Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year

2008 Activities
Aeronautics

and

Space Report

of the 

President

Fiscal Year 

2008 

Activities
tnedisere Phf t t oropee Rcapd Sns acituanoreA

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, 2007, 

through September 30, 2008.
Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Table of ConTenTs

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1

Department of Defense 37

Federal Aviation Association 47

Department of Commerce 53

Department of the Interior 81

Federal Communications Commission 99

U.S. Department of Agriculture 103

National Science Foundation 111

Department of State 117

Department of Energy 121

Smithsonian Institution 127

Appendices 137

A-1 U S Government Spacecraft Record 138

A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in 

Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond 139

B Successful Launches to Orbit on U S Vehicles 140

C Human Space Flights 144

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

in Real Dollars 146

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

in Equivalent FY 2008 Dollars 147

D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget 148

D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget 149

Acronyms 151
THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY BLANK
1Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

naTional aeronauTiCs and

spaCe adminisTraTion

NASA

Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (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 to the Moon, 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 fiscal year (FY) 2008 (FY08), 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.

Constellation Systems Division

Constellation Program

In 2008, the Constellation Program and its projects made significant progress 

well beyond artists’ concepts and PowerPoint presentations. Since its initiation in 

2005, the Constellation Program reached the end of formulation and entered into 

the development phase. The “Season of System Definition Reviews (SDRs)” for the 
2Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Constellation Program and its near-term projects (Orion, Ares I, Extravehicular 

Activities Systems, Mission Operations, and Ground Operations) supporting ini-

tial capability to the ISS successfully concluded during 2008. The Ares I Project 

completed its integrated launch vehicle Preliminary Design Review (PDR) in 

September 2008; also, the upper stage engine (J2X) successfully completed the 

Critical Design Review (CDR), which marks a major milestone of entering 

into manufacturing.

Constellation also planned the next steps in preparing for lunar missions. The 

Constellation Program completed a milestone review in 2008 that will help determine the systems needed to return humans to the Moon and establish a lunar 

outpost. The 3-day Lunar Capability Concept Review capped a 9-month study that 

looked at possible lunar mission scenarios and compared them to the capabilities of 

the emerging lunar transportation system design concepts. This review established 

all the technical parameters that will be needed to begin the initial design phase 

in preparing vehicle requirements for the Ares V Heavy Lift Cargo Launch Vehicle 

and the Altair Lunar Lander.

Contracts have been let for the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and the Ares I 

Crew Launch Vehicle. The Constellation Program also moved beyond initial con-

cepts and into hardware fabrication and testing. Engineers at NASA’s Marshall 

Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, continued to conduct tests on the 

J2X power pack and gas generator to support the development of the upper stage 

engine for NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle and the Earth Departure Stage 

of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. Both the Orion and the Ares projects con-

tinued to conduct parachute drop tests in Yuma, Arizona, to better understand 

the reefing performance of the pilot and main chutes. The Orion project initi-

ated component testing of the new Launch Abort System (LAS). NASA and 

Aerojet successfully fired the abort system jettison motor at the Aerojet facility in 

Sacramento, California. Engineers will use the test firing to verify that the motor 

meets specification requirements and to help define induced acoustic, vibration, 

and shock loads caused by the motor. Orion’s first Pad Abort test (PA-1) progressed 

with hardware manufacturing on schedule towards meeting its launch date in 2009. 

The Ares I-X, the first test demonstration flight, made significant progress toward 

its launch date in late 2009. Fabrication of Ares I-X elements was completed, and 
3Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

hardware delivery to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the stacking of the upper 

stage simulator elements has begun.

Construction of major facilities to support the Constellation Program continued. 

In mid-2008, KSC renovated the Launch Control Center Firing Room 1 to support 

the Constellation Program. Construction began on a new test stand to support the 

Ares I upper stage engine (J2X) that will enable the critical testing needed to verify 

the engine performance at altitude conditions. The estimated completion year for 

the new test stand is 2010. In addition, the Ares I project began renovations to the 

Dynamic Test Stand for use in performing the ground vibration test of the Ares I 

launch vehicle. This test stand tested and validated hardware for both the Apollo 

and the Shuttle missions.

Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office (C3PO) FY08 Highlights

Administered out of the C3PO, the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services 

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

to service the ISS and encouraging a commercial market for ISS resupply. During 

FY08, NASA maintained two unfunded Space Act Agreements (SAAs) with 

PlanetSpace and SpaceDev. Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) continued 

to make significant progress under their funded SAA, including a full-missionlength test firing of the Falcon 9 first-stage configuration, integration of the 

Falcon 9 launch vehicle, construction of their Cape Canaveral launch facility, and 

completing the final demonstration mission-level CDR. SpaceX also experienced 

delays common within the aerospace community that resulted in the renegotiation of milestones. In planning for multiple companies to develop ISS resupply 

capability, NASA signed a second funded SAA with Orbital Sciences Corporation 

(Orbital) of Dulles, Virginia, in 2008. Orbital also continued to make significant 

progress completing major element design reviews, including a groundbreaking at 

their Wallops Flight Facility launch site. Both SpaceX and Orbital plan for ISS 

demonstration missions in 2010.

Advanced Capabilities

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

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

Constellation System’s projects. These products support high-priority technology 
4Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

requirements for lunar exploration; risk mitigation related to astronaut health 

and performance using the ISS, free-flyers (self-contained experimental modules) 

that typically get launched into space to conduct microgravity experiments and 

feature a retrievable module for analyses of the experiments, and ground-based 

laboratories; and lunar robotic missions to gather data relevant to future human 

lunar 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 surface tempera-

ture and composition characterization. Data from LPRP missions remain critical 

to the Constellation System’s efforts to return humans to the Moon and will sup-

port astronaut safety, landing site selection, and engineering requirements for lunar 

surface hardware.

The first lunar robotic mission consists of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 

(LRO), which will provide detailed mapping for human landing site selection, as 

well as valuable information about the lunar radiation and thermal environments 

and the identification of lunar resource availability. A secondary payload, the 

Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), will provide addi-

tional data on lunar resources by impacting a permanently shadowed crater on the 

lunar surface to investigate the possible presence of water and other volatiles.

During FY08, LRO completed its Systems Integration Readiness Review (SIRR) 

and Pre-Environmental Review (PER), as well as the spacecraft integration and 

environmental tests up to thermal vacuum testing. LRO also established a Mission 

Operations Center and completed simulations of launch and lunar orbit insertion. 

LCROSS completed integration and testing of the space vehicle through a Systems 

Acceptance Review (SAR). LCROSS also established a Mission Operations 

Center and completed simulations of launch, lunar flyby, impactor separation, and 

lunar impact.

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 
5Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

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

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

human space exploration.

During FY08, the HRP completed renal stone countermeasure experiments on 

the ISS as a part of operational evaluation. These experiments will lead to a strategy to mitigate the buildup of calcium in the urine that results in the development 

of renal stones during long-term exposure to microgravity. Data will be provided 

to the NASA Chief Health and Medical Officer’s Transition to Medical Practice 

process for evaluating new countermeasures. At the joint NASA and National 

Institutes of Health bed-rest facility, the HRP also completed a study of the ability 

of low-amplitude vibration, delivered through the feet, to preserve bone density 

and strength. Scientists conducted two 90-day human bed-rest campaigns with 

18 subjects for 2 different intensities of vibration. The results of this study found no 

statistically significant difference between subjects who received the treatment and 

subjects who did not. Other accomplishments in the HRP include characterizing 

lunar dust size distribution in the inhalable size range and initiating toxicity testing 

with simulated lunar dust, as well as initiating intratracheal instillation studies 

in collaboration with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health 

(NIOSH). Dermal studies showed the ability of larger grains to abrade skin, and 

chemical activation studies demonstrated that lunar dust remains reactive for several hours, depending on environmental conditions. NIOSH also continued studies 

to determine the stability of a controlled set of kits of food/nutritional items and 

common medications, representative of the types and classes typically provided on 

space missions, after prolonged exposure to the space flight environment. Kits that 

have been exposed to space for a period of up to 19 months have been returned to 

Earth 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 include 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 PDR of a 
6Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

target flight system. The ETDP matures near-term technologies to enable the 

first flight of Orion and develops long-lead technologies needed for the lunar 

exploration missions.

During FY08, at Moses Lake, Washington, the ETDP conducted field tests of the 

Chariot rover, the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) 

rover, and the payload-handling crane to simulate lunar outpost assembly activities. 

The ETDP also conducted human-in-the-loop testing of the Carbon Dioxide and 

Moisture Removal Amine Swingbed (CAMRAS) system for Orion. It initiated 

a contract with Aerojet to develop a 5,500-pound-thrust liquid oxygen-methane 

engine for the Altair lunar lander ascent stage. The program conducted a heli-

copter flight test of a flash-LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensor for the 

Altair lunar lander autonomous landing and hazard avoidance system and demon-

strated a sampling drill integrated with the Scarab rover for lunar ice prospecting. 

It also demonstrated the Small Pressurized Rover and suit-port concept for enabling 

exploration far beyond the lunar outpost. The ETDP developed two prototype In 

Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) systems to produce oxygen for the lunar out-

post. The ETDP also delivered an Electronic Nose (E-Nose) instrument and a 

Combustion Integrated Rack for launch to the ISS, where they were used in inves-

tigations on the Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment (SHERE), the 

Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions-2 (InSPACE-2), 

and the Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2 (CSLM-2).

Crosscutting Program Support Analogs

The ESMD made great strides in FY08 in analog tests and demonstrations. To 

accurately develop operational concepts for lunar exploration and effectively design 

the hardware necessary to live and work on the lunar surface, the ESMD success-

fully used analogs to refine the exploration architecture in FY08.

Antarctica Engineering Evaluation Field Test: ESMD design personnel led the 

NASA team and supported the National Science Foundation’s effort to deploy 

an inflatable habitat in Antarctica during the months of January and February 

2008. This Antarctic testing proved the durability of an inflatable habitat while 

operating in an extreme environment, including the challenge of dealing with the 

packing, transport, and deployment of a large, inflatable habitat system. The field 
7Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

test also generated data on the use of best in situ materials for radiation shielding 

and improving lunar dust mitigation practices.

Mobility Field Tests—Phase 1: The Moses Lake Field Test analogs took place in 

Moses Lake, Washington, during June 2008 and provided the opportunity for 1- to 

2-kilometer-range expeditions on dry lava soils that are not available at NASA 

Field Centers. Testing robotic rovers and extravehicular activity (EVA) suits on 

the varied slopes and soil types provided scientists and engineers with accurate 

timelines, surveying data, and other operational design considerations essential 

to establishing a baseline for operational concepts and hardware systems for the 

lunar architecture.

Space Shuttle to Constellation Transition Activity

NASA defines “transition” as the crosscutting activities associated with completing the Space Shuttle Program and beginning future 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 remains critical to the future of the exploration programs’ 

success. Both the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD) and ESMD 

approach transition tasks in a measured and disciplined manner as a team. The 

team established a baseline in a NASA Transition Management Plan that provided the strategic foundation for the management and execution of transition 

efforts. This plan contained the Agency-level goals, objectives, roles, and responsibilities necessary to execute NASA transition efforts. It tracked major transition 

milestone planning and execution events through the Multi-Program Integrated 

Milestones schedule that captures all major NASA developmental and operational 

milestones through 2020. It also continued work on major integrated transition 

plans through previously defined board and governance structures, such as the 

Transition Control Board and the Joint Integrated Control Board. It developed an 

initial draft of exploration institutional capability (e.g., facilities and equipment) 

needs through the Exploration Requirements for Institution Capabilities Study. 

The team submitted to Congress the first of two reports regarding the status of 

NASA’s Shuttle to Constellation workforce transition plans. It continued to work 

with the Office of Human Capital Management on the Shuttle to Constellation 
8Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

workforce mapping initiative to identify critical skills existing in the current pro-

gram and the predicted level and need for those skills in future programs. The 

team continued Web-based transition communications through updates to the 

NASA transition Web site, which includes policy documents, points of contact 

for transition-related inquiries, and links to most of the Agency’s transition activi-

ties. The team also initiated collaboration with Government agencies and industry 

to discuss potential long-term Space Industrial Base policies and issues affecting 

NASA’s exploration program.

Space Operations Mission Directorate

For the past 11 years, NASA has applied the full capabilities of the Space 

Shuttle to the mission for which this unique vehicle was originally conceived—

the assembly of a large, advanced research station in LEO, one that can serve as 

a critical international way station for further missions to the Moon, Mars, and 

beyond. In FY08, the assembly of this facility, the ISS, entered a pivotal stage. The 

last of the Station’s pressurized laboratories arrived, as did hardware critical for 

expanding the Station’s crew complement to six in FY09—a total of nearly 117,000 

pounds of hardware integrated over four highly successful Space Shuttle missions 

and 22 spacewalks, or EVAs (20 U.S., 2 Russian). By the end of FY08, the ISS 

massed over 611,000 pounds, approximately 71 percent of its final size. But even as 

work continues on the world’s highest and fastest-moving construction site, the ISS 

supports a robust scientific research program, with over 78 experiments conducted 

in FY08 alone.

On November 2, 2007, NASA celebrated 7 years of continuous, onboard human 

presence on the ISS. During FY08, the ISS saw the addition of the European and 

Japanese laboratories, which was the culmination of years of effort on the part of 

all the partners. The knowledge gained and still yet to be gained from the ISS will 

result in a dramatic expansion of humanity’s understanding of numerous fields, 

including human life and medical sciences, materials and microgravity sciences, 

Earth observations, plant growth, and technology development. During the first 

7 years of continuous presence, 167 people from 15 countries visited the ISS.

On October 10, 2007, Soyuz TMA-11 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, 

Kazakhstan, carrying Expedition 16 crewmembers Peggy Whitson and Yuri 

Malenchenko, as well as space flight participant Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, the 
9Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

first Malaysian in space. Soyuz TMA-10 left the ISS on October 21, 2007, carrying returning Expedition 15 crewmembers Oleg Kotov and Fyodor Yurchikhin 

and space flight participant Shukor. During reentry, TMA-10 transitioned to 

ballistic reentry mode, which was later traced to a damaged control panel cable. 

Crewmembers repaired the same cable on TMA-11, already on orbit, while it was 

docked to the ISS.

Space Shuttle Discovery carried out the first Shuttle mission of the fiscal year, 

STS-120, and launched on October 23, 2007. The mission was notable in many 

respects, not least because it marked the first time female commanders served 

on both the Space Shuttle (Pamela Melroy) and the ISS (Peggy Whitson). The 

primary objective of this mission, the 23rd Space Shuttle flight to the ISS, consisted of the delivery and installation of the Node 2 module. This module (whose 

name, Harmony, was selected through an educational outreach program to the 

Nation’s schoolchildren) serves as the primary interface between the European 

and Japanese laboratory modules and the rest of the Station. STS-120 rotated the 

crew, bringing astronaut Dan Tani to the ISS to join Expedition 16 crewmembers 

Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko and returning astronaut Clay Anderson 

to Earth after 152 days aboard the Station. The mission twice demonstrated the 

value of onsite crew to address unforeseen events. During the redeployment of 

the solar array assembly on the P6 truss (which had been retracted for relocation 

on a previous mission), one of the arrays developed a tear. However, the ISS and 

Space Shuttle crews, along with mission controllers in Houston, Texas, improvised 

a repair, which astronaut Scott Parazynski successfully carried out during the mission’s fourth spacewalk. The first indications of excessively high current draw from 

the starboard Solar Alpha Rotary Joint (SARJ), a mechanism that keeps the solar 

arrays on that side of the ISS pointed toward the Sun while the Station orbits 

Earth, became of greater concern. Inspections during the second EVA revealed 

damage to the SARJ “race ring” that made rotating the starboard array increasingly difficult; at the time, the root cause of this damage remained unknown. 

Crewmembers performed additional inspections and minor repairs during the 

fourth EVA and locked the starboard array in position to avoid further damage 

until a mitigation plan could be developed: this action led to minimal operations 

and science impact. The solar array tear repair and SARJ inspection proved once 
10Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

again that a well-trained, prepared, and adaptable team of astronaut crews and 

ground controllers provide the ultimate capability in space—a lesson that will 

serve the United States and its international partners well as NASA continues to 

explore outward to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The Expedition 16 crew conducted five ISS standalone EVAs between November 

2007 and January 2008. Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko performed the 

first EVA, which prepared Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 (PMA-2) for relocation 

to Node 2, along with assorted other minor tasks. Peggy Whitson and Dan Tani 

conducted the next four EVAs, which focused on completing the installation of 

Node 2 and PMA-2 and inspecting and testing the port and starboard SARJs. 

The work done during these EVAs will be invaluable to the planning for the final 

repairs that will be conducted on STS-126.

Despite two delays due to intermittent issues with fuel sensors in the External 

Tank (ET), Space Shuttle Atlantis launched flawlessly on mission STS-122 

on February 7, 2008. Once on orbit, the Space Shuttle and the ISS began an 

extensive series of installation and checkout activities to integrate the European 

Space Agency’s (ESA’s) new Columbus research module. Columbus is Europe’s 

first Station research module, commanded through an independent facility in 

Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and ESA 

Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain called the crews to congratulate them 

upon the successful activation of the new laboratory and to commemorate the 

on-orbit arrival of a founding member of the ISS partnership. STS-122 also saw 

another crew rotation, with Léopold Eyharts (the first European member of an ISS 

Expedition crew) relieving U.S. astronaut Dan Tani after a 120-day tour.

Space Shuttle Endeavour launched on mission STS-123 on March 11, 2008, 

less than 3 weeks after STS-122 landed just a few miles away from Launch 

Complex 39A (LC-39A) at KSC in Florida. The longest Space Shuttle mission 

to the ISS to date, STS-123, delivered the first Japanese element to the ISS, the 

Japanese Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section (or ELM-PS, the first 

of three major elements of Japan’s Kibo, or “Hope,” complex on the ISS), and the 

Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre. STS-123 marked the 

first time that all the ISS partners—the United States, Russia, European nations, 

Canada, and Japan—had operational hardware in orbit that was commanded 
11Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

through four mission control centers on three continents. During the fifth EVA, 

crewmembers carried out additional inspections on the damaged, and still locked, 

starboard SARJ as root-cause analysis and repair plans continued to be developed. 

Finally, as with most previous missions, STS-123 also became a ferry flight for the 

ISS crew, with Garrett Reisman taking Léopold Eyharts’ place as flight engineer on 

the Expedition 16 crew alongside Peggy Whitson and Yuri Malenchenko.

On March 9, 2008, the ESA launched its first Automated Transfer Vehicle 

(ATV), named Jules Verne. The ATV performed several weeks of tests on orbit 

before flawlessly docking with the ISS on April 3, 2008, with food, water, cargo, and 

propellant. During its 5-month stay at the ISS, the ATV performed Station reboosts 

and provided the crew with additional living space. The ATV undocked from the 

ISS on September 5, 2008, and reentered over the Pacific Ocean several weeks later.

On April 8, 2008, Soyuz TMA-12 launched from Kazakhstan carrying 

Expedition 17 crewmembers Sergei Volkov and Oleg Kononenko, as well as space 

flight participant Yi So-yeon of South Korea. Soyuz TMA-11 returned to Earth 

on April 19, 2008, carrying Expedition 16 crewmembers Peggy Whitson and 

Yuri Malenchenko and space flight participant Yi So-yeon. As with Soyuz TMA-10, 

TMA-11 experienced a transition to a ballistic trajectory during reentry. Analysis 

later showed that the Propulsion Module failed to separate nominally from the 

Descent Module, triggering the ballistic reentry. Investigators traced the cause of 

the failed separation to a failed pyrotechnic separation bolt, the duplicate of which 

was removed from TMA-12 during a Russian EVA on July 10, 2008. TMA-12 reentered nominally without the pyrotechnic bolt on October 24, 2008. Analysis of the 

root cause of the failed bolt remains ongoing.

Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-124 came next in the lineup. Nearly filling 

Discovery’s 15-by-60-foot cargo bay for launch on May 31, 2008, the Japanese 

Experiment Module, Pressurized Module (JEM-PM), featured the largest pressurized 

laboratory destined for the ISS. Once docked, Discovery and her crew extracted the 

Kibo module from the cargo bay and deftly maneuvered it around the large and 

increasingly busy exterior of the ISS with the Station’s robotic arm before mooring it across from Columbus on Node 2. After initial quality checks of the module’s systems and environmental controls, Expedition 16 and STS-124 astronauts 

began outfitting the module and its 10 racks of experiment space. Crewmembers 
12Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

also relocated the ELM-PS to its permanent location above the JEM-PM. Once 

again, the Space Shuttle helped to rotate the ISS’ permanent crew, taking Gregory 

Chamitoff to the Station and bringing Garrett Reisman safely home after 3 months 

in space.

NASA planned an additional mission, STS-125, for FY08. This would have 

been the fifth and final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) 

and the only mission not going to the ISS until the Space Shuttle’s retirement. In 

preparation for the mission by September 2008, NASA placed two Space Shuttles 

prepped and ready on the pad at the same time—Atlantis on LC-39A, as the pri-

mary STS-125 vehicle, and Endeavour on LC-39B. The rare joint processing of 

two vehicles allowed Endeavour to be ready to launch a rescue mission (designated 

STS-401) to Atlantis, whose crew would not have the usual option of falling back 

on the resources of the ISS should any contingencies develop during the HST 

servicing mission. The mission, however, was postponed due to issues with HST’s 

prime science package communications payload on orbit and the need to qualify 

replacement hardware to fly on STS-125. NASA rolled back Atlantis to the Vehicle 

Assembly Building to demate the orbiter and to allow preparations for supporting 

STS-119 to begin, while Endeavour rolled to LC-39A in preparation for STS-126 in 

November2008.

Overall, the Space Shuttle team safely and successfully conducted 4 missions, 

supported 15 spacewalks, spent over 57 days in space, and flew almost 24 million 

miles in FY08.

Activities continued in FY08 to fly out the remaining missions on the manifest 

safely while preparing for the planned retirement of the Shuttle in FY10. NASA 

phased activities in a way designed to maintain production and sustain engineering 

and operational capabilities for as long as possible. Production neared completion 

on the last scheduled Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) scheduled for flight, 

SSME-2061. Workers assembled an additional engine, SSME-2062, and major ET 

elements (liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, and intertank segments) both as a skillsretention activity and to provide additional manifest robustness. Production on 

the last Space Shuttle ET, ET-138, continued at the Michoud Assembly Facility 

(MAF) in Mississippi. Meanwhile, the Space Shuttle Program continues to work 

closely with the Constellation Program to ensure a smooth transition of materials, 
13Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

tooling, critical skills, and shop floor space at the MAF, from ET production to 

Orion and Ares I development. Although NASA remains on schedule to complete the assembly of the ISS by September 2010, the Agency will take no actions 

before April 2009 that would preclude flying the Space Shuttle beyond FY10. Other 

activities related to the transition and retirement of the Space Shuttle included 

the release of the “Final Space Shuttle Programmatic Environmental Assessment” 

in February 2008, along with continued work to identify and dispose of property 

and facilities no longer needed for safe flyout using joint management processes to 

coordinate activities and promote efficiencies in operations and development.

As NASA prepares to retire the Space Shuttle, the Agency also continues to 

transition the workforce, technology, facilities, and operational experience from 

this remarkable vehicle to a new generation of safer, even more capable systems. 

These activities accelerated in FY08. Preparations progressed throughout the year 

for the first full-scale test flight in the Constellation Program, Ares I-X: Space 

Shuttle personnel and facilities played a critical role in these activities. Through 

new systems like Ares I, Orion, and Ares V, the legacy of the Space Shuttle will 

live on in future missions of exploration—missions that will also be essential for 

maintaining U.S. leadership in critical areas of advanced technology well into the 

21st century. In addition, NASA continued to focus on the critical role played by 

the Agency’s highly skilled contractor and civil service workforce. Efforts included 

sharing a skilled workforce among the Space Shuttle, Constellation, and ISS 

programs; working with the Space Shuttle prime contractors on retention issues; 

performing regular surveys of the Space Shuttle civil servant workforce and line 

management to identify and address emerging workforce issues; and publishing 

“NASA’s Transition Workforce Strategy” every 2 years.

In FY08, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program 

Office continued to provide the highly reliable space communications capability 

that is critical to all of NASA’s space missions. The three networks SCaN operated 

and managed—the Near Earth Network, the Space Network (the Tracking and 

Data Relay Satellite System), and the Deep Space Network—met the communications needs, such as Earth monitoring and support of deep space exploration missions, of a wide range of customers, both internal and external to NASA. During 

this period, SCaN transferred the management and operations of the NASA 
14Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Integrated Services Network to NASA’s Chief Information Officer (CIO); SCaN 

worked closely in FY08 with the CIO on all coordination issues.

A core team of systems engineers representing each of NASA’s relevant Centers 

made a focused effort in FY08 to develop a space communications architecture that 

included the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Glenn Research Center 

(GRC), and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The resulting Architecture 

Definition Document will drive the integration of SCaN’s three networks while 

providing the flexibility required for all of NASA’s science and exploration missions 

for the next 20 to 25 years, as directed in the NASA Authorization Act of 2005.

In FY08, looking into the future to determine Moon and Mars space commu-

nications requirements, SCaN continued its strong interagency cooperation on 

spectrum-related issues to ensure that sufficient spectrum will continue to be avail-

able for all of NASA’s space missions. NASA achieved excellent results in its World 

Radiocommunication Conference 2007 negotiations, with success in each agenda 

item it pursued on behalf of NASA’s science and exploration missions.

The Launch Services Program (LSP) successfully managed the launch of two 

missions on expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) during FY08. On June 11, 2008, the 

Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) launched from Cape Canaveral 

Air Force Station, Florida, on a two-stage Delta II Heavy. On June 20, 2008, the 

Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM)/Jason-2 launched on a Delta II from 

Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California. Both missions launched within 

9 days of each other, one from the East Coast and one from the West, and continue 

to perform successfully. For each mission, NASA competitively procured launch 

services from domestic commercial companies. To find out more about these and 

other NASA science missions, see the Science Mission Directorate section in 

this report.

In a continuing effort to open the bidding process to a larger number of 

launch providers, LSP established the NASA Launch Services (NLS) Follow-on 

Procurement Development Team (PDT). In 2008, the PDT released a Request for 

Information to the launch service provider community with a small- and mediumclass mission model. The PDT received and evaluated the responses and proposed 

a philosophy for the follow-on contract mechanism to the NLS contract together 

with input from current contracted launch service providers and LSP customers. 
15Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

LSP placed SpaceX onto the NLS contract to include Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch 

vehicles. LSP also entered into unfunded Space Act Agreements with companies 

that are actively funding new launch vehicles.

In 2008, the Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) Program continued to develop and 

coordinate RPT activities in support of the safe operation of the Space Shuttle 

and implementation of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy, as well as activities for 

use by other Department of Defense (DOD) and commercial programs. Assets 

include rocket propulsion test facilities, associated infrastructure and systems, 

and the core skilled workforce necessary to operate and maintain these resources. 

The RPT Program also made significant strides toward establishing and implementing the internal program agreements and strategies necessary to prioritize 

and execute facility maintenance and modernization projects that will ensure the 

continued safe and reliable operation of test facilities and associated infrastructure 

and systems.

Science Mission Directorate

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

and Earth science missions designed to improve humanity’s understanding of solar 

processes, Earth, the universe, and the history of the solar system.

NASA and university scientists announced in November 2007 that they had 

developed a promising new technique for estimating the intensity of tropical 

cyclones from space. The method could one day supplement existing techniques, 

assist in designing future tropical cyclone satellite observing systems, and improve 

disaster preparedness and recovery efforts. The technique uses NASA satellite 

data, including simultaneous, accurate measurements of cloud-top temperatures 

from the Aqua satellite, as well as cloud-top height and cloud profiling information from the CloudSat satellite. Both satellites fly in formation as part of NASA’s 

“A-Train” of Earth-observing satellites. The Afternoon Train, or A-Train, is the 

nickname given to a group of satellites that fly close together, pass over the Equator 

in the early afternoon, and provide coordinated science observations of Earth and 

its atmosphere. Members of the A-Train so far include NASA missions Aqua, Aura, 

and CloudSat; a NASA-Centre National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) mission called 

Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO); 
16Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

and a CNES mission called Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for 

Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations with a Lidar (PARASOL). Each 

satellite has a unique set of Earth observation capabilities, but this becomes a case 

where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Together, these diverse tools 

give humankind the most comprehensive set of observations of Earth’s atmosphere 

ever obtained.

This new method of estimating intensity requires cloud profiling information 

from over or near a storm’s eye. The team analyzed data from nine tropical cyclones 

observed by CloudSat and calculated their peak winds; then they compared the 

estimates with available weather data, including data from aircraft. Initial results 

show that the technique’s estimates agreed with available weather data. The tech-

nique appeared to work better for stronger storms.

The International Polar Year (IPY) is a large scientific program focused on 

the Arctic and the Antarctic from March 2007 to March 2009, which provides 

the opportunity for scientists to conduct two annual observing cycles or visit 

both polar regions. As part of the IPY, a team of researchers from NASA, the 

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and 

the British Antarctic Survey unveiled the best-ever map of Antarctica, which 

comprised about 1,100 satellite images from the NASA-U.S. Geological Survey 

Landsat-7 mission in November 2007. The map will revolutionize scientific research 

about the continent’s frozen landscape. The map is a realistic, nearly cloudless satellite view of the continent at a resolution 10 times greater than ever before, with 

images captured by Landsat-7. With the unprecedented ability to see features half 

the size of a basketball court, the mosaic offers the most geographically accurate, 

high-resolution views of Antarctica, with the truest colors, to date.

As another activity for IPY, NASA sponsored the Polar Palooza. The Polar 

Palooza featured multimedia public presentations entitled “Stories from a Changing 

Planet” told by NASA scientists and researchers sponsored by the NSF. It also 

provided workshops for K–12 and museum educators, briefings for local news media 

and business leaders, and camp-ins for Girl Scouts and Boys and Girls Clubs. Polar 

Palooza provided the public with a valuable opportunity to interact personally with 

the scientists who bring polar research to life and to share in the wonder of an 
17Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

ice core 2,000 years old that scientists are using to better understand how Earth’s 

climate has changed over time.

