations including spectra of iron, neon, fluorine, and other elements with relatively 

high cosmic abundance. 

Collaborating with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics to improve 

the metrology used in x-ray astronomy, the NIST used a ground-based plasma to 

simulate astrophysical plasmas and studied it along with a calibrated x-ray source 

using a microcalorimeter developed for future astronomy missions. The results will 

help resolve discrepancies that have limited the utility of some of the strongest 

potential diagnostic lines for x-ray astronomy. 

The NIST also worked with many partners on satellite studies focused on assessing factors related to climate change: with NASA’s Earth Observing System (EOS) 

to address discrepancies in satellite measurements of the top-of-the-atmosphere 

solar irradiance; with NOAA and NASA in characterization and calibration of the 

Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) used to calibrate ocean-color satellites that assess 

carbon levels in the ocean as well as the next generation Advanced Hyperspectral 

Autonomous Buoy (AHAB); with NOAA and NASA on the GOES-R and 

NPOESS satellite programs to aid future calibration and validation of the satellite optical sensors; with NASA, NPOESS, and the Utah State University Space 

Dynamics Laboratory in preparation of the final report from the May 2006 workshop on “Achieving Satellite Instrument Calibration for Climate Change (ASIC3)”; 

with NASA to develop a test plan and measure thermal noise standards that support the Aquarius Satellite mission (launch 2009) to resolve processes that link the 

water cycle, the climate, and the ocean by measuring global sea surface salinity; 

with NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory mission (launch 2008) to track worldwide sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide by providing high-accuracy 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
64 spectral information for both oxygen and carbon dioxide that will underpin the 

calibration of this and other atmospheric composition determinations. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

NIST efforts addressed National Security needs. With the DOD to improve the 

accuracy of optical signature measurements on ground and aerospace vehicles, the 

NIST provided optical standards, measurement comparisons, and sensor charac­

terizations to help assess and improve measurement accuracy. Under a contract 

from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), the NIST improved the accuracy of 

missile defense infrared sensor calibrations. With the Utah State University Space 

Dynamics Laboratory, the NIST worked to advance the development, calibration, 

and characterization of satellite imagers and sensors. The NIST also continued 

development of new measurement capabilities for sensor calibrations to improve 

the accuracy of missile-threat detection in space. 

The NIST also worked with the U.S. Air Force, NASA, and industry in fuels 

research geared toward alternative fuels, as well as worked to generate an understanding upon which to base innovative designs for jet and rocket propulsion systems. As part of this effort, the NIST established a reliable database of properties 

required to understand combustion kinetics. An improved distillation curve mea­

surement provided a variety of improved and new capabilities, including evaluation 

of energy content, trace chemical analysis, and corrosivity of each distillate. The 

NIST studied multiple rocket and aviation fuels, including fuels made from natural 

gas and coal and an ultra-low sulfur formulation of traditional rocket propellant, 

using this new method, and others, to inform theory and yield predictive models 

for each fluid. 

The NIST impacted a variety of programs focused on understanding the cosmos 

around us. Working with collaborators at NASA Centers and in universities, the 

NIST initiated an effort to develop large arrays of cosmic microwave background 

polarimeters to detect the exceedingly faint signature of primordial gravitational 

waves that date to the infancy of the universe. The NIST also calibrated a 

blackbody optical radiation standard built by ATK Corporation to calibrate 

equipment on the James Webb Space Telescope that will explore the formation 

of stars and galaxies, including solar systems with planets capable of supporting 

life. With funding from NASA, the NIST improved the performance of a voltagebiased superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES); the achievement of energy 
65 resolution goals for TES x-ray calorimeters for the Constellation-X satellite 

mission will enable improved probing of the General Relativity Theory through 

observations of the x-ray emissions of iron falling into black holes. The NIST also 

coupled field-amplified sample injection with temperature gradient focusing to 

obtain a ten-fold improvement in the detection limit of equipment being developed 

to analyze organic molecules that could be signs of life on Mars. Another technique, 

termed gradient elution isotachophoresis, became a second potential method for 

in situ biomarker analysis that could be run on the same instrument. The use of 

two different methods for confirmation potentially hold great importance if such 

materials are detected in a non-Earth environment. 

Other sensor-related work, with NASA funding, included the development of 

Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) and SQUID-based multiplexers to read out large arrays of superconducting transition-edge sensor detectors. The NIST already provided SQUID systems to researchers at NASA Centers 

(Goddard Space Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and in academia 

working on NASA-funded projects. In 2007, the NIST began deploying SQUID 

multiplexers with 100-fold improved immunity to stray fields and demonstrated 

microwave SQUID multiplexers without power dissipation. The latter breakthrough 

will allow the read out of much larger arrays of TES detectors than before. 

The NIST participated in numerous industry-focused efforts that built upon its 

measurement and manufacturing expertise. The NIST’s Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP) network of centers completed process improvement, waste 

reduction, and quality system implementation projects with 120 aerospace manufacturing companies. MEP centers, working through aerospace prime companies, 

including United Technologies (Sikorsky Helicopter, Hamilton-Sunstrand, and 

Pratt & Whitney), Rockwell Collins, and the Boeing Company, also conducted 

projects with more than 200 aerospace suppliers resulting in reduced supplier lead 

times, improved quality, and on-time delivery. The NIST undertook a DARPA 

Phase III effort with Honeywell Aerospace to develop a commercially viable 

“Navigation-Grade Integrated Micro-Gyroscope” based on NIST research in “ChipScale Atomic Clock” technology. The NIST also provided key diffusion mobility 

data and analysis to collaborators at QuesTek Innovations and NASA Glenn 

Research Center for predicting the microstructural evolution of third-generation 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
66 nickel-based superalloys in gas turbines during heat treating and service condi

­

tions. NIST also developed improved models of the stability of bond coats that 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

attach thermal barrier coatings used to extend the high-temperature lifetimes of 

nickel-based superalloy turbine blades. The NIST’s Advanced Technology Program 

continued its support of NexTech Materials, Ltd., of Lewis Center, Ohio, in its 

development of an efficient, lightweight solid oxide fuel cell for use in auxiliary 

power units for aircraft. 

The NIST also continued to provide the tools, methodologies, standards, train­

ing, and measurement services needed by aerospace parts manufacturers and assemblers to maintain accurate and traceable use of the International System of Units of 

length, mass, and time, as well as their derived units of force, acceleration, sound 

pressure, and ultrasonic power. Efforts included training metrologists from Boeing 

Primary Standards Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, Oakridge National 

Laboratory, Air Force Metrology and Calibration, and from two Lockheed Martin 

facilities, conducting more than 1,700 tests to calibrate nearly 200 instruments and 

artifacts, and accrediting Boeing’s Electromagnetic Compatibility Laboratory and 

NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center to make their own measurements in certain areas. The NIST also continued to develop methods to measure the aspheric 

optics used in aerospace and space applications and led development of a standard 

for use of laser tracker instruments used by the aerospace industry to measure large 

manufactured components and align large structures. 

The NIST and NASA continued their collaboration in the development of 

supply chain integration solutions. Both organizations cosponsored a workshop at 

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. In addi­

tion, the NIST led the standardization effort to complete the ISO standard that 

allows a manufacturer to describe product data, such as airplane and component 

designs, throughout the life cycle of the product in a format independent of com­

puter system. U.S. aerospace participants included NASA, Lockheed Martin, and 

BAE Systems. The NIST also continued to research smart machining techniques 

that show great promise for reducing cycle time while improving or maintaining 

part quality. 

Looking forward to space exploration, the NIST worked with NASA to develop a 

comprehensive electromagnetic shielding test plan for the Orion Crew Exploration 
67 Vehicle which will replace the Shuttle. The NIST previously provided electromagnetic shielding measurements for the NASA Shuttle program. As part of a broader 

effort, supported by the FAA, the Transportation Security Administration, and 

the Boeing Company, the NIST worked toward developing efficient techniques for 

measuring the shielding of aircraft from electromagnetic radiation; such shielding remains necessary to reduce interference between aircraft navigation systems 

and external radiation, on-board laptops, and cell phones. The NIST successfully 

applied the method to a Beechcraft composite business jet, expanding on previous 

studies of aircraft including a Boeing 737, an Airborne Early Warning and Control 

(AWACS) aircraft, a Space Shuttle, a Boeing 767-400, and a Bombardier Global 

5000 business jet. 

Because the longer duration of human exploration missions to Mars, the Moon, 

or on the ISS raises the chances for an accidental fire, NASA sponsored and collaborated with the NIST to examine material flammability. The NIST extended 

ground-based test methods computationally to examine how test results might 

change for gravity, pressure, and oxygen levels characteristic of habitats on the 

Moon, Mars, or spacecraft. Researchers used experiments and models to compare 

and contrast the suppression of flames in normal gravity and microgravity and 

studied the characterization of smoke in microgravity for improved spacecraft fire 

detection. NIST research also focused on understanding large fires in microgravity, mainly through modeling. Researchers made progress in understanding oxygen 

limitations to fire growth, prediction of solid material burn rates, fire behavior in 

space habitation modules, heat release from flames, and fire extinction. 

The NIST also worked on a variety of other efforts including the demonstration 

of the field dependence of the magnetocaloric properties of doped Gd5

Ge2Si2 for 

magnetic refrigerators in aerospace applications and continued work in on-chip 

electrical cooling of cryogenic detectors, the development of submillimeter heterodyne receivers based on hot-electron bolometer technology, and the development 

of nanotextured Gallium-nitride and other III-V semiconductors. On-chip coolers 

based on superconducting tunnel junctions could greatly simplify how to meet 

spacecraft cryogenic requirements. Nanotextured semiconductors, being studied 

in collaboration with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), potentially 

enable more efficient photodetectors for space applications. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
68 The NIST also collaborated with NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) to 

promote standardization of test techniques for single wall carbon nanotubes. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Accomplishments included a third joint workshop, advancement of ISO documen­

tary standards, and the development of prototype reference materials. In response 

to a separate request from NASA to use NIST high-precision nanopositioners 

for nanomaterial testing, the NIST designed a new generation of high-precision 

devices that will be fabricated at the NIST Nanofabrication Facility. 

The NIST’s Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP) and 

Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) continued to provide 

NASA’s Langley Research Center with technical assistance on Federal Information 

Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2: Security Requirements for Cryptographic 

Modules and other cryptographic-based standards. NASA works with many 

vendors and the space agencies of other governments who develop cryptographic 

modules for unique environments including space-based or ground telemetry where 

interpretation of the FIPS standard is critical to development. In FY07, the CMVP 

validated cryptographic modules intended for space-based applications, all of which 

had underlying algorithm validations provided through the CAVP. 

International Trade Administration 

The ITA played an important role in promoting U.S. aerospace trade interests 

as the industry faced mounting competition from abroad. The ITA participated in 

and organized trade events, as well as provided advocacy to support U.S. companies 

in international aerospace competitions. 

The ITA participated in various aviation security activities throughout 2006, 

including involvement in the DOC working group regarding the National 

Strategy for Aviation Security (NSAS). The ITA authored the section on DOC 

roles and responsibilities within the main strategy document and coordinated 

with interagency and DOC staff to ensure that the strategy reflected the goals 

and aspirations of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS) 

Initiative. In addition, the ITA facilitated greater interagency cooperation 

through representation in both the Global Harmonization and the Security 

Integrated Product Teams of the JPDO, the main coordinating body for the 

NGATS Initiative. The ITA conducted industry outreach through various ven­

ues, including the JPDO and industry meetings. 
69 During FY06, the ITA developed new market and policy assessments for civil-use 

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (UAVS). The ITA initiated public outreach on 

UAVS issues, including giving presentations at several industry conferences and 

publishing articles on the impact of Government policies on the establishment of 

domestic and international UAVS markets. 

The ITA continued to support the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in 

meetings with the World Trade Organization and at negotiations for free trade 

agreements. In particular, support for the ongoing United States and European 

Union trade dispute over Large Civil Aircraft required detailed support and 

industry knowledge. 

The ITA continued to participate in negotiations at the Organization for 

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aimed at revising the Aircraft 

Sector Understanding. The governments of most countries, along with major aircraft manufacturers, signed the OECD Arrangement of Officially Supported Export 

Credits, which establishes rules for export credit agencies and the way in which 

they finance civil aircraft sales. The Arrangement, along with an annexed Aircraft 

Sector Understanding, aimed to avoid government-provided export financing as 

a competitive factor in civil aircraft sales competitions. The ITA supported the 

U.S. delegation’s successful efforts to engage Brazil as a full negotiating partner in 

these talks, given the emergence of Brazilian-based Embraer as a leading exporter 

of aircraft that will soon compete directly with U.S. firms. The DOC hosted ten 

meetings and two conference calls to consult with industry on this topic. 

In June 2006, the ITA organized and supported the DOC’s participation in the 

Farnborough International Air Show (London, UK) and arranged senior-level 

meetings for the deputy secretary with foreign government and industry officials, 

as well as with U.S. industry executives. 

In 2006, the ITA initiated a dialogue with the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation 

on the topic of possible reductions in the maximum age of aircraft imported into 

India. The Ministry of Civil Aviation considered reducing the current limit of 

15 years, instituted in 1993, to 12 years. In July 2006, the ITA participated in a 

video conference with members of India’s Office of the Director General of Civil 

Aviation to discuss the proposed change in policy and possible alternatives. The 

ITA formed an ad hoc committee comprised of DOC personnel, industry, and 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
70 trade association representatives to monitor the status of the proposed change. The 

ITA continues to press for its non-adoption. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The ITA’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) recorded 268 

export successes in FY06 (a 22-percent increase from FY05) valued at more than 

$16 billion. Commercial Service (CS) personnel impacted deals not only with 

small- and medium-sized companies, as well as with larger companies such as the 

Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. 

The ITA’s CS held more than 975 counseling sessions with U.S. aerospace 

companies, helping them to resolve international trade issues, identify new export 

markets, and develop strategies for entering those markets. 

The ITA’s CS participated in 35 international trade events at which the CS 

Aerospace Team members provided U.S. industry with support through one-on-one 

counseling sessions, arranging individualized buyer-to-buyer meetings with international business partners, and conducting additional export counseling services. 

The ITA also sponsored Aerospace Products Literature Centers (APLCs) at several 

air shows, which offered U.S. small- to medium-sized aerospace companies low-cost, 

efficient venues to explore international and niche aerospace markets. The APLCs 

generated hundreds of trade leads for participating companies, allowing them to 

enter or expand their exports to international markets. These international trade 

events included Asian Aerospace 2006 (Singapore), the Seoul International Air 

Show, the Dubai Air Show, 2006 FIDAE (Chile), ILA 2006 (Germany), Africa 

Aerospace & Defense (South Africa), and the Farnborough International Air 

Show (London, UK). 
National Telecommunications and Information Administration 71 

The NTIA undertook a number of policy initiatives regarding satellites and 

other space-based communications systems as the lead advisory agency for Federal 

Government telecommunications issues. The NTIA provided policy guidance on 

issues concerning the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization 

and the International Mobile Satellite Organization. The NTIA also continued 

to manage the Federal Government’s assignments, nationally and internationally, 

for use of the radio spectrum for NOAA, NASA, DOD, and other Government 

agencies with satellite programs. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
72
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 
73 

deparTmenTofTheinTerior

DOI

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists collaborated with the AGRHYMET 

(Agricultural-Hydrological-Meteorological) Regional Center in Niger, with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to map and 

monitor land use and land cover (LULC) trends in West Africa from 1972 to 2000. 

The team used Landsat imagery to complete time-series maps of LULC of Senegal, 

The Gambia, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, and Togo. USGS scientists 

developed a practical and innovative tool for mapping LULC change using a GIS 

tool called the Rapid Land Cover Mapper. Environmental scientists from each 

country received training in the mapper tool and led the mapping process. The 

scientists presented the completed maps to numerous users, including agency directors in each country. The LULC maps will be used to run future scenarios showing 

landscape changes under several different population and climate-change regimes. 

For more information, see: http://edcintl.cr.usgs.gov/rlcm/index.php. 