On March 18, 2008, the Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers 

Mission B (TWINS-B) launched. TWINS-B works with TWINS-A to provide the 

second half of the stereo-imaging of Earth’s magnetosphere, the region surrounding 

the planet controlled by its magnetic field and containing the Van Allen radiation 

belts and other energetic charged particles. TWINS-B enabled three-dimensional 

(3-D) global visualization of this region, which led to a greatly enhanced understanding of the connections between different regions of the magnetosphere and 

their relation to the solar wind. TWINS-A and TWINS-B will enable the 3-D 

visualization and the resolution of large-scale structures and dynamics within the 

magnetosphere for the first time. TWINS-B belongs to the Heliophysics Division of 

SMD, which aims to understand the Sun and its effects on Earth.

On March 19, 2008, NASA’s Swift satellite detected a powerful stellar explosion 

called a gamma-ray burst that shattered the record for the most distant object that 

could be seen with the naked eye. Although the explosion occurred in a galaxy 

7.5 billion light-years away (more than halfway across the visible universe), it 

briefly became bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye. The observations 

gave astronomers the most detailed portrait of a gamma-ray burst ever recorded. 

The Swift satellite belongs to the Astrophysics Division of SMD, which aims to 

discover and understand the origin, structure, and evolution of the universe.

On April 16, 2008, the Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) 

mission launched. CINDI discovered the role of ion-neutral interactions in the 

generation of small- and large-scale electric fields in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Ionneutral interactions are a key process in controlling the dynamics of all planetary 

atmospheres, and understanding them appears to be important to describing the 

electrodynamic connections between the Sun and the upper atmosphere. In addition, the CINDI instruments provided measurements of the 3-D neutral winds and 

ion drifts. CINDI belongs to the Heliophysics Division.

Another Heliophysics Division mission, Ulysses, helped SMD obtain valuable 

science data. The venerable Ulysses mission, after more than 17 years in space, or 

almost four times its expected lifetime, is finally succumbing to the harsh environment of space. As the first mission to study the region of space above and below 
18Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

the poles of the Sun, Ulysses returned reams of data that forever changed the way 

scientists view the Sun and its effects.

Key results from Ulysses to date included the first detailed measurements of the 

solar wind from the Sun’s polar regions at solar minimum and solar maximum, the 

discovery that the magnetic flux leaving the Sun is the same at all latitudes, the 

discovery of energetic particle “reservoirs” surrounding the Sun, the discovery of 

interstellar dust in the solar system, and the first direct measurements of interstellar 

helium atoms in the solar system. Data from the spacecraft showed that the Sun 

has reduced its output of solar wind to the lowest levels since accurate readings 

became available. The Sun’s current state could reduce the natural shielding that 

envelops our solar system.

Another noteworthy mission in the Heliophysics Division is the Time History 

of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS). Researchers 

using a network of 20 ground observations and a fleet of 5 NASA satellites from 

THEMIS discovered in 2008 that explosions of magnetic energy occurring a third 

of the way to the Moon power substorms that cause sudden brightening and rapid 

movement of the aurora borealis, or northern lights. The cause is magnetic recon-

nection, a common process that occurs throughout the universe when stressed 

magnetic field lines suddenly snap to a new shape, like a rubber band that has been 

stretched too far. These substorms often accompany intense space storms that can 

cause power outages and disrupt radio communications and Global Positioning 

System signals.

On May 25, 2008, NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander safely touched down on Mars at 

a site farther north than where any previous spacecraft had landed. Phoenix used 

thrusters to land on the surface of Mars, a technique not used since the Viking mis-

sions in 1976. Cameras on Phoenix sent more than 25,000 images back to Earth. 

Science data proved that there was water ice on Mars; detected snow falling from 

Martian clouds; documented a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found 

by earlier missions; discovered small concentrations of salts that could be nutrients 

for life; located calcium carbonate (a marker of effects of liquid water); revealed 

at least two distinct types of ice deposits; provided a mission-long weather record, 

with data on temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind; and detected perchlorate 

salt. The findings also advanced the goal of documenting the history of water on 
19Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Mars. Phoenix exceeded its planned operational life of 3 months. Phoenix Mars 

Lander officially ended its mission on November 10, 2008, after successfully returning unprecedented science data to Earth. Phoenix belongs to the Planetary Division 

of SMD, which aims to advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the 

solar system and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space.

Another Planetary Division mission, the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 

revealed vast Martian glaciers of water ice under protective blankets of rocky 

debris at much lower latitudes than those of any ice previously identified on the 

planet. Scientists analyzed data from the spacecraft’s ground-penetrating radar and 

reported that buried glaciers extended for dozens of miles from the edges of mountains or cliffs. A layer of rocky debris blanketing the ice may have preserved the 

underground glaciers as remnants from an ice sheet that covered middle latitudes 

during a past ice age. This discovery is similar to that of massive ice glaciers that 

have been detected under rocky coverings in Antarctica.

On June 11, 2008, NASA’s GLAST launched. Scientists spent 2 months testing 

and calibrating the spacecraft’s two main instruments, the Large Area Telescope 

(LAT) and the GLAST Burst Monitor. After combining 95 hours of instrument 

observations, the LAT team unveiled an all-sky image showing the glowing gas of 

the Milky Way, blinking pulsars, and a flaring galaxy billions of light-years away. 

The spacecraft has since been renamed the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope 

(FGST). Fermi is now exploring the most extreme environments in the universe 

and searching for signs of how black holes accelerate immense jets of material to 

nearly light speed, clues to help crack the mysteries behind powerful explosions 

known as gamma-ray bursts, and answers to questions about the composition of 

the universe’s mysterious “dark matter.” Fermi belongs to the Astrophysics Division.

Another important mission in the Astrophysics Division is the Hubble Space 

Telescope (HST). Astronomers announced in 2008 that Hubble had taken the 

first visible-light snapshot of a planet circling another star. Observations taken 

21 months apart by the coronagraph on Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys 

showed an object orbiting around a star named Fomalhaut. Astronomers identified 

the object as a planet, now called Fomalhaut b, which measures approximately 

10 times as far from Fomalhaut as the distance of Saturn from our Sun. Estimated to 

be as much as three times Jupiter’s mass, Fomalhaut b is located 25 light-years away 
20Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

from Earth in the constellation Piscis Australis, or the “Southern Fish.” Fomalhaut 

has been a candidate for planet hunting since NASA’s Infrared Astronomy Satellite 

discovered an excess of dust around the star in the early 1980s. The planet appears 

brighter than expected for an object of three Jupiter masses. One possible explana-

tion is that the planet has a Saturn-like ring of ice and dust reflecting starlight. 

Scientists theorize that the ring might eventually coalesce to form moons.

Also, in commemoration of Hubble’s completion of its 100,000th orbit during 

its 18th year of exploration and discovery, scientists aimed Hubble to take a snap-

shot of a dazzling region of celestial birth and renewal. Hubble peered into a small 

portion of the Tarantula nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074. The region is a 

firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. 

It lies about 170,000 light-years away and is one of the most active star-forming 

regions in our local group of galaxies. The image reveals dramatic ridges and 

valleys of dust, serpent-head “pillars of creation,” and gaseous filaments glowing 

fiercely under torrential ultraviolet radiation.

Further, Hubble and other powerful, space-based telescopes (i.e., Chandra and 

Spitzer) that complement each other in their observations spanning the electro-

magnetic spectrum participated in an SMD outreach activity for the blind. At a 

ceremony in January 2008 at the National Federation of the Blind, NASA unveiled 

a new book that brings majestic images taken by its Great Observatories to the fin-

gertips of the blind. NASA’s new Braille book “Touch the Invisible Sky” presented 

the first printed introduction to modern, multiwavelength astronomy studies to the 

sight-disabled community.

“Touch the Invisible Sky” is a 60-page book with color images of nebulae, stars, 

galaxies, and some of the telescopes that captured the original pictures. Each image 

is embossed with lines, bumps, and other textures. These raised patterns translate 

colors, shapes, and other intricate details of the cosmic objects, allowing visually 

impaired people to experience them. Braille and large-print descriptions accom-

pany each of the book’s 28 photographs, making the book’s design accessible to 

readers of all visual abilities.

On June 20, 2008, the OSTM/Jason-2 mission launched. OSTM is the nextgeneration ocean altimetry mission to extend the time series of sea surface topography measurements begun by TOPography EXperiment (TOPEX)/Poseidon 
21Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

(1992–2005) and continued by Jason-1 (2001–present). Generally, OSTM included 

the following science objectives: (a) improve the knowledge of the ocean circulation that does not change with time, (b) measure global sea level change, and 

(c) improve coast ocean tide models.

While NASA partnered with CNES for the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 

missions, OSTM featured four partners including NASA, CNES, the European 

Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The OSTM 

satellite carries the next-generation instruments including CNES’ Poseidon-3 dualfrequency radar altimeter to measure sea surface height and NASA JPL’s Advanced 

Microwave Radiometer to remove the effects of water vapor from the altimetry 

measurement. With these and other technological improvements, OSTM will 

maintain or surpass Jason-1’s measurement accuracy of 3.3 centimeters. This precise measurement will help scientists better understand ocean circulation and its 

effect on global climate. OSTM belongs to the Earth Sciences Division of SMD, 

which aims to study Earth from space to advance scientific understanding and meet 

societal needs.

On October 19, 2008, the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission 

launched. IBEX will detect the edge of the solar system for the first time and study 

galactic cosmic rays and energetic particles from beyond the solar system that pose 

health and safety hazards for humans exploring beyond Earth’s orbit. As the solar 

wind from the Sun flows out beyond Pluto, it collides with the material between 

the stars, forming a shock front. IBEX contains two neutral atom imagers that are 

designed to detect particles from the termination shock at the boundary between 

the solar system and interstellar space. IBEX will make these observations from 

a highly elliptical orbit that takes it beyond the interference of Earth’s magnetosphere. IBEX belongs to the Heliophysics Division.

On November 8, 2008, India’s first lunar explorer, Chandrayaan-1, entered 

lunar orbit. NASA partnered with India to fly two science instruments aboard 

Chandrayaan-1. The NASA instruments included the Moon Mineralogy Mapper 

to survey the mineral resources of the Moon and the Miniature Synthetic Aperture 

Radar (Mini-SAR) to map the Moon’s polar regions and look for ice deposits in 

the permanently shadowed craters. Recently, scientists using NASA’s Mini-SAR 
22Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

on Chandrayaan-1 looked inside two of the Moon’s coldest, darkest craters at its 

north and south poles. The floors of the craters—Seares near the Moon’s north 

pole and Haworth at the south pole—are not visible from Earth. However, by 

using the Mini-SAR radar on the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists can map 

and search the insides of the craters for water ice. More analysis will assist scien-

tists to determine whether buried ice deposits exist in the permanently shadowed 

craters near the Moon’s poles. The instruments on Chandrayaan-1 belong to the 

Planetary Division.

The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging 

(MESSENGER) spacecraft is another noteworthy mission in the Planetary 

Division; it has traveled 3 billion miles since its launch in August 2004. The 

planet Mercury orbits deep within the Sun’s gravity well. Although the planet 

can be as close as 51 million miles from Earth, getting the spacecraft into orbit 

around Mercury depends on an innovative trajectory using the gravity of Earth, 

Venus, and Mercury itself to slow and shape the spacecraft’s descent into the 

inner solar system. On its 4.9-billion-mile journey to become the first probe to 

orbit the planet Mercury, MESSENGER flew by Earth once, Venus twice, and 

Mercury twice.

During the two Mercury flybys, MESSENGER’s cameras captured more than 

1,200 high-resolution and color images of the planet, unveiling another 30 percent 

of Mercury’s surface that had never before been seen by spacecraft and gathering 

essential data for planning the overall mission after orbit insertion in 2011. The 

second flyby provided an opportunity for several of the MESSENGER Educator 

Fellows, master science educators, to share the experience and excitement felt by 

the scientists and engineers. Besides being present for the closest approach, the 

Fellows also listened to the discussions of the data from the flyby. With the use of 

Web 2.0 and social media networking, the Fellows reported in real time to their 

school districts and students about their experiences.

The Planetary Division also featured the significant results from the Cassini 

mission. Before the Cassini spacecraft reached Saturn, scientists thought Saturn’s 

moon Titan would have global oceans of methane, ethane, and other light hydro-

carbons. More than 40 close flybys of Titan by Cassini showed that no such global 

oceans exist but did show hundreds of what appear to be dark, lakelike features 
23Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

that might contain liquid or simply dark solid material. NASA scientists concluded 

that at least one of the large lakes observed on Titan contains liquid hydrocarbons 

and positively identified the presence of ethane. This makes Titan the only body in 

our solar system beyond Earth known to have liquid on its surface. Scientists made 

the discovery using data from one of Cassini’s instruments, which identified chemically different materials based on the way they absorb and reflect infrared light.

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) continued its 

commitment to conducting long-term, cutting-edge research for the benefit of the 

broad aeronautics community and in support of NASA’s goals for both human and 

robotic space exploration. In addition, ARMD remains committed to supporting 

the aeronautics test infrastructure that enables the performance of the research. In 

FY08, this cutting-edge research included the following:

•	 Foundational research across a number of core competencies that supports 

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.

Research that supports the Next Generation Air Transportation System 

(NextGen) in partnership with the Joint Planning and Development 

Office (JPDO).

•	

•	

ARMD’s research plans directly supported the goals and objectives of the 

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

Presidential Executive Order 13419 in December 2006. 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) Openly disseminate the results of all research to the widest practical 

and appropriate extent, consistent with national security and foreign 

policy, through archival publications (such as books, technical papers, 
24Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

technical memoranda, and peer-reviewed journal articles) and conference 

proceedings, as well as NASA publications.

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

development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) infrastructure. ARMD’s 

continued cooperation with DOD through the National Partnership for 

Aeronautical Testing resulted in the development of guiding principles for 

determining priorities and consistent pricing.

(4) Foster intellectual partnerships with industry and academia by means of 

cooperative Space Act Agreements (SAAs) and full and open competi-

tive research awards that emphasize true collaborations among all partners by means of the NASA Research Announcement (NRA). In FY08, 

ARMD received 145 proposals through the NRA process and selected 

50 for the negotiation of an award. ARMD has 68 SAAs in place across 

all programs.

(5) Continue strong partnerships with other Government agencies and 

organizations, especially the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 

DOD, and the JPDO. The FAA and NASA have established Research 

Transition Teams (RTTs) organized around the NextGen Concept of 

Operations framework. These teams are currently under way with both 

FAA and NASA participation. 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, con-

tinued its contributions to developing technical solutions that will mitigate the 

forecasted increase in air traffic demand during the next two decades. The current 

air transportation system faces limitations in its ability to handle growing demand 

and develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies.

1

 With 

increased numbers of flights, the JPDO has predicted that noise and emissions 

will become a bigger problem at airports, factors that already constrain the growth 

of the air transportation system. The JPDO anticipates that emissions will also 

become a problem in en route airspace.

2

1. “JPDO Progress Report,” 2007, http://www.jpdo.gov/library.asp; NextGen, http://www.jpdo.gov/Nextgen_Topics.asp.

2. NextGen Integrated Work Plan, v1.0, September 2008, http://www.jpdo.gov/library.asp.
25Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

In FY08, ARMD executed a robust research portfolio that addressed challenges 

of the future air transportation system, including expanding capacity needs, environmental issues, efficiency, safety, and mobility challenges. As a major highlight 

illustrating this progress, NASA researchers, in collaboration with San Jose State 

University, Perot Systems, and the FAA, successfully completed a series of humanin-the-loop experiments that explored advanced concepts and technology for separation assurance. Such technology remains critical to relieving air traffic controller 

workload, a key constraint on airspace capacity.

These experiments, which involved 6 professional controllers and 20 professional 

pilots, examined the performance of controllers, pilots, and separation-assurance 

automation in the face of nominal and dramatically increased (doubled and tripled) 

traffic demand through a complex airspace sector in the FAA’s Indianapolis Air 

Route Traffic Control Center. Researchers provided varying levels of automation 

support to the controller and pilot subjects, including automated conflict detection, 

automated strategic conflict resolution, and automated tactical conflict resolution. 

The test scenarios included routine operations and off-nominal situations such as 

data communication failures and aircraft blunders toward proximate traffic.

NASA’s research into separation-assurance automation addresses a key research 

need for the NextGen. By automating fundamental air traffic control functions 

such as conflict detection and conflict resolution, researchers believe that automation could be made to accept responsibility for separation from human controllers. 

Initial results showed that even under conditions of heavier-than-normal simulated 

air traffic, using automated separation-assurance technology resolved more than 

99 percent of potential traffic conflicts without substantially increasing controller 

workloads. While further investigation will validate the underlying technology and 

procedures, such concepts hold the promise of dramatically increasing the capacity 

of our air transportation system, thereby facilitating the economic growth that 

comes with improved mobility of people and goods about the country. In addition, 

the following items describe and represent the technical accomplishments of the 

ARMD programs during FY08.

Fundamental Aeronautics Program

The goal of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program consists of conducting cuttingedge research that will produce innovative concepts, tools, and technologies 
26Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

to enable revolutionary changes for vehicles that fly in all speed regimes. The 

program focuses on creating innovative solutions and technologies for address-

ing the main problems of modern air transportation, which include public con-

cerns over noise and emissions, the sustainability of affordable air travel with the 

increasing cost and decreasing availability of jet fuel, providing for mobility to 

meet an increasing demand for air transportation, and a lack of progress toward 

a faster means of transportation. The program also pursued innovative concepts 

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 developed 

technological capabilities that range from basic knowledge of underlying physical 

phenomena to the understanding of system-level interactions. The program also 

emphasized the development of tools for advanced multidisciplinary design and 

analysis capabilities to realize integrated technology advances in future aircraft and 

to guide its research and technology investments.

Researchers structured the program by flight regime and encompassed the four 

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

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

future aircraft quieter and cleaner to meet stringent noise and emissions require-

ments 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 reduced fuel burn. The 

Subsonic Rotary Wing project addressed the technical barriers that constrain rotorcraft from reaching widespread use in civil aviation. To overcome these barriers, 

NASA is conducting research that enables improved range, speed, payload capac-

ity, fuel efficiency, and environmental acceptance. The unique ability of rotorcraft 

to operate independently 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 cruising over land, 

as well as the technical challenges related to supersonic deceleration to enable 

safe, precision planetary entry/descent/landing (EDL) of human and large science 

missions in planetary atmospheres. Because all access to space and all entry from 

space through any planetary atmosphere require hypersonic flight, the Hypersonics 

project addressed long-term challenges and key fundamental research issues related 
27Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

to ascent and flight through Earth’s atmosphere and entry and descent in planetary atmospheres. 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 the hypersonic entry and descent of very heavy payloads into 

planetary atmospheres to enable a high-mass Mars entry system. In FY08, each 

project contributed to the goals of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program. The 

following examples illustrate significant accomplishments of each project.

The Subsonic Fixed Wing project, in partnership with Pratt & Whitney 

Rocketdyne, completed ground testing of a geared turbofan concept and demonstrated design confidence for the integration of the advanced turbofan concept 

with the wing structure. The geared turbofan will reduce noise and fuel burn for 

the next generation of tube-and-wing aircraft configuration. Through wind tunnel 

testing of scaled models of cruise efficient short takeoff and landing (CESTOL) 

configuration concepts, the project identified component technology concepts 

that will permit aircraft to take off and land with runways of less than 3,000 feet. 

In addition, the project, in partnership with Williams International, completed 

engine testing to demonstrate an advanced technology concept, called the overthe-rotor foam metal liner concept, to reduce engine noise.

The Subsonic Rotary Wing project, in partnership with the Defense Advanced 

Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Boeing Company, and the U.S. Army, 

demonstrated through large-scale wind tunnel testing the effectiveness of Smart 

Material Actuated Rotor Technology (SMART) in controlling noise and vibration 

in rotorcraft. This technology will enable the reduction of interior cabin noise 

for passenger comfort and the quiet operation of rotorcraft over populated areas. 

The project completed conceptual studies of drive configuration concepts capable 

of providing a 50-percent reduction in main rotor rotational speed from hover to 

forward flight without adversely affecting propulsion efficiency and vehicle weight. 

Further development of these concepts will enable rotorcraft with higher cruise 

speeds capable of providing point-to-point service using the metroplex airport concept, i.e., multiple airports within the same metropolitan region.

The Supersonics project completed flight experiments at NASA’s Dryden Flight 

Research Center to validate high-fidelity computational tools to predict the effect 

of jet plumes on shock waves that cause sonic booms in supersonic aircraft. The 
28Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

high-fidelity computational tools will enable future designs of supersonic aircraft 

with reduced sonic boom signatures. The project successfully demonstrated the 

structural performance of an advanced composite fan containment concept that 

researchers predict could be more than 20 percent lighter than state-of-the-art 

engine containment systems. The lightweight engine will increase the cruise effi-

ciency of low-boom supersonic aircraft.

The Hypersonics project completed flight clearance testing of the X-51 X-2 

hydrocarbon-fueled, flight-weight scramjet engines in the NASA Langley 8-Foot 

High Temperature Tunnel simulating Mach 5 flight conditions as part of a col-

laborative effort between Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the Air Force Research 

Laboratory, DARPA, and the Boeing Company. The successful ground testing of 

the engine qualified the engine for X-51 flight-testing in 2009, which will demon-

strate the operation of a scramjet-powered hypersonic system and lay the founda-

tion for future hypersonic applications, including access to space.

Participation in professional forums and other networking opportunities allowed 

Fundamental Aeronautics Program researchers to disseminate their research 

efforts to the widest audience possible. They presented over 309 conference 

papers this year. In addition, they published 75 peer-reviewed journal papers and 

53 technical reports.

Aviation Safety Program

The Aviation Safety Program built upon the unique safety-related research capa-

bilities of NASA to develop innovative algorithms, tools, concepts, and technolo-

gies that will improve the intrinsic safety attributes of current and future aircraft 

operating in the national airspace system and overcome aircraft safety technologi-

cal barriers that would otherwise constrain the full realization of NextGen.

The Aviation Safety Program consisted of four projects. The Aircraft Aging 

and Durability (AAD) project addressed the challenge of improving the opera-

tional 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 sought to prevent loss-of-control incidents through better modeling 

of upset flight conditions due to a variety of causes, including icing and structural 
29Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

degradation, and through adaptive control methods. 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.

During FY08, researchers in the AAD project developed an analysis framework 

that integrated the detection, prediction, and mitigation technologies using a goaloriented systems structure. The framework coupled specific issues related to the 

diverse applications of these technologies in airframes, propulsion, and wiring systems with end-user requirements for aircraft design, operations, and sustainment. 

The AAD project will use the framework as a tool to guide ongoing research to 

maximize aging and durability performance.

The IIFD project conducted an experiment in a high-fidelity flight simulator to 

evaluate multiple display concepts during approach, landing, surface operations, 

and takeoff operations. Twenty-four airline transport-rated pilots participated to 

assess the feasibility of the concepts for active operator assistance. Pilot awareness 

and reactions to failure scenarios and other abnormal events proved to be critical 

determinants in the underlying safety of all-weather terminal area operations.

Through simulation and flight-testing, the IRAC project defined the control 

architectures capable of adapting to degradations in aircraft dynamics. Researchers 

developed three direct, adaptive neural-network-based flight control systems and 

subjected them to an in-flight simulation of a destabilizing failure on the NASA 

NF-15B Intelligent Flight Control System airplane. Results of the flight evaluation 

with the simulated destabilizing failure and adaptation engaged showed improvement in the vehicle stability margins. Adaptive flight control systems hold the 

potential to be more resilient to extreme changes in airplane behavior.

The IVHM project developed and validated fault detection and isolation 

methods on a current-generation aircraft electromechanical actuator test stand 

with realistic nominal and fault scenarios. Researchers used a feed forward neural network as a fault detector and classifier by fusing the information from the 

temperature and accelerometer sensors to provide input to the neural network 

for classification. Results showed false positive rates of less than 1 percent and 

false negative rates of less than 10 percent. Improved robustness of the diagnostic 
30Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

systems in distinguishing and classifying faults, as in these simulations, remains 

critical to enabling future integrated vehicle health management systems.

Researchers for the Aviation Safety Program presented over 150 conference 

papers this year and published 25 peer-reviewed journal papers and 2 books. In 

addition, program researchers received one patent award and filed six invention 

disclosures. Work done under the program resulted in the Agency’s signing 10 software licenses and usage agreements.

Airspace Systems Program

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 consists of two projects, NextGen-Airspace and NextGenAirportal, and the goal of each project is 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.

In FY08, the NextGen-Airspace project conducted a number of simulations, 

demonstrations, and analyses to examine concepts and technologies aimed at 

enhancing air traffic operations in the en route and approach airspace. Researchers 

successfully conducted an experiment to examine air/ground trajectory negotiation 

feasibility. The results showed that the trajectory negotiation appears feasible using 

the current Flight Management System (FMS) with advanced datalink capabili-

ties. A human-in-the-loop simulation study examined the feasibility of mixed equi-

page operations within the same airspace. The results showed that mixed equipage 

operations appear feasible even with higher traffic densities. Researchers completed 

an initial study to explore the impact of reduced capacity due to weather using 

a fast-time modeling technique showing that the traffic flow management opti-

mization algorithms seemed helpful in significantly reducing delays for New York 

airspace traffic flows. Researchers examined the feasibility of closely spaced parallel 

approach procedures for triple runways by conducting an additional human-in-theloop simulation study. This study used wake and blunder scenarios and identified 

flight deck information needs and the feasibility of these procedures. In another 

separation-assurance-related human-in-the-loop simulation, researchers successfully 
31Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

examined the initial feasibility of strategic and tactical ground-based conflict detection automation and flight deck conflict detection automation. Demonstrations 

of four-dimensional (4-D) FMS (i.e., current FMS with three spatial dimensions 

plus time constraints) and Flight Deck Merging and Spacing (FDMS) technologies 

examined capabilities for precision merging and spacing on continuous descent 

arrivals. In addition, the Airspace project conducted a workshop to discuss nonconvective weather information translation for traffic flow management.

Whereas the Airspace project targets 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 will not increase 

equally at each airport as the system grows, the project will develop and evaluate 

a suite of capacity-increasing concepts and the system-analysis capability to aid in 

tailoring solutions to specific needs. During FY08, the project further identified 

airport capacity constraint factors at key airports and ranked them according to 

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

long-term goal. The project completed the development of an initial simulation 

environment that will enable the evaluation of surface traffic optimization algorithms and concepts. The project also completed the development of an initial set 

of tools to analyze surface operations data. In an effort to gain an understanding of 

metroplex operations, researchers conducted an initial characterization of metroplex operations to understand current performance. Additionally, the Airspace 

and Airportal projects identified and developed joint milestones between the two 

projects, which will begin to ensure technical and operational integration between 

their developed concepts and technologies.

NASA and the FAA also initiated four Research Transition Teams (RTTs) 

to accelerate concepts and technology for further maturity. These RTTs include 

Efficient Flow into Congested Airspace, Dynamic Airspace Configuration, MultiSector Planner, and Integrated Arrivals/Departures/Surface Management. The 

RTTs will ensure that research and development needed for NextGen implementation are identified and conducted and that the results are effectively transitioned 

to the implementing agency.
32Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Researchers for the Airspace Systems Program published over a hundred con-

ference papers this year, four of which received Best Paper awards at American 

Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) conferences. The Smithsonian 

Institution’s National Air and Space Museum (NASM) showcased the Future Air 

Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET), an acclaimed research 

tool developed by the program. NASA became one of the recipients of the 

Robert J. Collier Trophy for its sustained contributions to applications of Airborne 

Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) technology.

Aeronautics Test Program

The Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) supported the ARMD objective of ensuring the continuous availability of a portfolio of NASA-owned wind tunnels and 

ground-test facilities, as well as flight operations and test infrastructures that are 

strategically important to meeting national aerospace research program goals 

and requirements.

From FY06 to FY08, the ATP invested approximately $48 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 NASA’s deferred maintenance liability for these national 

assets by an estimated 20 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 cost estimating 

activities and long-range test planning. In FY08, the ATP extended this initiative 

and collaborated with the Dryden Flight Research Center to establish a clear pric-

ing structure and charging policy for flight-test and research operations support.

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 bal-

ances in wind tunnel testing had severely eroded. The ARMD reviewed several 

recommendations for FY08 and began the implementation of the National Force 
33Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Measurement Technology Capability (NFMTC), a multiyear project to address 

gaps and deficiencies in the Government and industry’s state-of-the-art strain gage 

balance technology capability.

In FY08, the ATP partnered with the Air Force to begin a series of tests using a 

shared model and test team in several national transonic wind tunnels, including 

the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering and Development Center 16T transonic wind 

tunnel. The tests will compare the results from each facility using an agreed-upon 

test matrix and enable consistent practices among the national facilities through 

shared test processes, techniques, and data reduction methods. This will be the first 

national transonic wind tunnel comparison conducted in 30 years.

Also in FY08, the ATP completed a comprehensive assessment of the current 

condition and reliability of ATP facilities and their ability to meet current and 

future (5-year horizon) ground-test requirements. The assessment identified a set 

of facility projects that would ensure availability and operational status; from this 

set, a 5-year investment project schedule for each facility was developed. The ATP 

will immediately start the implementation of these recommended recapitalization 

and maintenance projects.

In its first 3 years (FY06–FY08), the ATP intentionally focused its efforts at 

the tactical level and invested primarily in stabilizing aeronautics test facility conditions, charge rates, and workforce competency. In FY08, the ATP started the 

development of a new strategic plan that will have three main thrusts: (1) provide 

vision and leadership for the use of ATP assets in meeting national goals; (2) provide sustained financial support for workforce, capability improvements, test technology development, maintenance, mothballing, and divestiture; and (3) provide 

strategic planning, management, and coordination within NASA and between 

NASA and other Government and industry stakeholders. This strategic plan will 

also guide the recapitalization and maintenance investments identified through the 

comprehensive facility assessment. For FY08, in collaboration with the National 

Partnership for Aeronautical Testing (NPAT), the ATP completed an assessment 

of the Nation’s transonic wind tunnel capabilities. This assessment identified wind 

tunnels in the transonic speed regime that remain critical to the Nation and will 

therefore require continued investment; it also identified wind tunnels that appear 

to be noncritical and will become candidates for consolidation.
34Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

The ATP involved the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center 

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

collaboration included the sharing of information on charge rate structure and 

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

and long-range planning. By collaborating with the Air Force 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 the exchange of staff and experiences among NASA Centers and between 

NASA and DOD. In addition, the ATP furthered the NPAT relationship by con-

ducting two meetings of the NPAT Council.