USGS scientists teamed up with ecologists from Niger and European partners 

to use high-resolution time-series remote sensing and field data to track significant 

environmental changes in the agricultural regions of southern Niger. They documented efforts by hundreds of thousands of farmers adapting to climate change 

using new practices that help them cope with drought and generally decreasing 

rainfall trends. Corona satellite photographs from 1967 and aerial photographs 

from 1975 provided a baseline for comparison to aerial photographs acquired in 

2005. One of the most significant findings was the major increase in tree cover 

on farmlands in areas of high rural population density. Farmers are investing in 

the land using a variety of natural resource management techniques, including 

the enhancement of natural tree regeneration. Today, agricultural parklands have 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
74 replaced the barren, wind-swept fields of the 1970s. Image analysis showed that 

on-farm tree densities have increased 10- to 20-fold. These findings suggested a 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

human and environmental success story at a scale not seen before in the West 

African Sahel. Rural people reacted proactively to the large-scale land degradation 

that occurred during the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s and massively started 

protecting their resources. Beyond the physical efforts, Niger’s policy environment 

showed real change, especially reform in the rural development that empowered 

farmers to manage their own resources. 

The Astrogeology Team of the USGS continued to be heavily involved in the 

Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission whose twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, 

both surpassed 1,300 sols (Martian days) of surface operations in FY07. Since 

the rovers’ landings in January 2004, USGS Astrogeology Team members have 

led efforts to plan, acquire, archive, and interpret data from the rover cameras, 

principally the Microscopic Imager on the instrument arm, along with analysis of 

color panoramic camera data of rocks, soils, and active processes on the surface 

of Mars. 

The Opportunity rover spent most of the year navigating the northwestern 

rim of the 800-meter diameter impact crater, Victoria, and entered the crater in 

September 2007 to explore the layered rocks along the rim and interior. Spirit 

began the year by leaving its “winter haven” location to explore the eastern edge 

of the Home Plate structure, and it has driven on top of this feature for further 

investigations. Both rovers survived harsh dust storm conditions in the latter half 

of FY07 and are preparing for the upcoming Martian winter in early 2008. 

The USGS Astrogeology Team directly supported the testing, calibration, opera­

tion, and data analysis of images acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science 

Experiment (HiRise) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). 

This camera provides the highest resolution images of Mars from orbit (~30cm/ 

pixel) and is being used to certify future spacecraft landing sites for the Mars Science 

Laboratory rover, as well as support numerous Mars science investigations. 

The USGS supported a large portion of HiRise image processing and analysis 

software development in FY07. The Astrogeology Team used this software to 

develop high-resolution monochrome and color images acquired by HiRise, as well 

as construct the highest resolution digital elevation models of Mars ever made. 
75 In particular, images of the terrain explored by the MERs served to guide the MER 

team in their journey. 

The USGS Astrogeology Team members continued their participation as 

Science Team members on the NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and its 

moon, Titan, including: 1) the discovery of the lakes and larger seas of hydrocarbon around Titan’s north pole; 2) the first measurement of Titan’s rotational state, 

which strongly suggests that Titan is not solid but has an ice crust floating on an 

internal ocean; 3) generated preliminary estimates of Titan’s topography from stereo pairs of radar images to provide quantitative information about processes such 

as cryo-volcanism; and 4) laid the groundwork for systematic production of Titan 

map products in FY08, products such as image mosaics, topographic models, and 

maps of microwave emission and scattering properties relevant to understanding 

surface composition. 

Two Astrogeology papers on Titan were accepted for publication in Planetary 

and Space Science in FY07. The first used descent images from the European Space 

Agency’s Huygens Probe to map Titan’s surface topography. These topographic 

maps documented spectacular river drainages carved by rain and floods of liquid 

methane. The second publication used a combination of Cassini radar images and 

visible/near-infrared spectra to map compositional units on Titan’s surface that 

included vast hydrocarbon sand seas, methane lakes, mantles of hydrocarbons, and 

bright aerosols that form and settle out of the thick, cold atmosphere. These studies 

expanded our understanding of this alien environment that in so many ways (river 

valleys, lakes, volcanic regions, mountain chains, and sand seas) resembles the 

geomorphic forms of Earth. 

The U.S. Landsat series of satellites provided imagery of the entire Earth’s 

surface on a seasonal basis since its beginnings in 1972. A wide variety of applications of land surface changes use the data from Landsat in land-use planning, 

agriculture, disaster reduction, water management, and analysis of human development. Currently, Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 actively collect data, but they are nearing the end of their functional lives. A successor to these satellites, the Landsat 

Data Continuity Mission, is scheduled to be launched in 2011. The creation of the 

National Land Imaging Program will ensure the availability of these key data far 

into the future. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
76 Major actions on the Landsat Data Continuity Mission developed during FY07. 

NASA, responsible for the procurement and development of the Space Segment 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

(satellite and land-imaging sensor) and the Launch Segment (rocket, launch services, and post-launch check-out), awarded contracts for design and development 

of the required systems. 

At the same time, the USGS refined an acquisition strategy involving three 

ground system segments: 1) the flight operation segment includes a ground com­

mand and receiving station antenna network; 2) the data processing and archive 

segment, including satellite data archiving, image processing, and a user portal for 

data access; and 3) the ground system architecture analysis and integration seg­

ment. For more information, see: http://ldcm.usgs.gov/.

On June 4, 2007, the USGS began releasing selected Landsat 7 image data of 

the United States through the Web (http://glovis.usgs.gov/ or http://earthexplorer. 

usgs.gov/). These data are of high quality with limited cloud cover. A wide range of 

applications finds the Landsat data useful. From disaster monitoring after Hurricane 

Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami to global crop condition analyses, scientists 

around the world use Landsat data. The Web-based distribution system provided 

the user community easier access to Landsat 7 data. In 17 weeks, 757 unique users 

downloaded almost 6,000 products (approximately 1.3 TB). This Web-enabled dis­

tribution of new and recently acquired data is a pilot project for the Landsat Data 

Continuity Mission, currently projected for launch in 2011. 

On March 1, 2007, the Landsat 5 satellite began its 24th year in orbit. This mile­

stone seems particularly impressive considering its creators thought the operational 

lifespan was no more than three years. 

On April 15, 2007, Landsat 7 completed its 8th year of operation. Data gathered 

by Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 continued to form the backbone of the 35-year-old 

global Landsat archive, which contains millions of images of Earth’s terrestrial envi­

ronment and is maintained at the USGS’s Center for Earth Resources Observation 

and Science (USGS EROS). Landsat data remained a vital component of an array 

of research that includes wildfire mapping, crop identification, timber harvesting, 

desertification, climate change, habitat suitability, and urban expansion. Barring 

component failures, recent fuel estimates indicate that both satellites will continue 

to fulfill the Landsat science mission for years to come. 
77 The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used an array of remote sensing technologies to inventory, monitor, and address concerns about resource conditions, 

as well as energy and mineral resource extraction on public lands. During FY07, 

remote sensing data from a variety of platforms, ranging from hand-held digital 

cameras to coarse-resolution NASA satellites, supported management activities 

associated within almost all business areas of the BLM. These projects provided 

information for the national, state, and local land managers to make better, 

informed decisions on resources in their areas. 

During 2007, aerial photography remained the largest source of remote sensing data used in the BLM. In partnership with the Farm Service Agency (FSA), 

the BLM made extensive use of orthoimagery through the National Agriculture 

Imagery Program (NAIP). This data will provide a foundation for numerous projects within the BLM for years to come. The BLM and the NAIP, and other aerial 

photography sources, are key components in our toolbox for making timely and 

informed management decisions over a broad range of topics. 

Several projects employing remote sensing-based technologies carried over from 

2006 to 2007, including the following: 

•	 The	USGS	assisted	the	BLM	in	developing	a	protocol	to	delineate	

surface disturbance activities in oil/gas development regions using 

orthophotography and high-resolution satellite data. 

•	 Utah	State	University	and	the	Utah	State	Office	explored	the	30-year	

history of Landsat data to develop a standardized protocol for examining changes to rangelands over time. 

•	 The	Utah	State	Office	employed	a	combination	of	aerial	photography and satellite imagery to complete a statewide inventory of forest 

stands in Utah. An object-oriented approach fuses the imagery with 

ancillary data, such as elevation, slope, aspect, and several vegetation 

indices to map more than 200 classes. 

•	 In	 conjunction	 with	 the	 USGS,	 under	 the	 Central	 Region	 Integrated Science Partnership Funds (CRISP), the BLM participated in 

projects using high-resolution commercial imagery to develop methodologies to identify and map species, cover, and height classes of 

sagebrush. These models will be extended to cover the entire state 

of Wyoming and provide key inputs to better understand sage grouse 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
78 habitat dynamics and the influences anthropogenic forces have on 

those habitats. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 The	BLM	Alaska	Fire	Service	(AFS)	and	the	University	of	Alaska	–

Fairbanks, Geographic Information Network of Alaska (GINA) 

continued cooperation through an MOU for the utilization of near 

real-time satellite imagery to develop derived products. The AFS and 

GINA used these products in the detection of new fires, monitoring 

of remote fires, and the tracking of smoke plumes. In addition to imagery, the GINA provided remote sensing expertise and advice when 

needed to assist the AFS in its mission. In return, the AFS provided 

the GINA with fire and fuels information such as perimeters, data 

from our Remote Automatic Weather Station (RAWS) network, the 

Fire Weather Index (FWI), and other fire indices. 

•	 The	AFS	used	Landsat	data	extensively	to	map	and	analyze	fires	and	

their effects on the land. During 2006, the AFS utilized Landsat for 

perimeter mapping of large fires. 

During 2007, the BLM saw the expansion of use of commercial high-resolution 

satellite data. Several commercial satellite image acquisitions took over key study 

areas. This imagery provided baseline data on the current state of resources, as 

well as laid the foundation for monitoring changes in the landscape. The State of 

Wyoming took a proactive approach to monitoring surface disturbance due to oil/ 

gas exploration by purchasing commercial satellite data that will be used to ensure 

that planning goals are met and to support restoration activities. 

The Murphy Complex Fire in Idaho was one of the largest fires in the recorded 

history of the Great Basin. In response to this fire and the growing pressures from 

grazing, invasive species, climate change, altered fire regimes, and more, the BLM 

assembled a multidisciplinary team of scientists from a number of institutions to 

examine the dynamics and interactions of this fire to better guide management 

decisions in the future. Remote sensing data at multiple scales support the current 

research. Scientists used the data to quantify sagebrush cover, map fire severity and 

extent, examine range condition, guide field sampling, and provide a baseline for 

restoration initiatives. 

In 2007, the USGS and the 11-member Federal interagency Multi-Resolution 

Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) announced the completion of the 2001 
79 National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2001) that describes 16 classes of land 

cover, the percentage of tree canopy, and the percentage of imperviousness for each 

30-meter cell across the conterminous United States. Based on Landsat satellite 

imagery taken during 2001, MLRC agencies constructed the database in a six-year 

collaborative effort. NLCD 2001 became a second-generation effort to update the 

Nation’s land cover information. The first NLCD completed in 2000 used Landsat 

imagery acquired around the year 1992. Thousands of applications in the private, 

public, and academic sectors used information from the NLCD—applications that 

range from helping to site cell phone towers to tracking how diseases spread. NLCD 

products are available for download from the MRLC Web site at http://www.mrlc. 

gov/. Complete, updated coverage of NLCD 2001 data for Alaska, Hawaii, and 

Puerto Rico will be available as of December 2007. Future nation-wide updates of 

NLCD 2001 will continue to monitor land cover change across the Nation. 

The USGS Michigan Water Science Center, in cooperation with the Michigan 

Department of Environmental Quality Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, 

adopted a method modeled after Olmanson and others (2001) to predicted water 

quality for inland lakes greater than 25 acres by relating field measurements to 

Landsat satellite imagery. The State of Michigan holds more than 11,000 inland 

lakes; approximately 3,500 of these lakes are greater than 25 acres. Predicted lake 

water-quality results are available for most of the 3,500 inland lakes. Continued 

water-quality predictions assist water-quality managers in identifying trends and 

issues for Michigan inland lakes. Additional project information with a link to the 

predicted water-quality results is available online at: http://mi.water.usgs.gov/splan1/ 

sp00301/remotesensing.php. 

Multiple Federal and state agencies prepared and evaluated the environmental 

assessment of the Sawyer County Airport Improvement project near Hayward, 

Sawyer County, Wisconsin. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the 

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources staff expressed concern regarding 

possible effects of tree topping/clearing on the hydrology of a wetland and trout 

stream at the site. The USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center refined an existing regional ground-water-flow model to improve local simulations of the shallow 

ground-water flow system near the airport. Accurate horizontal and vertical locaFiscal Year 2007 Activities 
80 tions of water levels in test wells, the wetland, and along streams surrounding the 

airport were critical to accurately simulate the local hydrology. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The USGS used a real-time kinematic (RTK) GPS to survey horizontal and vertical 

locations of water levels near the Hayward Airport between February 21 and 23, 2007. 

This RTK-GPS system provides centimeter-level accuracy by differentially correcting 

GPS signals recorded at two separate GPS receivers — a base station and a rover. 

Use of the RTK-GPS allowed the USGS to accurately survey the area in a few 

hours, rather than several days as would be needed using traditional equipment. 

Based on simulations performed with the revised flow model, the agencies came to 

agreement on specific hydrologic implications of the proposed improvements and 

the environmental assessment moved forward. 

The USGS/Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) remained 

an active user of remote sensing data and products. The UMESC used remote sens­

ing data for approximately 20 years to develop vegetation maps/spatial databases 

and orthophoto mosaics for the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (FWS), and the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). FY07 

applications included: 

•	 In	coordination	with	the	FWS,	the	UMESC	generated	spatial	vegeta­

tion databases for Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) and 

Tamarac NWR using color-infrared aerial photography. These geospatial layers will aid the FWS in setting wildlife, habitat, and public 

use priorities and guide management decisions on the refuges for the 

next 15 years. 

•	 As	a	product	of	the	USGS-NPS	Vegetation	Mapping	Program	(VMP),	

the USGS/UMESC completed and delivered the Waterton-Glacier 

International Peace Park (WGIPP) spatial vegetation database to the 

USGS-NPS VMP. The UMESC mapped about 1.1 million acres of 

Glacier National Park with more than 200 plant communities using 

high-resolution aerial photography during the past nine years. This 

project was part of an international effort with Canada’s Waterton 

Lakes National Park. The vegetation maps are a powerful tool for 

making sound scientific decisions about future vegetation patterns. 

•	 As	a	product	of	the	USGS-NPS	VMP,	the	USGS/UMESC	created	

color-infrared aerial photo mosaics for the Indiana Dunes National 

Lakeshore and the Buffalo National River in Arkansas. The aerial 
81 photo mosaics will act as a background layer to the spatial vegetation database that will be produced from the same set of photography. 

Together, these layers will become a powerful tool for making sound 

scientific decisions about future vegetation patterns. 

•	 The	UMESC	acquired	high-resolution	digital	imagery	(eight	inches	

per pixel) on September 15, 2007, for Navigation Pools 5, 6, and 8 

of the UMRS. This imagery documented the effects of experimental 

water- level reductions, or drawdowns, designed to compact sediment 

and stimulate vegetative growth in newly exposed substrate. This 

imagery will be compared to imagery collected previously to help 

assess the persistence of the resulting vegetation, as well as provide a 

baseline of condition prior to next year’s planned water drawdown of 

Pool 6. 

•	 The	UMRS	remained	an	important	stopover	area	for	migrating	waterfowl and management concerns of resource managers often centered 

on providing adequate habitat to meet the needs of ducks, geese, and 

swans. A 14-megapixel Kodak single-lens reflex camera (the Kodak 

DCS Pro 14n) mounted in the belly of an FWS twin-engine plane 

successfully captured imagery of migrating swans in selected portions 

of Navigation Pools 4 through 9 each fall. Scientists referenced these 

photos to Earth and combined the images into a mosaic by study area. 

Scientists then used computer software to count swans and analyze 

their distribution by preferred vegetation types and water depths. 

FWS scientists used GPS technology and remotely sensed data for years to 

support their mission activities. Common uses of these technologies included 

the creation of new habitat and vegetation maps, the verification or updating of 

data displayed on older maps, the execution of trend-analysis models for specific 

habitat types, and the creation of management plans. The applications included 

the following: 

•	 The	USFWS	Sacramento	Fish	and	Wildlife	Office	used	urban	high-	

resolution imagery provided by the USGS liaison for geospatial 

analysis work relating to: 1) locations of wetlands; 2) identification 

of potential wildlife habitats; 3) locations of boundaries for land use 

planning purposes; 4) USFWS recovery planning for the California 

Red-Legged Frog and Tidal Marsh Recovery plan that contains 33 

species of fish and wildlife; and 5) updating geospatial urban land layers. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
82 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 The	Western	Washington	Fish	and	Wildlife	Office	combined	NAIP	

imagery with species and parcel data from the State of Washington to 

analyze and prioritize Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation 

Fund (Section 6) Grants. They also tracked existing grants to assist in 

locating areas where grants may coincide. 

•	 Refuge	planning	staff	produced	a	National	Vegetation	Classification	

System Alliance-level map for Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge, 

located in Phillips County, Montana. Remote sensing imagery used 

in this project included one-meter resolution, color-infrared (CIR) 

imagery collected under the Farm Service Agency’s NAIP program, 

true-color NAIP imagery (2005), and CIR imagery collected by an 

FWS-contracted pilot in April 2006. The pilot collected FWS imagery at a resolution of 0.6-meters and provided a spring “look” at the 

vegetation, while the NAIP provided a summer “look” at the vegetation. This temporal contrast aided in the delineation of plant groups. 

•	 Fishery	 biologists	 in	 Arizona	 conducted	 a	 fish	 reintroduction	 effort	

in 2007 that relied on GPS coordinates to direct a helicopter pilot 

to sites where the young fish were picked up and dropped off. Using 

a helicopter, biologists moved 2,800 fish from three sources into five 

new locations in a single day. 

•	 The	Kenai	National	Wildlife	Refuge	completed	a	land	cover	classifica­

tion for the entire Alaskan Kenai Peninsula (six million acres) using 

2002 Landsat 7 satellite images and 4,074 ground locations collected 

from various sources. The refuge used ground locations associated 

with 26 land cover classes to assign classes to corresponding objects 

and, based upon their similarity to other objects (nearest neighbor), 

projected the classes across the landscape, producing a map of predicted land cover at a 0.1 ha minimum mapping unit. 

The Invasive Species Science Branch, USGS’s Biological Resources Discipline, 

in cooperation with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center scientists, used NASA 

and USGS satellite data (e.g., MODIS, Landsat) to forecast the spatial and tempo­

ral patterns of harmful invasive species. Invasive plants, animals, and pathogens 

cost the United States an estimated $120 billion each year in lost cropland and 

rangeland productivity, direct control costs, and costs to the environment and 

human health. NASA data products are essential for mapping habitats vulnerable 

to invasion. 
83 In FY06, the Information Science Branch initiated a study to compare a satellitebased (Landsat 5) vegetation mapping methodology with traditional aerial photo 

interpretation. The Discrete Classification Mapping Methodology (DCMM) devel­

oped by Geographic Resource Solutions provided quantitative vegetation metrics 

based on ground measurements and satellite imagery. The DCMM may prove to be 

more useful to managers and researchers because of the spatial accuracy, lower cost 

per unit area mapped, and quantitative vegetation metrics in the GIS database. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
84
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
85 

federal CommuniCaTions

Commission

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formulates rules to facilitate 

the provision of commercial satellite services in the United States. The FCC also 

issues licenses for the launch and operation of all nongovernmental U.S. satellites. 

Internationally, the FCC coordinates satellite radio-frequency usage with other 

countries. The FCC’s accomplishments for FY07 related primarily to commercial 

communications satellites and Earth observation satellites. 

During FY07, the FCC issued its First Annual Report to Congress on the state of 

competition in the communications satellite services industry. The inaugural report 

examined six wholesale and two retail satellite services markets for the period from 

2000 to 2006. The FCC found effective competition in the satellite markets were 

addressed. The FCC concluded that the commercial satellite services sector continues to benefit U.S. consumers, all levels of Government, and American industry 

by providing important connectivity and ongoing technology innovation. 

The FCC took two significant actions in rule-making proceedings during FY07. 

In one proceeding, the FCC adopted rules for newly available radio frequencies to 

be used by the broadcast satellite service, which is the service by which most U.S. 

consumers receive satellite television. The rules included technical rules, licensing procedures, and other regulatory requirements for the new service. In another 

proceeding, the FCC proposed to adopt rules for vehicle-mounted Earth stations 

operating in the Ku-band. These mobile Earth stations operate with geostationary 

satellites licensed to provide fixed satellite service, and vehicle occupants can use 

them to transmit and receive video and data. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
86 The FCC authorized a number of commercial communication satellite launches 

and operations. The authorizations include the following: 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 November 29, 2006: Echostar to construct a satellite planned for the 

longitude 86.5° west orbit location. 

•	 December	 21,	 2006:	 Virtual	 Geosatellite	 to	 construct	 an	 18

-

satellite nongeostationary satellite system. They subsequently relinquished authorization at the deadline for submitting a required 

performance bond. 

•	 April	 16,	 2007:	 Sirius	 Satellite	 Radio	 for	 a	 geostationary	 satellite	

planned for the longitude 96° west orbit location. 

•	 July	18,	2007:	Viasat	for	two	geostationary	satellites,	one	planned	for	

the longitude 77.3° west orbit location and the other for the longitude 

115° west orbit location. They subsequently relinquished authorization for the latter satellite at the deadline for submitting a required 

performance bond. 

The FCC granted a number of license modifications and Special Temporary 

Authorizations for satellite networks. Many involved routine testing or redeploy­

ment of satellites within a multiple-satellite system. Several of these actions warrant particular mention: 

•	 July 9, 2007: Intelsat received authority to operate certain frequencies 

on the Intelsat 709 satellite, at the longitude 85.15° east orbit location, 

to provide service to U.S. Government customers in the Middle East. 

•	 August	7,	2007:	PanAmSat	received	authority	to	operate	the	Galaxy	9	

satellite at the longitude 81° west orbit location, consistent with satel­

lite coordination arrangements with Argentina. 

The FCC added two non-U.S.-licensed space stations to its permitted space sta

tion list to allow these space stations to provide domestic and international satellite 

service to U.S. Earth stations that have routine technical parameters. Specifically, 

on December 8, 2006, the FCC added the United Kingdom’s AMC-18 satellite 

to its permitted list for C-band frequencies, and on January 19, 2007, the FCC 

added the Canadian Anik F3 satellite to its permitted list for C- and Ku-band 

frequencies. 

­
87 The FCC also granted a number of requests for non-U.S.-licensed space 

stations to provide service in the United States on a nonroutine basis, including 

the following: 

•	 October	10,	2006:	WB	Holdings	received	authorization	to	use	multiple terminals in Ka-band frequencies to access Canada’s Wildblue 1 

satellite at the longitude 111.1° west orbit location. 

•	 November	29,	2006:	Spectrum	Five	reserved	spectrum	for	two	satellites to provide a broadcast satellite service at the longitude 114.5° 

west orbit location. 

•	 December	 20,	 2006:	 ICO	 reserved	 spectrum	 to	 add	 an	 additional	

geostationary satellite at the longitude 85.15° west orbit location 

to its 2 GHz mobile satellite service system. The authorization for 

the latter satellite was subsequently relinquished at the deadline for 

submitting a required performance bond. 

•	 March	7,	2007:	Hawaii	Pacific	Teleport	received	authority	in	C-and	

Ku-band frequencies to access the Japanese JCSAT-5 at the longitude 

132° east orbit location. 

The FCC also remained active in international satellite coordination. During 

the first quarter of FY07, the FCC reached a total of ten Administration-toAdministration Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks with Australia, 

Brazil, France, Japan, and the Netherlands. During the second quarter of FY07, 

the FCC reached a total of 165 Administration-to-Administration Coordination 

Agreements for U.S. networks with Argentina and Malaysia. During the third quar

ter of FY07, the FCC reached a total of nine Administration-to-Administration 

Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks with Canada and Kazakhstan. During 

the fourth quarter of FY07, the FCC reached a total of 67 Administration-toAdministration Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks with Germany and 

the United Kingdom. 

­

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
88
t Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presiden
89 

u.s. deparTmenT of

agriCulTure

USDA

Several agencies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) used remote 

sensing data, tools, and related technologies to support research, program, and 

operational activities. Although each agency had a different mission and responsibilities, multiple agencies used similar data sets and technologies to help them 

accomplish their objectives. 

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the primary in-house research 

agency for the USDA. The ARS conducts basic and applied research to solve 

problems affecting food, fiber, and biofuel production, including the development 

of procedures that protect and enhance soil, water, and air resources. The ARS 

scientists investigated how remote sensing could be used to address water quality 

and quantity, soil productivity, and global change issues, as well as to detect and 

map invasive species and manage crops. The research addressed problems faced by 

producers and strategic decision makers from local to regional spatial scales and 

short-term (e.g., within growing season) to long-term (e.g., multiple year) time 

scales. The ARS partnered with NASA and other USDA agencies to develop 

operational systems that would help the USDA agencies carry out their missions. 

Hydrology continued to be a major emphasis of ARS remote sensing research. 

The ARS conducted further development of algorithms and validated these algorithms using thermal infrared satellite data to map evapotranspiration and plant 

moisture stress. Collaboration with NASA, NOAA, and university researchers 

investigated how these procedures can be incorporated into the drought detection 

and mapping systems of the National Integrated Drought Information System. A 

USDA member of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission science team performed 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
90 some of this work. Work also continued on development of satellite-based soil 

moisture mapping technologies, including contributions to future NASA satellite 

systems and collaboration with international remote sensing researchers. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The USDA conducted collaborative research with NASA on remote sensing 

of the distribution of invasive species, the effectiveness of biocontrols, and the 

reestablishment of native species. This research emphasized aircraft and satellite 

remote sensing systems and showed great potential for improving the management 

of vast areas of western U.S. rangelands. 

Part of the North American Carbon Program linked research on the use of 

remote sensing with models to map carbon in agricultural systems. The North 

American Carbon Program incorporated the results of this research into a Webbased research and decision support tool for scientists, producers, and those interested in environmental credit trading. This work program was built on ongoing 

work to enhance the use of NASA remote sensing satellite products for crop-yield 

estimation by USDA agencies. The USDA also conducted complementary work on 

the development of remote sensing tools for mapping crop residue (i.e., plant mate­

rial left in crop fields following harvest). Management of crop residue reduces soil 

erosion, maintains and improves soil quality, and contributes to carbon sequestra­

tion for control of greenhouse gas emissions. This work demonstrated the potential 

for remote sensing as a tool for mapping the extent of tillage practices by farmers 

enrolled in USDA conservation programs. 

The FSA administers vital farm programs that ensure a strong and viable agri­

culture sector in the United States. The FSA’s geospatial and remote sensing activi­

ties play a fundamental role in the management of farm programs. The agency 

maintains a nationally consistent geospatial data set representing farm and field 

boundaries known as Common Land Units (CLUs). The FSA used CLUs, digital 

soil surveys, one-meter imagery, and other data sets for program implementation 

and monitoring, as well as for response and recovery efforts during natural disas­

ters. The USDA also used remote sensing data for program analysis. For example, 

the FSA leveraged remote sensing data to determine program boundary delineation 

for a new habitat initiative. Through a partnership with the U.S. FWS, the USDA 

used remotely sensed data as a modeling input to identify the density of breeding 

ducks on a regional level. The results of the study were used to determine areas 

where program eligibility would return the highest benefit of program goals. 
91 Through the NAIP, the FSA is the primary source of aerial imagery for the 

USDA, acquiring imagery over the continental United States (CONUS) during 

the agricultural growing season. Though budget constraints limited the acquisition 

of new imagery to 14 states in 2007, the NAIP continued to provide some of the 

most up-to-date imagery across the Nation, as well as some of the most current 

pre-event imagery after disaster events. The NAIP imagery is available through the 

USDA Geospatial Data Gateway. The FSA also leveraged existing technologies to 

provide emergency responders with a variety of additional methods for accessing 

NAIP imagery. 

The mission of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is to provide 

timely, accurate, and useful statistics in service to U.S. agriculture. These statistics 

cover virtually every facet of U.S. agriculture, from production and supply of food 

and fiber to prices paid and received by farmers and ranchers. Every five years, the 

NASS conducts the Census of Agriculture—a comprehensive statistical summary 

of many aspects of U.S. agriculture. Remote sensing data and techniques improve 

the accuracy of NASS statistics. 

During FY07, the NASS used remote sensing data to construct and sample 

area frames for statistical surveys, estimate crop area and yield, and create cropspecific land-cover data layers for GIS. For example, the NASS used Landsat 

imagery, digital orthophoto quadrangles, and other remotely sensed inputs for the 

CONUS and Puerto Rico to select the yearly area-based samples and supplemental 

samples that were used to measure the completeness of the Agricultural Census 

in 2007. In addition, the NASS constructed new area-based sampling frames in 

Minnesota and South Dakota. The remote sensing acreage estimation project 

used ResourceSat-1’s Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) and NASA’s MODIS 

data to produce crop acreage estimates for major crops at the state and county 

levels for 14 Midwestern and Mississippi Delta States for the 2006 and 2007 crop 

years. Because of a major reengineering effort, the NASS produced acreage 

estimates 75 days earlier and covered four additional states than previously 

possible using earlier systems. Because of the improved timeliness, the NASS 

Agricultural Statistics Board used the remote sensing estimates when setting the 

official October 2007 corn and soybean NASS estimates. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
92 In addition, the NASS distributed a crop-specific categorization in the form of 

a digital mosaic of scenes for each of these states to users for the 2006 crop season 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

on DVD and via the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway Web site. The NASS also 

continued its partnership with ARS to conduct research and implement the use 

of MODIS sensor vegetative index and surface temperature data for setting state 

and county corn and soybean yield estimates in Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois. The 

Agricultural Statistics Board held access to estimates from this algorithm when 

setting the official August and October yield estimates for these States. 

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the primary Federal 

agency working with private landowners to help protect and conserve the Nation’s 

natural resources. For more than 50 years, the NRCS used remote sensing products 

to carry out conservation programs. Aerial and satellite imagery processed in the 

form of digital orthoimagery remained the primary remote sensing product used 

by NRCS to inventory, monitor, manage, and assess our natural resources in GIS 

nationwide. By partnering with the FSA and other Federal and state agencies, the 

NRCS acquired statewide 1-meter or better resolution orthoimagery for 11 states 

and parts of Alaska, Hawaii, and the Pacific Basin. The USDA Geospatial Data 

Gateway Web site made available all orthoimagery purchased by the NRCS to 

internal users and the general public. 

The NRCS used the USDA Small Area Aerial Photography Contract to acquire 

high-resolution aerial photography (4'' ground-resolving distance) and scans over 

70,344 confidential statistical sites to collect natural resource data for the annual 

National Resources Inventory (NRI) program in the CONUS. The NRCS also 

contracted for aerial photography over 450 NRI sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands, and 581 NRI sites in Alaska. The NRCS also used the Small Area 

Aerial Photography Contract to acquire photos of over 3,207 Wetland Reserve 

Program (WRP) easements in 17 states. High-resolution satellite imagery contin­

ued to be acquired for conducting the NRI in Alaska and Hawaii. The NRCS con­

tinually needs data from a medium resolution, multiple-band satellite like Landsat. 

In addition, selected NRCS applications need orthorectified Landsat-like imagery. 

The transition to AWiFS acquisition by the USDA Satellite Imagery Archive (SIA) 

resulted in a significant drop in usage of Landsat imagery within the NRCS. The 

NRCS continued to purchase licensed Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar 
93 digital elevation data at five-meter posting to use in automating soil survey threedimensional mapping and improving the overall accuracy of digital orthoimagery. 

The Forest Service (FS) continued to process data from NASA’s MODIS sensor on board NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites as part of the MODIS Active Fire 

Mapping Program. The data produced active wildland fire mapping products daily 

for the CONUS, Alaska, and Canada. The program utilized real-time MODIS 

imagery and derived fire-detection data for the western United States collected 

by the receiving station located at the agency’s Remote Sensing Applications 

Center (RSAC) facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The program also utilized additional real-time MODIS fire detection data for Alaska, western Canada, and the 

eastern United States. The FS posted these products on the Internet (http:// 

activefiremaps.fs.fed.us), where they were accessible to national fire managers and 

the general public. 