National Aeronautics R&D Plan

During FY07, the Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee of the 

National Science and Technology Council, cochaired by the ARMD Associate 

Administrator, developed a national aeronautics R&D plan in response to the 

National Aeronautics R&D Policy, as enacted by the President in December 2006 

under Executive Order 13419, National Aeronautics Research and Development. 

President George W. Bush approved the plan on December 21, 2007, and, in con-

cert with the policy, the plan will guide the conduct of U.S. aeronautics R&D 

activities through 2020. The plan established high-priority national aeronautics 

R&D challenges, goals, and supporting objectives along with timelines to achieve 

those objectives. In FY08, the subcommittee worked to develop an appendix to 

the plan, which contained additional technical content on aeronautics R&D goals 

and objectives and a preliminary assessment of current relevant Federal aeronautics 

R&D activities. The subcommittee completed this appendix in December 2008.

Partnerships with Government and Industry

NASA seeks to be in the leadership position for the conduct of fundamental 

research required to solve aeronautics challenges. In part, NASA accomplished 

this goal through close and strong partnerships with industry, academia, and other 

Government agencies in order to maximize the research capabilities of the Nation.

Because these partnerships are so important, NASA put many mechanisms in 

place to engage academia and industry, including industry working groups and 
35Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

technical interchange meetings at the program and project levels, SAAs for cooperative partnerships with industry, and the NRA process that provides full and 

open competition for the best and most promising research ideas. Cooperative 

partnerships with industry consortia can result in a significant leveraging of 

resources for all partners and can provide opportunities to test the value of 

component-technology advances in full system-level contexts.

Currently, ARMD has in place over 68 SAAs with different members of the 

aerospace industry and, in some situations, with consortia of industrial participants. 

These collaborative opportunities have produced very significant research results 

at the system level, where the expertise of industry and NASA come together to 

integrate technologies that can, one day, be incorporated into the Nation’s aircraft 

fleet. In addition, ARMD selected 50 proposals through the FY08 NRA process for 

the negotiation of an award.

Finally, NASA recognizes the importance of close coordination, not just with 

industry and academia, but with its partners in other Government agencies as 

well. For example, ARMD, the FAA, and the JPDO established a new process to 

help ensure that NASA’s fundamental research translates into implementation in 

NextGen systems and concepts. They continue to work collaboratively to establish 

this process, which ensures that research is sufficient and appropriate to enable 

NextGen. The new process has top-level commitment from the ARMD Associate 

Administrator and the FAA Senior Vice President of NextGen and Operations 

Planning. The collaboration resulted in four RTTs, co-led by representatives from 

the FAA and NASA, established and organized around the NextGen Concept 

of Operations framework. The teams worked to plan near-term R&D transition 

in areas such as surface management and long-term transition in areas such as 

dynamic airspace allocation. With regards to the initial collaborative RTT activity, 

more than 35 participants from FAA service units, NASA, the MITRE Center 

for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD), and industry attended 

a workshop in Washington, DC, in February 2008 to focus on the integration of 

NASA and FAA research plans, schedules, roadmaps, and coordinated simulations 

for near-term NextGen Trajectory Management objectives. Since February 2008, 

the RTTs have held 10 workshops to synchronize research roadmaps and clearly 

define the handoff states.
36Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Aeronautics Research Relevance and Benefits to the Public

NASA’s aeronautics program ensures long-term focus on 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.
37Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

deparTmenT of defense

DOD

Space Activities

FY08 proved to be a historic and dynamic year for the Department of Defense 

(DOD). DOD remained involved in a wide variety of exciting and challenging space activities, including continuing the successful string of the Evolved 

Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launches and supporting our Nation’s military 

operations and combat activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and around the world. DOD 

reached out to international and interagency partners in support of national policy 

objectives and continues its close relationship with NASA to further our Nation’s 

civil space programs. DOD supported four Space Shuttle launches and four NASA 

robotic spacecraft launches in FY08. All eight missions successfully launched from 

Air Force-operated space launch ranges.

U.S. national space policy directs the U.S. Government to pursue international 

cooperation on space activities of mutual benefit that advance U.S. interests. DOD 

collaborates with the Department of State, NASA, and other departments and agencies to expand space cooperation with selected nations to further national foreign 

policy objectives. Key initiatives within this effort include improving international 

space cooperation governance, expanding and formalizing cooperative relationships 

with key allies, supporting foreign space surveillance needs for space flight safety, 

and promoting efforts to develop voluntary guidelines for safe space operations.

A prime example of interagency space cooperation involved the successful interception of a nonfunctioning National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) satellite on 

February 20, 2008. The President made the decision to intercept the NRO satellite 

based on recommendations from his national security advisers in the interest of 

mitigating the risk to human life. The U.S. Strategic Command ran the intercept 
38Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

and commanded the forces, which included the Joint Space Operations Center at 

Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB).

The world-class EELV program continued to place satellites into orbit success-

fully during FY08, extending its record to 21 out of 21 successful launches. United 

Launch Alliance (ULA) conducted four EELV launches—three Government and 

one commercial.

Early in FY08 (November 11, 2007), the final Defense Support Program (DSP) 

missile warning satellite (DSP-23) launched from Cape Canaveral on the first 

operational Delta IV heavy vehicle. The NRO followed this success on December 

10 with the NROL-24 mission on an Atlas V from the Cape. Another first occurred 

on March 13, 2008, when the NRO launched NROL-28 from Vandenberg AFB—

the first operational Atlas V West Coast launch. The final EELV launch occurred 

on April 14, when ULA launched a commercial communications satellite from the 

Cape on an Atlas V booster.

In addition to the EELV launches, ULA launched four Delta II rockets in 2008. 

The Air Force launched a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite (GPSIIRM-19) 

on March 15 from Cape Canaveral. NASA launched the GLAST gamma-ray tele-

scope science mission from the Cape on June 11 and the Jason-2 ocean topog-

raphy mission from Vandenberg AFB on June 20. Lastly, a Commercial Delta II 

launched the GeoEye-1 commercial imaging satellite on September 6, while Italy’s 

COSMOS-Skymed-3 synthetic aperture radar satellite was simultaneously prepared 

for launch later in calendar year 2008, both from Vandenberg AFB.

DOD also supported the historic first successful launch of SpaceX Corporation’s 

Falcon 1 (the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit successfully) 

from Kwajalein Atoll with Reagan Test Range tracking assets providing range 

safety during the launch. This successful launch occurred on September 28, 2008, 

and became the fourth launch attempt with the Falcon 1.

DOD space professionals and the space systems they operate continued to 

provide world-class support for military forces conducting operations in Iraq, 

Afghanistan, and other locations around the globe. These space professionals con-

tinue to ensure that space assets remain responsive to the operational forces and 

to drive the requirements to better provide communications, increased bandwidth, 

more precise navigation support, and earlier warning of threats.
39Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

As the first full year of operation, 2008 saw the Operationally Responsive Space 

(ORS) Office make significant progress towards the objectives identified by DOD 

and approved by Congress less than 1 year previously. Addressing the ability to 

respond to Joint Force Commander (JFC) needs, the ORS Office demonstrated 

unparalleled acquisition agility by surveying alternatives, identifying a solution, 

and negotiating a contract in response to the Commander’s identified needs, all 

in less than 3 weeks, a feat that historically took months, if not years. Known as 

ORS-1, this 24-month satellite development effort will provide needed capability to 

the warfighter while advancing significant technical, logistic, and launch objectives 

and abilities for the ORS Office. Launched in August 2008, the ORS Jumpstart 

mission provided a preview of how revolutionary ORS payloads will be developed, 

launched, and demonstrated. The Jumpstart mission realized a record 15-day 

timeline from final payload selection to launch, including shipping to launch site, 

environmental testing, and integration to the launch vehicle. Though both the 

ORS-1 and the Jumpstart missions address the JFC needs, the ORS Office has not 

wavered in its commitment to achieving the desired goal in 2015 by developing 

the necessary technology enablers. Realizing that these enablers remain critical to 

the success of the ORS mission, the ORS Office invested nearly 20 percent of its 

FY08 budget in 22 key technology enabler contracts that will provide a solid foundation for ORS to move forward in the next several years. The ORS Office also 

continued to pioneer new interagency agreements within the Federal Government. 

As an example, the ORS Office adopted the Goddard Mission Systems Evolution 

Center (GMSEC) as the core infrastructure for its Ground System Enterprise, 

heavily leveraging the pioneering work done by NASA in this area. Led by the 

vision of the new ORS Director and bolstered by the key staff positions provided 

by the approved Unit Manning Document for the ORS Office, the ORS Office 

made accelerated progress towards realizing the technical, programmatic, and 

logistical objectives.

Space protection remained a high priority for DOD. Both piloted and robotic 

spacecraft become more at risk each year as the number of objects in space 

increases. The Commander of Air Force Space Command and the NRO Director 

established the Space Protection Program (SPP) on March 31, 2008, as a joint 

USAF-NRO program focused on providing recommendations on how best to 
40ronautics and Space Report of the President eA

protect the Nation’s space systems and stay ahead of threats. The SPP continues to 

develop protection strategies, comprehensive vulnerability assessments, roadmaps 

and alternatives, and capstone requirements to ensure that capabilities are avail-

able to protect U.S. national security space assets.

In conclusion, DOD remains focused on supplying our Nation with the world’s 

best space capabilities. From providing civil and commercial programs with launch 

facilities and range support to providing critical support to operating forces involved 

in vital missions around the world, DOD remains committed to providing first-class 

space professionals and assets for the national security space mission. From sharing 

the advanced technologies of GPS at no cost to all users to developing the next 

generation of meteorological satellites with our civil partners, DOD remains fully 

committed to keeping the United States as the world’s premier spacefaring nation.

Aeronautics Research Activities

DOD continues to advance the state of the art in aeronautics for our Nation’s 

military. Aeronautics research is conducted in collaboration with other U.S. 

Government agencies (e.g., NASA) and with industrial, academic, and interna-

tional partners. DOD aeronautics research and development activities are con-

ducted primarily by the military services and DARPA.

During 2008, DOD made significant progress towards goals and objectives laid 

out by the National Plan for Aeronautics Research and Development and Related 

Infrastructure. This plan was developed in response to Executive Order 13419, 

which implemented the National Aeronautics R&D Policy. The following goals are 

from the National Security and Homeland Defense Section of the National Plan:

•	 Demonstrate increased cruise lift-to-drag and innovative airframe 

structural concepts for highly efficient high-altitude flight and for 

mobility aircraft.

Develop improved lift, range, and mission capability for rotorcraft.

Demonstrate reduced gas turbine specific fuel consumption.

Demonstrate increased power generation and thermal management 

capacity for aircraft.

Demonstrate sustained, controlled, hypersonic flight.

•	

•	

•	

•	
41Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

DOD aeronautics research supports our Nation’s military operations and combat 

activities around the world. Research that has a short response time and generates technology fixes to deficiencies identified in combat theater remains a priority. 

However, the emphasis in what follows is on longer-term aeronautics development. 

Significant DOD accomplishments in 2008, corresponding to the goals listed 

above, are outlined below.

Fixed Wing Vehicles

Alternate aircraft configurations can improve energy efficiency and mobility by 

increasing lift over drag and reducing aircraft weight. A joint Air Force, NASA, 

and Boeing Phantom Works X-48B effort is the Blended Wing Body. Blended wing 

body concepts, such as the dynamically scaled and remotely piloted aircraft X-48B, 

offer the promise of improved flight efficiency, reduced noise, and larger internal 

volume for payload compared to conventional tube-and-wing designs. Flight tests 

of the X-48B started in 2007 at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and continued through 2008. The flight testing focused on expanding understanding of 

low-speed handling qualities, stall performance, and one-engine-out flight control. In addition to flight control and handling, other technology areas for further 

research include lightweight, noncircular composite structures; increased areas of 

laminar flow; and engine integration.

Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) worked with 

Lockheed Martin on the flight-testing of the Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft 

(ACCA, which has now been designated the X-55A by the Air Force). The composite structure fuselage is built in two halves from sandwich structures and joined 

together along the longitudinal seam with adhesive and ply overlays. It was joined 

with an existing Dornier 328J cockpit, wing, engines, and horizontal tail. The vertical tail was replaced using tailored stiffness technology. The resulting composite 

sections reduced the number of structural parts and the number of mechanical 

fasteners by approximately an order of magnitude under a metal design.

DOD invested in lighter-than-air technology. The DARPA Control of Static 

Heaviness (COSH) Program successfully demonstrated airship ballast-less flight in 

July 2008 with the Aeros 40D Sky Dragon airship. COSH works by compressing, 

storing, and then decompressing helium to adjust the vehicle’s buoyancy. COSH 
42Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

was designed to control lift in all stages of air or ground operations and includes 

the ability to offload payload without taking ballast on board.

Rotorcraft

To address vibration and noise issues, a rotor test was performed at the National 

Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC). The test demonstrated the effective-

ness of active flap control for controlling noise and vibration. The Smart Material 

Actuated Rotor Technology (SMART) helicopter rotor test was jointly conducted 

from February to May 2008 by NASA, the U.S. Army, DARPA, the U.S. Air Force, 

and the Boeing Company. It used on-blade piezoelectric actuators and demonstrated 

dramatic reductions in certain acoustic noise and hub loads during simulated flight 

conditions. The acoustic noise data obtained were used to validate helicopter aero-

acoustic analysis codes developed under the DARPA Helicopter Quieting Program 

(HQP). The goal of the HQP was to identify, develop, and demonstrate advanced 

rotor technologies that dramatically improve the survivability of military rotor sys-

tems; a crucial element of the effort was demonstrating a physics-based design tool 

set. This tool set enables the analytical design of novel rotor systems and rotorcraft 

for reduced acoustic susceptibility (detection and recognition).

The A160 program, a DARPA collaboration with the U.S. Army, exploited 

a hingeless, rigid rotor concept operating at the optimum rotational speed and 

offers the potential for significant increases in the Vertical Take-Off and Landing 

(VTOL) UAV range (>2,000 nanometers) and/or endurance (>20 hours). In 2008, 

flight tests demonstrated an 18-hour endurance without refueling, a world record 

for UAVs in the aircraft’s weight class, and hovering at over 16,000 feet altitude. 

These tests demonstrated significant increases in VTOL system performance, in 

both hovering efficiency and forward flight efficiency.

Handling qualities describe the ability of the pilot to control the aircraft. 

Recent efforts are paving the way for the expansion of handling quality criteria 

expressed in current standards such as the Army Aeronautical Design Standard-33 

(ADS-33). An Army-NASA collaborative piloted-simulation study used the 

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) Vertical Motion Simulator to investigate 

control system stability criteria for large rotorcraft. The experiment concentrated 

on hover and low-speed tasks and requirements. Four aircraft configurations were 
43Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

investigated, and 10 pilots flew over 2,000 data runs with evaluation comments and 

objective performance data recorded.

Turbine Engines

The Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine (VAATE) program leads 

strategic planning for turbine engine research across the Federal Government. 

The AFRL Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology (ADVENT) program developed 

detailed designs for two variable cycle engine concepts, and the variable fan for one 

of these concepts was successfully tested. The AFRL Highly Efficient Embedded 

Turbine Engine (HEETE) program will improve the thermal efficiency of turbine 

engines via high-pressure compressors to enable high-overall-pressure-ratio engine 

concepts. The program developed designs and started the fabrication of two highpressure-ratio compressors. Both the ADVENT and the HEETE programs are 

targeting 25-percent reductions in specific fuel consumption by separately addressing variable cycle concepts and thermal efficiency; the intent is to combine these 

approaches to enable even greater efficiency improvements.

Also within the VAATE framework, the Army initiated the Advanced 

Affordable Turbine Engine (AATE) program to develop high-power, fuelefficient turboshaft engines for helicopters. The AATE program is targeting 

similar improvements in fuel efficiency for this class of engine by increasing the 

overall pressure ratio of the engine cycle and by improving component efficiency. 

The program produced two engines: a single-stage turboprop engine and a twostage Very Small Heavy Fuel Engine (VSHFE) engine. The single-stage turboprop 

engine, in the 35–60 horsepower range, may have set a new world record for endurance run time on a VSHFE, having amassed over 250 hours in total, with four runs 

in excess of 24 hours each. The two-stage VSHFE engine has an estimated capability for reducing fuel consumption by 50 percent while doubling the power output.

AFRL’s Alternative Fuels program supports an Air Force goal that all weapons 

systems be certified by early 2011 to use a 50/50 blend of Fischer-Tropsch (F-T), 

a synthetic fuel, and Jet Propellant 8 (JP-8). Every time the price of fuel goes up 

by $10 a barrel, it costs the Air Force an additional $600 million per year. AFRL 

supported the Air Force Alternative Fuels Certification Office’s certification of the 

C-17 and B-1 aircraft to use a 50/50 blend of F-T synthetic fuel and conventional 

JP-8, a military jet fuel.
44Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Power and Thermal Management

AFRL developed and transitioned a flight-critical electro-hydrostatic actuator, 

with applications to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, to help reduce heat loads associ-

ated with the control system. In addition, AFRL demonstrated a turbogeneratorbased supplemental cooling and power system providing a fivefold increase in 

cooling capacity. Finally, AFRL developed a hybrid fuel cell and lithium-ion battery propulsion system and demonstrated this technology on a small Unmanned 

Aircraft System (UAS), with a dramatic improvement in aircraft endurance. 

Aspects of this technology also transitioned to produce lightweight portable power 

sources for aircrew.

AFRL initiated the Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (INVENT) pro-

gram to develop a research framework, modeling and simulation capabilities, 

and hardware-in-the-loop simulation to address power and thermal management 

from an integrated system perspective. The goal of INVENT is to facilitate 

energy-optimized aircraft, enabling future aircraft with a much broader range 

of capabilities.

Hypersonics

The hydrocarbon-fuel-cooled scramjet for the DARPA and Air Force X-51A pro-

gram was successfully ground-tested to Mach 4.6, Mach 5, and Mach 6 over a span 

of more than 20 test cycles. Work continued on the Navy and DARPA Hypersonic 

Flight (HyFly) effort, expected to achieve Mach 6 flight. Ground tests were performed for high-Mach turbine engines under the Navy’s Revolutionary Approach 

To Time-critical Long Range Strike (RATTLRS) and the Air Force and DARPA 

High-Speed Turbine Engine Demonstration (HiSTED) program.

The DARPA Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2) program devel-

oped and demonstrated manufacturing techniques for the production of a carboncarbon aeroshell for its flight-test vehicle, including thermal protection systems and 

advanced guidance and control. A related Army effort, the Advanced Hypersonic 

Weapon (AHW), also made progress toward the development of advanced thermal protection systems. Finally, AFRL is addressing high-temperature materials 

and structures, advanced thermal protection systems, and guidance and control 

for hypersonic flight. AFRL’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research teamed with 
45Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

NASA and Sandia National Laboratories to develop the National Hypersonic 

Foundational Research Plan, establishing an integrated portfolio of efforts to 

advance the state of the art in hypersonic research.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Demand for capabilities providing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASes) is 

increasing dramatically as the DOD components are realizing the benefits provided 

by these systems. Aeronautics R&D in this area is delivering increased capabilities of existing systems and improving the abilities of future systems. UASes have 

proven their worth as remote persistent surveillance and strike platforms and show 

promise for cargo movement. Within DOD, the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task 

Force coordinates work in DOD components and other Government organizations.

Integration of UAS within the NAS was identified as a fundamental challenge in the 2007 National Plan for Aeronautics Research and Development and 

Related Infrastructure. Significant progress has been made in understanding the 

fundamental R&D issues associated with UAS airspace integration in the NAS. 

AFRL continued the development of a Sense and Avoid (SAA) capability for High 

Altitude Long Endurance unpiloted aircraft as part of a Global Hawk-sponsored 

Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program. The goal of the SAA ATD 

is to develop and demonstrate the ability to autonomously detect other aircraft and 

execute appropriate avoidance maneuvers.

Army research addressed operational challenges of UAS operation in urban 

environments. Research efforts investigated UAS navigation; precision hovering; 

landing on an unprepared surface; maneuvering in close proximity to obstacles; and 

sensing and avoiding small yet lethal hazards such as wires, poles, and antennas.

DARPA’s Wasp UAV is a small (approximately 14-inch wingspan, approximately 

1⁄2 pound), portable (i.e., back-packable), reliable, and rugged uncrewed air platform designed for frontline reconnaissance and surveillance over land or sea. Wasp 

serves as a reconnaissance platform for the company level. The air vehicle is capable of loitering in excess of 1 hour at 35 miles per hour and provides unobtrusive, 

real-time imagery from low altitudes. Wasp prototypes have been deployed for user 

evaluation by the U.S. military in theater. The Wasp family of vehicles embodies 

a number of variants.
46Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
47Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

federal aviaTion adminisTraTion

FAA

The tremendous benefits derived from a highly mobile citizenry and rapid cargo 

transport dictate that America’s air transportation system remain the best in the 

world. Being the best requires the constant introduction of new technologies 

and procedures, innovative policies, and advanced management practices into 

the aviation system, as well as sustained investments in advanced research and 

technology development.

As a result, the FAA continued to perform a comprehensive system upgrade that 

will allow fundamental change to air traffic management. The Next Generation 

Air Transportation System, or NextGen, will help the FAA meet that challenge. 

NextGen will enable critical transitions: from ground-based to satellite-based navigation and surveillance; from voice communications to digital data exchange; from 

a disparate and fragmented weather forecast delivery system to a system that uses a 

single, authoritative source; and from operations limited by visibility to operations 

that can sustain their pace even when impacted by adverse weather or difficult 

terrain. NextGen means flying more passengers, more cargo, and more types of 

aircraft more safely, more precisely, and more efficiently using less fuel, making less 

noise, and creating less environmental impact.

In FY08, FAA research and development addressed current needs of the system, 

developing technologies that will enable those NextGen transitions. The FAA 

developed a NextGen Towers concept of operations, for both staffed and automated towers, that will improve operational efficiency and enable the cost-effective 

expansion of air traffic services to a significantly larger number of airports than 
48Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

would be possible with traditional methods of service delivery. Additionally, the 

agency completed a technology assessment for staffed towers and alternatives.

The FAA completed the development of the Forecast Icing Product (FIPSeverity). This icing forecasting product will alert users to areas of forecasted 

in-flight icing by graphically displaying the probability that icing will occur along 

their planned flightpath. These capabilities will allow users to plan more effective 

flight routes that will avoid hazardous icing areas. In-flight icing causes more than 

25 accidents annually, with over half of these resulting in fatalities and destroyed 

aircraft. In monetary terms, the results of these accidents equate to $100 million in 

injuries, fatalities, and aircraft damage annually.

The FAA developed hydrocarbon emissions profiles known as Aircraft Emissions 

Inventories for aircraft equipped with turbofan, turbojet, and turboprop engines. 

This inventory of aircraft emissions is the first time that aircraft hydrocarbon emis-

sions have been characterized based on commercial engines. The agency developed 

a Recommended Best Practice document and incorporated the new data into the 

Emissions and Dispersion Model System (EDMS version 5.1) to support require-

ments for aircraft emissions inventories required under the National Environmental 

Policy Act. This updated system will streamline and improve airport environmen-

tal assessments and compliance activities, saving millions of dollars and reducing 

implementation time for capacity enhancements.

The Future Terminal Workstation effort continued in FY08 with the identifica-

tion of the requirements platform that will serve as the basis for future human-inthe-loop simulations. The prototype workstation will be used to conduct human 

factors research on NextGen operational concepts and procedures to determine 

their effect on controller performance, decision making, and workload and how the 

information needed by NextGen in the terminal domain can be best presented and 

integrated into the controller workstation.

The FAA’s Oceanic Trajectory-Based Operations Proof of Concept 

Demonstration showed that four-dimensional oceanic trajectory-based air traffic management can provide more efficient aircraft-centric oceanic routes and 

reduce fuel burn and environmental footprint. The initial demonstration resulted 

in approximately 330 gallons of fuel savings and a reduction of approximately 
49Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

6,700 pounds of carbon emissions. This effort will assist the FAA in meeting its 

goal to promote environmental stewardship.

In July, more than a decade’s worth of research and innovation reached fruition 

when the FAA announced the final rule making that will significantly enhance fuel 

tank safety. The rule requires the operators and manufacturers of more than 5,000 

passenger jets to reduce the flammability levels of fuel tank vapors. Publication 

of the rule in the Federal Register came 1 day before the 12th anniversary of the 

TWA 800 explosion that killed 230 people, an accident that was attributed to the 

ignition of fuel vapors in the center wing fuel tank of the aircraft shortly after the 

plane took off from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The FAA installed and evaluated trapezoidal grooving, an alternative pavement 

grooving technique, at both the Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the 

Quantico Marine Corps Facility. This innovatively shaped groove’s ability to resist 

damage from sweeping, snowplowing, and aircraft traffic could potentially save 

millions of dollars in repairs and runway downtime at airports. The standard (rectangular) shape remains susceptible to damage and is typically replaced after only 

a few years.

The FAA’s work in licensing commercial space transportation saw great success 

in 2008. The agency licensed 11 orbital commercial space launches, including the 

first successful launch of the Falcon 1, operated by Space Exploration Technologies 

(SpaceX). The launch took place in September 2008 from the Ronald Reagan 

Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

The remaining commercial launches included five by the Sea Launch multinational partnership from a mobile platform in the Pacific Ocean, two by the Boeing 

Company using the Delta II launch vehicle from Vandenberg AFB in California, 

one launch of Falcon 1 by SpaceX from Kwajalein that failed, one by Lockheed 

Martin Launch Services of an Atlas V from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

in Florida, and one of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Pegasus XL from Kwajalein.

In addition, Armadillo Aerospace operated five permitted launches in FY08, all 

low-altitude flights by the MOD-1 vehicle. Four of these permitted flights occurred 

at Holloman AFB in New Mexico as part of the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander 

Challenge competition, and one flight originated at Oklahoma Spaceport.
50Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

During FY08, the FAA conducted approximately 40 safety inspections on over 

17 different types of licensed and permitted activities. The goal of every safety 

inspection is to ensure public safety by verifying FAA licensee and permittee com-

pliance with FAA regulations and license/permit terms and conditions. Inspectors 

traveled to various locations including Cape Canaveral, Florida; Vandenberg AFB, 

California; Mojave, California; Kodiak, Alaska; Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia; 

the Republic of the Marshall Islands; and a point on the equator in the Pacific 

Ocean for Sea Launch operations.

Additionally, as part of its licensing responsibilities, the FAA developed the 

Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Spaceport America Commercial 

Launch Site in Sierra County, New Mexico. Six public hearings were held last 

August to get public comments on the proposed site to be developed and operated 

by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA). NMSA proposes to operate the 

site for horizontal and vertical launches of suborbital launch vehicles. The vehicles 

may carry space flight participants, scientific experiments, or other payloads.

The FAA completed two research and development projects in FY08: the “Study 

of Informed Consent for Space Flight Participants” provided industry with insight 

into what they will need to do to satisfy the regulatory requirements for informing 

space flight participants of the hazards and risks of commercial human space flight 

operations, and the “Historical Database of Failures and Reliability of Rocketpowered Vehicles” described which components of rocket-powered vehicles fail and 

why they fail.

The FAA also released a space transportation annex to the NextGen Concept 

of Operations. The annex outlines a common national vision for conducting space 

flight operations in the future and integrating space and air traffic. Further, the 

annex will be used by the FAA’s JPDO to inform long-term NextGen planning 

investment decisions.

The FAA completed the Shuttle Hazard Area to Aircraft Calculator (SHAAC) 

tool in FY08. This tool predicts and identifies the extent of the airspace that could 

contain falling debris hazardous to aircraft in the event of a Space Shuttle orbiter 

failure on reentry, such as the failure of Columbia in 2003. This tool serves as the 

prototype for a tool under development by the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization that 
51Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

will predict and identify aircraft hazard areas during commercial space launches 

and reentries.

In partnership with NASA, the FAA supported the selection process of a 

Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract that will supply launch and 

return services for the ISS. These commercial space launches and reentries will be 

licensed by the FAA. The FAA also supported NASA in the recompetition for the 

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract that was won by 

Orbital Sciences Corporation.

In partnership with the U.S. Air Force, the FAA cohosted a Commercial Space 

Entrepreneurial Reusable Launch Vehicle Summit. The summit allowed commercial operators to discuss capabilities with senior Air Force leadership and determine 

potential ways to meet future Air Force requirements, including responsive space.

More information about the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, regu-

lations, reports, and other documents can be found at http://www.faa.gov/about/

office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/.
52Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
53Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

deparTmenT of CommerCe

DOC

In FY08, the Department of Commerce (DOC) engaged in a wide variety 

of activities that furthered U.S. interests in aeronautics and space, including 

national policy implementation, satellite operations, technology development, 

measurement and calibration, international cooperation, trade promotion, and 

spectrum management.

Office of Space Commercialization (OSC)

OSC continued to play a key role in the national management of the Global 

Positioning System (GPS) by hosting the meetings and offices of the National 

Executive Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. The 

Deputy Secretary of Commerce continued to participate in the activities of the 

National Executive Committee, along with members from the Departments of 

Defense, Transportation, State, Interior, Agriculture, and Homeland Security; the 

Joint Chiefs of Staff; and NASA. Such activities included interagency coordination of GPS-related programs and budgets, guiding international cooperation with 

other providers of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), protecting the 

spectrum used by GPS, and outreach and education.

OSC orchestrated an agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) 

related to Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), a regional subconstellation designed to be fully compatible and interoperable with GPS. The agreement 

allows JAXA to install a QZSS monitoring station at a NOAA facility in Guam, 

providing satellite observations that enhance GPS-QZSS interoperability.