More than one million users accessed the MODIS Active Fire Mapping Web 

site during 2007. The MODIS fire mapping products provided the interagency 

fire community with a synoptic view of the wildland fire situation, aiding in the 

strategic allocation of fire-fighting resources and assets throughout the country. A 

collaborative effort with NASA’s GSFC and the University of Maryland provided 

this service on a daily basis since July 4, 2001. In addition, several major media 

entities used the maps and fire detection data including the Washington Post, the 

New York Times, the Cable News Network (CNN), the Associated Press (AP), and 

the Los Angeles Times. 

The FS also continued to work with NASA’s Ames Research Center (ARC) on 

a number of fire-related technologies. ARC work included advanced sensor design 

and image processing from airborne platforms, utility of satellite communication 

data links, and unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV) development and mission profiling 

for tactical wildland fire mapping. 

The FS and ARC collaborated on significant flight demonstrations in 2007. In 

August and September, a General Atomics (GA-ASI) Reaper class aircraft (named 

Ikhana) flew four scheduled missions covering eight western states. The four 

missions (approximately one mission per week) acquired tactical imagery over a 

number of active fires during the height of the fire season and provided the imagery to numerous incident commands in near-real time via a Google Earth viewer 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
94 throughout the course of each flight. The flights varied in duration from 10 to 

20 hours. These flights were a collaborative effort between RSAC, ARC, NASA 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

Dryden Flight Research Center, and the National Interagency Fire Center. 

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) used remote 

sensing to support agency emergency and regulatory programs. The Centers for 

Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) and the Center for Plant Health 

Science and Technology (CPHST) within APHIS sought to expand the understanding and application of remote sensing data within the animal and plant 

health and protection fields. 

In support of the International Services’ Screwworm Eradication Program, the 

CEAH created a Landsat mosaic to visualize and document the flight path used 

for release of sterile flies throughout Jamaica. The CEAH processed a limited set 

of Ikonos and Quickbird high-resolution imagery (one-meter) to provide greater 

detail for select areas of the island. The data came from the National GeoSpatialIntelligence Agency’s Web-Based Access and Retrieval Portal (WARP). The CEAH 

also used Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery and the Global Land Cover 

(GLC) 2000 dataset to generate a screwworm land cover/habitat map of a study 

area in Uruguay. Through identification of habitat, researchers with International 

Services could better place fly traps. Suitable placement of traps improves the effec­

tiveness of the eradication program. 

In 2010, for the first time, the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, will 

host the World Equestrian Games. To minimize the risk of exposure of native tick 

species to equine piroplasmosis, the USDA initiated a study to determine suitable 

tick habitats in the region and subsequently the risk of contact between horses 

and the American dog and winter ticks in Kentucky (both tick species are experi­

mental vectors of the disease). The study used Landsat TM, NAIP, and GLC 2000 

data-sets to characterize vegetation and land cover in the area. 

The USDA used Landsat, NAIP, and Leica airborne imagery in a feasibility 

study that evaluates various remote sensing methods for extracting commercial 

poultry and other confined animal operations. The study developed methodolo­

gies to quickly locate animal operations for emergency response. Additionally, the 

CEAH evaluated the use of the Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) 

Feature Extraction module as part of this project. The module/extension is a 
95 pattern-recognition application that uses spatial, spectral, and textural information 

to extract and classify features within imagery. 

The CEAH also continued to use Landsat TM data to evaluate the role of deforestation in the natural cycle of the Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) 

virus in Iquitos, Peru. Deforestation may be a factor that influences the spread of 

VEE in the neotropics. The CEAH continued to develop and refine a predictive 

model in Chiapas, Mexico, to forecast when and where epizootics of VEE virus 

might occur. The model used coastal vegetation and mosquito habitat information 

derived from Landsat TM imagery. These remote sensing studies helped facilitate 

the understanding of disease transmission and were useful in planning for a U.S. 

response to an outbreak of VEE virus. 

In addition to these activities, the APHIS frequently used high-resolution (e.g., 

Ikonos, Quickbird) and medium-resolution (e.g., Landsat TM) imagery as cartographic backdrops for a variety of domestic and international maps. 

The APHIS CPHST used remote sensing information for two studies. One study 

identified saltcedar distribution in Wyoming and the other sought to identify trees 

damaged by the Emerald Ash Borer beetle. 

The USDA completed research evaluating the application of remote sensing tools 

for mapping the distribution of saltcedar using airborne-collected hyperspectral 

imagery for a biocontrol site in Wyoming. The USDA developed the distribution 

data for three years, and a change detection analysis followed. Mapping accuracies 

averaged 80 percent and changes to saltcedar distribution were apparent in the final 

data. This information assisted in planning future saltcedar/remote sensing studies 

and to quantitatively validate the economic value of saltcedar biocontrol efforts. 

The Emerald Ash Borer Study investigated the use of hyperspectral imagery, 

Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data, and high-resolution panchromatic 

imagery in conjunction with ground-based spectral data. The study determined 

whether ash trees could be differentiated from other hardwood species and whether 

stressed ash trees could be differentiated from healthy ash trees. In 2006, the study 

collected one-meter hyperspectral imagery, 0.5-meter LIDAR data, and 0.25-meter 

panchromatic imagery. The study collected more than 150 square kilometers 

of data for locations in Northern Michigan (Lower Peninsula), Southeastern 

Michigan, and Northwestern Ohio. The study conducted analysis to determine the 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
96 best methodology for fusing all three data sets. Initial results indicated an overall 

accuracy of 77 percent for differentiating ash from other tree species. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) 

is the extramural research arm of the USDA. The CSREES primarily provides 

financial assistance, in the form of grants, to conduct high-priority agricultural 

research and education. The CSREES awarded many grants that use NASA 

data products to solve complex, environmentally related problems on topics such 

as water quality, atmospheric science, soil science, and land-use change. A few 

examples of current research supported by CSREES that use NASA data products 

include the following: 

•	 MODIS	data	and	products	will	be	used	to	quantify	crop	residue	burn­

ing by producing multiannual crop type and burned-area maps for 

large regions of the U.S. 

•	 Satellite	imagery	and	NASA-derived	data	products	are	used	to	assess	

the impacts of farming programs administered and managed by the 

NRCS on environmental quality in Michigan. 

•	 Current	methods	quantifying	changes	in	soil	organic	carbon	stocks	

for U.S. agricultural lands will be advanced by incorporating remote 

sensing products into a dynamic model-based assessment framework. 

•	 The	writing	of	descriptions	of	tree	canopy-soil	nutrient	relationships,	

in conjunction with remote sensing, to create pasture-scale inventories of soil and woody plant C and N pools in areas with contrasting 

land management histories. 

The CSREES also funds long-term studies in Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, 

and Wisconsin that utilize remote sensing and geospatial technologies to develop 

precision management techniques for various agricultural production strategies 

and to evaluate land use practices. The CSREES jointly funded with the Science 

Mission Directorate of NASA several geospatial extension programs at land-grant, 

sea-grant, and space-grant institutions. These geospatial outreach programs will 

help train local and regional technologists to better utilize NASA data products 

and geospatial technologies. By leveraging the ongoing coordination in these state 

geospatial programs in the realm of geospatial technologies (i.e., interoperability, 

standards, metadata, architecture, etc.), the geospatial extension specialists will 
97 help ensure that the vast quantity of data and information being collected by 

NASA and other Federal agencies is utilized effectively. 

The Economic Research Service (ERS) used a host of derived data sets, such as 

the USGS’s National Land Cover and GLC data sets, to quantify domestic and 

international agricultural efficiency, as well as to track environmental responses to 

changes in agricultural markets and policies. The ERS also used USDA imageryderived products, such as the FSA’s CLU and Conservation Reserve Program 

boundaries, the NRCS’s detailed soils database and NRI data, and NASS’s survey 

area frames and cropland data sets, to support a host of research projects informing 

natural resource agricultural policy decisions. Through the ERS farm and fieldlevel survey program, the ERS collected and tabulated information on farmer usage 

of remote sensing and GPS technologies. 

In 2006, the Risk Management Agency developed and offered a pilot Group Risk 

Protection risk management program for pasture, rangeland, and forage (PRF). 

This pilot program, developed to provide livestock producers with the ability to 

purchase insurance protection for losses of forage produced for grazing or harvested 

for hay, was based on vegetation greenness derived from satellite data. The Risk 

Management Agency intends for the program to become a risk-management tool 

for the 588 million acres of U.S. pastureland and the 61.5 million acres of hayland. 

The PRF program began in the 2007 crop year in selected counties in Colorado, 

Idaho, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South 

Dakota, and Texas. During 2007, the Risk Management Agency’s PRF program 

insured more than 30-million acres for a potential liability of $390 million. When 

the incremental increase is complete in 2009, approximately 450 million acres of 

grazing and forage land will be eligible for coverage. 

The Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Office of Global Analysis (OGA) 

(formerly Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division) served as the focal 

point within FAS and the USDA for assessing the global agricultural production 

outlook and conditions that affected world food security. The FAS also housed 

the USDA SIA. The SIA saved the USDA millions of dollars through a USDAwide data-sharing agreement that employed a centralized acquisition strategy to 

eliminate redundant satellite purchases and decrease satellite data costs. The FAS’s 

satellite remote sensing program remained a critical element in USDA’s analysis of 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
98 global agricultural production and crop conditions by providing timely, accurate, 

and unbiased estimates of global area, yield, and production. Satellite-derived early 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

warnings of unusual crop conditions and production enabled more rapid and pre­

cise determinations of global supply conditions. The FAS exploited many global 

imagery data sets, including vegetation health products from the University of 

Maryland and NASA, while continuing to purchase most of its satellite data from 

the commercial industry. 

The FAS continued to rely on Earth observations from the commercial sector 

and international community, while supporting the U.S. Government space agen­

cies and the DOD through cooperative agreements in which the Agency shared its 

satellite imagery and data products throughout the U.S. Government. In addition, 

the FAS and NASA cooperated on many projects to exploit space technologies, 

including near-real time satellite data acquisition and global reservoir monitoring. 

This Global Agriculture Monitoring (GLAM) partnership continued to expand 

to multiple universities, commercial companies, and international organizations. 

Information on the FAS remote sensing program can be found on the Internet at 

http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer. 
99 

naTional sCienCe

foundaTion

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) continued to serve as the lead Federal 

agency for the support of ground-based astronomy and space science during FY07. 

Through the Divisions of Astronomical Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, and 

Physics, as well as the Office of 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 planetary system. 

The NSF also supported the development of advanced technologies and instrumentation for astronomical sciences, in addition to providing core support for the 

optical and radio observatories whose state-of-the-art instrumentation and observing capabilities are accessible to the community on the basis of scientific merit. 

The NSF’s national astronomical facilities included the National Radio Astronomy 

Observatory (NRAO), the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), 

the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), and the National Solar 

Observatory (NSO). The NSF also served as the executive agency for the Gemini 

Observatory, an international partnership operating optical/infrared telescopes in 

both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, providing the United States’ share 

of support for the program. 

Division of Astronomical Sciences 

In partnership with Europe, Canada, and Japan, construction continued on 

the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), an interferometer located near 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
100 San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. FY07 saw the arrival of the first antennas at the 

mid-level (9,000 ft elevation) site in Chile, two from the U.S., and three from 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Japan. Alignment of the antenna panels and other tests have commenced. Also, 

the high-site (17,000 ft) technical building was completed during FY07. The first 

two cryostats containing pre-production receivers underwent acceptance testing at 

the Front-End Integration Center at NRAO, Charlottesville, VA, and they will be 

shipped to Chile for integration with the antennas. The ALMA Board accepted a 

comprehensive ALMA Operations Plan. 

During FY07, the NSF’s Division of Astronomical Sciences continued to fund a 

four-year technology development and design effort for the proposed Large Synoptic 

Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST would be a 6.5-meter effective aperture tele­

scope with a field of view exceeding three degrees. In addition, the LSST would use 

a three-gigapixel camera to repeatedly image the entire accessible sky, producing 

approximately 20 terabytes of data nightly. The science goals of the LSST project 

are broad, spanning the fields of cosmology, galactic structure, and solar system 

astronomy. The LSST would undertake both a census of distant (trans-Neptunian) 

solar system objects as well as surveys of near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroids. Spanning a ten-year lifetime, if built, the LSST should provide a 90-percent 

complete sample of potentially hazardous objects with diameters greater than 

250 meters and provide an 80 percent complete sample of hazardous objects 

down to 140 meters. 

The Division of Astronomical Sciences continued support for the development of 

the proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), the next-generation 

U.S. ground-based solar telescope. The ATST, a collaboration of scientists from 

22 institutions representing a broad segment of the U.S. solar physics community, 

previously earned a strong recommendation as a medium-sized ground-based 

project by the National Research Council of the National Academies. In FY07, 

the ATST passed a comprehensive preliminary design review. Preparations for 

a final Environmental Impact Statement and application for a land use permit 

are ongoing. 

HIAPER 

The Division of Atmospheric Science’s high-altitude aircraft, the Highperformance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research 
(HIAPER), centers on a highly structurally modified Gulfstream V (GV) mid-size 

jet aircraft. The GV is FAA certified to operate at 51,000 feet. Its long-duration 

(more than 12 hours), range (more than 6,000 km), and scientific payload (6,000 

pounds) will enable scientific research previously not possible with existing plat

forms in the U.S. fleet. The GV represents the most advanced airborne research 

platform in the U.S. civilian fleet. The DLR (German Aerospace Center) is cur

rently modifying and equipping a Gulfstream 550 that will be a “partner” aircraft 

with the NSF GV. 

101 

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In FY05, the GV project was brought in on schedule and under budget 

($81.5 million). After concluding a number of progressive science missions 

(for systems and flight verification) in early FY06, the research aircraft participated 

in a large international field program called the Terrain Induced Rotor Experiment 

(T-REX). The aircraft met or exceeded its performance goals during the experiment, which included two other research aircraft and a suite of ground-based 

observing systems. After the T-REX, the GV supported the Pacific Dust Experiment 

(PACDEX), which evaluated the effects of Asian- borne dust on climate issues. 

The GV is now being equipped with new instruments, and it will go through a 

test and evaluation period. Later in FY08, the GV will initiate the first of several 

long-duration flights for the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) deployment. The primary purpose is to study the carbon cycle and greenhouse gases. 

The HIPPO objectives can only be met with a platform that has the performance 

characteristics of the GV. 

In FY07, the HIAPER successfully made the transition into nominal operations. 

The Research Aircraft Facility of the National Center for Atmospheric Research 

(NCAR), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center of the NSF, operates and maintains the HIAPER. The NCAR also operates and maintains the 

NSF’s C-130Q research aircraft. The GV’s expected lifetime is 10–25 years, during 

which new instrumentation innovations will be continually integrated onto the 

airframe, as appropriate. 

Upper Atmospheric Research Section 

The Upper Atmospheric Research Section (UARS) in the NSF’s Division of 

Atmospheric Sciences supported a wide variety of research programs in space science during 2007. These included the funding of advanced radar systems to study 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
102 the ionosphere and magnetosphere, ground-based optical equipment to study the 

aurora and airglow, partial support to ground-based solar telescopes and instru-

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

ments, and a wide-ranging portfolio of basic research in space physics. Major UARSfunded activities included the Upper Atmospheric Facilities (UAF); the National 

Space Weather Program (NSWP); the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of 

Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) program; the Geospace Environment Modeling 

(GEM) program; and the Solar, Heliosphere, and Interplanetary Environment 

(SHINE) program. In addition, a formal NSF Science and Technology Center, 

called the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), continued to 

develop and test an end-to-end computer simulation for space physics research and 

applications. The CISM’s coupled models simulated the processes by which energy 

from the Sun and solar wind propagates to Earth, as well as the resulting effects 

on Earth’s magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. CISM researchers inte­

grated these results with education and outreach activities. An effective knowledge 

transfer program also ensured that CISM models were transferred for use in opera­

tional space weather forecasting centers. The CISM submitted a successful renewal 

proposal in FY06, and an additional five years of NSF support began in FY07. 

Research facilities have always been a key component of UARS efforts. The 

major goal of the UAF program in FY07 continued to be the promotion of basic 

research on the structure and dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere. Research 

efforts using these facilities were linked strongly to the CEDAR and GEM programs. 

The UARS completed the first deployment of the Advanced Modular IncoherentScatter Radar (AMISR) at Poker Flat, Alaska, with routine operations starting in 

January 2007. The AMISR conducted initial experiments in support of a series of 

NASA sounding rockets launched from Poker Flat. Observations throughout 2007 

demonstrated the unique AMISR capabilities, including the ability to image the 

ionospheric effects of auroral precipitation in three dimensions. The NSF incoherent scatter radars, including the AMISR, operated extended hours since March 

2007 as part of International Polar Year activities. These routine observations are 

providing a wealth of measurements particularly useful to modelers interested in 

validating space weather models using long-duration data sets. 

In addition, the UARS continued to support the study of magnetospheric 

physics in the international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) 
consortium. In FY07, the NSF funded a new SuperDARN radar at Wallops Island, 

Virginia (operated by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), 

and assisted its international partners in deploying new radars in Hokkaido, Japan 

(operated by the University of Nagoya), and at Rankin Inlet and Inuvik, Canada 

(both operated by the University of Saskatchewan). The UARS community also 

continues to benefit from the NSF’s astronomy efforts to develop the proposed 

ATST, described previously in this document. In addition, the NSF allocated 

UARS funding in FY07 for the design and development of the proposed Frequency 

Agile Solar Radiotelescope (FASR), as well as funding to support the NSF’s astron

omy efforts to build a radiotelescope testbed in Western Australia (known as the 

Murchison Widefield Array [MWA]). 

The NSWP is a multiagency Federal program whose goal is to mitigate the 

adverse effects of space weather on the Nation’s technological infrastructure by 

providing timely, accurate, and reliable space environment observations, speci

fications, and forecasts. The NSWP Strategic Plan and Implementation Plan 

contains NSWP information and is available online through the Office of the 

Federal Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM). During 2007, the UARS worked 

with the OFCM to develop a strategic plan for space weather activities in response 

to a request by the National Science and Technology Council’s Subcommittee on 

Disaster Reduction. In 2007, the UARS also contributed to an OFCM-led assess

ment of the impacts resulting from the descoping of space sensors planned for the 

NPOESS. 

Late in 2006, a panel of eight scientists, including Dr. Louis Lanzerotti, a mem

ber of the National Science Board, completed its assessment of the NSWP and 

presented its report to the OFCM. In response to a key recommendation from 

the panel, the UARS sponsored a community workshop, held at George Mason 

University in Arlington, Virginia, on May 15–17, 2007, to explore the possibilities 

and benefits of utilizing small satellite missions to provide essential measurements 

for space weather and atmospheric research. About 150 participants from academia, 

Government, and the aerospace industry attended the workshop, which was highly 

successful in gathering the information needed to develop plans for a future NSF 

program to support such an activity. 

103 

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Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
104 During the week of November 5–8, 2007, the Community Coordinated Modeling 

Center (CCMC) for space weather research, which is cosponsored by the NSF and 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

NASA, held its biennial workshop at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. 

More than 50 scientists attended, and community outreach and service programs 

were laid out for the next several years. Throughout 2007, the CCMC continued 

to provide the research community with access to state-of-the-art space weather 

models and conducted important validation activities necessary for the transition 

of research models to operational use. 

Office of Polar Programs 

In FY07, the Office of Polar Programs in ground-based space science and astron­

omy completed the ten-meter, off-axis radio telescope at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott 

South Pole Station to survey galaxy clusters and continued construction of the 

IceCube Neutrino Observatory. 

While the South Pole Telescope’s (SPT) ground shield has not yet been erected, 

the SPT saw its first light on February 16, 2007, and by the end of October 2007 

successfully completed its first winter survey-observing period. The IceCube South 

Pole Neutrino Observatory also began its observational phase. While only a third 

of 80 planned ice boreholes were equipped with strings of optical photo detectors, 

data collection began including advance filtering and reconstruction of neutrino 

events recorded at the South Pole. Scientific topics under study include searches for 

weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), neutrino point sources, and mag­

netic monopoles. A number of muon neutrino candidates were detected from the 

22 detector strings that are currently in place. 
105


deparTmenTofsTaTe

DOS

The Department of State (DOS) supports U.S. space activities through the 

negotiation of bilateral and multilateral agreements of scientific and technical 

cooperation with partner countries. The DOS also maintains outreach programs 

to advance U.S. foreign and space policy objectives. FY07 saw extensive integration 

of space issues into Presidential diplomacy. 

As part of the Presidential initiative to transform the U.S. relationship with 

India into a “strategic partnership,” the DOS developed and began implementation 

of an ambitious plan to foster space cooperation between the two countries, in 

particular, through the establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) on Civil 

Space Cooperation. The JWG met for the second time in Washington, DC, from 

February 27–28, 2007, resulting in new agreements for cooperation on satellite 

navigation systems, Earth observation programs, and space exploration initiatives 

such as the placement of U.S. instruments on the Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter 

(scheduled for launch in 2008). The DOS, together with other U.S. agencies, is 

also in the process of negotiating with India various space cooperation agreements and cooperative projects, including a Technology Security Agreement and a 

Commercial Space Launch Agreement. 

Similarly, based on an agreement at the U.S.-European Union Summit of June 

2005, the two countries agreed to establish a U.S.-European Union civil space 

policy dialogue to further join efforts between both sides. The civil space dialogue 

working group met for the second time in Washington, DC, from April 19–20, 

2007, resulting in agreements to expand collaborative work on Earth observation, 

Earth and space science, and space exploration. The two sides also agreed to coordinate with multilateral organizations such as the Committee on Earth Observing 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
106 Satellites (COES) and the GEO, with the ultimate goal of creating a GEOSS. The 

DOE reached other bilateral agreements, including a framework agreement on civil 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

space cooperation between the United States and France, which was signed in 

January 2007. 

The DOS led vigorous efforts in FY07 to promote the GPS and its augmenta­

tion in accordance with the President’s 2004 Policy on Space-Based Positioning, 

Navigation, and Timing (PNT). The DOS led consultations with Japan in May 

2007 in Washington, DC, to review and discuss ongoing cooperation on the civil­

ian use of GPS. Among the topics discussed were Japan’s plans to construct a 

regional satellite positioning system, known as the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System 

(QZSS), which would be compatible and interoperable with the GPS. The QZSS 

is also expected to provide new economic and public transportation safety benefits 

to Japan and its neighbors, as well as contribute to the peaceful development of 

the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. is assisting Japan in installing QZSS monitoring 

stations in Hawaii and Guam. The U.S. also conducted GPS consultation with 

Australia in April 2007, resulting in a Joint Statement on GPS Cooperation. 

The DOS coordinated meetings of working groups established under the 2004 

U.S.-European Union Agreement on Cooperation between the GPS and Europe’s 

planned Galileo satellite navigation system. Fruitful collaboration in the radio 

frequency compatibility and interoperability working group led to an agreement 

in June 2007 between the U.S. and the European Union to adopt jointly a new 

modulation, known as the Multiplexed Binary Offset Carrier (MBOC), for use in 

the Galileo Open Service and the new civil signal for GPS III. A working group on 

trade issues met in January 2007 and began work on ensuring nondiscrimination 

in trade practices in satellite navigation goods and services. In addition, the DOS 

pursued negotiations with Russia on cooperation between the GPS and its Russian 

counterpart, the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). The DOS 

coordinated progress between the working groups on radio frequency compatibility 

and interoperability and our common interest in satellite-based search and rescue 

capabilities. 

The DOS worked to establish the United Nations International Committee on 

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) in late 2006. The ICG will help pro­

mote use of GNSS applications, especially for developing countries. The ICG met 
for the second time in India on September 4–7, 2007, and more than 140 GNSS 

experts from around the world participated. At that meeting, the U.S. led a move

ment to start a related Providers Forum where GNSS providers (U.S., European 

Union, Russia, China, Japan, and India) could meet to work on issues of common 

interest. The U.S. plans to hold the ICG-3 in California during December 2008. 

During FY07, the DOS also provided funding for regional GNSS workshops and 

experts’ meetings held under the auspices of the United Nations and the United 

States, bringing together regional experts and decision makers to advance aware

ness and support of GNSS applications for sustainable growth, transportation 

safety, and environmental management. 

The DOS began working extensively with foreign governments to coordinate 

the use of the communications spectrum in support of various Presidential 

Initiatives. As part of the Vision for Space Exploration, the DOS established the 

Lunar and Planetary Spectrum Initiative to ensure international cooperation on 

communications bandwidth. 

Exploiting similar U.S. advantages in another area, the DOS worked extensively 

with foreign governments and private industry to promote U.S. satellite imagery 

exports. For example, the DOS negotiated within the Administration and then 

with Latin American countries to redeploy a GOES meteorological satellite to 

cover the Caribbean. The DOS joined the Geographic Information for Sustainable 

Development (GISD) program—an international effort to meld maps, remote sens

ing data from satellites, and cutting-edge software. The DOS space imagery export 

efforts not only provided commercial advantage to the U.S., but they also enhanced 

foreign capabilities to pursue other U.S. interests in natural resources management, 

disaster mitigation, and economic development. The DOS sponsored or cospon

sored workshops in Africa on the distribution and use of Landsat data. Another 

DOS-supported effort produced a cooperative telemedicine project, which involved 

the use of space and communications technologies and the Indian Space Research 

Organization (ISRO) at the Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. 

The DOS continued to represent the U.S. on the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). With so many countries now 

engaged in space activities, the DOS considers promoting the safe use of space as 

an important goal. At UNCOPUOS, the DOS led U.S. efforts on the problem of 

107 ­

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Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
108 nt 

orbital space debris, meteorology, astronomy and astrophysics, space transportation, 

nuclear power sources in space, and legal issues related to international liability 

and responsibility of the launching nations. 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Preside
109


deparTmenTofenergy

DOE

During FY07, the DOE Office of Science (SC) cooperated with NASA on a wide 

variety of activities, such as developing experimental techniques of fundamental 

physics for use in outer space; using plasma science to devise new propulsion systems; engaging in joint efforts to understand atmospheric and environmental phenomena; and entering into a working partnership in advanced computing research. 

These activities were carried out under an MOU between NASA and the DOE 

signed by the NASA Administrator and the DOE Secretary in 1992. The DOE’s 

Office of Nuclear Energy continued to support NASA’s space science and exploration programs by pursuing the development of space radioisotope and reactor power 

system technologies for future space missions and by maintaining the necessary 

nuclear facilities infrastructure. 

The SC continued to work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS). In 

FY07, this work focused on the integration of the instrument at the European 

Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The AMS 

is an international experiment to use the unique environment of space to search 

for and measure, with a much greater sensitivity than previously possible, various 

unusual types of matter. The AMS would study the properties and origin of cosmic 

particles and nuclei, including antimatter and dark matter. Detailed information 

on either material will increase scientists’ understanding of the early universe and 

could lead to a clearer understanding of the actual origin of the universe. The 

DOE provided funding in FY07 to support the research group at the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology (MIT) that is leading the AMS program. 

The SC and NASA’s SMD have collaborated since FY00 on the Large Area 

Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument for NASA’s Gamma-ray Large Area 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
1

10 Space Telescope (GLAST) mission scheduled for launch in early 2008. This 

device, using the techniques of experimental particle physics research, will be used 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

by the GLAST international scientific collaboration to detect gamma rays emitted 

by the most energetic objects and phenomena in the universe. The Stanford Linear 

Accelerator Center (SLAC) has responsibility for the overall management of the 

LAT project as well as the Instrument Science Operations Center (ISOC), which 

will process the data during operations. Fabrication of the LAT was completed in 

early FY06. The LAT then underwent commissioning and began integration on 

the spacecraft. The DOE provided funding in FY07 in conjunction with NASA 

and international partners for GLAST commissioning and preoperations activities 

for the LAT and the ISOC. 

The DOE and NASA both have a high-priority science objective to determine 

the nature of dark energy, which may cause the acceleration of the expansion of 

the universe. The Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) is a plan for a space-based 

mission endorsed by both the DOE and NASA for the study of dark energy. In this 

plan, both the DOE and NASA are responsible for the success of the mission, with 

NASA leading the space mission management. In FY07, the DOE supported R&D 

activities for the Supernova Acceleration Probe (SNAP) collaboration, led by the 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and began R&D funding for two 

other collaborations—Advanced Dark Energy Physics Telescope (ADEPT) and 

Dark Energy Space Telescope (Destiny). NASA awarded grants starting in FY07 

to the same three collaborations to begin mission concept studies for the JDEM. In 

FY07, the DOE and NASA jointly funded a National Research Council study, the 

Beyond Einstein Program Assessment Committee (BEPAC), to recommend which 

of the five missions in NASA’s Beyond Einstein program should be developed and 

launched first. In September 2007, the BEPAC submitted their report to the agen­

cies with the recommendation that the JDEM be developed and launched first. 

The Office of Nuclear Physics within the SC continued to make available 

the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS), an essential component of the 

Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) complex at Brookhaven National 

Laboratory (BNL). The AGS is the only accelerator in the United States capable 

of providing heavy ion beams at energies (up to 1 GeV/nucleon) of interest to the 

space radiobiology community. The AGS allows for NASA-funded radiobiology 
1 11 experiments to be performed with silicon, iron, and gold beams. The NASA Space 

Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) also is in place at BNL, operating as an efficient and 

effective radiation simulation facility for human space exploration. The SC and 

NASA continued to develop mutually beneficial technical resources for experimentation and data analysis at BNL. For example, the DOE and NASA supported 

the design and fabrication of the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) at BNL in 

FY07. NASA is contributing approximately 25 percent of the EBIS project cost to 

accelerate project completion. This joint DOE/NASA project will enhance the 

range and intensities of heavy ion beams available to the RHIC complex, including 

the NSRL. 

In FY07, the Office of Nuclear Physics continued to support astrophysicists who 

used approximately 400,000 processor hours at the National Energy Research 

Scientific-computing Center (NERSC), which is funded by the DOE’s Office of 

Advanced Scientific Computing Research. Most of these processor hours were for 

simulations of supernovae explosions, such as those observed by the Hubble Space 

Telescope. The NERSC computer capabilities were also used for studies on galaxy 

formation and black holes. 

Other space-related aspects of the Nuclear Physics Program have relevance to 

NASA, other Federal agencies (e.g., the National Reconnaissance Office and the 

U.S. Air Force), and the private sector. To facilitate testing of electronic components used in high-radiation space environments, Nuclear Physics Program 

accelerator facilities (BNL Tandem, LBNL 88-Inch Cyclotron, Texas A&M 

Superconducting Cyclotron) regularly provide beam time to NASA, DOE-applied 

laboratories, European and Japanese space agencies, and private companies. 

In FY07, the SC Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) continued to transfer 

knowledge and research capabilities to NASA. Through the use of plasma and 

fusion propulsion, NASA-funded research activities have the potential of revolutionizing interplanetary space travel. Specifically, NASA studied fusion propulsion 

concepts for use in advanced interplanetary missions based on the spherical torus 

and plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion. The OFES supports exploration of 

the physics of the spherical torus in its National Spherical Torus Experiment at 

the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) as part of its research program. 

The OFES also investigated plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion at General 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
1

12 Atomics; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Hyper V Technologies 

Corporation; Far-Tech Inc.; Voss Scientific, Inc.; the University of Washington; the 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

University of Wisconsin; the University of New Mexico; the Air Force Research 

Laboratory; and Los Alamos National Laboratory as part of its high-energy density physics program. The two fusion rocket concepts based on the spherical torus 

and the magneto-inertial fusion approach have the potential of reducing travel­

ing times to the planets by more than a factor of ten. The advanced plasma jet 

research has the potential to be a very high-power plasma thruster as well. HyperV 

Technologies Corporation in Virginia demonstrated the launch of a plasma jet 

of 157 μg to 70 km/s. The plasma jet also has potential for laboratory studies of 

astrophysical jets, a class of astrophysical objects of interest to NASA. The PPPL 

researchers also worked on a high-power Hall thruster, a form of electric thruster. 

The high-power Hall thruster has potential performance levels that are relevant to 

sending advanced NASA science missions to the outer planets. 

Agency interaction with NASA also included the working of the interagency 

Task Force on High Energy Density Physics under the guidance of the Interagency 

Working Group on the Physics of the Universe of the Committee on Science of 

the National Science and Technology Council. Two offices of the DOE chaired the 

task force, and NASA was one of the member agencies. The task force released its 

report in September 2007. The report covered activities that require coordination 

and collaboration between the DOE and NASA. 