OSC conducted a study and collected public comments on the Government’s 

plan to phase out civil use of so-called “semicodeless” GPS equipment, which 
54Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

leverages military GPS signals to enable high-precision positioning. The collected 

information contributed to the Department of Defense’s final decision to continue 

supporting semicodeless access to military GPS signals through December 31, 2020, 

by which time the modernized civil GPS signals will be fully available. The final 

decision appeared in the Federal Register on September 23, 2008.

In July 2008, OSC organized the second meeting of the GPS Galileo Working 

Group “B” on Trade and Civil Applications, continuing to encourage equal access 

to information and markets related to Europe’s emerging Galileo satellite naviga-

tion system. In June 2008, OSC participated in a Latin American regional workshop in Colombia to promote the use of GPS for precision agriculture, landscape 

epidemiology, and other fields.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Within NOAA, space-related activities occurred across the entire organization. 

During the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA’s Geostationary Operational 

Environmental Satellite (GOES) system provided a continuous flow of imagery 

that contributed significantly to the development of storm forecasts. These fore-

casts helped minimize the loss of life in the United States from major hurricanes 

Gustav and Ike. GOES satellites continued to provide space weather monitoring 

for the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to issue forecasts and warnings 

that protected spacecraft and power grids.

NOAA’s GOES and Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) 

system continued to provide an uninterrupted flow of global environmental information to support weather, ocean, and space environmental modeling, as well as 

tropical storm analysis and forecasting, local weather forecasting, and ecosystem 

and climate monitoring. NOAA’s weather and climate prediction numerical models 

used the global data from these satellites extensively.

NOAA provided forecast support for NASA Space Shuttle missions before 

launching, during flight, and during landing. NOAA led the multiagency effort 

with the FAA and DOD to build a four-dimensional database of weather elements 

of interest to aviation, such as thunderstorms, icing, turbulence, ceiling, visibil-

ity, and winds. NOAA’s lead was specified in the JPDO’s NextGen Integrated 

Work Plan (2008) and has research roots in Executive Order 13419, National 

Aeronautics Research and Development (2006), which assigned the responsibility 
55Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

for foundational weather research affecting aviation to DOC. NOAA led the 

efforts to develop a coordinated information technology infrastructure with common data standards and data exchange protocols and to identify data that will 

satisfy FAA Air Traffic Management requirements for a common weather picture 

for use in the NAS.

NOAA’s National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System 

(NPOESS) Integrated Program Office (IPO) completed several key tasks toward 

the launch of the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) expected for 2011. The 

Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite for NPP successfully completed environmental 

testing in August 2008. This sensor suite will protect the public by monitoring the 

depletion of ozone in the stratosphere. Reduced ozone levels could lead to a higher 

incidence of skin cancer. The IPO’s Ground Systems Division achieved four key 

milestones: it successfully tested ground systems for NPP spacecraft communication and data gathering; upgraded ahead of schedule the satellite communications 

at McMurdo Base, Antarctica; installed Integrated Data Processing System hardware and software; and broke ground for a tracking station in Torrejon, Spain. Two 

sensors were added to the NPOESS program: the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor 

(TSIS) and the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES). TSIS 

measurements address long-term climate change, natural variability and enhanced 

climate prediction, and atmospheric ozone and UV-B radiation, while CERES will 

provide data for studying the ways in which clouds affect Earth’s climate.

On June 20, 2008, the OSTM/Jason-2 spacecraft, an international effort between 

NOAA, NASA, France’s CNES, and EUMETSAT, launched from Vandenberg 

AFB. This satellite monitors the rate of sea-level rise and helps measure ocean 

conditions that contribute to the strength of hurricanes. Data from this satellite 

and its predecessors show that sea level is rising at a rate of 3.4 millimeters per 

year—nearly twice as fast as in the previous 100 years. If this rate of sea-level rise 

continues, it will have a large impact on coastal regions, causing more erosion 

and flooding. OSTM/Jason-2 also helps scientists predict short-term, severe weather 

events such as hurricanes and tropical storms fueled by heat energy stored in the 

upper layer of the ocean.

In August 2008, NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research 

(STAR) developed the first operational greenhouse gas products based on data 
56Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer aboard the European 

Metop-A satellite. Measurements include carbon dioxide (CO

2

), carbon monoxide 

(CO), and methane (CH

4

). Information on the seasonal and geographic distribu-

tion of greenhouse gases will provide critical data on the sources of these gases and 

how best to mitigate the risks.

Since April 2008, NOAA’s ground stations in Fairbanks, Alaska; Wallops, 

Virginia; and Tromso, Norway, have received occultation satellite data from 

the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 

(COSMIC) satellites. In order to accomplish this data collection and dispersal, NOAA installed a 5-meter antenna in the Fairbanks Command and Data 

Acquisition station in only 2 months during unfavorable weather conditions and 

modified an existing antenna at Wallops. COSMIC is a collaborative effort with 

NSF, NASA, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and the 

Norwegian Space Center. The COSMIC system provides useful data for meteorolog-

ical, climate, and space weather monitoring, research, and forecasting applications.

NOAA installed the last 9 of the 114 stations that compose the U.S. Climate 

Reference Network (USCRN). These stations monitor weather trends across the 

country. NOAA’s geostationary satellites relay the data from these ground-based 

stations to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, which posts the observations 

online. The operation of this network will help improve weather forecasts.

NOAA continued to help prepare coastal communities for tsunamis through 

improved forecasts, warnings, and mitigation capabilities. NOAA satellites col-

lected and transmitted data from Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of 

Tsunami (DART) buoys to the NOAA Tsunami Warning Centers and the NOAA 

National Data Buoy Center in real time, enabling early detection, measurement, 

and real-time reporting of tsunamis in the open ocean.

In FY08, the international Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking 

(SARSAT) System assisted in the rescue of 308 people throughout the United 

States and its surrounding waters. This high-tech system used a network of international satellites—including NOAA’s geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites—

and ground stations to quickly detect and locate distress signals from emergency 

beacons aboard boats and planes and from handheld personal locator devices. 

Also in FY08, NOAA reached a milestone with the 200,000th emergency beacon 
57Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

registered in the National 406 Megahertz (MHz) Beacon Registration Database. 

The database provides user contact information and vehicle descriptions to search 

and rescue authorities in order to expedite rescues and cancel false alerts.

On May 22, 2008, the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectral Radiometer instrument on the NOAA-18 satellite malfunctioned, rendering it unable to take measurements. The instrument maps total concentrations and vertical distribution of 

ozone—an important greenhouse gas—in Earth’s atmosphere on a global scale. 

These data are essential to scientists and forecasters, especially during the critical 

period for ozone monitoring from late August through September. NOAA, NASA, 

and contract engineers developed an innovative solution to correct the malfunction and restore the instrument’s data collection operations. After followup testing, normal daily operational ozone measurements and product processing resumed 

on July 29, 2008.

GEONETCast is part of a global effort of the intergovernmental Group on Earth 

Observations (GEO), which collects Earth observational data and distributes 

them to a variety of end users. GEONETCast Americas started operations in April 

2008. This system, operated by NOAA, disseminates weather and environmental 

data throughout the Western Hemisphere. With a real-time, 24/7 data stream, 

GEONETCast Americas provides information critical to a wide array of efforts, 

including disaster mitigation, high-impact weather forecasting, agriculture management, and professional training. NOAA has been instrumental in facilitating 

coordination and contributions from GEONETCast’s many international partners.

NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch (CRW) uses satellite data to monitor coral reefs 

worldwide. In FY08, CRW launched a new experimental Seasonal Coral Bleaching 

Thermal Stress Outlook product and expanded the number of virtual stations for 

monitoring coral bleaching conditions. This launch included 20 new experimental 

sites in the Greater Caribbean region, the Philippines, and Tanzania. CRW also 

trained coral reef managers to address coral bleaching and the impacts of climate 

change on coral reefs. Coral bleaching is one of the top three threats to coral reefs. 

This phenomenon, caused by climate change, is a response to environmental stress 

whereby the colored algae that live in the coral are expelled, leaving the coral 

looking bleached. This expulsion kills corals and threatens reefs around the world.
58Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

To meet the continuing demand by weather forecasters for ocean surface vec-

tor wind (OSVW) data, NOAA’s STAR created a new procedure to capture and 

process data from the Advanced Scatterometer (ASCAT) aboard the European 

Metop-A satellite. Currently, NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite 

provides OSVW data used for weather forecasting and warnings. In preparation for 

the eventual degradation of QuikSCAT, STAR designed the ASCAT processing 

system to ensure continuity of OSVW information.

Improved marine weather forecasting and warnings benefit the marine trans-

portation system, recreational boating and fishing activities, and coastal regions 

and islands impacted by marine storms. Global OSVW data improve our knowl-

edge of how the ocean and atmosphere interact. This knowledge is important for 

understanding the longer-term (climate) and shorter-term (weather) changes to the 

global environment.

Responding to thousands of requests per day for water temperatures in U.S. 

coastal areas, including the Great Lakes, NOAA’s National Oceanographic Data 

Center (NODC) enhanced its most popular Web application: the Coastal Water 

Temperature Guide (CWTG). CWTG provides comprehensive coastal water tem-

perature data, which are widely used by the oceanographic research community, 

coastal resource managers and decision makers, fishermen, beach users, vacation-

ers, and academics. Since the Google Map-enabled CWTG Web site went public 

in May of 2008, it has quickly become the primary Internet gateway to useful information for planning beach activities such as swimming or fishing.

NESDIS provided significant support for the creation of the National Museum 

of Natural History’s Sant Ocean Hall, the largest museum exhibit dedicated to 

ocean science. Visitors can learn how oceans circulate and transport heat, how the 

atmosphere interacts with the ocean to form hurricanes, and how phytoplankton 

blooms across the planet. Videos developed for the hall will be shared with aquari-

ums across the country, reaching a potential audience of 30 million people who can 

learn about the importance of protecting the oceans.

On July 16, 2008, the GOES biomass burning (agricultural and forest fires) 

emissions product for air quality modeling applications became operational. To 

accomplish this, STAR worked with EPA and NOAA’s Air Resource Lab. Biomass 

burning releases trace gases and aerosols into the atmosphere, which pollute the air 
59Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

and pose risks to human health. Since most biomass burning events occur with no 

advance warning, satellite observations are the best way to monitor them.

STAR scientists and operations personnel, collaborating with domestic and 

international academic partners, developed and implemented a new class of sea 

surface temperature (SST) analysis. These new operational ocean remote sensing 

products blend SST measurements from NOAA’s polar-orbiting and geostationary 

satellites and are available via NOAA CoastWatch. Under development for a number of years, these new products bring improved geographic measurements of the 

world’s oceans and better temporal coverage. Better SST measurements throughout 

the world’s oceans will improve numerical weather predictions, marine transportation, climate variability, and ecosystem management efforts.

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, joined NOAA scientists in Silver 

Spring, Maryland, from July 23 to 24 to teach K–12 educators how to integrate 

the science of Earth’s changing climate into their classroom lesson plans. During 

“Earth Then, Earth Now: Our Changing Climate,” 250 participants investigated 

the basic science of climate change, as well as global impacts on the atmosphere, 

ocean, and every continent and ecosystem around the world.

Land cover maps made from remotely sensed data document how much of a 

region is covered by forests, wetlands, impervious surfaces, and other land and 

water types. By comparing land cover maps over a specific time, users can also 

document land use trends and changes. Land cover data (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/

landcover/) are available for nearly all of the developed areas of the Nation’s coasts 

and are updated every 5 years. Land cover data collected for Hawaii mark the first 

maps in this series developed from high-resolution satellite imagery. These data 

assess human impacts on coral reef environments and identify at-risk populations 

and resources during events such as tsunamis.

LIDAR is a remote sensing technology used to collect topographic and bathymetric data. Coastal LIDAR data (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/lidar) are available for 

portions of the Great Lakes, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, Oregon, and 

Southern California. The sensors—typically mounted on an aircraft—represent 

important savings of time and money for states that traditionally have used ground 

surveys to get this information. Through partnerships, the NOAA Coastal Services 

Center gathered significant coastal coverage for the United States.
60Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

In July, NOAA began testing the incorporation of surface currents data into 

its Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting System (HAB-FS). NOAA’s Center for 

Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) and the National 

Data Buoy Center (NDBC) use satellite data as well as in situ measurements to 

monitor the development of harmful algal blooms that could affect coastal areas.

In 2008, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS) began test flights of its 

recently acquired airborne gravimeter. Test flights occurred in Montgomery, 

Alabama, and Kachemak Bay, Alaska, supporting the Gravity for the Redefinition 

of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) program. GRAV-D is an effort to 

use gravity data to redefine the vertical datum of the United States by 2017. NGS 

flew about 100 hours over Alabama and 400 hours over Alaska to determine opti-

mum flight levels, spacing, and various other procedures required to collect good 

airborne gravity data. The program will lead to greater accuracy of data, giving 

users the ability to use GPS to determine elevations relative to sea level. NOAA’s 

NGS released a new version of its popular Online Positioning User Service 

(OPUS) in February 2008. The OPUS-Rapid Static (OPUS-RS) system, designed 

in partnership with Ohio State University, saves time and money compared to 

standard OPUS. NGS expects that OPUS-RS usage will exceed OPUS usage by 

a factor of 10. Each OPUS solution could save the user an estimated $600 over 

traditional positioning methods. In total, the service has processed over 500,000 

OPUS solutions.

For the next 4 years, NOAA’s NGS will lead an international effort to pinpoint 

the locations of more than 40 global positioning satellites in Earth’s orbit, which 

will ensure the accuracy of GPS data. NGS acquired nearly 23,000 high-resolution 

color and near-infrared aerial images and topographic LIDAR data in a project 

area extending from Cape Henry, Virginia, to Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. 

NGS also supplied LIDAR data and aerial imagery for inclusion in the “Shallow 

Survey 2008” Common Dataset (http://shallowsurvey2008.org/). Researchers from 

around the world will be able to use these high-resolution coastal surveying and 

mapping data.

NOAA’s NGS released version 3.0 of the Horizontal Time-Dependent 

Positioning (HTDP3.0) software. Users may now apply HTDP3.0 to predict how 
61Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

points on Earth’s surface have moved due to plate tectonics, earthquakes, and 

volcanic activity.

NOAA’s NGS developed new Airport Data Logger (ADL) software, which 

will help standardize the process of airport and aeronautical surveys. NGS 

trained private contractors on the use of the ADL software at the NGS Field 

Operations Branch in Norfolk, Virginia. This software replaced the outdated 

Automatic Collection Exchange System (ACES) software. Data collected and 

analyzed using ADL software will help develop runway approach procedures and 

obstruction charts.

NOAA’s NGS provided technical assistance to Iraq for installing a Continuously 

Operating Reference Station (CORS) to be installed by the Iraqi Government. 

This station enables users to determine highly accurate GPS positions, which will 

improve the quality, accuracy, and cost of airfield and boundary surveys and other 

precise positioning activities in the country.

NOAA’s NGS is in the final stages of creating an Absolute Antenna Calibration 

Facility in Corbin, Virginia. The facility will allow scientists to determine the phase 

center of geodetic antennas, in particular the phase centers or precise point from 

which satellite signals originate for satellites launched to modernize the GPS constellation. Once operational, this facility will improve the accuracy of GPS-derived 

elevations. Accurate elevations remain critical to monitoring changes in environmentally sensitive regions, as well as for industrial and civil engineering projects.

NOAA’s NGS, with funding from USAID, continued to assist Ethiopia in building a network of GPS CORSes and making the data from these stations available 

to the public through the NGS Web site.

Famed ocean explorer Robert Ballard led an expedition in the Monterey Bay 

National Marine Sanctuary during March 2–7, 2008. NOAA’s Office of National 

Marine Sanctuaries, in partnership with Immersion Presents (Dr. Ballard’s interactive educational program), used telepresence technology—a combination of satellite and Internet connections—to transport young people “live” to the research 

cruise. The students “visited” the deep sea in the NOAA research vessel Fulmar, 

viewed kelp forests reaching 100 feet tall, and observed endangered and threatened 

marine mammals such as the gray whale, blue whale, and California sea otter. 
62Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Daily live broadcasts, including a 20-minute segment in Spanish, brought the 

oceans into the classrooms and living rooms of thousands of people nationwide.

The high-resolution IKONOS color satellite imagery used in 2008 produced a 

shallow-water benthic habitat map of approximately 200 square kilometers of the 

Florida Keys, part of a NOAA effort to map all U.S. coral reefs.

A National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) researcher collabo-

rated with scientists at the NASA facility at Wallops Island, Virginia, to create a 

Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) lesson plan for national distribution at high schools 

and placement on agency education Web sites. The lesson plan explains how 

various species of single-celled algae multiply and develop into toxic blooms and 

explores the possible effects on humans and marine resources.

Scientists from NOAA’s Environmental Cooperative Sciences Center developed 

regression models using satellite data to monitor chlorophylla and total suspended 

solids (TSS) in Apalachicola Bay, Florida.

Dr. Rita Colwell from the University of Maryland, one of two NOAA Oceans 

and Human Health Initiative Distinguished Scholars, wrote a paper on how to use 

satellites to predict outbreaks of cholera. Ocean and climate patterns can be useful 

predictors of cholera endemics.

Using satellite data, NOAA’s CRW monitors ocean acidification in the Greater 

Caribbean region and examines the changes that have transpired over the past 

two decades. Regional maps and time-series studies of ocean acidification are 

available online.

In 2008, NOAA trained 60 reef managers from the Pacific and Caribbean to 

improve their ability to anticipate and respond to coral bleaching events and to 

build resilience into management plans. To date, NOAA has trained over 150 coral 

reef experts and managers from 18 countries around the world. In 2009, additional 

workshops will take place in Bonaire and Guam.

NOAA’s CRW developed a new training module for Bilko—a system operated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization 

(UNESCO)—that teaches users how to predict coral bleaching from satellite sea 

surface temperature data. The step-by-step training module provides users with 

an in-depth knowledge of how CRW data are produced, as well as how to use the 

data to predict coral bleaching. This lesson plan is available on both the CRW 
63Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

(http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/education/bilko_lesson.html) and Bilko

(http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/bilko/noaa_crw.php) Web sites.

NOAA’s CRW participated in the 2008 Satellites and Education Conference 

at California State University, Los Angeles, held August 7–9. CRW presented a 

session entitled “NOAA Coral Reef Watch: Teaching About Coral Reefs with 

Satellite Data.” Many teachers indicated that they were going to attempt to develop 

a coral reef information module in their classrooms.

NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) scientists in the Global 

Systems Division of the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, 

performed real-time research with GOES products. Scientists used GOES cloud 

drift wind product data for wind analysis. Scientists used GOES infrared and visible imagery for cloud and atmospheric moisture analysis and for local and highresolution hurricane model initialization. Additionally, Global Systems Division 

scientists developed and tested algorithms for sounder retrieval quality related to 

atmospheric moisture measurements in an effort to shorten the learning curve for 

using GOES R-Series satellite data in the near future.

DOC continued to participate in an interagency initiative to develop an 

Integrated Weather Plan for NextGen. NOAA contributed to the formation of 

the interagency JPDO. Various technical working teams benefit from NOAA’s 

leadership and participation. These include the NextGen 4-Dimensional (4-D) 

Weather Data Cube Management Team for coordinating the tasks of building 

a 4-D Weather Cube for initial operational capability in 2013; the Policy Team, 

which addresses regulations, governance, and agency roles and responsibilities; 

the Environmental Information Team, which develops 4-D cube contents; and the 

Information Technology/Enterprise Services Team, which determines standards 

and protocols.

Researchers at the Global Systems Division of the Earth System Research 

Laboratory (ESRL) and the National Center for Environmental Prediction 

(NCEP) collaborated on the development and implementation of a major Rapid 

Update Cycle (RUC) model upgrade. RUC is used extensively for aviation and 

severe weather forecasting support on an hourly update cycle. The RUC upgrade 

included assimilation of radar reflectivity—the first model at NCEP to do so—

and Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting (TAMDAR) aircraft 
64Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

observations. Development of the model included observation impact studies for 

TAMDAR and all mesoscale data sources over the RUC domain and extensive retrospective experiments using RUC. Real-time testing of the High-Resolution Rapid 

Refresh (HRRR) model at 3-kilometer resolution, updating hourly, including radar 

assimilation, was conducted as well. The Weather Research and Forecasting with 

Chemistry (WRF-Chem), a version of the WRF model using inline atmospheric 

chemistry, is currently under development. The outcome of coupling atmospheric 

chemistry in this forecast model will be important for future aviation activities to 

improve visibility and cloud forecasts.

Development and real-time testing of the Flow-following Finite-volume 

Icosahedral Model (FIM), a new global model using isentropic coordinates, will 

include finite-volume numerics and an icosahedral horizontal grid. Development 

of FIM is occurring at ESRL and coordinated with NCEP. FIM will be part of 

the future NCEP global model ensemble and will be a candidate for global 

aviation forecasting.

NASA and NOAA’s partnership in developing joint expertise in civilian appli-

cations of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASes) successfully continued after the 

signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2006 between NASA, 

NOAA, and DOE concerning “Unmanned Aircraft Systems for Global Observing 

System Science Research.”

The radio-frequency spectrum is a limited natural resource that has to be shared 

among nations on a regional and global basis. For that reason, under the auspices 

of the United Nations, the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) con-

venes every 4 years to consider the regulatory framework to manage the interna-

tional use of radio-frequency spectrum in a rational and equitable manner.

WRC-07 established a preliminary agenda for WRC-11. One of the prelimi-

nary agenda items will “consider spectrum requirements and possible regulatory 

action, including allocations, to support the safe operation of unmanned aircraft 

systems” such as seamless integration into segregated airspaces, including “Sense 

and Avoid” functions and “Command and Control” communications, as well as 

payload radio communication applications (i.e., “Data Transfer”). NASA, NOAA, 

and other Federal agencies will continue to address UAS frequency issues through 

the WRC-11 forum.
65Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Satellite products continued to be an integral part of the long-term climate 

record and of national efforts to determine what has happened to the climate system and why these changes have occurred. In 2008, the interagency 

Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) released a number of Syntheses and 

Assessment Products aimed at these issues. NOAA led the report “Reanalysis 

and Attribution: Understanding How and Why Recent Climate Has Varied 

and Changed,” which made extensive use of historical satellite measurements to 

describe atmospheric temperature changes over North America. Satellite observations continued to be critical in monitoring ozone depletion and recovery, as 

described in the NOAA-led CCSP report “The Ozone Layer Ozone Depletion, 

Recovery in a Changing Climate, and the ‘World Avoided.’” The measurement 

of climate variability and change from both operational and research satellites 

remains prominent throughout the CCSP report series.

The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) obtains, produces, and delivers environmental data and derived products for near-real-time 

observation of the Great Lakes to support environmental science, ecosystem forecasting, decision making, and research. Clients included Federal, state, and local 

agencies; academic institutions; and the public. CoastWatch uses data from POES 

and GOES satellites.

NASA and NOAA plan to utilize both crewed aircraft and Unmanned Aerial 

Vehicles (UAVs) to monitor HABs in the western basin of Lake Erie. These blooms 

remain a concern for human, fish, and wildlife health because they can contain a 

toxic alga, microcystin. In the Great Lakes, Microcystin-LR is common and highly 

toxic. Because of this toxicity, the blooms require continual monitoring.

GLERL, in collaboration with the National Ocean Service (NOS), developed 

and issued a prototype HAB warning bulletin for Lake Erie. Derived from MERIS 

satellite imagery, the bulletin depicts areas of HAB development. Increasing in frequency, potentially toxic Microcystis blooms can pose a health hazard to humans, 

wildlife, and fish.

NOAA’s GLERL, in collaboration with JPL, developed an algorithm for the 

classification and mapping of Great Lakes ice cover using satellite Synthetic 

Aperture Radar (SAR). Validation continues with icebreaker support from the 
66Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

U.S. Coast Guard. Users include the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Weather 

Service (NWS), and the National Ice Center.

Scientists know that the algorithms for estimating chlorophyll in the ocean 

using satellite data do not work well in time or space for the Great Lakes. In col-

laboration with researchers from the Michigan Tech Research Institute (formerly 

of Altarum/Environmental Research Institute of Michigan [ERIM]) and the 

Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) of 

St. Petersburg, Russia, NOAA scientists are developing and testing a fundamentally 

different algorithm for the retrieval of color-producing agents from satellite data.

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

In FY08, NIST continued to provide Federal agencies and the aerospace industry 

with the research, guidance, standards, products, and services needed to advance 

the President’s space agenda. These wide-ranging outputs fall into four main categories: (1) validation, measurement, and calibration; (2) manufacturing technology; (3) observation and sensing; and (4) spacecraft and living environments. 

NIST supported accurate and compatible measurements made by the aerospace 

industry by providing Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) and calibration services. Customers used these SRMs and services to ensure the accuracy of their own 

instrument calibrations and the validity of their measurement methods. In 2008, 

aerospace companies purchased 89 units of SRMs, including ferrous and nonferrous 

metals certified for chemical composition and for hardness, and artifacts certified 

for nanoscale dimensional properties. In addition, these companies submitted over 

300 instruments or artifacts to NIST for calibration. NIST performed nearly 2,400 

separate tests on these items, spanning dimensional, force, vibration, and electrical 

measurements, providing the companies with a source of metrological traceability 

for their primary measurement standards.

NIST administers the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program 

(NVLAP), which accredited two aerospace and aeronautic facilities in 2008. 

NVLAP accreditation ensures that the laboratories are following best practices 

for quality in testing and measurements as established by standards organiza-

tions such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the 

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Ensuring the security of com-

munications and data remains crucial to aerospace applications. NIST helped 
67Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

NASA Langley Research Center with information technology security through 

the NIST Cryptographic Module Validation Program and the Cryptographic 

Algorithm Validation Program to ensure proper use of Federal Information 

Processing Standards. NASA works with many vendors and other Government 

space agencies such as JAXA, which must comply with Federal Information 

Processing Standards (FIPS).

Carbon nanotubes are lightweight materials with potentially great strength and 

unique electrical properties, plus other attributes that make them very interesting for potential aerospace applications. NIST collaborated with NASA Johnson 

Space Center to promote the standardization of test techniques for single-wall 

carbon nanotubes. Following a third joint workshop that brought together over 

70 leading experts, NIST developed and published a recommended practice guide, 

“Measurement Issues in Carbon Nanotubes,” in 2008. In addition, documentary 

standards advanced through the International Organization for Standardization’s 

Technical Committee on Nanotechnology, and in-house research led to the 

development of prototype reference materials for interlaboratory comparison 

and environmental health and safety studies. Precise time synchronization is 

needed in military aerospace applications, navigation, and positioning, as well as 

for applications in industries such as automation and control, power and utility, 

and telecommunications. Previously, NIST initiated and coordinated standards 

activity leading to the release of the first version of the Institute of Electrical and 

Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE’s) standard for precision clock synchronization for 

networked measurement and control (IEEE 1588). Scientists used NIST’s SURF III 

Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility as a source of soft x rays and vacuum 

ultraviolet light to calibrate mirrors, detectors, and spectrometers used in NASA 

spacecraft. These included the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) Variability Experiment 

(EVE), which will be launched on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and 

the calibration rocket experiment for the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere 

Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. Both of these satellites study EUV 

solar irradiance and its variability over minutes (flares) to years (11-year solar cycle). 

These measurements remained important to the National Space Weather Program 

(NSWP), which tracks solar storms that impact space-based communications and 

navigation technologies. In addition, SURF III provided the calibration standard 
68Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

for experimental determination of atomic radiation intensities that are required for 

the interpretation of data from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) experiments.

With funding from NASA and its partner, ESA, NIST developed special lamps 

for wavelength calibrations of instruments used to make astronomical observations 

in the near-infrared region. These lamps came from the same batch as those used 

for in-flight calibration of the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), to be installed 

on HST during the 2009 Hubble servicing mission. NIST carried out accelerated 

aging experiments to predict the lifetimes and possible indicators of failure of the 

calibration lamps for use on COS.

NIST collaborated with Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Laboratory 

(SDL) to advance the development and calibration of optical sensors. The col-

laboration emphasized the calibration and characterization of satellite imagers and 

sensors important for defense and climate-change research.

NIST provided support to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics 

(LASP) facility at the University of Colorado to calibrate a cryogenic radiometer 

built to measure top-of-the-atmosphere solar flux levels. Scientists designed the 

cryogenic radiometer to calibrate the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) instrument 

for measuring total solar irradiance.

NIST used its Low Background Infrared (LBIR) Facility to provide calibrations 

of infrared sources and test chambers for quality assurance for the Missile Defense 

Agency’s (MDA’s) testing of Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) units prior to 

deployment. The LBIR Facility also supported calibrations of the antiballistic mis-

sile defense hardware simulation test chamber being developed by MDA at the 

Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee.

NIST supported the testing of calibrators for the near-infrared spectrograph 

(NIRSpec) being built by ESA and its contractors for the James Webb Space 

Telescope (JWST). NIRSpec will enable scientists to understand better the forma-

tion of stars, stellar clusters, and galaxies.

NIST hosted the Global Earth Observations (GEO) Committee on Earth 

Observation Satellites (CEOS) workshop for Quality Assurance of Calibration 

and Validation Processes. Nearly 70 scientists from around the world attended, 

and together they developed the guidelines for Quality Assurance for Earth 

Observations (QA4EO) for satellite sensors. The guidelines were submitted to 
69Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

NASA, ESA, and NOAA for implementation. The effort will help advance the 

goals of the Global Space-Based Inter Calibration System (GSICS), led by NOAA.

NIST continued to collaborate with NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey 

(USGS), the University of Arizona, and Ball Aerospace on the calibration and 

validation of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). This collaboration 

helped ensure that measurements provided by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) 

are traceable to international standards.

In 2008, NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) network of centers 

completed process improvement, waste reduction, environmental improvement, 

energy efficiency, and quality system implementation projects with 142 aerospace 

manufacturing companies. MEP Centers worked with aerospace prime companies, including United Technologies (Sikorsky Helicopter, Hamilton, and Pratt & 

Whitney Rocketdyne), Rockwell-Collins, and the Boeing Company, as well as the 

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), to establish a better understanding of 

their future needs and serve their supply base effectively. Working through these 

prime companies and with partner agencies, MEP centers conducted projects that 

resulted in reduced supplier lead times and improved quality and on-time delivery.