In addition, the PPPL worked on several other basic plasma science projects 

that complemented and enhanced the science activities at NASA. Partially funded 

under the DOE/NSF Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering, these 

projects focused on magnetic reconnection and other work on space-related plasma 

physics and astrophysics topics. The Magnetic Reconnection Experiment investi­

gates the coupling between microscale reconnection layers and global forcing and 

plasma topology evolution. This cross-discipline research has made recent signifi­

cant progress in understanding the effects of two-fluid physics. 

The SC and NASA worked together to calculate the daily primary productiv­

ity of terrestrial ecosystems at diverse sites in Northern and Central States. The 

SC’s AmeriFlux program continued to provide real-time meteorological, solar 

radiation, and CO

2

 flux data, which were combined with NASA/MODIS data to 
calculate annual net and gross primary productivity. This joint work investigated 

continental-scale seasonal and geographic patterns of carbon-cycle processes 

related to the North American carbon program. The AmeriFlux program produced 

unique ground-based measurements of net ecosystem production and atmospheric 

CO2 concentration from approximately 30 locations across the United States. 

Radiometric instrumentation upgrades have been initiated at select AmeriFlux 

sites to provide improved calibration information for Terra platform observations. 

Collectively, the ground surface observations from AmeriFlux sites provide critical 

baseline data to calibrate existing and planned NASA satellite data streams. 

The SC’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) provided groundvalidation support for NASA’s Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument. 

The AIRS is a high spectral resolution infrared sounder on the EOS Aqua plat

form. Additional measurements were conducted to coincide with overpasses of the 

Aqua satellite carrying the AIRS sensor at the Tropical Western Pacific (TWP) 

and North Slope of Alaska sites. The ARM data have been used to improve the 

water vapor and temperature profiles retrieved from the AIRS sensor. Information 

on water vapor and temperature are important parameters for the development and 

validation of climate models. During FY07, the ARM continued support of NASA’s 

solar-viewing Bruker 125 HR Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) at the TWP 

facility. The FTS validates space-based column CO2 retrievals. This validation 

procedure has been used to ensure the accuracy of CO2 source and sink informa

tion derived from Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) space-based data. During 

the summer of 2007, NASA participated in the SC’s Cloud and Land Surface 

Interaction Campaign (CLASIC) field experiment conducted at the Southern 

Great Plains (SGP) site. The focus of this cross-disciplinary interagency research 

effort was to advance the understanding of how land surface processes influence 

cumulus convection. 

113 

­

­

NASA, NOAA, and the DOE jointly sponsored a series of workshops on the use 

of Uninhabited Aerial Systems (UAS) for weather and climate change research. 

The focus of these workshops was to identify the key scientific questions that could 

be addressed using the current capabilities of UASs and to identify aircraft or instrument technology gaps that would require future development of UAS capabilities 

and their applications. The workshops brought together distinguished scientists 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
114 dent

from the agencies, universities, and private industry. Signed in November 2006, the 

MOU facilitated a collaborative, cost-sharing partnership between NASA’s SMD, 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presi

NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Marine Operations (NMAO), and the DOE’s SC. 

One of their goals is to define how UASs may extend climate and weather-related 

measurements over regions of Earth that are currently under-sampled. 

The SC, NSF, NOAA, and NASA continued their collaborative effort to 

develop and employ climate models. All four agencies supported a variety of activi­

ties associated with high-end climate models, e.g., the Community Climate System 

Model. The SC’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Scientific Computing 

project (SciDAC) continued to develop and increase the level of sophistication in 

complex climate models. 

The SC’s SciDAC program supports researchers at NASA ARC in the develop­

ment of numerical methods and computational tools to investigate turbulent flows 

with strong shocks and density variations. The current ability to predict these flow 

phenomena is strongly limited by the models of turbulence and computational algorithms in use. The collaborative work could lead to stable and accurate treatment 

of interface boundaries, grid refinement, and accurate solvers for a wide spectrum 

of flow types. 

During FY07, under the guidance of U.S. Climate Variability and Predictability 

(CLIVAR), NASA, the DOE, NOAA, and the NSF participated in the interagency 

Drought in Coupled Models Project (DRICOMP) that focuses on the evaluation of 

a variety of existing model products to address issues such as the roles of the oceans 

and the seasonal cycle of drought, the impacts of drought on water availability, and 

distinctions between drought and drying. The DRICOMP objective is to increase 

community-wide diagnostic research into the physical mechanisms of drought and 

to evaluate its simulation in current models. The DRICOMP will lead to more 

robust evaluations of model projections of drought risk and severity, thus leading to 

a better quantification of the uncertainty in climate model projections. 

With NASA funding, the DOE and NASA principal investigators (PI) are col­

laborating in a study of the effects of meteorological variability on atmospheric 

carbon species distributions. The DOE and NASA study uses the NASA Goddard 

Data Assimilation System with NASA satellite data and computing resources at 
the National Leadership Computing Facility (NLCF) at the Oak Ridge National 

Laboratory (ORNL). 

The SC’s Low Dose Radiation Research Program continued to interact with 

the Space Radiation Project within NASA’s Human Research Program. The 

DOE’s Low Dose Radiation Research Program focuses on doses of radiation that 

are at or below current workplace exposure limits. The primary area of emphasis 

of the NASA Space Radiation Project is to understand the biological effects of 

space radiation so that radiation risks may be accurately assessed. Both research 

programs are recognizing the importance of delineating mechanisms of action of 

biological responses induced in the low-dose region. In FY01, NASA and the DOE 

developed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to better coordinate their efforts 

to understand and predict the health risks associated with exposure to low-dose 

radiation. Sixteen jointly funded projects were ongoing in FY07, and these include 

two NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) projects. 

The DOE’s Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) and NASA’s Research and 

Education Network (NREN) continued their close working relationship. The ESnet 

has one of its major peering points (points where it connects to other networks) 

at NASA ARC. Additionally, NASA ARC has been an active participant in the 

DOE-sponsored Optical Network Technologies workshops. 

NASA and the DOE also continued their collaboration in the deployment and 

testing of advanced networking technologies, such as high-speed transport proto

cols, high-speed data transfer services, and end-to-end network monitoring toolkits 

developed by SC researchers at Los Alamos and Argonne National Laboratories, 

and the SLAC. 

115 Fisca

­

The DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy continued to support NASA’s space science and exploration programs by pursuing development of specific technologies 

for future space missions and by maintaining the necessary program and nuclear 

facilities infrastructure to provide radioisotope power systems and heater units. In 

FY07, the DOE continued development and testing of a Multi-Mission Radioisotope 

Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) for first use on the Mars Science Laboratory 

mission, which is to be launched in 2009, and development of the Advanced 

Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG) now under consideration for Discovery or 

Scout class missions in the 2012–2013 timeframe. Both of these new radioisotope 

l Year 2007 Activities 
116 t 

power systems are designed for use in multiple mission environments, including 

planetary surfaces and deep space. The MMRTG and ASRG systems will each pro-

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presiden

vide greater than 100-watts electric for more than 14 years. The Office of Nuclear 

Energy and DOE National Laboratories are also supporting technology development that could lead to a fission surface power system for deployment by NASA on 

the Moon around the year 2020. During FY07, the DOE supported NASA studies 

of surface reactor power and nuclear thermal propulsion technologies and systems 

and participated in technology development activities related to the design of a 

fission surface power. As part of maintaining the required infrastructure, the DOE 

continued operation of facilities at ORNL, Idaho National Laboratory, and 

Los Alamos National Laboratory. 
117


smiThsonianinsTiTuTion

The Smithsonian Institution continued to contribute to national aerospace 

goals through the activities of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 

(SAO), which together with the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, 

Massachusetts, forms the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Through 

this organization, more than 300 scientists engaged in a broad program of research 

in astronomy, astrophysics, and science education. The Smithsonian National Air 

and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, DC, also contributed to national 

aerospace goals through its research and education activities. 

In FY07, SAO astronomers measured the fastest-spinning black hole known to 

exist, which whirls around 950 times per second. Such a fast spin approaches the 

theoretical speed limit set by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. Astronomers 

also spotted evidence of a galactic hit-and-run, using the Spitzer Space Telescope to 

show that the dwarf galaxy Messier 32 collided with the Andromeda spiral galaxy 

about 200 million years ago. In a second discovery, Spitzer spied a monster galaxy 

pileup, photographing four galaxies that are colliding into each other. The quadruple merger eventually will form one of the biggest galaxies in the universe. 

The SAO theoretical findings included the discovery that some “super-Earths” 

(planets 5 to 15 times the mass of Earth that orbit distant stars) form in cosmic 

snowstorms, accumulating icy material from a protoplanetary disk during the 

course of millions of years. 

FY07 marked the fourth year of operations for NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope 

—operated by the JPL—whose Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) was developed at 

the SAO. The Spitzer Space Telescope studies the universe at infrared wavelengths 

of light, enabling the telescope to peer into nearby dust-obscured regions, as well as 

to spot distant, highly redshifted galaxies. The IRAC logged a total of more than 

9,600 hours of operation in flight. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
118 Spitzer Space Telescope and IRAC team member findings included 

the following: 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

•	 The	first	crude	day-night	temperature	map	of	the	atmosphere	of	an	

extrasolar planet, giving astronomers their first detailed look at an 

alien world. 

•	 The	first	infrared	spectrum	of	the	atmosphere	of	an	extrasolar	planet,	

which let astronomers get their first “sniffs of alien air.” 

•	 A	new	mid-infrared	view	of	the	Andromeda	galaxy	and	evidence	that	

an almost head-on collision with a neighboring galaxy created two 

off-center rings in Andromeda. 

•	 Evidence	for	a	new	population	of	highly	redshifted	galaxies	detectable	

only at infrared and submillimeter wavelengths. 

•	 New	insights	into	galaxy	birth	and	evolution	by	measurements	of	the	

stellar mass and star formation history of highly redshifted galaxies. 

•	 New	insights	into	the	structure	and	evolution	of	young	stellar	clusters	

in our galaxy. 

•	 A	new	view	of	the	structure	of	planetary	nebulae.

•	 Large-scale,	mid-infrared	maps	of	the	entire	Large	Magellanic	Cloud,	

a satellite of the Milky Way, which distinguished contributions from 

stars and dust and yielded new insights into its structure. 

•	 First	mid-infrared	photometry	of	cool,	dim	M,	L,	and	T	dwarf	stars	and	

the discovery of two T dwarf companions to nearby stars. 

FY07 marked the first full year of operation of the Hinode satellite, which 

provides continuous viewing of the Sun from space. The SAO’s X-Ray Telescope 

(XRT) on board Hinode is the highest-resolution telescope of its type ever flown for 

solar studies. The XRT observes x-rays from the solar corona (a million-degree-hot 

outer layer of the Sun’s atmosphere). The XRT provided groundbreaking observations of both the large-scale global configurations responsible for solar activity 

and the small-scale processes that initiate instabilities and eruptions. A science 

operations center at the SAO served as the focal point from which both satellite 

operations and scientific studies are coordinated. 

Initial findings from Hinode were reported at a NASA Space Science update in 

March 2007. The XRT provided the first clear view of the possible energy source 

for the corona. It observed twisted and tangled magnetic fields that store huge 
amounts of energy. When those complicated magnetic structures relax to simpler 

configurations, a huge amount of energy is released. That energy heats the corona 

and powers solar eruptions like flares and coronal mass ejections. The XRT also 

uncovered new details in active regions (areas of strong magnetic fields), including 

gigantic arcing magnetic structures that dwarf the underlying sunspots. 

The SOHO Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) investigation made 

major progress in understanding both the solar wind and eruptions called CMEs 

through the use of innovative spectroscopic diagnostics of the extended solar 

corona. These observations, combined with theoretical studies, provided a power

ful means of understanding the underlying physics of solar wind acceleration, CME 

evolution, and the production of solar energetic particles from CME shock fronts. 

Some recent results from the UVCS group included a paper that confirms the 

existence of intense preferential heating of solar wind oxygen ions high in the 

Sun’s corona or extended atmosphere (a previous UVCS result). The new result 

showed that the heating of ions in the corona is 10 to 100 times greater in the 

direction across the coronal magnetic field than it is in the direction along the 

magnetic field. This result provided strong evidence that the energy that drives the 

solar wind comes from magnetic waves produced in the region of the corona where 

the heating occurs. 

119 

­

UVCS observations led to significant progress in understanding CMEs and their 

relationship to solar energetic particles, which are a known hazard to astronauts. 

Scientists knew that the fastest CMEs produce shock waves when they collide with 

the slower background solar wind, and they believed that these shocks potentially 

produce the fastest and most dangerous solar energetic particles. UVCS research 

provided measurements of the physical quantities involved in producing the shocks, 

which allowed the means of testing and guiding theoretical models aimed at understanding how solar energetic particles are produced. Such models could ultimately 

produce the capability to predict the occurrence and severity of solar energetic 

particle-producing events. 

During FY07, the Chandra X-ray Observatory continued its scientific pursuits 

and successful operations under SAO control. Since its launch in 1999, Chandra 

served as an indispensable tool for astronomers around the world in their attempt 

to learn more about the universe. 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
120 One of the biggest results from Chandra in FY07, along with ground-based tele

­

scopes, was the discovery of the brightest supernova ever recorded. This result 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

indicated that violent explosions of extremely massive stars were relatively com­

mon in the early universe and that a similar explosion may be ready to go off in 

our own galaxy. 

In other areas of astrophysics, Chandra continued its unprecedented work in 

studying black holes. Astronomers used Chandra to capture a rare eclipse of a black 

hole at the center of a distant galaxy, allowing key predictions of black holes to be 

tested. Chandra also added more information about how and when black holes 

formed when the universe was much younger. 

Cosmology, the study of the origin and the evolution of the universe as a whole, 

remained an important area of inquiry for scientists using Chandra. One result was 

the discovery of a cosmic “train wreck” between giant galaxy clusters. Chandra 

once again was teamed with optical telescopes to unravel the details of this colli­

sion. This result may pose problems for some of the current theories of dark matter, 

the mysterious, unknown substance believed to constitute a majority of the matter 

in the universe. 

The Smithsonian’s Submillimeter Array (SMA), the world’s first and only interferometric imaging telescope for submillimeter wavelengths, continued forefront 

research on a wide range of astrophysical topics, from nearby star-forming regions 

and evolved star envelopes, to the supermassive black hole in the center of the 

Milky Way, and to galaxies more than 12 billion light-years from Earth. Ongoing 

upgrades continued to improve SMA’s performance, sensitivity, and observing effi­

ciency. Competition for SMA observing time remained very high; less than one of 

four requests for the SMA’s unique capabilities could be accommodated. As more 

(and longer-term) projects are completed, the publication rate of scientific results 

from the SMA in peer-reviewed journals increased to approximately one article per 

week, a testament to the impact of this unrivaled telescope facility. 

A major focus for the SMA continued to be the study of star and planet formation, as submillimeter wavelengths provide distinct diagnostics of physical 

and chemical conditions of cool, dense gas and dust. SMA imaging of regions 

where stars form that are more massive than the Sun have revealed intriguing 

clusters whose gas motions have stimulated debate over whether these stars form by 
121 processes similar to their Sun-like counterparts. With the growing number of planetary systems found around other stars, attention was also focused on the origin of 

our solar system and others like it. The SMA recently completed the largest interferometric survey to date of disks surrounding young stars. Such disks are reservoirs 

of planet-building material and serve as analogs of the young solar system. SMA 

observations provided direct views of the internal properties of disks and enabled 

astronomers to constrain the initial conditions for planet formation. Astronomers 

also saw exciting images of inner holes in some of the disks, most likely resulting 

from the gravitational influence of giant protoplanets. 

In FY07, astronomers using the SMA made remarkable discoveries about galaxies beyond the Milky Way. For example, SMA imaging of molecular gas at unprecedented angular resolution in the galaxy cluster Perseus A gave new insights into 

the “cooling flow” phenomenon, an effect that was long predicted but never clearly 

seen. The SMA showed that cool molecular gas is confined to a few infalling “filaments” that feed a central black hole. Jets of hot plasma from the vicinity of the 

black hole reheat the surrounding gas and serve to limit the extent of the cooling 

flow within the cluster. In another study, the SMA made long-exposure observations to pinpoint the positions of a sample of faint dusty galaxies in areas of the sky 

studied extensively by the Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) and the Great 

Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS). With the new SMA information, 

it became possible, for the first time, to examine possible counterparts of these 

dusty galaxies at a wide range of wavelengths, and then to deduce their distances 

and investigate their physical nature. Remarkably, most of these galaxies cannot 

be detected at all at visible wavelengths, even with the Hubble Space Telescope, 

because surrounding dust hides nearly all of their light. These galaxies represented 

a previously unrecognized population of massive, luminous galaxies existing when 

the universe was less than two billion years old, producing stars at a rate 1,000 

times faster than the Milky Way. 

In public outreach, the SAO continued to offer its popular monthly Observatory 

Night lectures and telescope observing sessions, as well as new Family Friendly 

Nights aimed at younger children. The SAO also held occasional Author’s Night 

programs and Sci-fi Movie Nights that explored the theme, “Everything I learned 

about science, I learned at the movies.” 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
122 In FY07, the Smithsonian NASM continued to educate and inspire the public 

through exhibits and educational programs, including discovery stations, lecture 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

series, and intern programs. A major effort involved the construction of “America by 

Air,” a brand new permanent exhibition scheduled to open in mid-November 2007. 

“America by Air” tells the story of passenger air travel in the United States with 

dramatic displays, including a life-size interactive cockpit simulation of an Airbus 

A320 taking off and landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. 

Visitors also will be able to cross a 30-foot-high pedestrian bridge and step inside 

the forward fuselage of a retired Northwest Boeing 747, getting a close-up look at 

the cockpit along with the view from the upper deck of the wide-body airliner. 

The NASM celebrated the 50th anniversary of space flight with the publication 

of After Sputnik: 50 Years of the Space Age. This book tells the story of space explo­

ration through examination of key artifacts in the NASM collection. 

In June, the NASM’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center hosted a spectacular edu­

cational event, “Become a Pilot Family Day and Aviation Display.” More than 

50 aircraft, ranging from a huge U.S. Air Force KC-135 tanker to a 1940s WACO 

biplane, flew in to participate in the event, and more than 17,500 people viewed 

the aircraft and interacted with the pilots. 

Staff members in the NASM’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) 

continued to participate on the science teams of several spacecraft missions. 

Dr. John Grant works as a participating scientist in the MER mission that is 

currently operating on Mars. Also a chair of the MER Science Operations Working 

Group, he directs the science team to consensus on targets and operations for the 

long-lived rovers. Dr. Grant conducts real-time mission planning from a control 

station installed on site at the CEPS. CEPS staff worked on the science teams for 

the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) 

radar instrument on Mars Express; the HiRISE and Shallow Subsurface Radar 

(SHARAD) instruments on the MRO; and the Messenger mission to Mercury, 

which will make its first flyby of that planet in January 2008. During this encounter, 

a large portion of the hemisphere unseen by the Mariner 10 spacecraft in the 1970s 

will be imaged. 
The CEPS continued its active research program in planetary and terrestrial 

geology and geophysics using remote sensing data from Earth-orbiting satellites, 

as well as piloted and unpiloted space missions. The scope of research activities 

included work on the Moon, Mars, Earth, Titan, and Venus, resulting in 23 peerreviewed publications. Research topics included MER and HiRISE results; Martian 

fluvial, aeolian, and volcanic processes; volcanic features of Venus; Martian hemi

spheric dichotomy; terrestrial analogs of Martian features; and Martian geologic 

and climate history using radar sounding data. In addition, CEPS scientists used 

new capabilities in focused Earth-based radar imaging to study the surface and 

deep deposits of the Moon at resolutions comparable to those of photos taken from 

lunar orbit. This work has great importance for understanding potential mineral 

resources and landing hazards for future human exploration. 

As a NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), the CEPS continued 

to house a collection of more than 300,000 images of the planets and their sat

ellites as a reference library for science researchers and the public, serving the 

mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States. The CEPS RPIF holds the most 

complete collection of lunar images of any RPIF in the world. In FY07, support 

from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund allowed improved 

storage for archive preservation. 

123 F i

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scal Year 2007 Activities 
124
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
125


appendiCes

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
Appendix A-1 

u.s. governmenT spaCeCrafT reCord 

(Includes spacecraft from cooperating countries launched by U.S. launch vehicles.) 

Calendar Earth Orbita Earth Escapea 

Year 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 

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 (through September 30, 2007) 9 2 2 0 

TOTAL 1,599 153 106 16 

126 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

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 SSTI Lewis spacecraft that began spinning out of control shortly after it achieved Earth orbit. 

f. This includes American spacecraft not launched in the U.S. 
Appendix A-2 

World reCord of spaCe launChes suCCessful 

in aTTaining earTh orbiT or beyond 

(Enumerates launches rather than spacecraft; some launches orbited multiple spacecraft.)a

Calendar United USSR/ Francec Italyc Japan People’s Australia United European India Israel 

Year Statesb CIS Republic Kingdom Space 

of China Agency 

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 

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 18 23 3 11 5 3 1 

(through September 30, 2007) 

Total 1,351 2,791 10 8 70 102 1 1 172 21 5 

127 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 

a. This includes commercial expendable launches and launches of the Space Shuttle, as well as launches to useless orbits. 

b. Launches from U.S.-Russia joint platform included in U.S. totals. 

c. Since 1979, all launches for ESA member countries have been joint and are listed under ESA. 
Appendix B 

128 t 

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. launCh vehiCles 

October 1, 2006–September 30, 2007 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presiden

Launch Date 

Spacecraft Name 

COSPAR* Designation 

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives 

Apogee and 

Perigee (km), 

Period (min), 

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks 

October 26, 2006 

STEREO A and B 

2006-047A-B 

Delta 2 

Solar and space physics Twin spacecraft mission with 

STEREO A orbiting ahead of 

the Sun (period of 345 days) 

and STEREO B behind the Sun 

Study of the sun and CMEs 

(period of 385 days) 

October 30, 2006 

XM 4 

Communications Geosynchronous Sea Launch from Odyssey in 

the Pacific Ocean at 154° W 

2006-049A 

Zenit 3SL rocket

longitude 

Carried a 18 kW transponder 

to provide S-band Digital 

Audio Radio Service (DARS) 

November 4, 2006 

DMSP 5D-3/F17 

2006-050A 

Delta 4 

Surveillance and other 

military 

Weather satellite 

855 km 

841 km 

102 min 

98.8° 

DOD/NOAA 

November 17, 2006 

Navstar 59 

2006-052A 

Delta 2 

Navigational satellite 

(GPS) 

20,367 km 

20,206 km 

722 min 

51.7° 

Plane B, Slot 4 position 

Replaced GPS 2A-22 

December 10, 2006 

STS 116/Discovery 

2006-055A 

ISS assembly 338 km 

315 km 

91 min 

Installed P5 truss 

Shuttle 

December 10, 2006 

Space Test Program-H2 

(STP-H2) 

Communications, 

Earth science, and 

technology application 

Altitude 350 km The Atmospheric Neutral 

Density Experiment (ANDE) 

consisted of two microsatellites to measure the density 

and composition of the low 

Earth orbit atmosphere 

while being tracked from 

the ground: ANDE Fence 

Calibration (FCal) (2006­

055J) and 

Multiple Mock ANDE Active (MAA) 

(2006-055F) 

Microelectromechanical 

System-Based Picosat 

Inspector (MEPSI) 

(2006-055B) included a 

low-power inspection satellite 

demonstration 

Radar Fence Transponder 

(RAFT) 1 (2006-055C) included a U.S. Naval Academy 

student experiment 

Military Affiliate Radio 

System Communications 

(MARScom) 

2006-055D 

Communications U.S. Navy/Marine Corps 
Appendix B 

(Continued) 

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. launCh vehiCles 

October 1, 2006–September 30, 2007 

Launch Date Apogee and 

Spacecraft Name Perigee (km), 

COSPAR* Designation Period (min), 

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks 

December 14, 2006 Classified military Unknown National Reconnaissance 

USA 193 satellite Office 

2006-057A 

Unknown 

December 16, 2006 Life science 420 km 

GeneSat 1 413 km NASA nanosatellite 

2006-058C 92.9 min “Astrobionics” experiment 

Minotaur 40° 

TacSat 2 Engineering, earth 424 km DOD/Air Force and NASA 

2006-058A observing, and tech 413 km New Millenium Program 

nology application 92.9 min Carried 50 cm aperture 

40° telescope 

First in a series of satellites to 

demonstrate objectives of the 

joint warfighting space (JWS) 

initiative 

February 17, 2007 Space physics 87,330 km NASA Explorer Mission 

THEMIS 1-5 2007-004A-E 470 km THEMIS will study geomag

Delta 2 1,870 min netic substorms to better 

16.0° understand and predict space 

weather, including examining 

auroras 

March 9, 2007 Surveillance and 563 km Defense Advanced Research 

CFESat military 558 km Projects Agency microsatellite 

2007-006F 95.9 min 

Atlas V 35.4° 

OE-ASTRO Surveillance and 499 km Defense Advanced Research 

2007-006A military 491 km Projects Agency satellite 

94.5 min 

46.03° 

MidSTAR 1 Surveillance and 499 km Defense Advanced Research 

2007-006B military 494 km Projects Agency microsatellite 

94.5 min NSBRI 

46.03° 

OE-NEXTSAT Surveillance and 449 km Defense Advanced Research 

2007-006C military 491 km Projects Agency minisatellite 

95.9 min 

46.03° 

STPSat 1 Surveillance and 561 km Defense Advanced Research 

2007-006D military 558 km Projects Agency microsatellite 

95.8 min 

35.4° 

FalconSat 3 Surveillance and 560 km Defense Advanced Research 

2007-006E military 558 km Projects Agency picosatellite 

95.8 min 

35.4° 

129 

­

­

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
Appendix B 

(Continued) 

130 nt 

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. launCh vehiCles 

October 1, 2006–September 30, 2007 

Aeronautics and Space Report of the Preside

Launch Date Apogee and 

Spacecraft Name Perigee (km), 

COSPAR* Designation Period (min), 

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks 

April 24, 2007 

AIM 

2007-015A 

Pegasus XL 

Space physics 600 km 

586 km 

96.5 min 

97.8° 

NASA study of Polar 

Mesospheric Clouds (PMCs) 

Pegasus was dropped and 

launched from a Lockheed 

L-1011 TriStar 

Near Field InfraRed Surveillance and 464 km 

Experiment (NFIRE) military 255 km 

2007-014A 91.7 min 

Minotaur 48.2° 

June 8, 2007 ISS assembly International Space Station Installed S3/S4 trusses and 

STS 117/Atlantis 354 km additional solar panels 

2007-024A 334 km 

Space Shuttle 91.4 min 

51.6° 

COSMO-SkyMed 1 Earth imaging 623 km Geosynchronous Italian 

2007-023A 622 km spacecraft 

Delta 2 97 min Constellation of Small 

97.9° Satellites for Mediterranean 

Basin Observation (COSMO) 

Civilian and military 

June 15, 2007 Surveillance and Unknown Classified 

USA 194 military 

2007-027A 

Atlas V 

August 4, 2007 Planetary science N/A Martian Arctic at a site 

Phoenix Mars Lander 68.35°N and 233°E 

2007-034A 

Delta 2 

August 8, 2007 ISS assembly International Space Station Installed S5 truss 

STS 118/Endeavour 348 km 

2007-035A 337 km 

Space Shuttle 91.4 min 

51.6° 

September 18, 2007 Commercial imaging 495 km 

WorldView 1 Earth Science 493 km 

2007-041A 94.5 min 

Delta 2 97.5° 

September 27, 2007 Planetary science N/A Visiting asteroids: Vesta and 

Dawn Ceres 

2007-043A 

Delta 2 

* U.N. Committee on Space Research 
131 

Appendix C 

human spaCe flighTs 

October 1, 2006–September 30, 2007 

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew Flight Time 

(d:h:min) 

Highlights 

Space Shuttle 

Discovery (STS 116) 

December 10, 2006 Mark L. Polansky 

William A. Oefelein 

Nicholas J.M. Patrick 

Robert L. Curbeam 

12:20:45 Carried Sunita Williams 

and returned Thomas 

Reiter 

Installed P5 truss 

Christer Fuglesang Expanded electrical system 

Joan E. Higginbotham First nighttime launch in 

more than 4 years 

Record set by Curbeam 

for the most spacewalks 

performed by one astronaut 

during a single mission 

Soyuz TMA 10 

(Expedition 15) 

April 7, 2007 Sunita L. Williams 

Fyodor Nikolayevich 

Yurchikhin 

196:17:05 Carried fifth space tourist 

Charles Simonyi, who 

returned on Soyuz TMA-9 

Oleg Valeriyevich Kotov 

Charles Simonyi 

Returned Sheikh Muzaphar 

Shukor, who arrived on 

Soyuz TMA-11 

Space Shuttle 

Atlantis (STS 117) 

June 8, 2007 Frederick Sturckow 

Lee Archambault 

James Reilly II 

Patrick Forrester 

Steven Swanson 

13:20:12 Carried Clayton C. 

Anderson and returned 

Sunita Williams 

Installed S3/S4 trusses and 

additional solar panels 

John D. Olivas 

Clayton C. Anderson 

Sunita L. Williams 

Space Shuttle 

Endeavour (STS 118) 

August 8, 2007 Scott J. Kelly 

Charles O. Hobaugh 

12:17:55 Installed S5 truss 

Tracy E. Caldwell 

Richard A. Mastracchio 

Dafydd Williams 

Barbara R. Morgan 

Benjamin Alvin Drew 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
Appendix D-1A 

spaCe aCTiviTies of The u.s. governmenT 

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY 

(in millions of real-year dollars) 

NASA NASA Total 

FY Total Space DOD Other DOE DOC DOI USDA NSF DOT 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 0 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 

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 

132 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

* Transition Quarter
Appendix D-1B 

spaCe aCTiviTies of The u.s. governmenT 

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY 

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 2007 dollars) 

Inflation NASA NASA Total 

FY Factors Total Space DOD Other DOE DOC Interior USDA NSF DOT Space 

1959 5.699 1,886 1,487 2,792 194 194 0 0 0 0 0 4,474 

1960 5.611 2,940 2,592 3,148 241 241 0 0 0 0 0 5,981 

1961 5.544 5,345 5,134 4,513 377 377 0 0 0 0 0 10,024 

1962 5.466 9,976 9,823 7,095 1,088 809 279 0 0 0 0 18,006 

1963 5.405 19,854 19,600 8,378 1,389 1,157 232 0 0 0 0 29,367 

1964 5.338 27,226 26,777 8,536 1,137 1,121 16 0 0 0 0 36,450 

1965 5.275 27,696 27,105 8,304 1,271 1,208 63 0 0 0 0 36,680 

1966 5.186 26,839 26,268 8,759 1,110 970 140 0 0 0 0 36,137 

1967 5.078 25,215 24,525 8,449 1,082 934 147 0 0 0 0 34,056 

1968 4.919 22,563 21,791 9,454 857 713 138 1 5 0 0 32,102 

1969 4.750 18,958 18,156 9,562 809 561 95 1 5 148 0 28,527 

1970 4.543 17,017 16,113 7,623 641 468 36 5 5 127 0 24,376 

1971 4.307 14,262 13,357 6,513 698 409 116 9 4 159 0 20,568 

1972 4.103 13,567 12,599 5,772 547 226 127 25 8 162 0 18,918 

1973 3.916 13,339 12,113 6,356 577 211 157 39 8 162 0 19,046 

1974 3.752 11,395 10,352 6,626 593 158 225 34 11 165 0 17,572 

1975 3.500 11,300 10,201 6,621 552 105 224 28 7 188 0 17,374 

1976 3.170 11,253 10,223 6,286 534 73 228 32 13 188 0 17,042 

TQ* 2.957 2,756 2,510 1,360 127 15 65 9 3 35 0 3,997 

1977 2.866 10,941 9,858 6,912 555 63 261 29 17 185 0 17,324 

1978 2.751 11,167 9,965 7,531 622 94 283 28 22 195 0 18,118 

1979 2.577 11,844 10,385 7,824 639 152 253 26 21 188 0 18,848 

1980 2.385 12,497 11,161 9,177 551 95 222 29 33 172 0 20,889 

1981 2.193 12,099 10,946 10,586 514 90 191 26 35 172 0 22,046 

1982 1.997 12,070 11,040 13,339 625 122 290 24 30 159 0 25,003 

1983 1.869 12,850 11,828 16,858 611 73 333 9 37 159 0 29,297 

1984 1.790 13,351 12,277 18,250 707 61 422 5 34 184 0 31,234 

1985 1.726 13,074 11,955 22,043 1,008 59 730 3 26 189 0 35,006 

1986 1.672 13,054 11,981 23,620 797 59 517 3 38 180 0 36,398 

1987 1.634 17,849 16,029 26,615 761 78 454 13 31 183 2 43,405 

1988 1.593 14,432 13,253 28,154 1,180 384 561 22 29 183 2 42,588 

1989 1.544 16,936 15,589 27,646 865 150 465 26 32 187 5 44,100 

1990 1.486 18,316 17,032 23,209 752 117 361 46 37 184 6 40,992 

1991 1.433 20,085 18,695 20,321 1,107 360 360 42 37 303 6 40,122 

1992 1.381 19,774 18,230 20,749 1,102 308 452 47 40 250 6 40,080 

1993 1.347 19,279 17,601 19,004 985 222 437 44 34 242 5 37,590 

1994 1.317 19,194 17,155 17,345 833 97 411 41 41 236 7 35,333 

1995 1.290 17,867 16,176 13,727 978 77 454 40 41 358 8 30,882 

1996 1.263 17,536 15,876 14,543 1,046 58 596 45 47 291 8 31,464 

1997 1.239 16,989 15,438 14,533 978 43 555 52 48 272 7 30,949 

1998 1.218 16,623 15,007 15,053 1,023 125 530 52 48 260 7 31,083 

1999 1.203 16,430 14,993 15,889 1,182 126 692 71 45 241 7 32,064 

2000 1.188 16,156 14,873 15,372 1,254 195 683 71 52 245 7 31,498 

2001 1.164 16,568 15,490 16,680 1,236 169 672 70 42 270 14 33,406 

2002 1.137 16,912 15,778 17,904 1,342 189 733 73 32 303 14 35,023 

2003 1.116 17,148 16,027 21,639 1,456 213 724 83 47 376 13 39,122 

2004 1.094 16,824 15,668 20,911 1,602 229 815 78 67 400 13 38,180 

2005 1.066 17,270 16,243 20,994 1,654 244 860 75 78 384 13 38,890 

2006 1.033 17,173 16,287 22,846 1,702 253 888 85 87 376 12 40,834 

2007 1.000 16,285 15,568 22,418 1,680 200 912 87 65 404 12 39,666 

133 

* Transition Quarter 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
Appendix D-2 

federal spaCe aCTiviTies budgeT 

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year) 