NIST collaborated with members of NASA in FY08 on their Six Degrees of 

Freedom (6DOF) project in the areas of metrology and standards. The 6DOF project gives researchers a means to evaluate the performance of a real-time Vision 

Based Robot Control, a technique that uses feedback information extracted from a 

vision sensor to control the motion of a robot.

NIST, along with researchers from Boeing and Acumence, collaborated with 

the Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC) on a demonstration of the implementation of the International Society of Automation standard 

ISA-88 to show how machine tools used in the discrete manufacturing industries could benefit from software that is easily adapted for machine tool analysis. 

The demonstration showed software technology suitable both for monitoring 

continuous/discrete manufacturing and for providing real-time manufacturing 

business intelligence.

MTConnect is a new low-cost machine tool integration standard sponsored by 

the Association for Manufacturing Technology. Spurred by demonstrations at the 

September 2008 International Manufacturing Technology Show, factory managers 
70Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

at the Boeing plant in Auburn, Oregon, asked NIST to help bring this technology 

to their plant. NIST and Boeing worked together to integrate MTConnect into 

their plant using NIST-developed computer numerical control (CNC) data serv-

ers. They integrated the MTConnect technology with the Boeing Dashboard Web 

Service to allow easy monitoring of progress and delays in plant production for 

different original equipment manufacturer machine tools.

NIST leads the effort to promote the Quality Measurement Data (QMD) 

Specification to enable the seamless exchange of quality measurement information 

between disparate and proprietary gauges and reporting tools. This effort solves data 

integration problems by reducing as many as 1,500 data formats to one single, open 

reporting format. In FY08, NIST briefed members of the NASA Goddard Space 

Flight Center/Northrop Grumman manufacturing facility’s metrology/inspection 

department on QMD and the role of interoperability in manufacturing quality.

Many of NASA’s next-generation satellite observatories require new detectors 

with improved sensitivity and scalability. With funding from NASA, NIST devel-

oped new detectors that use a transition-edge sensor (TES). The TES improves the 

detection of electromagnetic signals from millimeter waves through x rays. NIST 

continued work in the development of Superconducting Quantum Interference 

Devices (SQUIDs) and SQUID-based multiplexers used to read out large arrays 

of detectors. In FY08, NIST provided SQUID systems to many researchers, 

both at NASA Centers (GSFC and JPL) and in academia (including California 

Polytechnic Institute; Stanford University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 

the University of California, Berkeley; Princeton University; and the University of 

Wisconsin), working on NASA-funded projects.

Over the last several years, with funding from NASA, NIST took several critical 

steps toward fielding even larger detector arrays (>10,000 pixels) in NASA mis-

sions. These included the development of dissipationless microwave SQUID mul-

tiplexers and code-division multiplexers. In combination, these steps will make it 

possible to read out many thousands of detector channels in a single coaxial cable. 

In FY08, NIST worked to optimize these devices and transfer this technology to its 

collaborators at NASA Centers and universities.

In FY08, NIST collaborated with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to 

develop photo detectors for space applications. The current program focuses on 
71Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

testing gallium nitride nanowires as the active photoemitter material for highsensitivity imaging systems in the ultraviolet spectrum. A breakthrough in this 

detector technology will enable new experiments in ultraviolet space telemetry, 

including searching for Earth-like planets and testing theories of phenomena in 

the early universe.

NIST developed a test plan in conjunction with NASA to measure standards 

that support the Aquarius satellite program. Aquarius is a focused satellite mission to measure global Sea Surface Salinity (SSS). In addition, NIST measured 

a set of thermal noise standards used to calibrate some of the instruments aboard 

Aquarius. NIST initiated research in 2006 to study the feasibility of using temperature gradient focusing (TGF) and other chemical analysis methods developed at 

NIST to improve the performance of the Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) currently 

in development at the University of California, Berkeley, and JPL. In 2008, the 

NIST team addressed the issue of sample complexity. To address this problem, the 

team developed a method to improve the MOA’s ability to detect organic material.

To support the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) and Remote Sensing 

Applications, NIST provided NASA with high-accuracy reference spectra. The 

NASA OCO mission is an Earth-orbiting satellite designed to monitor contributions to the greenhouse effect by tracking sources and sinks of atmospheric CO2

throughout the world. The measurement strategy employed by the OCO utilizes 

the oxygen A-band spectra to indicate the presence of clouds and optically thick 

aerosols that preclude full atmospheric column measurements of CO2. Observations 

from this band also help scientists infer the total atmospheric pressure, as well as 

to measure the length of the path of solar radiation as it passes through Earth’s 

atmosphere. Using its state-of-the-art capabilities in frequency-stabilized cavity 

ring-down spectroscopy, NIST provided the OCO project team with newly determined, high-accuracy spectral profile and intensity information for both oxygen 

and CO2. These high-accuracy spectral line intensity and profile data will enable 

NASA scientists to achieve the required accuracy.

The presence of water on planetary bodies such as the Moon and Mars can be 

inferred from satellite-based measurements of high-energy neutrons that are created by the action of cosmic rays striking the planetary surface. The use of neutron 

optics can substantially increase the accuracy of these planetary neutron mapping 
72Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

measurements. However, the high degree of polishing required for the various opti-

cal elements greatly increases fabrication costs. Scientists from the NIST Center 

for Neutron Research, working in collaboration with researchers from NASA 

Marshall Space Flight Center, completed neutron reflectivity measurements on a 

series of nickel-coated optical elements with varying degrees of surface smooth-

ness in order to determine the minimum level of smoothness that is required for 

this application.

With strong NASA support, NIST continued the production of atomic spec-

troscopic data needed by space astronomers. To support NASA’s space observato-

ries for the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV), x-ray, and infrared spectral regions, NIST 

atomic data activities focused on the spectra of hydrogen, helium, sodium, mag-

nesium, aluminum, silicon, argon, potassium, cesium, barium, boron, and other 

elements with relatively high cosmic abundance.

With NASA funding, NIST continued to expand the existing online numerical 

and bibliographic databases: Atomic Spectra Database (version 3.1.5), bibliographic 

databases on transition probabilities, spectral line broadening, atomic energy levels 

and wavelengths, and plasma kinetics databases containing benchmark compu-

tational results. These online databases and calculation tools facilitate the interpretation of observations carried out with NASA space observatories, including 

HST, the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic 

Explorer, and the Spitzer Infrared Observatory.

With funding from NASA, NIST renewed collaboration between the 

NIST Electron Beam Ion Trap team and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 

Astrophysics (CfA) Microcalorimeter team. NIST used instruments on the ground 

to create and observe exotic states of matter similar to those observed from space 

by orbiting observatories. This practice improves the scientific return from the 

multi-billion-dollar CXO, operated in orbit for NASA out of CfA, and helps design 

improved observational hardware for future x-ray astronomy missions. Spectra from 

highly charged states of iron, among the most prevalent and brightest observed 

from space, are produced under known and well-controlled conditions and studied 

using a combination of instruments from NIST and Harvard University. Analysis 

is under way to resolve discrepancies that have persisted for years between experi-

ments from various groups, as well as between theory and experiments.
73Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

NIST initiated a new program called “NIST Stars” to improve the accuracy of 

spectral irradiance measurements of stars for applications in satellite remote sensing, nighttime aerosol monitoring, and dark-energy research. Collaborators include 

Harvard University (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System 

[Pan-STARRS] and Large Synoptic Survey Telescope [LSST]), California Institute 

of Technology (Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment [CIBER]), and HarvardSmithsonian (Mount Hopkins Multi Mirror Telescope [MMT]).

NIST collaborated with NASA, NOAA, and San Jose State University in the 

construction of a prototype buoy for the next-generation marine optical system, 

which will eventually replace the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY). MOBY helps 

calibrate ocean-color measurements performed by on-orbit sensors, including 

SeaWiFS and MODIS instruments. The next-generation buoy will use state-of-theart technology to allow for simultaneous measurements of downwelling irradiance 

and upwelling radiance at various water depths, with hyperspectral capability. This 

capability will greatly improve the quality of ocean-color measurements from satellites by reducing sampling-time delays.

NIST supported the NASA Space Shuttle Program with electromagnetic shielding measurements. The current Shuttles are scheduled for retirement around 2010. 

NASA intended to replace the Shuttles with crewed Orion exploration vehicles in 

a program named Constellation. NASA and NIST worked together to develop a 

comprehensive test plan for the Constellation Program, and a key first step in the 

plan was to determine whether the Space Power Facility (SPF) Vacuum Chamber 

located at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) could be used as a reverberation 

chamber for testing the Orion vehicle. In FY08, NIST developed a test plan for the 

FY09 testing of the SPF chamber.

NIST worked with the Air Force, as well as industry and NASA, in fuels research 

geared toward developing alternative fuels and generating an understanding upon 

which to base innovative designs for jet and rocket propulsion systems. Two of the 

major foci of the work involved combustion kinetics and thermophysical properties. In particular, NIST evaluated properties of synthetic Fischer-Tropsch fuels and 

rocket/jet fuels.

To address the critical issue of the stability of thermal barrier coatings used to 

extend the high-temperature behavior of nickel-based superalloy turbine blades and 
74Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

improve engine efficiency, NIST developed diffusion mobility descriptions for two 

ordered phases in the nickel-aluminum-chromium alloy system. These descriptions 

enabled improved modeling of the interdiffusion between bond coats and superal-

loys. In addition, NIST provided revised diffusion mobility descriptions for the 

nickel-based systems to support collaborators at QuesTek Innovations and GRC. 

Scientists used these results to model, validate, and predict the microstructural 

evolution of third-generation nickel-based disk superalloys, used in gas turbine 

manufacture, during heat treating and service conditions.

In 2008, NIST provided consultation to the Ground and Flight Systems Divisions 

on a NASA GSFC mission entitled Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) for 

infusing certified algorithms (FIPS 140-1, 140-2 SHA) into their command authenti-

cation for their ground systems and flight software. NIST provided guidance for key 

management schemes for ground systems and for the Command Ingest subsystem for 

flight software. For the first time, NASA will be incorporating NIST-approved hash 

algorithms and key infrastructure schemes within a given mission.

NIST is currently working with GRC on spacecraft fire-detection research. 

Scientists designed ISS and Shuttle smoke detectors based upon Earth grav-

ity test data and experience due to the lack of experimental data for spacecraft 

fires. The absence of or reduction in gravity has a significant impact on the smoke 

properties from a spacecraft fire. NASA and NIST developed the Smoke Aerosol 

Measurement Experiment (SAME) to characterize smoke properties from overheated spacecraft materials using a suite of aerosol measurement instruments and 

smoke-collection devices.

NIST collaborated with NASA, which sponsored research to examine material 

flammability. Scientists used numerical simulations of standard ground-based test 

methods to examine how test results may change if gravity, pressure, and oxygen 

levels are changed to simulate those characteristic of habitats on the Moon, Mars, 

or spacecraft. A NIST scientist went on a Shuttle mission to conduct, compare, 

and contrast the suppression of flames in normal gravity and microgravity. A better 

understanding of smoke characteristics in space will help improve fire detection 

in spacecraft.

With longer-duration human exploration missions to Mars, to the Moon, or on 

the ISS, the chances for an accidental fire increase. Despite excellent and useful 
75Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

research designed to increase understanding of the behavior of laboratory flames 

in microgravity, virtually no work has been conducted to understand larger fires 

in space habitats. This lack undoubtedly results from the danger and difficulty 

in conducting such experiments. Work at NIST uses detailed numerical modeling to understand large fires in reduced-gravity conditions. In FY08, NIST made 

progress in five distinct areas: (1) discovering limitations to fire growth in reducedgravity environments due to lower oxygen transport rates, (2) improving fire code 

predictive capability for solid material burning rates in normal and reduced gravity, (3) learning more about overall fire behavior in space habitation modules, 

(4) studying extinction in co-flow diffusion flames, and (5) using flame size as a 

method to determine the heat release rate from a flame.

NIST and DOD worked to improve the accuracy of optical signature measurements on ground and aerospace vehicles. NIST provides optical standards, measurement comparisons, and sensor characterizations to help assess and improve 

measurement accuracy. As part of this effort, NIST collaborated with the Signature 

Measurement Standards Group of DOD’s Range Commanders Council to advance 

measurement quality and cosponsored a workshop with Utah State University’s 

SDL on “Electro-optical and Infrared Calibration and Characterization.”

International Trade Administration (ITA)

ITA’s Office of Aerospace and Automotive Industries (OAAI) participated in 

the development of Administration policies on aeronautical research and development through the National Science and Technology Council’s Aeronautics 

Science and Technology (AS&T) Subcommittee. In the beginning of FY08, the 

AS&T Subcommittee completed work on the “National Plan on Aeronautics 

Research and Development,” which establishes research goals and objectives for 

Federal aeronautics research and development investments in priority areas. After 

President Bush signed the plan in December 2007, the AS&T Subcommittee 

initiated work on the associated “Technical Appendix to the National Plan for 

Aeronautics Research and Development.” The technical appendix identifies 

Federal department and agency research investments related to the national 

goals and objectives and includes a preliminary assessment of current Federal 

R&D activities to identify areas of opportunity for potential increased emphasis, 

as well as potential areas of unnecessary redundancy. OAAI coordinated DOC 
76Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

subject-matter expert contributions to the plan and technical appendix and sup-

ported outreach to non-Federal stakeholders on AS&T Subcommittee activities 

and progress.

ITA OAAI participated in the planning and implementation process for 

NextGen under the JPDO’s management. OAAI staff continued to represent 

DOC on both the Global Harmonization Working Group (GHWG) and the 

Aviation Security Working Group. As part of the GHWG, OAAI staff partici-

pated in the drafting of the GHWG FY09 work plan to implement elements of the 

JPDO Integrated Work Plan. Also, OAAI staff supported the GHWG Executive 

Committee and cochaired the Liaison Standing Committee (which is charged 

with collaborating with the other working groups on technological and proce-

dural developments with global implications). Further, OAAI staff coordinated 

the review of various JPDO documents, including the Avionics Roadmap and the 

Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system proposal.

OAAI hosted a meeting and workshop for the Commercial Aviation Alternative 

Fuels Initiative (CAAFI). CAAFI is a public/private group sponsored by the FAA, 

the Air Transport Association of America, the Aerospace Industries Association, 

and Airports Council International-North America. The meeting facilitated 

interaction between airlines and energy companies so the two groups can plan 

for the development of alternative fuels for aviation. Attendees participated in a 

series of panel discussions with speakers from Government and industry and cre-

ated roadmaps of the technical and commercial benchmarks for fuel development. 

One hundred thirty people participated in the meeting, including representatives 

from airlines, aircraft manufacturers, energy companies, pipeline companies, and 

the U.S. Government, as well as financiers. Though a majority of the companies 

participating came from the United States, some representatives also came from 

European, African, and South American firms.

In FY08, OAAI developed updated market and policy assessments for civil-use 

UASes. OAAI continued public outreach on UAS issues, including providing 

briefings to UAS companies about Government policies affecting domestic and 

international UAS markets.

OAAI continued its participation in aviation security activities, including work 

on the JPDO Aviation Security Working Group and on various aspects of the 
77Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

implementation of the National Strategy for Aviation Security (NSAS [pursuant to NSPD-47/HSPD-16]). The JPDO nominated OAAI staff members to take 

part in the Standing Interagency Aviation Security Committee (SIASC), which 

was established to meet the requirements set forth by the NSAS. The JPDO has 

charged the SIASC with coordinating U.S. Government activities encompassing 

national aviation security, including the identification of conflicting procedures, 

the investigation of vulnerabilities and consequences, and the coordination of corresponding interagency solutions. Furthermore, OAAI participation in both the 

JPDO and NSAS-related activities reduced the likelihood that these interagency 

efforts will work at cross-purposes. Moreover, OAAI staff supported ITA participation in an interagency aviation security tabletop exercise to determine possible 

responses to (as well as the economic costs of) a man-portable air defense system 

(MANPADS) attack on a commercial airliner.

The ITA continued to support the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in its 

many meetings with the World Trade Organization and at negotiations for freetrade agreements. In particular, support for the ongoing U.S.-European Union 

(EU) trade dispute over large civil aircraft required detailed support and industry 

knowledge found only in the aerospace team. The USTR has been kept up to date 

regarding changes in the market, actions of the major stakeholders, and political analysis of the impacted countries. Close cooperation between the USTR and 

DOC resulted in a united front in which industry has been well represented.

ITA OAAI continued to participate in the group on Sector Understanding 

on Export Credits for Civil Aircraft (the “Aircraft Sector Understanding”) at 

the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The 

governments of most countries with major aircraft manufacturers signed the 

OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, which establishes 

rules for export credit agencies. In combination with the annexed Aircraft Sector 

Understanding, the arrangement tries to ensure that government-provided export 

financing is not a competitive factor in civil aircraft sales competitions. The governments also reached a new Aircraft Sector Understanding in 2007. As a member 

of the U.S. delegation, ITA supported U.S. efforts to ensure the successful implementation of the new agreement. DOC hosted over 12 meetings and teleconfer-
78Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

ences with industry on this topic and will continue to consult with industry while 

the new understanding is implemented.

ITA OAAI continued its active participation in the implementation of the 

National Space Policy and other Federal space policies recently signed by President 

Bush. ITA ensures that U.S. industry’s commercial interests continue to be ade-

quately addressed during policy implementation actions and helps to create an 

environment to enhance the global competitiveness of U.S. industry.

OAAI continued to represent commercial remote sensing satellite industry 

interests within the Remote Sensing Interagency Working Group (RSIWG), led 

by DOS. The RSIWG coordinates policy for the export of commercial remote sens-

ing satellite systems and negotiates government-to-government agreements that 

address the safeguarding of those systems’ technologies. The RSIWG consulted 

with several foreign countries on satellite cooperation and met with industry rep-

resentatives to understand the impact on industry.

ITA continued to play an important role in promoting U.S. aerospace trade 

interests as the industry faced mounting competition from abroad. ITA participated 

in and organized trade events and provided advocacy to support U.S. companies 

in international aerospace competitions, including commercial sales for aircraft, 

helicopters, airport construction, commercial and remote sensing satellites, com-

mercial projects, and air traffic management projects.

In July 2008, ITA organized and supported DOC’s participation in the 

Farnborough International Air Show and arranged senior-level meetings for the 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing with foreign government and indus-

try officials, as well as U.S. industry executives. ITA OAAI met with numerous 

U.S. and foreign government and industry officials to discuss ongoing policy issues 

affecting the competitiveness of U.S. industry.

The OAAI Aerospace Team also participated in the sixth meeting of the U.S.-

India High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) in New Delhi, India, on 

February 28, 2008. At the request of U.S. aerospace industry and trade associa-

tion officials, the OAAI Aerospace Team Leader represented the interests of U.S. 

civil aviation manufacturers before senior members of the Government of India’s 

Ministries of External Affairs and Science, Technology, and Earth Sciences, as 

well as Indian high-technology industry officials. During the meeting, the OAAI 
79Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Team Leader proposed the creation of a “civil aviation” committee to the group. 

The creation of a civil aviation-focused committee would allow the HTCG to 

address more effectively the improvement of bilateral trade in civil aviation goods 

through the identification and elimination of tariff and nontariff barriers to trade, 

as well as identifying and exploiting common U.S.-Indian strategic interests. The 

Government of India and industry representatives took under consideration the 

inclusion of a civil aviation committee in future HTCG meetings. They decided 

to schedule further discussion and a decision on the inclusion of a civil aviation 

committee for a future meeting of the HTCG.

In FY08, OAAI initiated an expansion of the collaboration between DOC and 

the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) to expand 

global sales by small and medium-sized UAS manufacturers. DOC experts provided 

export control regulation and “how to export” briefings to attendees of the AUVSI 

Annual Conference and Trade Show in June 2008 and also provided one-on-one 

counseling to attendees. Additionally, DOC assisted foreign attendees participating 

in the conference, leading a trade delegation from South Korea, and provided marketing assistance for the conference through DOC’s global network of field offices.

The ITA U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (US&FCS) recorded 169 export 

successes valued at over $5 billion in FY08. An export success is an activity in 

which DOC personnel effectively assist a U.S. company with identifying new 

international sales channels or resolving an issue that is hindering an export sale. 

Commercial Service (CS) personnel influenced deals with small and medium-sized 

companies, as well as larger corporations such as the Boeing Company, Lockheed 

Martin, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. The CS held over 800 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 CS participated in 38 domestic and international aerospace trade events 

at which CS Aerospace Team members supported U.S. industry with one-onone counseling sessions, arranged individualized business-to-business meetings 

with international business partners, and provided additional export counseling 

services. ITA also sponsored Aerospace Products Literature Centers (APLCs) 

at several air shows, which offered low-cost, efficient venues for U.S. small to 
80Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

medium-sized aerospace companies to explore international and niche aerospace 

markets. This ITA trade show support generated hundreds of trade leads for partici-

pating companies, allowing them to enter or expand their exports to international 

markets. These international trade events included the Dubai Air Show, Singapore 

Air Show, Farnborough International Air Show, and Africa Aerospace & Defence, 

among others.

Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

DOC’s BIS provided greater regulatory certainty and predictability for exporters 

and reexporters of U.S.-origin aircraft and parts by revising and clarifying the regu-

latory interpretation of section 17(c) of the Export Administration Act. Section 

17(c) sets certain criteria for determining whether an aircraft part or component is 

subject to the export control jurisdiction of DOS, which generally regulates exports 

of military items, or of DOC, which generally regulates exports of items having 

primarily commercial uses.
81Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

deparTmenT of The inTerior

DOI

Remotely sensed data are important to the success of activities within the 

Department of the Interior (DOI) agencies. From traditional aerial photography 

to moderate-resolution Landsat satellite data and more specialized data collection 

systems, DOI personnel find remotely sensed data systems useful in evaluating land 

surface conditions over the vast areas for which DOI has responsibility. Access and 

applications of the data are often built on the longstanding partnership with NASA.

The various agencies within DOI and NASA frequently cooperate when 

remotely sensed data resources can be efficiently applied to problem solving. For 

example, active range and forest fires have caused damage to large areas of the 

country. DOI agencies have applied their combined talents and technical resources, 

especially remotely sensed data applications systems, to evaluate the impact of fires.

When individual fires have been identified and measured, a burn severity interagency team reviews the impact, extent, vegetation species affected, and critical 

habitat changed, and postfire recovery plans are developed from the evaluations.

The USGS, long known as an authoritative source of aerial photography and 

satellite-based imagery, has initiated new Earth observation work using Unmanned 

Aircraft Systems (UASes). In dangerous and remote areas, such as polar regions, 

volcanic islands, and expansive deserts, remote-controlled UAS technology provides more detailed and timely data about the status of natural resources and environmental conditions than would be feasible by any other means. In many cases, 

UAS technology proves to be a cost-effective way to gather Earth observation data 

for a wide variety of applications: managing Federal lands, investigating climate 

change, mapping and charting, conducting environmental risk assessments, and 

responding to and recovering from natural and human-induced disasters. UAS 
82Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

technology is an effective alternative to piloted aircraft flights that may not be 

feasible at times due to long flight durations, hazardous weather conditions, and 

associated operations cost. Satellite-based observations can be hindered by coarse 

image resolution, limited sensor capabilities, and repeat orbiting cycles of days or 

weeks. The use of UAS technology allows flexibility in delivering timely data to 

support informed decision making. Furthermore, data collection by UAS can be 

specifically tailored to the required resolution and radiometric parameters of indi-

vidual investigations. An important focus of this activity, working in partnership 

with many other Federal agencies, academia, and industry groups, leverages the 

commitment that the defense and intelligence communities have made in supporting UAS research.

During 2008, the USGS’ Rocky Mountain Geographic Science Center 

responded to numerous requests to support the U.S. Forest Service’s (USFS’) Rapid 

Assessment of Values at Risk (RAVAR) project. RAVAR is a modeling effort that 

provides dollar estimates of values (structures, infrastructure, etc.) as well as assess-

ments of nonmonetary values such as critical habitats that are threatened by a 

wildfire. When county-level parcel data are not available, the USFS’ Missoula Fire 

Lab requests the USGS to examine existing imagery for the existence and location 

of structures. The National Agricultural Imagery Program’s (NAIP’s) photography 

served as the primary source of imagery. The USGS provided the locations of over 

124,000 structures for over 275 1:24,000 scale 7.5-minute quadrangles to the USFS 

for analysis and use by the fire science community. The response time from request 

to data provision was normally around 5 hours, with anywhere from two to nine 

people working on a given request.

In the past 10 years, the average number of acres of forest and rangeland impacted 

yearly by wild land fire grew to over 7 million acres. The Geospatial Multi Agency 

Coordination (GeoMAC) application team integrates the following data: fire loca-

tions, provided by the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho; wild land 

fire perimeters, collected by Geographic Information System (GIS) specialists at 

the fire; and daily input from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer 

(MODIS) acquired from the USFS’ Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) 

in Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition to the fire data, GeoMAC also displays the 

Remote Access Weather Station data for hourly weather information. These data 
83Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

layers are displayed interactively with traditional base mapping layers. Users are 

able to get the latest wild land fire information across the Nation in a consistent 

manner. Users are able to view an active wild land fire on a map in relation to 

where they are or where their property is located. MODIS data give the users a 

sense of where the fire is going. MODIS collects heat signatures from the fires; 

when these are displayed daily with the field-collected perimeters, the direction 

of the fire starts to emerge. GeoMAC averages 50 million user requests yearly. In 

2008, researchers loaded nearly 6,000 fire perimeters into the application and made 

it available for downloading from a Web connection.

In the past decade, conifer forests in Colorado and many western states experienced widespread mortality from epidemic population outbreaks of insects such 

as the Mountain Pine Beetle. This condition may increase the risk of wildfire 

and other associated hazards and affect many key ecosystem services and social/

economic values. The USGS used advanced remote sensing techniques at several 

scales to quantify forest mortality in Grand County—the epicenter of Colorado’s 

outbreak and the source of much of the state’s water supply. A preliminary classification employed the Civil Air Patrol’s hyperspectral high-resolution (1-meter 

resolution) sensor to delineate several distinct stages of conifer mortality in a 

3.5-square-kilometer study area around several major reservoirs. Additionally, 

QuickBird imagery (2.4-meter resolution) assisted in producing a fine-scale 5-meter 

vegetation cover and conifer condition assessment spanning Central-Eastern 

Grand County. This information, along with the locations of structures and 

critical infrastructure, updated the eight traditional USGS 1:24,000 topographic 

maps covering the area, which are widely used by emergency response personnel 

during events such as wildfires. Finally, the USGS utilized 30-meter Landsat data 

to produce a moderate-resolution conifer condition assessment spanning Grand 

County and is developing a statewide assessment using the same methods. Remote 

sensing specialists, forest ecologists, and entomologists from both the USGS and 

the USFS continue to collaborate in calibrating these assessments with forest and 

fuels data collected in the field and with the traditional aerial surveys conducted 

by state and Federal forest services. The use of remote sensing technology enabled 

analysts to quantify forest conditions and associated fire hazards—critical information for resource managers, emergency responders, and scientists alike—in a 
84Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

more objective and repeatable manner and at a greater spatial scale than previous 

methods allowed.

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, Mid-Continent 

Region, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and the Western Region 

Technology Innovation and Professional Services Program partnered with 

Southern Illinois University on the first phase of a pilot study to evaluate the fea-

sibility of using remote sensing technology to develop a habitat assessment proto-

col for the endangered Indiana bat (Myotis sodalis). Phase one of this assessment 

technique used high-resolution satellite imagery along with geospatial applications 

to determine summer habitat quality in areas proposed for coal mining and areas 

reclaimed to forest. Combining this information with that collected through con-

ventional ground-monitoring studies creates new opportunities to help ensure that 

regulatory decisions provide protection for endangered species while still meeting 

the demands of energy development.

The Astrogeology Team of the USGS is a national resource for the integra-

tion of planetary geoscience, cartography, and remote sensing. A major source of 

funding support for the Astrogeology Team’s work comes from reimbursable proj-

ects funded by NASA, including continued involvement in the Mars Exploration 

Rovers (MER) mission whose twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, both surpassed 

1,650 sols (Martian days) of surface operations in 2008. Since the rovers’ landings 

in January 2004, USGS Astrogeology Team members led efforts to plan, acquire, 

archive, and interpret data from the rovers’ cameras, principally the Microscopic 

Imager on the instrument arm, along with analysis of color Panoramic Camera 

data from rocks, soils, and active processes on the surface of Mars. The USGS 

also led the Science Operations Working Group to plan each day of rover opera-

tions alongside science team members throughout the world and engineers at the 

Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Opportunity rover spent most of the year navigating inside the western rim of the 800-meter-diameter Victoria impact crater. While 

there, it analyzed the sulfate-rich, layered sandstones and extensively imaged the 

exposed, cross-bedded cliff faces. By the end of the year, Opportunity left Victoria 

to begin a 2-year trek to the southeast towards the 22-kilometer-diameter crater 

Endeavour. Spirit began the year driving across the 80-meter-diameter volcanic pla-

teau known as Home Plate to reach its “winter haven” location. There, it spent the 
85Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Martian winter parked at a 30° northerly tilt to generate sufficient power through 

its solar panels to survive the winter. While parked, it completed a systematic 

observing campaign of the surrounding terrain in preparation for driving south 

once Martian spring arrived.

The USGS Astrogeology Team directly supported the testing, calibration, operation, and analysis of images acquired by the High Resolution Imaging Science 

Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the MRO. This camera provides the highest resolution images of Mars from orbit (approximately 30 centimeters per pixel) 

and is being used to certify future spacecraft landing sites for the Mars Science 

Laboratory rover, as well as to support numerous Mars science investigations. The 

USGS supported a major portion of HiRISE image processing and analysis software 

development in 2008. The USGS and the University of Arizona used this software 

to process high-resolution monochrome and color images acquired by HiRISE and 

to construct the highest resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) of Mars ever 

made. These DEMs have been the subject of many recently published studies of 

Mars. In addition, images of the terrain explored by the MERs (along with the 

rovers themselves!) served to guide the MER team in its journey.

USGS Astrogeology Team members continued their participation as Science 

Team Members on the NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and its moon 

Titan, including in the following ways: (1) continuing the investigation of lakes 

and larger seas of hydrocarbons around Titan’s north pole; (2) following up 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, with more detailed 

studies of the time-evolution of the rotation to verify this theory; (3) beginning 

to systematically generate digital elevation models of Titan from stereo pairs of 

radar images to provide quantitative information about liquid transport, ice volcanism, and other processes; and (4) beginning the systematic production of Titan 

map products that will be archived in the NASA Planetary Data System in 2009, 

including image mosaics, topographic models, and maps of microwave emission 

and scattering properties relevant to understanding surface composition.

In 2008, DOI established a working group designed to foster and encourage the use of remote sensing data and technology and data applications within 

DOI. Among the group’s responsibilities are providing operational and scientific 
86Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

requirements for DOI and performing research, development, and training to pro-

mote and expand the range of uses of remote sensing and related products to meet 

DOI user needs.

In 2008, the USGS released the entire 36-year USGS Landsat archive. These 

data are of high quality, with limited cloud cover. The Web-based distribution 

system provided the user community with easier access to satellite images with 

acquisition dates ranging from 1972 to the day of the request. This Web-based 

distribution reflects a new paradigm of free Landsat data that will be expanded 

with the launch of the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM). LDCM launch 

is scheduled for December 2012. On March 1, 2008, Landsat 5 began its 25th year 

of operation, collecting data over the North American land mass. On April 15, 

Landsat 7 completed its 9th year of operation. The two Landsats, each designed to 

provide data for up to 5 years, continue to expand the 36+ year Landsat series of 

global observations. Landsat data remain a vital component used for monitoring 

wildfire mapping, crop identification, timber harvesting, and natural and anthro-

pocentric changes to the land surface of the planet.

The USGS completed an initiative to improve access to the vast and diverse 

USGS aerial photography film collections stored within the USGS archives. 

Beginning in October 2004, the USGS systematically digitized its film collections 

using high-performance digital camera systems to create 400-dot-per-inch (dpi) 

medium-resolution imagery. Technicians digitized and stored over 6 million frames 

and then provided them to the public over the Internet. The medium-resolution 

digital imagery extends the digital record back to 1940, providing scientists with 

ready access to important land data. Combining this historical digital photography 

with Landsat and other satellite and aerial collections results in a powerful tool for 

understanding changes to Earth’s land surface. Medium-resolution digitized imag-

ery and the Landsat archive data are available online for free downloading through 

Earth Explorer (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) and the Global Visualization Viewer 

(GloVis) (http://glovis.usgs.gov/).

The USGS Mineral Resources Program developed a new remote sensing method 

using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer 

(ASTER) data for regional mapping of minerals typically associated with cop-

per, gold, and silver deposits. Researchers used the data to create regional mineral 
87Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

maps that cover over 1,500,000 square kilometers of Iran, southern Kazakhstan, 

and western Mexico. These maps contributed to an ongoing global mineral 

resource assessment.

USGS scientists and their counterparts in west African countries completed 

land use and land cover (LULC) maps of 12 countries, including LULC trends from 

1972 to 2000. The national teams collaborated with the Agricultural-HydrologicalMeteorological (AGRHYMET) Regional Center in Niger, with support from the 

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and used Landsat data to 

complete the two periods of maps of the Republic of Senegal, The Gambia, GuineaBissau, Guinea, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Niger, and 

Chad. Scientists produced a new tool, the Rapid Land Cover Mapper, to facilitate 

the land cover change analyses across large spatial areas and frequent time periods. 

For most countries, this is the first definitive effort to visualize and quantify LULC 

changes at national levels. The maps and the trends remain vitally important for 

showing the rapid pace of environmental change, especially in this region where the 

human population growth rate is among the highest in the world and where drought 

has an impact on both human and natural ecosystems. The maps and trends show 

many kinds of land cover change. Major agricultural encroachment into the region’s 

savannas, woodlands, and forests results in the most common driver of change.

USGS scientists initiated a new activity in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to 

monitor the threatened and highly biodiverse remaining forests in each country. 

Working with their African counterparts, USGS scientists are using a combination 

of historical and recent Landsat and high-resolution imagery to establish forest 

baselines, including extent and canopy cover conditions. Surrounding land uses 

and natural resource management practices are being mapped as well. The project helps USAID and other national Government agencies monitor quantitative 

changes in forest resources, biodiversity, land use practices, and successes in natural 

resource management.

USGS scientists collaborated with NASA, the United Nations Environment 

Programme (UNEP), the World Conservation Monitoring Center, the Joint 

Research Centre of the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture 

Organization of the United Nations, Arizona State University, and Global 

Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics to map and monitor the 
88Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

distribution and dynamics of the mangrove forests of the world from 1990 to 

2005. This research is the first application of multitemporal Landsat data to assess 

and monitor global mangrove forest dynamics. For the first time, researchers will 

be able to prepare a wall-to-wall map of the remaining mangrove forests of the 

world using Landsat data. It is the first experiment to quantify the historical man-

grove forest cover change and to identify major deforestation fronts, causes, and 

consequences worldwide.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) accessed Landsat data from the USGS for 

many activities. The BIA processed and created a mosaic of the Fort Berthold 

Reservation to be used as the base layer for the Division of Energy and Minerals 

Resources. Mosaics created of reservations assisted in hybrid GIS products for land 

boundary use. High-resolution commercial imagery obtained from the USGS gave 

GIS programs the ability to create hybrid products. These hybrid products provide 

greater accuracy and a picture of what is actually on the ground versus a GIS prod-

uct of perceived ground cover. Remote sensing data delineated natural resources 

providing acreages of various types of ground cover.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used an array of remote sensing tech-

nologies to inventory, monitor, and address concerns about resource conditions, 

as well as energy and mineral resource extraction on public lands. The technolo-

gies ranged from simple digital cameras to USGS-NASA satellites (e.g., MODIS, 

Landsat). During 2008, BLM’s remote sensing efforts were concentrated in four 

primary areas: (1) fire mapping and rehabilitation monitoring, (2) rangeland moni-

toring, (3) vegetation and habitat mapping, and (4) surface disturbance mapping.

Aerial photography and orthoimagery remained the largest source of remote 

sensing data used at the BLM. Researchers used historical aerial photography to 

assist in determining the existence of roads prior to 1976 in an ongoing right-ofway legal issue in Utah. The BLM acquired and interpreted all existing dates of 

aerial photography to determine whether or not key roads and routes existed during 

certain time periods in the past. The BLM then submitted the data to the Office of 

the Solicitor General to be used as expert witness information in court.

The BLM undertook multiple photogrammetric projects in 2008. The Judith 

River and Arrow Creek projects highlighted the continued vital role photogram-

metry plays in supporting the BLM’s mission. The Judith River and Arrow Creek 
89Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

projects produced very detailed terrain data covering a several-mile stretch of each 

tributary to the Missouri River. BLM hydrologists used these data to model stream 

flows, which ultimately enabled the BLM to quantify Federal reserved water rights 

for the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument. The BLM used newly acquired 

digital aerial imagery at 3-inch resolution and image autocorrelation software to 

produce the digital terrain maps (DTMs) and digital stereo compilation environment to manually collect planimetric features and edit the DTM files.

Traditionally, and for 2008, fire-related activities remained the widest use of 

remote sensing data in the BLM. Most of the activities centered on infrared interpretation of active fires, postfire perimeter delineation, and vegetation classification 

for fire/fuel risk modeling and disturbance mapping. One example that highlights 

this traditional use included a collaboration between BLM Oregon State Office, 

USFS Region 6, and the Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL). Researchers used 

Landsat data to map annual forest disturbance intensity and type (e.g., harvest, fire, 

and insect outbreaks) throughout western Oregon and Washington between 1984 

and 2007. These data will provide a foundation for future management actions.

Remote sensing remained a component of all assessment efforts and continued 

to play a major role in the implementation and monitoring phases of this project. 

Burned Area Reflectance Classification maps assisted in deriving detailed burn 

perimeters and the identification of interior unburned islands, mapping soil burn 

severity classes, and serving as a surrogate for vegetation mortality. Additional 

assessment information derived from Landsat data included a map of prefire 

annual grasses and an analysis of recovery patterns on how previously treated and 

untreated fires compared to the current fire. The combination of these derived 

datasets, plus some other inputs, enabled the creation of more accurate reseeding 

plans for contractors than are typically available to the BLM. This availability 

resulted in more accurate Government cost estimates and allowed the placement 

of the “burned-not seeded controls” required by the monitoring plan. Remote 

sensing also became a valuable tool for the implementation and monitoring 

phases of the project. Access to remote sensing imagery and analyses enhanced 

the selection of both seeding locations and sampling locations. Monitoring 

support was four-fold:
90Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

•	 Determining short-term vegetation recovery and seedling effectiveness for 

the burn area.

Estimating annual grasses and perennial plant recovery.

“Extending” the value of ground-truth data and displaying patterns.

Laying the foundation for long-term mapping in the burn area.

•	

•	

•	

In conjunction with the USGS, under the Central Region Integrated Science 

Partnership Funds (CRISP), the BLM participated in projects using high-resolution 

imagery (QuickBird) and moderate-resolution imagery (Landsat and the Advanced 

Wide Field Sensor [AWiFS]) to develop methodologies to identify and map spe-

cies, cover, and height classes of sagebrush at multiple scales. The USGS has since 

applied these continuous field models to cover the entire state of Wyoming. These 

models represent continuous estimates (from 1 to 100 percent) of percentage of 

bare ground, percentage of herbaceousness (grass and forb), percentage of shrubs, 

and percentage of litter, which provide key inputs to allow better understanding 

of sage grouse habitat dynamics and the influences anthropogenic forces have on 

those habitats. The success of this new USGS mapping technique in Wyoming led 

the BLM to expand into other regions, not just to support habitat mapping, but to 

address a host of needs related to resource management planning.

The huge expansion of oil and gas development on public lands places extreme 

pressures on field offices within the BLM to track the impacts on the landscape. 

In response, the BLM attempts to better capture, quantify, and thus manage surface disturbance activities in order to understand how this development is affecting the landscape. Single projects by the USGS and the BLM in 2006 and 2007 

developed protocols for delineating surface disturbance activities in oil and gas 

development regions using orthophotography and high-resolution satellite data. In 

2008, the BLM implemented the procedures in field offices for doing this mapping. 

At least seven field offices (Rock Springs, Buffalo, White River, Glenwood Springs, 

Farmington, Pinedale, and Grand Junction) now employ or plan to employ imagery 

(aerial or satellite) and variations on the protocols developed by the USGS and the 

BLM to map and monitor these surface disturbance activities. The White River 

Field Office represents a prime example of how remote sensing and planning are 

being integrated to address a pressing management question.
91Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

LIDAR is an increasingly valuable tool that supports natural resource management activities. The BLM’s Oregon and Idaho State Office actively pursued LIDAR 

projects to support multiple management needs. The Oregon/Washington BLM 

Office works as a partner in the Oregon LIDAR Consortium to acquire LIDAR 

data cooperatively within the state of Oregon. The BLM used these data for a 

variety of ongoing projects, including a silviculture program that used Landsat and 

previous LIDAR data covering the Panther Creek watershed as a test to create a 

process to capture timber stands for inventory purposes. The Landsat images provide species information and, combined with the LIDAR, will also provide density 

and timber volume information.

The National Park Service (NPS) has a long history and standing investment 

in remote sensing and GPS technologies. Today, a wide range of projects and 

programs have business requirements that utilize aerial and spaceborne platforms 

ranging from acquisition to applications and the use of imagery in reports and 

related products.

The NPS’ Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program, Southwest Alaska Network, 

used a combination of high-resolution IKONOS imagery, Landsat data, and historic 

aerial photographs to quantify decadal changes in glacier ice cover (1973–2002) 

and to document land cover change (1955–2005) in three national park units. In 

addition, MODIS data assisted in documenting seasonal variation in lake ice and in 

calculating growing season metrics across the study region.

The Southwest Alaska Network, in cooperation with NASA, used Landsat data 

to quantify current glacial extent and changes in ice cover over a roughly 30-year 

period in Kenai Fjords, Katmai, and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. 

Scientists used automated classification techniques and manual interpretation to 

delineate ice boundaries. In addition, the NPS and the USGS developed a baseline DEM for the Bear and Exit Glaciers using LIDAR data acquired through a 

partnership grant.

Under an Interagency Agreement with the USFS-Pacific Northwest Research 

Station, the Southwest Alaska Network developed methods for using Landsat data 

to detect changes in land cover in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve (1987–

2005), including loss of tree cover due to fire or insect outbreaks, shrub establishment on glacial outwash and/or abandoned river channels, and pond drying. 
92Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

The new analytical approach resulted in more stable and thematically consistent 

labels for changes occurring on the landscape and better integration of information 

from the existing land cover maps. Additional funding from NASA supported the 

analysis of scenes from Katmai National Park and Preserve.

Evaluating approximately 423,952 acres of parklands, researchers generated 

wild land fire burn severity products from Landsat data for 18 fires that occurred 

between 2005 and 2007 within Alaska national parks. Resulting data products 

included burn severity datasets and detailed fire perimeters, which NPS distributed 

to park staff and public users.

A University of Colorado research team, in coordination with the Alaska Arctic 

Inventory and Monitoring Network, continued to assess rates of coastal erosion 

and accretion along the shores of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and Cape 

Krusenstern National Monument. The team used repeat aerial photography with 

time series from the 1950s, 1980s, and 2003, as well as IKONOS satellite imagery, 

to determine coastline changes. The project will assist NPS in developing proto-

cols to continue acquiring aerial photographs and satellite imagery for long-term 

monitoring of the coastline. Significant changes to the 450 kilometers of coastline along the park shorelines became evident by comparing the imagery. These 

changes affect animal habitat, water, soil, permafrost, and other aspects of coastal 

ecosystems, cultural resources, and local communities.

NPS Yellowstone National Park staff used a temporal series of high-resolution 

(1-meter resolution or less) imagery and Landsat-derived Normalized Burn 

Ratio products to delineate stand-replacing fire effects from 1988 to the present 

in Yellowstone National Park. The park purchased 1,600 square kilometers of 

QuickBird 2-foot-resolution imagery along road corridors and developed areas. This 

imagery will be used for multiple park projects, including updating buildings, roads, 

utilities, vegetation, and trails in GIS data layers. Since high-resolution imagery 

became the de facto background base map for park operations maps, the QuickBird 

imagery will also be used as background imagery for cartographic products.

Starting in 2005, the NPS became DOI’s sponsoring agency for the Monitoring 

Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project as a joint venture between DOI and 

USFS with the USGS and the USFS Remote Sensing Application Center (RSAC) 

responsible for the project. MTBS maps all wild land and prescribed fires greater 
93Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

than 1,000 acres in the West and 500 acres in the East from the present back to 

the early 1980s.

The NPS continued a longstanding use and demand for imagery-derived 

products to support the vegetation inventories on 270 national parks. The 

list of ongoing projects can be viewed at the collaborative project Web site: 

http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/.

During 2008, the USGS completed two studies documenting historic and contemporary coastal erosion rates along a portion of the Beaufort Sea Arctic coastline. To conduct this study, researchers combined high-resolution imagery collected 

from aircraft and satellites with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) 

data collection along the coastline at numerous times during 2007 and 2008. The 

combination of these high-resolution spatial and temporal data sources allowed 

staff to characterize trends in coastal erosion from 1955 to the present. Between 

1955 and 1979, erosion rates along this portion of the Beaufort Sea coast averaged 

22 feet per year. Between 1979 and 2002, erosion rates increased to 28 feet per year. 

Since 2002, erosion rates accelerated, averaging nearly 45 feet per year. During 

this most recent 6-year period, erosion rates also became more uniform across the 

study coastline, partially accounting for the rapid increase. Between mid-July 2007 

and the end of August 2008, scientists measured local erosion as high as 60 meters 

through repeat DGPS surveys of the bluff line. Changing arctic conditions resulted 

in substantial increases to the erosion of this northern coastline. Concurrent arctic 

changes potentially responsible for this shift in the rate and pattern of land loss 

include declining sea ice extent, increasing summertime sea surface temperature, 

rising sea level, and increases in storm power and corresponding wave action. 

Taken together, these factors may lead to a new regime of ocean-land interactions 

that are repositioning and reshaping the Arctic coastline. Implications associated 

with these recent trends towards accelerated coastal erosion seem numerous. As 

large portions of the Arctic become targeted for additional hydrocarbon development, it will be very important to maintain this monitoring program as more knowledge of the changes in the patterns and rates of coastline erosion will be needed to 

develop appropriate strategies and structures for onshore and offshore development.

Studies indicated that shrub cover may be increasing across the Arctic, and 

this activity likely holds important implications for hydrology and habitat at the 
94Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

local to regional scales and might impact global climate by decreasing albedo 

across the Arctic. The primary aim of an additional study will determine which 

remotely sensed datasets are most effective for mapping shrub cover in the Arctic 

at a moderate spatial resolution (approximately 250 meters). During the sum-

mer of 2008, researchers collected shrub canopy density measurements along 

61 transects covering a 90- by 12-kilometer swath of IKONOS imagery extend-

ing from the northern Brooks Range foothills to the southern edge of the Arctic 

Coastal Plain. Preliminary results indicated that Landsat and Multiangle Imaging 

SpectroRadiometer (MISR) datasets seem most useful for mapping shrub canopy 

in the Arctic. Finer spatial resolution appeared to be more important for accurately 

mapping shrub cover than additional spectral, angular, or temporal information, 

even for coarse resolution mapping applications. Multispectral data seemed sub-

stantially more useful for mapping shrub cover than multiangular or multitemporal 

data, though combining the multispectral and multiangular data from MISR does 

boost accuracy slightly above that obtained by using MISR multispectral data alone.

For several years now, the USGS Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center 

has used a combination of Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) data, land 

cover data, ground-based surveys, and bird-banding projects to compare move-

ment patterns, species composition, and habitat associations of migratory birds in 

the Upper Mississippi River floodplain and adjacent uplands. These results help 

resource managers optimize locations for energy projects, telephone towers, and 

habitat restoration projects.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s (BOR’s) Water Conservation Group within the 

Lower Colorado Region used high-resolution aerial imagery to update digital 

agricultural field boundary databases and to map vegetation crown closures in 

phreatophyte communities along the Lower Colorado River. Medium-resolution 

Landsat data contributed to mapping crop types and open water surfaces in the 

same area. All data went into computing consumptive water use along the Lower 

Colorado River.

The Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Group (RSGIG) with BOR’s 

Denver Office mapped agricultural evapotranspiration in western Colorado using 

an energy balance approach that utilized a time series of Landsat satellite imagery 

acquired over a growing season. The resulting evapotranspiration map will be an 
95Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

input used to estimate total consumptive water use within the Upper Colorado 

River Basin.

RSGIG personnel also used high-definition video and digital multispectral still 

images acquired from a helicopter to map in-stream habitats and invasive vegetation species along the Yampa, Green, Colorado, Gunnison, and San Juan Rivers 

within the Upper Colorado River Basin. Maps of in-stream habitats obtained from 

imagery acquired at different river discharges are used to identify river flow regimes 

that favor the survival of endangered fish species, and maps of invasive vegetation 

species are used to monitor their spread and plan control efforts.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) uses a diverse set of remotely sensed 

data, from traditional aerial images to satellite radar, and GPS technology to support a wide variety of mission activities including wetland inventory and mapping, 

habitat and vegetation mapping, fish and wildlife population monitoring, habitat 

assessments, data and map verification and updating, trend analysis and other models, climate change mapping, strategic habitat conservation (SHC), and management plans. The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC), which include 

the Landsat dataset and National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD), and NAIP remain 

widely used in the FWS to support many of these activities. As one example of the 

diversity of remotely sensed data applications, this year marks the 50th anniversary 

of using aerial observers for waterfowl surveys. The following examples of current 

applications using remote sensing and GPS do not include the enormous amount of 

time and effort spent on processing and analyzing these geospatial image datasets.

The FWS serves as the lead Federal agency for the Office of Management and 

Budget’s (OMB’s) Circular A-16: “National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI),” 

wetland data theme section. NWI began over 30 years ago by mapping wetland 

types using USGS spring, leaf-off, high-altitude, black-and-white/color infrared 

(CIR) aerial photographs using the Cowardin classification system. Currently, 

NWI uses a variety of state or local government-acquired spring, leaf-off, CIR 

aerial digital imagery to inventory and update wetland maps. NWI also uses U.S. 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) NAIP imagery in some update projects; 

however, NAIP imagery is not ideal because the images are taken in midsummer 

(leaf-on). For the upcoming 2010 national wetlands status and trends report, NWI 

acquired aerial imagery and some high-resolution satellite imagery for this past 
96Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

year to map wetland changes on plots scattered across America. The National 

Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) also supplied high-resolution commercial imagery in scattered project areas throughout the country where current 

commercial-ready sources were not available. The 2008 Intergovernmental Panel 

on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) “Climate Change and Water Technical Paper” con-

siders wetlands to be the most vulnerable habitat subject to climate change. As a 

result, the need to map and monitor wetland habitats has substantially increased, 

not only for habitat and landscape planning, but also for assessing climate change 

impacts on fish, wildlife, and human resources.

The FWS Midwest Region started work using Phased Array type L-band 

Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) and RADARSAT imagery for improved wetland extent delineation and water elevation change mapping in collaboration with 

the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS) and the Michigan Tech Research 

Institute (MTRI). The Midwest Region also worked with the City of St. Paul and 

with Airborne Data Systems to demonstrate near-real-time, 1-foot, multispectral 

imagery and three-dimensional (3-D) images for city land use planning. The 

FWS Midwest Region used aerial photography, GPS, and aerial surveillance to 

support wildlife counts (e.g., waterfowl, deer, bald eagles), law enforcement, land 

use surveys, fire assessments, easement violations, and fisheries and wildlife habi-

tat management, as well as for radio telemetry tracking of wildlife and fish. The 

Midwest Region Aviation Program acquired aerial photographs for 17 National 

Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) and the Northern Prairie Pothole Region. Using this 

information, the Midwest Region developed terrestrial and aquatic vegetation maps 

and analytical reports for refuges for use in Comprehensive Conservation Plans. 

With support from the USFS, the Midwest Region also mapped Oak Wilt disease 

areas at Sherburne NWR from 2008 CIR aerial photographs. The Midwest Region 

collected historical aerial photograph film stored for over 50 years at FWS field 

offices, scanned and georeferenced the scans, and sent the film to the USGS for 

permanent archiving. The scope of aerial photograph and surveillance missions 

will continue to expand (including the purchase of a medium-format airborne digi-

tal camera system) in the Midwest Region with missions on the Upper Mississippi 

River for the development of land use/land cover data for the navigable portions of 

the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
97Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

The Gulf Coast Joint Venture (GCJV) used a combination of aerial photography 

and satellite imagery for developing habitat models for priority bird species along 

the western Gulf Coast. The GCJV used both USGS digital orthophotographs and 

USDA NAIP orthophotographs for estimating the amount of available foraging 

habitat for wintering waterfowl in emergent coastal marshes. Landsat data helped 

model redhead ducks for protection and enhancement ponds based on available 

shallow shoal grass, distance to freshwater basins from foraging sites, and degree of 

isolation and permanence. The GCJV also used Landsat data to develop estimates 

of seasonal surface water on agricultural landscapes for wintering waterfowl and 

fall migrating shorebirds.
98Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
99Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

federal CommuniCaTions

Commission

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formulates rules to facilitate the provision of commercial satellite services in the United States. It also 

issues licenses for the launch and operation of all nongovernmental U.S. satellites. 

Internationally, the FCC coordinates satellite radio-frequency usage with other 

countries. The FCC’s activities in FY08 related primarily to commercial communications satellites and Earth observation satellites.

The FCC took two significant actions in rule-making proceedings in FY08. In 

one proceeding, the FCC modified the rules concerning the use of radio-frequency 

spectrum in the 1.6- through 2.4-gigahertz frequency range to provide for an equitable distribution of frequencies between the two currently operating systems. 

For one of the two systems, the FCC also increased the amount of 1.6- through 

2.4-gigahertz radio-frequency spectrum available for services provided using terrestrial stations integrated into the satellite service offered to consumers. The FCC 

also modified the licenses for the two systems to implement both decisions.

On February 21, 2008, the FCC modified licenses held by the satellite operator Intelsat. The modifications added certain conditions to Intelsat’s space station licenses, as requested by the U.S. Department of State, in consultation with 

the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The U.S. 

Department of State requested that the FCC design the conditions in order to 

promote the fulfillment of U.S. obligations under an international agreement and 

to promote the fulfillment of U.S. foreign policy objectives.

The FCC’s second Annual Report to Congress on the state of competition 

in the communications satellite services industry examined information from 
100Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

calendar year 2007. The FCC found effective competition in the six wholesale and 

two retail satellite services markets addressed, despite increasing concentration in 

some market segments. The FCC concluded that the consumers of communica-

tions satellite services continue to realize significant benefits in terms of service 

choice, innovations fostered by technological change, and improvements in both 

space and ground segments, as well as improvements in service quality.

The FCC authorized a number of commercial communications satellite launches 

and operations. The authorizations are as follows:

•	 October 4, 2007: To DG Consents for a nongeostationary remote sensing satellite.

October 18, 2007: To PanAmSat for a geostationary satellite planned for 

the longitude 123° west orbit location.

January 11, 2008: To EchoStar for a geostationary satellite planned for the 

longitude 110° west orbit location.

March 12, 2008: To EchoStar for a geostationary satellite planned for the 

longitude 61.5° west orbit location.

March 21, 2008: To Orbcomm to construct, launch, and operate 24 new 

satellites to replenish and enhance its nongeostationary mobile satel-

lite system. The satellites include equipment for monitoring Automatic 

Identification System (AIS) channels. AIS is a shipboard broadcast system 

that transmits a marine vessel’s identification and position to aid in navi-

gation and maritime safety.

•	

•	

•	

•	

The FCC granted a number of license modifications and Special Temporary 

Authorizations for satellite networks. Many involved the routine testing or rede-

ployment of satellites within a multiple-satellite system. Two actions, however, warrant particular mention.

•	 October 31, 2007: The FCC granted Intelsat authority to transfer con-

trol of the Intelsat 601 satellite to a German subsidiary, which would 

operate the satellite at the longitude 47.5° east orbit location under a 

German authorization.
101 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

•	 March 28, 2008: The FCC granted PanAmSat authority to operate the 

SBS-6 satellite at the longitude 80.9° west orbit location, consistent with 

satellite coordination arrangements with Argentina.

The FCC added two non-U.S.-licensed space stations to the Commission’s permitted space station list in order to allow these space stations to provide domestic 

and international satellite service to U.S. Earth stations that have routine technical parameters. Specifically, on August 6, 2008, the FCC added the United 

Kingdom’s AMC-21 space station to its permitted list for Ku-band frequencies. On 

February 7, 2008, the FCC added the Brazilian Star One C5 space station to its 

permitted list for C- and Ku-band frequencies.

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 as listed below:

•	 March 27, 2008: Satamatics, Skywave Mobile, Stratos, and Vizada 

received permanent authorization to use multiple terminals in L-band 

frequencies to access the United Kingdom’s Inmarsat 4F2 satellite at the 

longitude 52.75° west orbit location.

July 28, 2008: EchoStar received authorization to deploy terminals to 

receive direct-to-home service from the EchoStar 6 satellite, licensed by 

Canada to operate at the longitude 72.7° west orbit location.

•	

The FCC also remained active in international satellite coordination. In the first 

quarter of FY08, the FCC reached a total of 43 Administration-to-Administration 

Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks with the United Kingdom, Pakistan, 

South Korea, and Luxembourg. In the second quarter of FY08, the FCC reached a 

total of 32 Administration-to-Administration Coordination Agreements for U.S. 

networks with the Netherlands. In the third quarter of FY08, the FCC reached a 

total of five Administration-to-Administration Coordination Agreements for U.S. 

networks with Malaysia.
102Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
103 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

u.s. deparTmenT of agriCulTure

USDA

As the primary research agency for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) conducts research to solve problems 

affecting food and fiber production, including water, air, and soil quality issues. 

ARS collaborates with NASA in partnership with other USDA agencies (Natural 

Resources Conservation Service [NRCS], Risk Management Agency [RMA], 

World Agricultural Outlook Board [WAOB], Foreign Agricultural Service [FAS], 

National Agricultural Statistics Service [NASS], and Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service [APHIS]) to develop technologies that will help the agencies 

carry out their missions. Partnerships with other Federal agencies, universities, 

industry, and state governments also remain important to ARS research.

ARS conducted remote sensing research to develop technologies for the management of water and soil resources, crop production, and rangeland resources, 

as well as for understanding the impact of changing climate on managed and 

natural ecosystems. The sensor systems included satellite systems, airborne systems including UAVs, on-the-go sensors mounted on field equipment, and other 

ground-based systems.

Water quality and quantity management continued to be the largest area of 

emphasis for ARS remote sensing activities. Researchers demonstrated that thermal 

infrared (TIR) data could be used to map evapotranspiration and plant moisture 

stress from scales ranging from within-field to continental. ARS scientists have also 

shown that TIR and multispectral visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared 

data could be used to schedule irrigation, perform spatially variable irrigation, map 

drought, estimate soil moisture, and estimate vegetation canopy water content. 
104Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Further research into more efficient fertilizer applications using remote sensing of 

crop nitrogen status will reduce excess fertilizer losses to the environment, thus 

leading to improved water quality and better economic returns to farmers.

ARS also researched the remote sensing of invasive weeds as a tool for manag-

ing rangeland and understanding the impacts of changing climate. Researchers 

developed a prototype rangeland decision support tool for public land management 

incorporating remote sensing for access via the Internet.

Scientists researched the management of soil resources using remotely sensed 

information via projects to map crop tillage practices, crop residue cover, and 

soil carbon. These applications remain important for conserving soil and water, 

sustaining soil quality, and sequestering carbon. Soil moisture retrieval research 

continued through the development of algorithms for the retrieval of soil moisture 

from aircraft and satellite sensors. Wetland assessment using radar remote sensing 

is being developed as a tool to better understand and manage the fate of agro-

chemicals and sediment.

ARS developed a data assimilation system for merging land surface information 

from models and remote sensing into a single enhanced estimate of land surface 

variables including root-zone soil moisture, stream flow, and evapotranspiration. 