Federal Budget Authority Budget Outlays 

Agencies 

2006 actual 2007 actual 2008 est. 2009 est. 2006 actual 2007 actual 

NASA 1,2 15,765 15,568 16,502 17,167 14,403 15,247


DOD 22,114 22,418 25,949 26,528 19,959 22,060


DOE 3 245 200 195 203 243 188


DOC 860 912 862 1089 780 820


DOI 82 87 90 91 80 87


USDA 84 65 59 56 71 47


DOT 12 12 13 14 12 11


NSF 364 404 464 504 298 370


134	Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

1. The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act rescinded $192.5 million in NASA prior-year unobligated balances, effectively reducing 

NASA’s total FY 2008 budget authority by this amount. 

2. Beginning in 2009, NASA program budgets reflect only direct program costs.	 Indirect costs are budgeted within the Cross-Agency 

Support Programs account (captured within the Federal Space Activities Budget table). 

3. Beginning in 2007, DOE budget figures do not include any physics research and operations funding for ground-based experiments 

managed in the High Energy Physics program. 
Appendix D-3 

federal aeronauTiCs aCTiviTies budgeT 

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)	

Budget Authority Budget Outlays 

2006 2007 2008 2009 2006 2007 

NASA 1, 2 

actual actual est. est. actual actual 

893 717 615 447 722 614 

DOD 9,295 11,614 10,873 12,556 9,346 10,640 

DOT 2,636 2,632 2,646 2,879 2,632 2,426 

135 

1. The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act rescinded $192.5 million in NASA prior-year unobligated balances, effectively reducing 

NASA’s total FY 2008 budget authority by this amount. 

2. Beginning in 2009, NASA program budgets will reflect only direct program costs.	 Indirect costs are budgeted within the CrossAgency Support Programs account (captured within the Federal Space Activities Budget table). 

Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 
136
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 
aCronyms 

1 

137
 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 

1 SPCS Space Control Squadron 

A 

AAD Aircraft Aging and Durability 

AASI Alcatel Alenia Space-Italia 

ACC Analysis Center Coordinator 

ACD Advanced Capabilities Division 

ADEPT Advanced Dark Energy Physics Telescope 

AEHF Advance Extremely High Frequency Satellite Communications System 

AFRL Air Force Research Lab 

AFS Alaska Fire Service 

AGRHYMET Agricultural-Hydrological-Meteorological 

AGS Alternating Gradient Synchrotron 

AHAB Advanced Hyperspectral Autonomous Buoy 

AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 

AIM Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere 

AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder 

AirSTAR Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research 

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter Array 

AMISR Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar 

AMS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 

AOD Aerosol Optical Depth 

AP Associated Press 

APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 

APLCs Aerospace Products Literature Centers 

ARC Ames Research Center 

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement 

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 

ARS Agricultural Research Service 

ASIAS Aviation Safety Information and Analysis Sharing 

ASIC Achieving Satellite Instrument Calibration for Climate Change 

ASRG Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator 

ATK Alliant Techsystems Incorporated ATP Aeronautics Test Program ATST Advanced Technology Solar Telescope 

AWACS Airborne Early Warning and Control 

AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor 

B 

BA “Big Airspace” 

BEPAC Beyond Einstein Program Assessment Committee 

BIS Bureau of Industry and Security 

BLM Bureau of Land Management 

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory 

BWB Blended Wing-Body 
138 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

C 

C3PO Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office 

CAEP Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection 

CAST Commercial Aviation Safety Team 

CAVP Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program 

CAWL Corrected Allowable Weight Loss 

CCMC Community Coordinated Modeling Center 

CEAH Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health 

CEDAR Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions 

CEPS Center for Earth and Planetary Studies 

CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research 

CIR Color-Infrared 

CISM Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling 

CLASIC Cloud and Land Surface Interaction Campaign 

CLIVAR Climate Variability and Predictability 

CLU Common Land Unit 

CME Coronal Mass Ejection 

CMVP Cryptographic Module Validation Program 

CNES Centre National d’Études Spatiales 

CNN Cable News Network 

COES Committee on Earth Observing Satellites 

ConOps Concept of Operations 

CONUS Continental United States 

CORS Continuously Operating Reference Station 

COSMO Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation 

COSMOS Cosmic Evolution Survey 

COTS Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

CPHST Center for Plant Health Science and Technology 

CRISP Central Region Integrated Science Partnership Funds 

CS Commercial Services 

CSLAA Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act 

CSPRs Closely Spaced Parallel Runways 

CSREES Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service 

D

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

DCMM Discrete Classification Mapping Methodology 

DES Dark Energy Survey 

Destiny Dark Energy Space Telescope 

DFRC Drysden Flight Research Center 

DLR German Aerospace Center 

DOC Department of Commerce 

DOD Department of Defense 

DOE Department of Energy 

DOI Department of the Interior 

DOS Department of State 

DRICOMP Drought in Coupled Models Project 

DSCS Defense Communications System 

DSP Defense Support Program 

DSR Display System Replacement 
E 139 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities

EARD Exploration Architecture Requirements Document 

EAS Early Ammonia Servicer 

EBIS Electron Beam Ion Source 

EDL Entry/Descent/Landing 

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle 

ELV Expendable Launch Vehicle 

EMA Electro-Mechanical Actuators 

ENVI Environment for Visualizing Images 

EO Executive Order 

EOS Earth Observing System 

ERAM En Route Automation Motorization 

ERS Economic Research Service 

ESAS Exploration Systems Architecture Study 

ESMD Exploration Systems Mission Directorate 

ESnet Energy Sciences Network 

ESPA EELV Secondary Payload Adapter 

ETDP Exploration Technology Development Program 

EUMETSAT European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites 

EVA Extravehicular Activity Systems 

EVO Equivalent Visual Operations 

F 

FAA Federal Aviation Administration 

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service 

FASR Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope 

FCC Federal Communications Commission 

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency 

FEWS Future En Route Workstation 

FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard 

FS Forest Service 

FSA Farm Service Agency 

FTS Fourier Transform Spectrometer 

FWI Fire Weather Index 

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service 

G 

GA-ASI General Atomics 

GEM Geospace Environment Modeling 

GEO Group on Earth Observations 

GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems 

GINA Geographic Information Network of Alaska 

GIS Geographic Information Systems 

GISD Geographic Information for Sustainable Development 

GLAM Global Agriculture Monitoring 

GLAST Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope 

GLC Global Land Cover 

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System 

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems 

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellit

GOODS Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey 

e 

GPS Global Positioning System 
140 t Aeronautics and Space Report of the Presiden

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center 

GV Gulfstream V 

GWAT Global War on Terrorism 

H

HABs Harmful Algal Blooms 

HIAPER High-Performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research 

HIPPO HIAPER Pole to Pole Observations 

HiRise High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment 

HITL Human-In-The-Loop 

HRP Human Research Program 

HyBoLT Hypersonics Boundary Layer Transition 

HYSPLIT Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory 

I 

IAH George Bush Intercontinental Airport 

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization 

ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile 

ICG International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems 

IGN Institut Géographique National 

IGS International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Service 

IIFD Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck 

IOOS Integrated Ocean Observing System 

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

IRAC Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control 

IRAC Infrared Array Camera 

ISOC Instrument Science Operations Center 

ISRO Indian Space Research Organization 

ISS International Space Station 

ITA International Trade Administration 

IVHM Integrated Vehicle Health Management 

IWP Integrated Work Plan 

J 

JAXA Japan Aerospace and Exploration Agency 

JDEM Joint Dark Energy Mission 

JEM-PM Japanese Experiment Module – Pressurized Module 

JEM-PS Japanese Experiment Module – Pressurized Section 

JPDO Joint Planning and Development Office 

JSC Johnson Space Center 

JWG Joint Working Group 

K 

KSC Kennedy Space Center 

L 

LAS Launch Abort System 

LAT Lunar Architecture Team 

LAT Large Area Telescope 

LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

LCROSS Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite 

LEO Low-Earth Orbit 
141 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 

LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging 

LPRP Lunar Precursor Robotic Progr

LRC Langley Research Center 

am 

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 

LSP Launch Services Program 

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope 

LULC Land Use and Land Cover 

M 

MARSIS Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding 

MBOC Multiplexed Binary Offset Carrier 

MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation 

MDA Missile Defense Agency 

MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

MER Mars Exploration Rover 

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

MMRTG Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator 

MOA Memorandum of Agreement 

MOBY Marine Optical Buoy 

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer 

MOU Memorandum of Understanding 

MRLC Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium 

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center 

MWA Murchison Widefield Array 

N 

NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center 

NAIP National Aerial Imagery Program 

NANOOS Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems 

NASM National Air and Space Museum 

NASS National Agricultural Statistic Service 

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research 

NCDC National Climatic Data Center 

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction 

NCVA National Ceiling and Visibility Analysis 

NDGD National Digital Guidance Database 

NERSC National Energy Research Scientific-Computing Center 

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service 

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System 

NGATS Next Generation Air Transportation System 

NGDC National Geophysical Data Center 

NIDIS National Integrated Drought Information System 

NISN NASA Integrated Services Network 

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology 

NLCD National Land Cover Database 

NLCF National Leadership Computing Facility 

NMAO NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Marine Operations 

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory 

NOS National Ocean Service 

NPAT National Partnership for Aeronautical Testing 

NPD NASA Policy Directive 

NPOESS National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System 
142 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project 

NPR NASA Procedural Requirement 

NPS National Park Service 

NRA NASA Research Announcement 

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory 

NRCS National Resource Conservation Service 

NREN NASA’s Research and Education Network 

NRI National Resources Inventory 

NSAS National Strategy for Aviation Security 

NSBRI National Space Biomedical Research Institute 

NSCOR NASA Specialized Center of Research 

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSO National Solar Observatory 

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory 

NSRS National Spatial Reference System 

NSSO National Security Space Office 

NSWP National Space Weather Program 

NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration 

NWLON National Water Level Observation Network 

NWR National Wildlife Refuge 

NWS National Weather Service 

O

OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory 

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development 

OFCM Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology 

OFES Office of Fusion Energy Sciences 

OGA Office of Global Analysis 

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

ORS Operationally Responsive Space 

ORZS Optimization of Root Zone Substrates 

OSC Office of Space Commercialization 

OSTM Ocean Surface Topography Mission 

P 

PACDEX Pacific Dust Experiment 

PBS Program Baseline Synchronization Review 

PCC Policy Coordinating Committee 

PI Principal Investigators 

PNT Positioning, Navigation, and Timing 

POES Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites 

PPGD Portable Programmable Guidance Display 

PPPL Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory 

PRF Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage 

Q 

QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System 

R 

R&D Research and Development 

RAWS Remote Automatic Weather Station 

RDT&E Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation 

RFP Request for Proposal 
143 Fiscal Year 2007 Activities 

RHIC Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider 

RLV Reusable Launch Vehicle 

RMS Remote Manipulator System 

RPIF Regional Planetary Image Facility 

RpK Rocketplane Kistler 

RPT Rocket Propulsion Test 

RSAC Remote Sensing Applications Center 

RTK Real-Time Kinematic S

SAAs Space Act Agreements 

SAME Smoke and Aerosol Measurement Experiment 

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 

SBIRS Space Based Infra-Red System 

SC Office of Science 

SCaN Space Communications and Navigation 

SciDAC Scientific Discovery through Advanced Scientific Computing project 

SDRs Systems Design Reviews 

SGP Southern Great Plains 

SHARAD Shallow Subsurface Radar 

SHINE Solar, Heliosphere, and Interplanetary Environment 

SIA Satellite Imagery Archive 

SIBC Space Industrial Base Council 

SiC Silicon Carbide 

SLAC Stanford Linear Accelerator Center 

SMA Submillimeter Array 

SMD Science Mission Directorate 

SNAP Supernova Acceleration Probe 

SOAREX Sub-Orbital Aerodynamics Re-Entry Experiment 

SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory 

SOMD Space Operations Missions Directorate 

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies 

SpacePCC Space Policy Coordination Committee 

SPT South Pole Telescope 

SQUIDs Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices 

SRR Systems Requirements Review 

SSA Space Situational Awareness 

SSPTS Station-Shuttle Power Transfer System 

SSRMS Space Station Remote Manipulator System 

SSTL Survey Satellite Technology Limited 

STaR Shuttle Transition and Retirement 

STEREO Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory 

STL Lambert-St. Louis International Airport 

STP Space Test Program 

SuperDARN Super Dual Auroral Radar Network 

SWAB Surface, Water, and Air Biocharacterization 

T 

t/Space Transformational Space 

TC4 Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate Coupling 

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 

TES Transition-Edge Sensor 

THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms 

TIM Technical Interchange Meeting 
144 Aeronautics and Space Report of the President 

TM Thematic Mapper 

TRaP Tropical Rainfall Potential 

T-REX Terrain Induced Rotor Experiment 

TSAT Transformational Satellite Communications System 

TWP Tropical Western Pacific 

U

UAF Upper Atmospheric Facilities 

UARS Upper Atmospheric Research System 

UAS Uninhabited Aerial Systems 

UAV Unpiloted Aerial Vehicle 

UAVS Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems 

ULA United Launch Alliance 

UMESC USGS/Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center 

UMRS Upper Mississippi River System 

UNCOPUOS United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space 

US&FCS U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service 

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development 

USDA Department of Agriculture 

USGS U.S. Geological Survey 

USGS EROS USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science 

USMCC U.S. Mission Control Center 

US-TEC U.S. Total Electron Content 

USTR U.S. Trade Representative 

UVCS Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer 

V 

VEE Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis 

VMP Vegetation Mapping Program 

W 

WARP Web-Based Access and Retrieval Portal 

WGIPP Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park 

WGS Wideband Global System 

WIMPs Weakly Interactive Massive Particles 

WRP Wetland Reserve Program 

WTMD Wake Turbulence Mitigation for Departures 

W-VAAC Washington Volcanic Advisory Center 

X 

XRT X-Ray Telescope 
NP-2008-05-513-HQ