The data assimilation technique can enhance the value of remote sensing retriev-

als for monitoring key environmental variables, as well as improved precipitation 

estimates from numerical weather prediction models.

ARS continued to work with Utah State University to develop a LIDAR system 

for measuring particulate matter emissions to the atmosphere from agricultural 

sources. The system enables whole-facility mapping of emissions from animal, crop, 

and postprocessing facilities. As a tool, airborne LIDAR allows researchers to map 

riparian vegetation species and provide estimates of plant canopy characteristics 

that can be used to estimate the water use of semiarid riparian systems.

ARS scientists also contributed to the development of the next generation of 

satellite remote sensing systems through LDCM and the Soil Moisture ActivePassive (SMAP) mission.

As the extramural research arm of the USDA, the Cooperative State Research, 

Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) primarily provides financial assis-

tance, in the form of grants, to conduct high-priority agricultural research and 
105 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

education. The CSREES awarded many grants that used NASA data products to 

solve complex, environmentally related problems on topics such as water use, forest 

carbon management, air quality, and invasive species. A few examples of these 

topics supported by CSREES that used NASA data products include the following:

•	 Validated estimates of evapotranspiration from satellite imagery to 

develop subsurface drainage technologies for improved crop production.

Provided information for making decisions about which options for 

managing carbon sources and sinks are observable and quantifiable with 

remote sensing data in northeastern U.S. forests.

Developed a method for determining the extent, timing, and total combusted biomass of rangeland burns in the Flint Hills of Kansas (used 

MODIS remote sensing data).

Examined how biochemical differences among invasive and native species 

may explain invasive species’ success across environmental gradients and 

how this biochemical information can be used to identify invasive species’ 

distribution and spread using remote sensing techniques.

•	

•	

•	

The CSREES also funded long-term studies in Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, 

and Wisconsin that utilized 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 several geospatial extension programs at land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institutions with 

NASA’s SMD. These geospatial outreach programs have continued to operate after 

the funding terminated to help train local and regional technologists in the use of 

NASA data products and geospatial technologies. By leveraging the ongoing coordination in these state geospatial programs in the realm of geospatial technologies 

(e.g., interoperability, standards, metadata, and architecture), the geospatial extension specialists will help ensure that the vast quantity of data and information 

being collected by NASA and other Federal agencies is utilized effectively and 

shared more broadly with the public.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers and manages farm commodity, 

credit, conservation, disaster, and loan programs as laid out by Congress through 

a network of Federal, state, and county offices. Geospatial data play a fundamental 

role in the management of FSA’s programs. The agency maintains a nationally 
106Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

consistent geospatial dataset representing farm and field boundaries known as 

Common Land Units (CLUs). FSA uses CLUs, digital soil surveys, 1-meter imag-

ery, and other datasets for program implementation, management, and monitoring, 

as well as for response and recovery efforts during natural disasters. For example, 

FSA used remotely sensed data to determine the agricultural impacts of the 2008 

Midwest floods and to support allocations of over $45 million of Emergency 

Conservation Program funds to restore agricultural lands damaged by the flooding. 

FSA also used remotely sensed data in ongoing reforestation efforts associated with 

the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and other Gulf Coast hurricanes. In South 

Dakota, FSA used imagery and other datasets to identify land use conversion of 

rangeland/pastureland to cropland. Record high prices for corn and other agricul-

tural commodities precipitated this land conversion.

As the primary source of aerial imagery for the USDA, FSA administers the 

National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP), leveraging partnership funds from 

other Federal, state, and local entities to acquire imagery during the agricultural 

growing season over the continental United States. In 2008, FSA acquired imagery 

over 20 states across the Nation. This imagery, as well as a large imagery archive, 

remains available to the public through the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway.

The Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS’) Office of Global Analysis (OGA) 

served as the focal point within FAS and the USDA for assessing the global agri-

cultural production outlook and conditions that affected world food security. The 

FAS also housed the USDA Satellite Imagery Archive (SIA). The SIA saved the 

USDA millions of dollars through a USDA-wide data-sharing agreement that 

employed a centralized acquisition strategy to eliminate redundant satellite purchases and decrease satellite data costs. The FAS satellite remote sensing program 

remained a critical element in the USDA’s analysis of global agricultural produc-

tion and crop conditions by providing timely, accurate, and unbiased estimates of 

global area, yield, and production. Satellite-derived early warnings of unusual crop 

conditions and production enabled more rapid and precise determinations of global 

supply conditions in regions such as Central Asia and the Middle East.

The FAS exploited many global imagery datasets, 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 
107 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

to rely on Earth observations from the commercial sector and the international 

community while supporting the U.S. Government space agencies and DOD 

through cooperative agreements in which FAS 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.

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) 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 wild land fire mapping products 

daily for the Continental United States (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 USFS posted these products on the Internet at http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us, where they were accessible to 

national fire managers and the general public.

More than 2 million users accessed the MODIS Active Fire Maps Web site during 2008. The MODIS fire mapping products provided the interagency fire community with a synoptic view of the wild land fire situation; this view aided in the 

strategic allocation of firefighting resources and assets throughout the country. A 

collaborative effort with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and the 

University of Maryland has 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 USFS also continued to work with NASA 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 
108Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

communication datalinks, UAV development, and mission profiling for tactical 

wild land fire mapping.

The USFS and ARC collaborated on significant flight demonstrations in 2008. 

In July and August, a General Atomics Reaper-class aircraft (named Ikhana) flew 

several scheduled missions covering California and Oregon. The missions 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 throughout the course of each flight. The flights varied 

in duration from 6 to 10 hours. These flights resulted from a collaborative effort 

between RSAC, ARC, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, and the National 

Interagency Fire Center. Due to the success of this partnership, the USFS is actively 

incorporating many of the technologies demonstrated on board the Ikhana aircraft.

During FY08, NASS used remote sensing data to construct and sample area 

frames for statistical surveys, estimate crop area and yield, and create crop-specific 

land cover data layers as inputs for GIS. NASS uses remote sensing data and tech-

niques to improve the accuracy of its statistics. For example, NASS used Landsat 

imagery, digital NAIP orthophoto quadrangles, and other remotely sensed inputs 

for CONUS and Puerto Rico to select the yearly area-based samples for the June 

Agricultural Survey. In addition, NASS constructed new area-based sampling 

frames in Louisiana and Oklahoma and converted Montana and Wyoming data 

from paper to digital format. All area sampling frames in the conterminous states 

have now been converted to digital GIS format.

The remote sensing acreage estimation project used Resourcesat-1’s Advanced 

Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) and NASA MODIS data to produce crop acreage 

estimates for major crops at the state and county levels for 19 Midwestern and 

Mississippi Delta states for the 2008 crop year. The FAS SIA provided the AWiFS 

imagery through a cooperative partnership. Researchers derived remote sensingbased acreage estimates from a crop-specific land cover categorization called the 

Cropland Data Layer (CDL). The ground truth for building the CDL came from 

the FSA CLU program over the agricultural domain, while the U.S. Geological 

Survey’s National Land Cover Dataset, circa 2001, provided the nonagricultural 

ground truth. NASS provided acreage estimates in season during the 2008 crop 

year for select winter wheat states in the June Agricultural Survey and for the 
109 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

major corn- and soybean-producing states in the official August and October Crop 

Production Reports. Because of the improved timeliness, the NASS Agricultural 

Statistics Board used the remote sensing estimates when setting the official estimates. In addition, NASS distributed the CDL for each of the completed states 

to users for the previous 2007 crop season on DVD and via the USDA Geospatial 

Data Gateway Web site.

NASS utilized MODIS, Landsat, and AWiFS satellites to help mitigate the 

flooding impacts in the Midwest during June 2008. The satellite data assisted in 

determining areas affected by the flooding while the June Agricultural Survey 

remained ongoing. NASS identified the flooded areas and selected a subsample 

of farm operations for re-interview. The satellite imagery plotted the physical 

locations of respondents and nonrespondents to show no geographic difference 

between respondents and nonrespondents. This result allowed the Agricultural 

Statistics Board to incorporate major natural disaster effects in the June Acreage 

Report released on June 30.

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 Illinois, Indiana, 

Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska. The Agricultural Statistics Board utilized estimates from this algorithm when setting the official September and October yield 

estimates for these states.

The Economic Research Service (ERS) used a host of derived datasets, such 

as the USGS National Land Cover and Global Land Cover datasets, to quantify 

domestic and international agricultural efficiency and to track environmental 

responses to changes in agricultural markets and policies. These activities included 

assessing land use change in response to the rapid rise in ethanol production and 

commodity prices. The ERS also used USDA imagery-derived products, such as 

the FSA Common Land Unit and Conservation Reserve Program boundaries, 

the NRCS detailed soils database, and NASS survey area frames and cropland 

datasets, to support a host of research projects informing natural resource agricultural policy decisions. Through the ERS farm- and field-level survey program, the 

ERS collected and tabulated information on farmer usage of remote sensing and 

GPS technologies.
110Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
111 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

naTional sCienCe foundaTion

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) continued to serve as the lead Federal 

agency for the support of ground-based astronomy. Through the Divisions of 

Astronomical Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, and Physics, as well as through the 

Office of Polar Programs, NSF sponsored a broad base of observational, theoretical, 

and laboratory research aimed at understanding the states of matter and physical 

processes in the universe. Areas of research ranged from the most distant reaches 

of the universe and the earliest moments of its existence to nearby stars and planets, including our own Sun and planetary system, as well as Earth’s atmosphere and 

space environment.

Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST)

AST 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 remain accessible to the community on the basis of scientific merit. 

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). 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—and provided the United 

States’ share of support for the program.
112Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

In partnership with Europe, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan, construction continued 

on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an interferometer 

located near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. FY08 saw the arrival of further anten-

nas at the mid-level (9,000-foot elevation) site in Chile, now comprising a total of 

11: 7 from the United States and 4 from Japan. Acceptance testing of the first two 

antennas by the ALMA Project is close to completion. The two antenna trans-

porters arrived at the Atacama site to move antennas around the mid-level site. 

Workers installed the first quadrant of the digital correlator inside the high-site 

(17,000-foot) technical building. The first two cryostats containing preproduction 

receivers arrived in Chile, and workers installed one unit, along with the photonic 

and digital electronics systems, in an antenna.

AST continued support for the development of the 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 recommended as a mod-

erate-sized project by the National Research Council of the National Academy of 

Sciences. In FY08, the ATST passed a comprehensive Preliminary Design Review 

and was deemed ready by the National Science Board for inclusion in a future 

budget in NSF’s Major Research Equipment Facilities Construction queue. The 

ATST project, with oversight by NSF, will conduct a Final Design Review in the 

spring of 2009 and will publish the final Environmental Impact Statement in the 

summer of 2009.

In FY08, AST continued to fund a 4-year technology development and design 

effort for the proposed Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST would 

be a 6.5-meter effective aperture telescope with a field of view exceeding 3°. In 

addition, the LSST would use a 3-gigapixel camera to image the entire accessible 

sky repeatedly, producing approximately 20 terabytes of data nightly. The science 

goals of the LSST project span the fields of cosmology, galactic structure, and 

solar system astronomy. The LSST would undertake both a census of distant 

(trans-Neptunian) solar system objects and surveys of near-Earth and potentially 

hazardous asteroids. Over a 10-year lifetime, the LSST would provide a 90-percentcomplete sample of potentially hazardous objects with diameters greater than 

250 meters and an 80-percent-complete sample of those with diameters down to 
113 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

140 meters. The University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab is fabricating the 8.4-meter-diameter primary/tertiary mirror using funds donated from 

private sources.

AST continued its support for the construction and commissioning of the 

Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), a new 6-meter-diameter millimeter-wave 

telescope located at 5,200 meters (17,000 feet) on Cerro Toco in the Atacama 

Desert of northern Chile, near the ALMA site. It is designed to measure minute variations in intensity of the cosmic microwave background (the radiation 

at microwave wavelengths that is a remnant of the Big Bang) to study how the 

universe began, what it is made of, and how it evolved to its current state. ACT 

is a dedicated special-purpose telescope and is equipped with a state-of-the-art 

customized camera with over 2,500 detectors cooled to a third of a degree above 

absolute zero. During FY08, scientists completed, debugged, installed, and operated 

the millimeter-wavelength camera at the telescope. ACT became fully operational 

in August 2008 and obtained measurements that span size scales on the sky two 

to three times finer than those of any previous experiment. When analyzed completely, the data will provide new insights into the early history and structure of 

the universe.

Division of Atmospheric Sciences (ATM)

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) midsize 

jet aircraft. The GV is FAA-certified to operate at 51,000 feet. Its ability to fly for 

a long duration (over 12 hours), its range (over 6,000 kilometers), and its scientific 

payload capacity (6,000 pounds) enabled scientific research heretofore not possible with existing U.S. research platforms. The GV is the most advanced airborne 

research platform in the U.S. civilian fleet. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) 

recently completed modifications to and instrumentation of a Gulfstream 550 

that can “partner” with NSF GV. In FY08, the GV performed the first of several 

long-duration flights for the HIAPER Pole to Pole Observations (HIPPO) deployment to study the carbon cycle and greenhouse gases. HIPPO conducted flights 

from Colorado, Alaska, Tahiti, Fiji, Easter Island, New Zealand, and Costa Rica. 

The Research Aircraft Facility at the National Center for Atmospheric Research 
114Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

(NCAR), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center of NSF, contin-

ues to operate and maintain HIAPER. NCAR also operates and maintains NSF’s 

C-130Q research aircraft. During the GV’s expected lifetime of 10 to 25 years, 

new instrumentation innovations will be continually integrated onto the airframe 

as appropriate.

The Upper Atmospheric Research Section (UARS) supported a wide variety 

of research programs in space science in FY08. These included the funding of 

advanced radar systems to study the ionosphere and magnetosphere, ground-based 

optical equipment to study the aurora and airglow, partial support to ground-based 

solar telescopes and instruments, and a wide-ranging portfolio of basic research 

in space physics. Major UARS-funded 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. 

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 magneto-

sphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. CISM researchers integrated these results 

with education and outreach activities. An effective knowledge transfer program 

also ensured that CISM shared the models for use in operational space weather 

forecasting centers of the United States Air Force and NOAA.

Throughout FY08, the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) for 

space weather research, cosponsored by NSF and NASA and located at GSFC, 

continued to provide the research community with access to state-of-the-art space 

weather models and conducted important model validation activities necessary for 

the transition of research models to operational use.

Research facilities remained as the key component of UARS efforts. The UAF 

program in FY08 continued to promote basic research on the structure and dynam-

ics of Earth’s upper atmosphere. In particular, the CEDAR and GEM programs 

conducted research efforts utilizing these facilities. Observations made by the 
115 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar (AMISR) at Poker Flat, Alaska, 

throughout FY08 demonstrated the unique capabilities of this new instrument, 

including the ability to image the ionospheric effects of auroral precipitation in 

three dimensions. These observations provided a wealth of data particularly useful 

to modelers interested in validating space weather models.

In early 2008, UARS started a new program to support CubeSat-based small 

satellite science missions for atmospheric and space weather research. The first 

NSF CubeSat competition in May 2008 received proposals for 29 missions, and 

all proposals presented extraordinarily high quality. NSF competitively selected 

two of these missions, which received funding in September 2008. The first NSFsponsored CubeSat proposal awarded, entitled “CubeSat-Based Ground-to-Space 

Bistatic Radar Experiment—Radio Aurora Explorer,” will operate in coordination 

with the ground-based AMISR incoherent-scatter radar to investigate Earth’s radio 

aurora from field-aligned irregularities in the high-latitude ionosphere. The experiment will launch as a secondary payload on a DOD Space Test Program launch 

scheduled for December 2009. The “Firefly” mission won the second award, aimed 

at investigating terrestrial gamma-ray flashes in the atmosphere. A launch date has 

not yet been set for the Firefly mission, but it is targeted for mid- to late 2010.

UARS continued to support the study of magnetospheric physics within the 

international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) consortium by 

contributing a new radar installation in southern Virginia to a chain of midlatitude 

SuperDARN radars designed to study geomagnetic storm electric fields. UARS also 

started the satellite-based Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics 

Response Experiment (AMPERE) in FY08. AMPERE utilized the 66 networked 

satellites of the existing Iridium constellation to create a new facility for collecting geomagnetic field data. The AMPERE facility will yield the first-ever real-time 

observations of the electric currents that link Earth’s magnetosphere and ionosphere and will provide the first-ever continuous, global observations for tracking geomagnetic storm-time dynamics. Geomagnetic storms occur when charged 

particles emitted by solar flares interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. Such storms 

can cause major disruptions of power and communications systems on the ground.

The UARS community also continues to benefit from the Division of 

Astronomical Sciences’ efforts in FY08 to develop and manage the Advanced 
116Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Technology Solar Telescope, described earlier. In addition, UARS funding sup-

ported the continuing design and development of the proposed Frequency Agile 

Solar Radiotelescope (FASR), as well as the completion of NSF Astronomy’s sup-

port of a radiotelescope test bed in Western Australia known as the Murchison 

Widefield Array (MWA).

Office of Polar Programs (OPP)

For FY08, the primary activities of the OPP in ground-based space science 

and astronomy included full-scale observations with the 10-meter off-axis 

radio telescope at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to survey deep 

space galaxy clusters, as well as the continued construction of the IceCube 

Neutrino Observatory.

The South Pole Telescope successfully completed its second winter surveyobserving period (northern summer 2008) with the discovery of three new galaxy clusters via the Sunayev-Zeldovich Effect, a decrement in the strength of the 

Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation as it is scattered by electrons in galaxy 

clusters. This discovery confirms the power of this new method of distant galaxy 

cluster mass detection.

The South Pole IceCube Neutrino Observatory gained a total of 18 strings of 

new optical photodetectors, making half of the total detector volume available for 

science observations. The observatory expects the completion of all 80 strings in 

2011. Data collection continued with the advance filtering and reconstruction of 

neutrino events. Scientific topics under study included searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), neutrino point sources, and magnetic monopoles.
117 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

deparTmenT of sTaTe

DOS

The Department of State (DOS) carries out diplomatic efforts to support U.S. 

space policies and programs internationally. The DOS supports U.S. civil space 

activities through the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral agreements with 

partner countries and leads U.S. participation in numerous international space and 

technological venues and international organizations. The DOS also maintains 

outreach programs to advance U.S. space and foreign policy objectives.

The DOS continued to represent the United States on the United Nations 

Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and its Legal and 

Science and Technology Subcommittees. With so many countries now engaged in 

space activities, the DOS considers promoting the safe and responsible use of space 

by all current and future spacefaring nations as a vital goal. At UNCOPUOS, the 

DOS led U.S. efforts on the problem of orbital space debris, meteorology, astronomy 

and astrophysics, space transportation, nuclear power sources in space, and legal 

issues related to international liability and responsibility of launching nations. The 

DOS also launched a new U.S. effort, building on the results of the International 

Heliophysical Year, to improve international cooperation in understanding the 

impact of space weather on satellites and the Earth environment in general.

The DOS participated in the third meeting of the U.S.-European Union Civil 

Space Policy Dialogue, established at the June 2005 U.S.-EU Summit and held 

in Brussels, Belgium, in May 2008. The two sides agreed to expand collaborative 

work on Earth observation and space science and to coordinate closely on space 

policy issues in the UNCOPUOS, the Group on Earth Observations, and other 

multilateral bodies. In support of the dialogue, a workshop of U.S. and EU experts 
118Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

on space situational awareness (SSA) was held in Washington, DC, in June 2008. 

The DOS signed a Government-to-Government framework agreement on civil 

space cooperation in March 2008 with Ukraine, which will facilitate coopera-

tion between NASA and other U.S. agencies and their Ukrainian counterparts. 

The DOS completed the text of a similar framework agreement with Canada in 

December 2008. Work also continued in 2008 to implement joint Earth observa-

tion and space exploration programs with India as agreed at the February 2007 

meeting of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Civil Space Cooperation.

The DOS led vigorous efforts in FY08 to promote GPS and its augmentation 

in accordance with the President’s 2004 Policy on Space-Based Positioning, 

Navigation, and Timing. In 2008, the DOS signed a joint statement in 

Washington, DC, at the first U.S.-EU GPS Plenary to explore coordination on 

issues of mutual interest. GPS public diplomacy efforts in Europe in 2008 included 

support and attendance at European-based GNSS conferences, including the 

Munich Satellite Summit, the Berlin GNSS Symposium, the XVI International 

Scientific and Technical Conference for the Role of Navigation in Support of 

Human Activity at Sea, the Swedish Navigation Radio Board Conference, the 

first GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions Conference, the European Navigation 

Conference, and the International Subcommittee of the Civil GPS Service 

Interface Committee meeting.

The DOS held consultations with Japan in November 2008 in Tokyo to coordinate U.S. interagency efforts to conclude and sign agreements with Japan on 

the placement of Quasi-Zenith Satellite System monitoring sites in Hawaii and 

Guam. Bilateral discussions on compatibility and interoperability with GPS also 

took place with Russia and India in 2008. With Russia, the focus remained on the 

potential for new Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals that 

would be interoperable with GPS. With India, the DOS discussed signal plans 

for the proposed Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. In 2008, the DOS 

chaired the third United Nations International Committee on Global Navigation 

Satellite Systems (ICG) meeting held in California. This meeting paved the way 

for collaborative efforts to move beyond interoperability to interchangeability. 

The DOS formally launched the ICG in late 2006 to help promote the use of 

GNSS applications, especially for developing countries, and met for the second 
119 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

time in India on September 4–7, 2007. More than 140 GNSS experts from around 

the world participated at that meeting, where the United States led a movement 

to start a related Providers Forum for GNSS providers (United States, European 

Union, Russia, China, Japan, and India) to work on issues of common interest. In 

FY08, 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 awareness and 

support of GNSS applications for sustainable growth, transportation safety, and 

environmental management.

With regard to space issues in Africa, the DOS implemented a related initiative 

under its Global Dialogue on Emerging Science and Technology program focused 

on “Geospatial Sciences for Sustainable Development in Africa.” The project 

brought a team of U.S. experts to nine different countries in Africa to look at 

challenges and opportunities for collaboration in geospatial science and technol-

ogy. Following these visits, the University of Capetown hosted a conference during 

March 17–19, 2008, where over 100 geospatial experts from over 15 countries pre-

sented papers about geoinformation research and activities in Africa. In a similar 

effort, the DOS facilitated the participation of 20 African scientists in the June 

26–21, 2008, AfricaArray Conference, hosted by the University of Witswatersrand, 

South Africa, which promoted the unification of African Reference Frames using 

modern space geodetic technologies, including GPS.
120Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
121 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

deparTmenT of energy

DOE

During FY08, the Department of Energy (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 occurred 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 facility infrastructure.

The SC continued to work on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) instrument, designed and built to be carried aboard a Space Shuttle for installation on 

the International Space Station (ISS). With a much greater sensitivity than previously possible, the international AMS scientific collaboration will use the unique 

environment of space to study the origin and structure of the universe, search for 

antimatter and dark matter, and collect information from cosmic sources emanating from stars and galaxies millions of light-years beyond the Milky Way. In 

FY08, this work focused on the integration of the instrument at the European 

Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland. The SC provided funding in FY08 to support the research group at the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology (MIT) that leads the AMS program. NASA plans to deliver AMS 

to the ISS aboard the Space Shuttle in 2010.
122Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

The SC and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), along with interna-

tional partners, have collaborated since FY00 on the design and fabrication of the 

Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument for NASA’s Fermi Gammaray Space Telescope (FGST). Previously called the Gamma-ray Large Area Space 

Telescope (GLAST), FGST was renamed after launch in June 2008. The LAT 

instrument, using the techniques of experimental particle physics research, detects 

and studies gamma rays emitted by the most energetic objects and phenomena 

in the universe. In FY08, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), the 

National Accelerator Laboratory, and SC-funded university groups led the international collaboration that performed the final testing prior to launch and commissioning, as well as the start of data-taking operations after launch. SLAC runs 

the LAT Instrument Science Operations Center (ISOC), which processes the data 

during operations.

Determining the nature of dark energy and how it may cause the acceleration 

of the expansion of the universe remains a high-priority science objective for both 

SC and NASA. The National Academies of Science “Beyond Einstein Program 

Advisory Committee” (BEPAC) study, released in September 2007, recommended 

that SC and NASA proceed together on a Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM). In 

FY08, SC provided funding to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) 

and other labs and universities for JDEM R&D activities. NASA and the DOE set 

up a Science Working Group and a Science Coordination Group to help guide the 

scientific requirements for the mission.

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 

experiments to be performed with silicon, iron, and gold beams. The NASA Space 

Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) also operates at BNL 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 
123 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

and fabrication of the Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS) at BNL in FY08. NASA 

contributes 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 FY08, the Office of Nuclear Physics continued to support astrophysicists who 

used approximately 18,283,737 XT4-equivalent processor hours at the National 

Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), which is funded by the 

DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (OASCR). Simulations 

of supernova explosions, such as those observed by the Hubble Space Telescope, 

used most of these processor hours. Scientists also used the NERSC computer 

capabilities for studies on galaxy formation and black holes.

Other space-related aspects of the Nuclear Physics Program contain relevance 

to NASA, other Federal agencies (e.g., the National Reconnaissance Office and 

the U.S. Air Force), and the private sector. To facilitate the testing of electronic 

components used in high-radiation space environments, Nuclear Physics Program 

accelerator facilities (the BNL Tandem, the LBNL 88-Inch Cyclotron, and the Texas 

A&M Superconducting Cyclotron) regularly provide beam time to NASA, DOE 

applied laboratories, European and Japanese space agencies, and private companies.

In FY08, the SC Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) continued to provide 

support to NASA on fusion and plasma propulsion. The fusion propulsion concepts included potential use of the spherical torus and magneto-inertial fusion by 

means of the National Spherical Torus Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics 

Laboratory (PPPL) and the basic research in magneto-inertial fusion at various locations. These two fusion concepts hold the potential for reducing traveling times to 

the planets in our solar system by more than a factor of 10. In addition, the plasma 

jet research may provide a very high-thrust electric propulsion system, which could 

be powered by a fission reactor, solar panels, or, eventually, a fusion reactor.

In response to the FY07 interagency Task Force on High Energy Density Physics 

report, prepared under the guidance of the National Science and Technology 

Council, OFES and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued 

a Joint Solicitation in FY08. This solicitation resulted in the receipt of proposals 

in the field of laboratory astrophysics; i.e., the physical simulations of astrophysical 

phenomena in the laboratory using such devices as high-power lasers. In addition, 
124Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

in FY08, the council continued to receive proposals in space-related plasma physics 

in response to their annual request for proposals.

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 scientists 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 pro-

gram produced unique ground-based measurements of net ecosystem production 

and atmospheric CO

2

 concentration from approximately 30 locations across the 

United States. Radiometric instrumentation upgrades occurred 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 Earth 

Observing System (EOS) Aqua platform. ARM conducted additional measure-

ments to coincide with overpasses of the Aqua satellite carrying the AIRS sen-

sor 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 FY08, the ARM continued support of NASA’s solar-viewing Bruker 125 HR 

Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) at the TWP facility, which validates spacebased column CO2

 retrievals and ensures the accuracy of CO

2

 source and sink 

information. During the winter of 2008, NASA participated in the SC’s Indirect 

and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC). The focus of this cross-disciplinary 

interagency research effort was to advance the understanding of how aerosols 

impact climate in the Arctic.

NASA, NOAA, and the DOE met recently and agreed to renew their MOU 

addressing the use of Uninhabited Aerial Systems (UASes) for weather and climate 
125 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

change research. The MOU, signed in November 2006, facilitates a collaborative, 

cost-sharing partnership between NASA’s SMD, NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and 

Marine Operations (NMAO), and the DOE’s SC in utilizing UASes.

The SC’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Scientific Computing 

(SciDAC) program, jointly with NNSA, supports researchers at NASA ARC in 

the development of numerical methods and computational tools to investigate turbulent flows with strong shocks and density variations. The models of turbulence 

and computational algorithms in use strongly limit the current ability to predict 

these flow phenomena. The collaborative work may lead to stable and accurate 

treatment of interface boundaries, grid refinement, and accurate solvers for a wide 

spectrum of flow types.

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 measured 

at or below current workplace exposure limits. NASA’s Space Radiation Project 

seeks to understand the biological effects of space radiation so that radiation risks 

may be accurately assessed. Both research programs recognize 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. In FY08 there were 10 jointly 

funded projects, including two NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) 

program projects. A new program research solicitation offered in FY08 is expected 

to yield an additional number of projects jointly supported by the DOE and NASA.

The DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy continued to support NASA’s space science 

and exploration programs by pursuing the development of specific technologies 

for future space missions and by maintaining the necessary program and nuclear 

facility infrastructure capabilities to provide radioisotope power systems and 

heater units. In FY08, the DOE continued the development and testing of a MultiMission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator for first use on the Mars Science 

Laboratory mission, which is to be launched in 2011, and the development of the 

Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator now under consideration for Discoveryor Scout-class missions in the 2014 timeframe. Designed for use in multiple mission 
126Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

environments, including planetary surfaces and deep space, these new radioisotope 

power systems, which convert the decay heat of plutonium-238 into electricity, will 

each provide greater than 100 watts of electricity for more than 14 years.

Maintaining a reliable supply of plutonium-238 for future missions that depend 

on these unique power systems has been a key challenge since domestic produc-

tion of plutonium-238 ceased in 1988. The FY10 congressional budget request for 

funds to restart domestic production of plutonium-238 is not supported in the 

conference report language. The Office of Nuclear Energy augments the Nation’s 

limited inventory of plutonium-238 through purchases from Russia. However, 

Russia recently suspended its agreement to sell plutonium-238 to the DOE, and a 

new agreement could delay future deliveries by 3 to 5 years. The Office of Nuclear 

Energy is continuing its efforts to resolve these supply issues.

The Office of Nuclear Energy and DOE national laboratories also supported 

technology development that could lead to a fission surface power system for 

deployment by NASA on the Moon around the year 2020. During FY08, the DOE 

supported test component and reactor design, as well as lander integration concepts 

for a candidate fission surface power system. As part of maintaining the required 

infrastructure capabilities, the DOE continued the maintenance and operation 

of equipment and facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Idaho 

National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
127 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

smiThsonian insTiTuTion

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 (CfA). 

Through this organization, more than 300 scientists engaged in a broad program of 

research in astronomy, astrophysics, Earth and space sciences, and science education. The Smithsonian’s NASM in Washington, DC, also contributed to national 

aerospace goals through its research and education activities.

FY08 marked the fifth year of operations for NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope—

operated by JPL—which carries the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) developed 

at SAO and constructed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Spitzer studies 

the universe using infrared wavelengths of light, so it can peer into nearby dustobscured regions to study stellar birth and evolution, observe the atmospheres of 

alien worlds (exoplanets), and spot distant galaxies. IRAC has logged a total of 

over 12,400 hours of operation in flight.

Using Spitzer, astronomers found evidence that rocky, terrestrial planets might 

orbit many, if not most, of the nearby Sun-like stars in the disk of our galaxy. They 

discovered that at least one-fifth, and possibly as many as three-fifths, of stars similar to the Sun are candidates for forming rocky planets. These new results suggest 

that worlds with potential for life are more common that we thought.

Other FY08 findings made by the Spitzer Space Telescope with IRAC team 

members include the following:

•	 The discovery that the closest exoplanet system hosts two asteroid belts. 

Our own solar system just has one.

Dramatic new evidence that massive stars—through their fierce winds 

and radiation—can trigger the birth of stellar newborns.

•	
128Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

•	 The discovery of an extreme stellar machine—a galaxy in the very dis-

tant, and hence young, universe pumping out stars at a surprising rate of 

up to 4,000 per year. In comparison, our own Milky Way galaxy turns out 

an average of just 10 stars per year.

The determination of the diameters and albedos (reflectivities) of three 

small (<1 kilometer in diameter) Near-Earth Objects.

Evidence of a new population of distant galaxies emitting submillimeter 

radiation.

A map of the day-night contrast of the distant planet HD 189733b.

The structure and evolution of the massive star-forming complex 

S254-S258.

The determination of distant protogalaxy candidates in the Bootes field.

The determination of the structure of an active system of merging galaxies.

An infrared point source survey of the Andromeda galaxy.

•	

•	

•	

•	

•	

•	

•	

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which is run from an SAO-operated con-

trol center, is having a widespread, profound impact on 21st-century astrophys-

ics. With its unrivaled ability to create highly detailed x-ray images and spatially 

resolved spectra, Chandra enables astronomers to investigate phenomena from 

comets to cosmology. These discoveries accumulate at a rapid rate as Chandra 

makes observations of hundreds of objects each year. Highlights from the past year 

include the detection of the most recent supernova in our Milky Way galaxy, the 

discovery of the most massive stellar black hole known, and images that show how 

supermassive black holes can affect entire galaxies.

Astronomers discovered the most recent supernova in the Milky Way during 

FY08 by tracking the rapid expansion of its remains in x rays with Chandra and in 

radio emission with the NRAO’s Very Large Array (VLA). The supernova explo-

sion occurred about 140 years ago, making it the most recent supernova in the 

Milky Way as measured in Earth’s timeframe. The last known previous galactic 

supernova occurred around 1680.

When an extremely massive star reaches the end of its life, theory predicts that 

its core will collapse to form a stellar black hole. Knowing how massive these black 

holes are is important for understanding the process by which they are formed. By 
129 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of 

another galaxy, the first time such an interaction has been found. In the image, data from several 

wavelengths have been combined. The jet impacts the companion galaxy at its edge and is then 

disrupted and deflected, much like how a stream of water from a hose will splay out after hitting a 

wall at an angle.

Credit: X ray: NASA/Chandra X-ray Center/CfA/D. Evans et al.; Optical/ultraviolet: NASA/Space Telescope Science 

Institute; Radio: NSF/VLA/CfA/D. Evans et al., Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)/JBO/MERLIN. 

To see in color, visit http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/3c321/more.html.

This image compares the composite image of 3C321 to an artist’s illustration of the system, showing 

the main galaxy and the companion galaxy. A jet of particles generated by a supermassive black hole 

at the center of the main galaxy is striking the companion galaxy. The jet is disrupted and deflected 

by the impact. The labels identify key features of this system in the second panel.

Credit: Image: X ray: NASA/CXC/CfA/D. Evans et al.; Optical/ultraviolet: NASA/STScI; Radio: NSF/VLA/CfA/D. 

Evans et al., STFC/JBO/MERLIN; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss. To see in color, visit http://chandra.harvard.

edu/photo/2007/3c321/more.html.

combining x-ray observations from Chandra and data from optical telescopes about 

stellar black holes in nearby galaxies, astronomers discovered the two most massive 
130Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

black holes known of this class (16 and 25 times the mass of the Sun) during this 

past year.

On a larger scale, a dramatic new Chandra image of the nearby galaxy Centaurus 

A revealed the effect on an entire galaxy of energy produced by a spinning supermassive black hole. This image provides one of the best views to date of the effects 

of an active supermassive black hole. Opposing jets of high-energy particles can 

be seen extending to the outer reaches of the galaxy, and numerous smaller black 

holes in binary star systems are also visible.

Astronomers think that jets produced by black holes are important vehicles 

for transporting energy from the black hole to the outer reaches of a galaxy and 

beyond. Observations of the double galaxy system called 3C321, made by x-ray, 

optical, infrared, and radio telescopes, revealed a spectacular example of the 

“reach” of black holes where a powerful jet from a supermassive black hole blasts 

a neighboring galaxy. This galactic violence could have a profound effect on any 

planets in the path of the jet and trigger a burst of star formation in the wake of its 

destruction, thereby altering the evolution of the galaxy.

FY08 marked the second full year of operation of the Hinode satellite, which 

provided continuous viewing of the Sun from space. SAO’s X-Ray Telescope (XRT) 

aboard Hinode is the highest resolution telescope of its type ever flown for solar 

studies. The XRT observed x rays from the solar corona—the Sun’s million-degree 

hot outer atmosphere. The XRT provided groundbreaking new 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 SAO served as the focal point from which both satellite operations and 

scientific studies were coordinated.

Scientists reported the results from Hinode at a dedicated international con-

ference in Boulder, Colorado, in fall 2008, titled “Beyond Discovery—Toward 

Understanding.” The XRT demonstrated the ways in which magnetic disturbances 

travel through the corona and identified the ways in which magnetic energy is 

stored in S-shaped “sigmoids” that subsequently erupt into huge mass ejections. 

Far smaller jetlike events in the corona have been found to be so numerous that 

they may be a major source of energy and particles for the solar wind, which travels 

outward from the Sun at nearly 1,000,000 miles per hour and blows past Earth. 
131 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

The XRT has proven to be a highly versatile instrument, appearing in 70 of the 90 

refereed Hinode publications in 2008.

SAO’s Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) Group continued to 

make major progress in understanding coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—explosive 

events on the Sun that modify the interplanetary environment. Some FY08 highlights from this research included the following:

•	 For the first time, UVCS observed the evolution of a hot, 6-million-degree 

CME current sheet from its initial onset. Current sheets are swept-back 

regions behind CMEs where magnetic lines of force are stretched and 

compressed. The release of magnetic energy in these current sheets, 

through a process called magnetic reconnection, is believed to provide 

the energy that heats and accelerates the CME. UVCS measurements, 

along with data from other instruments, provided strong evidence that 

the thickness of the observed current sheet was larger than expected.

UVCS researchers performed a comparison of current sheets formed in 

two extremely different environments: Earth’s magnetosphere and the 

Sun’s outer atmosphere. The study showed that the magnetic wave speeds 

(Alfven speeds) in the two regions were similar, although the density and 

magnetic field strengths differed by orders of magnitude. This is of interest 

because the Alfven speed is strongly related to the energy release rate of 

the magnetic reconnection process. Since magnetic reconnection powers solar eruptions, understanding this process may lead to the ability to 

predict upcoming eruptions and the resulting “space weather,” which can 

damage satellites.

Researchers developed a numerical model using UVCS observations, 

which can help predict the ultraviolet emissions of plasmas heated by 

CME shock waves. The model indicated that the observed ultraviolet 

emissions in CMEs showed the presence of shock waves and could be used 

to determine the shock wave characteristics.

•	

•	

The Smithsonian’s Submillimeter Array (SMA), the world’s first and, currently, 

only interferometric imaging telescope for submillimeter wavelengths, continued 

forefront research on a wide range of astrophysical topics, including planetary 

science, star formation, envelopes around evolved stars, distant and nearby galaxies, 
132Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

and the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. Ongoing upgrades 

continued to improve SMA performance in terms of both sensitivity and observing 

efficiency. Test science observations made during the daytime, not possible with 

other submillimeter interferometers, showed promising results. Competition for 

SMA observing time remained very high, especially in the areas where the SMA 

is unique. The publication rate of scientific results from the SMA in peer-reviewed 

journals continued to increase and now surpasses that of comparable facilities at 

longer wavelengths, further testament to the technical performance and scientific 

impact of this unrivaled telescope facility. Since submillimeter wavelengths provide 

detailed information regarding the physical and chemical conditions of cool, dense 

gas and dust, a major focus for the SMA continued to be star formation, including 

the study of gaseous envelopes around evolved stars.

Another major focus of the SMA included a systematic study of CW-Leo, which 

emits most of its radiation in the infrared and is the brightest infrared object 

in the northern sky. Barely visible at optical wavelengths, CW-Leo has already 

burned much of its hydrogen and helium fuel and produced shells of dust that 

are remarkably rich in molecules in the process. CW-Leo, which ejects about one 

Earth-mass of material per year, represents the class of evolved stars in our galaxy 

that astronomers believe responsible for making and dispersing most of the dust 

and organic molecules in space. This research is being carried out in collaboration 

with the CfA’s spectroscopy laboratory, which conducts precise measurements of 

the frequencies of the spectral lines of interstellar molecules.

The first phase of the SMA study of CW-Leo has detected about a hundred types 

of molecules thus far. Roughly half of these included new detections, of which 20 

remain unassigned and could reveal the first detections of new molecular types. 

Amongst these new detections, the SMA found a whole class of narrow spectral 

lines very close to the central star and kinematically quite distinct from the lines 

seen in earlier surveys. Astronomers are still trying to figure out exactly how the 

star makes and blows away all this material.

Also in FY08, the SMA participated as a receiving element in a three-station 

Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) experiment, which combines several 

telescopes separated by large distances to achieve very high resolution, equivalent 

to that of an Earth-sized telescope. This experiment, which peered into the galactic 
133 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

center, showed that the size of the emitting region around the black hole in the 

center of our galaxy (known as SgrA*) was 37 micro-arcseconds in diameter, the 

equivalent of the size of a baseball seen from the Moon. More importantly, the 

emitting region appeared to be only about twice the Schwarzschild diameter (a.k.a. 

the event horizon) of the black hole. Being able to probe that close to the event 

horizon of a black hole is unprecedented. Astronomers viewed these observations at a 

wavelength of 1.3 millimeters, the shortest wavelength ever attempted for VLBI, with 

antenna separations up to 4,500 kilometers. The success of this experiment opens the 

way to understanding how matter behaves in the strong-field limit of general relativity and also to understanding how general relativity itself works. Future experiments 

are planned at 0.86 millimeter and will include new telescopes, just coming online, 

that will allow astronomers to image the immediate region around the black hole.

Astronomers now believe that every galaxy contains a supermassive black hole 

in its center. The issue of whether the black holes form before or after the galaxies 

assemble remains a major concern of modern cosmology. The black hole in our 

galaxy is the nearest one to us; therefore, we can study it in the most detail. One 

of the mysteries of SgrA* includes its very quiet state. If SgrA* accreted matter at 

its current rate (as determined recently by SMA polarization observations), then 

it would have taken much longer than the age of the universe to reach its present 

mass of 4 million solar masses. Hence it must have been more “active” in the past.

In the laboratory, SAO researchers developed a new laser technology that can 

be used to locate Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars. Known as an astrocomb, the novel device uses ultrashort, femtosecond (1 millionth of 1 billionth 

of 1 second) pulses of laser light, linked to an atomic clock, to provide a precise 

standard against which light from a star can be measured. The astro-comb makes 

measurements accurate to one part in a trillion. This may increase the resolution of 

one planet-hunting technique by about 100 times, which would allow astronomers 

to detect Earth-sized planets in Earth-like orbits. This technology is now being 

tested at the Smithsonian’s MMT Observatory in Arizona.

In public outreach, SAO continued to offer its popular monthly Observatory 

Night lectures and telescope observing sessions, including a special lecture, 

“50 Years of the Space Age,” in honor of the 50th anniversary of NASA. SAO also 

held Family Friendly Nights aimed at younger children, occasional Author’s Night 
134Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

programs, and Sci-fi Movie Nights that explored the theme “Everything I Learned 

About Science, I Learned at the Movies.” Dedicated telescope viewing opportuni-

ties included a lunar eclipse open house and an offsite trip to a state park, each 

drawing hundreds of visitors.

In FY08, NASM continued to educate and inspire the public through exhib-

its and education programs, including discovery stations, lecture series, fam-

ily educational events, and intern programs. The “America by Air” exhibition, 

which opened in November 2007, tells the story of passenger air travel in the 

United States. The exhibit “Space: A Journey to Our Future,” which opened in 

June 2008, presents numerous interactive activities to educate and engage visitors 

on the topics of current and future space exploration. In addition, the museum 

initiated an early childhood education program through a generous gift from the 

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

At NASM’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which welcomed its 5 millionth 

visitor this year, plans continue for Phase Two construction. Phase Two will 

accommodate NASM’s archives and the facilities for the restoration and preserva-

tion of the Nation’s collection of air and space artifacts.

Staff members in NASM’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) 

continued to participate on the science teams of several spacecraft missions. 

Dr. John Grant is a Participating Scientist for the MER mission that currently operates on Mars. As one of multiple Chairs of the MER Science Operations Working 

Group, he leads the science team in reaching consensus on targets and operations 

for the long-lived rovers. He conducts real-time mission planning from a control 

station installed onsite at CEPS. CEPS staff work on the science teams for the Mars 

Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument 

on Mars Express; both the HiRISE and Shallow Subsurface Radar (SHARAD) 

instruments on the MRO; and the MESSENGER mission to Mercury, which made 

its first flyby of that planet in January 2008. During this encounter, MESSENGER 

imaged a large portion of the planet that had never been seen before.

CEPS continued its active research program in planetary and terrestrial geol-

ogy 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, Mercury, and Saturn’s moons, resulting 
135 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

in 21 peer-reviewed publications. Research topics included MER, HiRISE, and 

MESSENGER results; Earth-based radar observations of the Saturn system; 

studies of Martian subsurface and composition; geophysical mapping with groundpenetrating radar; and investigations of Martian polar deposits. 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), CEPS continued to house 

a collection of over 300,000 images of the planets and their satellites as a reference 

library for science researchers and the public, serving the mid-Atlantic and south-

eastern United States. The CEPS RPIF holds the most complete collection of lunar 

images of any RPIF in the world.
136Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
137 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

appendiCes
138Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix A-1

u.s. governmenT spaCeCrafT reCord

(Includes spacecraft from cooperating countries launched by U.S. launch vehicles.) 

Calendar

Year Success

Earth Orbita

Failure Success

Earth Escapeb

Failure

1957 

1958 

1959 

1960 

1961 

1962 

1963 

1964 

1965 

1966 

1967 

1968 

1969 

1970 

1971 

1972 

1973 

1974 

1975 

1976 

1977 

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

2008 (through September 30, 2008)

0 

5 

9 

16 

35 

55 

62 

69 

93 

94 

78 

61 

58 

36 

45 

33 

23 

27 

30 

33 

27 

34 

18 

16 

20 

21 

31 

35 

37 

11 

9 

16 

24 

40 

32c 

26c 

28c 

31c 

24c, d 

30 

22e 

23 

35 

31f 

23 

18 

28c, f 

8c 

10 

20d

16 

19f

1 

8 

9 

12 

12 

12 

11 

8 

7 

12 

4 

15 

1 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

4 

0 

2 

2 

0 

4 

1 

0 

0 

3 

1 

4 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

2 

1 

0 

0 

4 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

4 

0 

4 

4 

7 

10 

3 

8 

3 

8 

8 

3 

1 

4 

1 

2 

7 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

1 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

2 

0 

3 

0 

2 

1 

2 

2 

2 

0 

0

4

2

2

2

1

0

0

1

1b

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1b

0

0

0

0

0

0

TOTAL 1,625 155 106 16 

a. The criterion of success or failure used is attainment of Earth orbit or Earth escape rather than judgment of mission success. “Escape” flights 

include all that were intended to go to at least an altitude equal to lunar distance from Earth.

b. This Earth-escape failure did attain Earth orbit and, therefore, is included in the Earth-orbit success totals.

c. This excludes commercial satellites. It counts separately spacecraft launched by the same launch vehicle.

d. This counts various sets of microsatellites as a single payload. 

e. This includes the Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) Lewis spacecraft that began spinning out of control shortly after it achieved 

Earth orbit.

f. This includes American spacecraft not launched in the U.S. 
139 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

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

Year

United

Statesb

USSR/

CIS

Francec Italyc Japan People’s 

Republic

of China

Australia United

Kingdomc

European 

Space

Agency

India Israel

1957 

1958 5 

1959 10 

1960 16 

1961 29 

1962 52 

1963 38 

1964 57 

1965 63 

1966 73 

1967 57 

1968 45 

1969 40 

1970 28 

1971 30 

1972 30 

1973 23 

1974 22 

1975 27 

1976 26 

1977 24 

1978 32 

1979 16 

1980 13 

1981 18 

1982 18 

1983 22 

1984 22 

1985 17 

1986 6 

1987 8 

1988 12 

1989 17 

1990 27 

1991 20 

1992 31 

1993 24 

1994 26 

1995 27 

1996 32 

1997 37 

1998 34 

1999 32 

2000 30 

2001 23 

2002 18 

2003 26 

2004 19 

2005 16 

2006 15 

2007 25 

2008 16 

(through September 30, 2008)

2 

1 

3 

3 

6 

20 

17 

30 

48 

44 

66 

74 

70 

81 

83 

74 

86 

81 

89 

99 

98 

88 

87 

89 

98 

101 

98 

97 

98 

91 

95 

90 

74 

75 

62 

55 

45 

49 

33 

25 

28 

24 

26 

34 

23 

23 

21 

22 

26 

16 

33 

19 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 

1 

2 

 

 

2 

1 

 

3 

 

 

 

 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

1 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 

2 

1 

 

1 

2 

1 

2 

3 

2 

2 

3 

1 

3 

3 

2 

2 

3 

2 

2 

3 

2 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

3 

2 

2 

5 

3 

1 

1 

1 

3 

2 

1 

1 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

2 

4 

5 

1 

3 

1 

5 

2 

3 

6 

6 

4 

5 

1 

4 

6 

8 

5 

3 

13 

5 

1 

 

 

 

 

 

1 

1 

2 

2 

4 

3 

2 

2 

7 

7 

5 

9 

7 

7 

6 

12 

10 

12 

11 

10 

12 

8 

11 

4 

3 

5 

5 

8 

5 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

1 

1 

1 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

3 

2 

1

1

1

1

1

TotalOTAL 1,374 2,820 10 8 71 109 1 1 180 23 5

a. This includes commercial expendable launches and launches of the Space Shuttle as well as launches to useless orbit.

b. Launches from U.S.-Russia joint platform included in U.S. totals.

c. Since 1979, all launches for ESA member countries have been joint and are listed under ESA.
140Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix B

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. vehiCles

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

October 11, 2007

WGS F1 (USA 195)

2007-046A

Atlas 5

October 17, 2007

GPS 2R-17

2007-047A

Delta 2

October 23, 2007

STS-120/Discovery

2007-050A

Space Shuttle

November 11, 2007

USA 197

2007-054A

Delta 4

December 9, 2007

Skymed 2

2007-059A

Delta 2

December 10, 2007

USA 198

2007-060A

Atlas 5

December 20, 2007

GPS 2R-18

2007-062A

Delta 2

January 15, 2008

Thuraya 3

2008-001A

Zenit 3SL

February 7, 2008

STS-122/Atlantis

2008-005A

Space Shuttle

March 11, 2008

STS-123/Endeavour

2008-009A

Space Shuttle

Geostationary military 

communications

Navigational

International Space 

Station

Geostationary military

Earth imaging

Military

Navigational

Geostationary military

International Space 

Station

International Space 

Station

Unavailable

20,369 km

192 km

356.6 min

40°

344 km

340 km

91.4 min

51.6°

Unavailable

624 km

622 km

97.2 min

97.9°

Unavailable

20,310 km

20,150 km

720 min

55°

98.5° E longitude

343 km

329 km

91.25 min

51.64°

343 km

340 km

91.4 min

51.6°

Wideband Global SATCOM 

F1 (WGS F1) Also known as 

USA 195

Also known as Navstar 60 

and as USA 196

Replaced GPS 2A-14 in Plane 

F and Slot 2

Installed Harmony Node 2 

module. Relocated P6 truss

Repaired torn solar array

Station crew exchange

Also known as DSP 23

Carried infrared detectors to 

warn of rocket launches

Italian (military-civilian) 

dual use. Carried a synthetic 

aperture radar (SAR) operating in X-band

Also known as NROL 24

Reported as a datarelaying craft for other 

military satellites. National 

Reconnaissance Office

Also known as GPS 2R-M, 

Navstar 61, and USA 199

Moved to Slot 1 in Plane C 

to replace GPS 2A-24. GPS 

2A-24 moved to replace GPS 

2A-20

United Arab Emirates (UAE) 

satellite launched from 

Odyssey, a floating platform 

on the equatorial Pacific 

Ocean at 154° W longitude

Enabled communications 

from mobile phones

Installed ESA’s Columbus 

laboratory

Station crew exchange

Delivered the Japanese Kibo 

(“Hope”) experiment logistics 

module and the Canadian 

Dextre robotic arm

Station crew exchange
141 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Appendix B

(Continued)

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. vehiCles

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

March 13, 2008

USA 200

2008-010A

Atlas 5

March 15, 2008

Navstar 62

2008-012A

Delta 2

March 19, 2008

DirecTV 11

2008-013A

Zenit 3SL

April 14, 2008

ICO G1

2008-016A

Atlas 5

April 16, 2008

C/NOFS

2008-017A

Pegasus

Military 

reconnaissance

Navigational

Geostationary 

communications

Geostationary 

communications

Military

Unavailable

20,218 km

20,147 km

718 min

55.1°

35,796.2 km

35,791.8 km

1,436.1 min

0.0°

35,805.8 km

35,782.3 km

1,436.1 min

5.5°

853 km

405 km

97.3 min

13°

National Reconnaissance 

Office

Also known as USA 201 and 

as GPS 2R-19(M)

Standby GPS replacement 

satellite

Launched from the floating 

Odyssey platform located at 

equatorial 154° W longitude 

Provides High-Definition 

Television (HDTV) throughout North America through 

55 spot-beam transponders 

in the Ka-band 99.2° W 

longitude

Carried an unfurlable 39-ft 

(12-m) diameter S-band mesh 

reflector antenna and solar 

wings. Utilizes a GroundBased Beam Forming (GBBF) 

system, which allows 250 

transmitting and 250 receiving independent S-band 

beams for television and 

navigation services

92.9° W longitude

Communication/Navigation 

Outage Forecasting System 

(C/NOFS). Launched by a 

Pegasus rocket released from 

an L-1011 aircraft flying out of 

Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein 

in the Marshall Islands

Will monitor the conditions 

that lead to the generation 

of irregularities/bubbles that 

produce radio scintillations in 

the equatorial ionosphere and 

will warn against imminent 

disruption/degradation of 

military communications

NASA sponsored the Coupled 

Ion Neutral Dynamic 

Investigation (CINDI) 

consisting of an Ion Velocity 

Meter (IVM), a Neutral 

Wind Monitor (NWM), 

and a Vector Electric Field 

Instrument (VEFI)
142Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix B

(Continued)

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. vehiCles

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Mission Objectives Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

May 21, 2008

Galaxy 18

2008-024A

Zenit 3SL

Geostationary 

communications

35,805.2 km

35,782.6 km

1,436.1 min

0.0°

Launched from the Odyssey 

platform

Provides advanced cable 

television and data through 

24 Ku-band and 24 C-band 

transponders

123° W longitude

May 31, 2008

STS-124/Discovery

2008-027A

Space Shuttle

International Space 

Station

315 km

303 km

91 min

51.6°

Delivered the Japanese Kibo 

pressurized module and 

robotic arms

Station crew exchange

June 11, 2008

GLAST

2008-029A

Delta 2

Astrophysics 562 km

542 km

95.7 min

25.6°

NASA Gamma-ray Large 

Area Space Telescope 

(GLAST) will research dark 

matter, black holes, gammaray bursts, and other open 

questions about the universe

Renamed Fermi Gamma-ray 

Telescope

June 20, 2008

Jason 2

2008-032A

Delta 2

Ocean monitoring 1,335 km

1,324 km

112 min

66°

Ocean surface topography 

mission extends continuous 

climate record of sea surface 

height measurements

Collaborative effort between 

NASA, the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA), 

Centre National d’Études 

Spatiales (CNES), and the 

European Organisation 

for the Exploitation of 

Meteorological Satellites 

(EUMETSAT)

July 16, 2008

Echostar 11

2008-035A

Zenit 3SL

Geostationary 

communications

35,806.8 km

35,780.8 km

1,436.1 min

0.0°

Launched from the Odyssey 

platform 

DISH Network satellite 

television

110° W longitude

September 6, 2008

GeoEye 1

2008-042A

Delta 2

Remote sensing 687 km

671 km

98.3 min

98.1°

Provides 0.4-m-resolution 

panchromatic and 1.6-m 

multicolor images

September 24, 2008

Galaxy 19

2008-045A

Zenit 3SL

Geostationary 

communications

35,805.5 km

35,782.6 km

1,436.1 min

0.0°

Launched from the Odyssey 

platform

Carried 24 C-band and 28 Kuband transponders to provide 

video and Internet services

Replaces Galaxy 25 (also 

known as Telstar 5)

97° W longitude
143 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Appendix B

(Continued)

suCCessful launChes To orbiT on u.s. vehiCles

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Mission Objectives Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

September 28, 2008

Demosat/Falcon 1

2008-048A

Falcon 1

Launch vehicle 

development

643 km

622 km

97.4 min

9.35°

First successful launch of the 

Falcon 1 rocket from Omelek 

Island in Kwajalein Atoll in 

the Pacific Ocean 

Demosat (also named Ratsat) 

failed to separate from the 

second stage

*U.N. Committee on Space Research 
144Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix C

human spaCe flighTs

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew Flight Time 

(d:h:min)

Highlights

Soyuz TMA-11

(Expedition 16)

October 10, 2007 Peggy A. Whitson

Yuri I. Malenchenko

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor

191:19:08 First female commander for 

ISS (Peggy A. Whitson)

Returned Peggy A. Whitson, 

Yuri I. Malenchenko, and 

So-yeon Yi

Space Shuttle

Discovery (STS-120)

October 23, 2007 Pamela A. Melroy

George D. Zamka

Scott E. Parazynski

Douglas H. Wheelock

Stephanie D. Wilson

Paolo Nespoli

Daniel M. Tani

Clayton Anderson

15:2:24 Installed Harmony Node 2 

module

Relocated P6 truss

Repaired torn solar array 

Carried Daniel M. Tani and 

returned Clayton Anderson

Space Shuttle

Atlantis (STS-122)

February 7, 2008 Stephen N. Frick

Alan G. Poindexter

Leland D. Melvin 

Rex J. Walheim

Stanley G. Love

Hans Schlegel

Léopold Eyharts

Daniel M. Tani

12:18:21 Installed ESA’s Columbus 

laboratory, along with a 

European solar monitor 

(SOLAR) and the European 

Technology Exposure 

Facility (EuTEF) 

Carried Léopold Eyharts and 

returned Daniel M. Tani

Space Shuttle 

Endeavour (STS-123)

March 11, 2008 Dominic Gorie

Gregory H. Johnson

Robert L. Behnken 

Mike Foreman

Rick Linnehan

Takao Doi

Garrett Reisman

Léopold Eyharts

15:18:11 Delivered the Japanese 

Kibo (“Hope”) experiment 

logistics module and the 

Canadian Dextre robotics 

system 

Carried Garrett Reisman 

and returned Léopold 

Eyharts
145 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Appendix C

(Continued)

human spaCe flighTs

October 1, 2007–September 30, 2008

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew Flight Time 

(d:h:min)

Highlights

Soyuz TMA-12

(Expedition 17)

April 8, 2008 Sergei Volkov

Oleg Kononenko

So-yeon Yi

198:16:21 First South Korean astronaut 

(So-yeon Yi) 

First second-generation 

cosmonaut (Sergei Volkov) 

Returned Sergei Volkov, 

Oleg Kononenko, and 

Richard Garriott

Space Shuttle

Discovery (STS-124)

May 31, 2008 Mark Kelly

Ken Ham

Karen Nyberg

Ron Garan

Mike Fossum

Akihiko Hoshide

Greg Chamitoff

Garrett Reisman

13:18:13 Delivered the Japanese Kibo 

pressurized module and 

robotic arm

Carried Greg Chamitoff and 

returned Garrett Reisman

Shenzhou 7 September 25, 2008 Liu Boming 

Jing Haipeng

Zhai Zhigang

2:20:28 First crew of three men in a 

Chinese spacecraft

First Chinese spacewalk
146Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix D-1A

spaCe aCTiviTies of The u.s. governmenT

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of real-year dollars)

FY

NASA

Total

NASA

Space DOD Othera DOEb DOC DOI USDA NSFc DOT

Total 

Space

1959 

1960 

1961 

1962 

1963 

1964 

1965 

1966 

1967 

1968 

1969 

1970 

1971 

1972 

1973 

1974 

1975 

1976 

TQ* 

1977 

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

2008 

331 

524 

964 

1,825 

3,673 

5,100 

5,250 

5,175 

4,966 

4,587 

3,991 

3,746 

3,311 

3,307 

3,406 

3,037 

3,229 

3,550 

932 

3,818 

4,060 

4,596 

5,240 

5,518 

6,044 

6,875 

7,458 

7,573 

7,807 

10,923 

9,062 

10,969 

12,324 

14,016 

14,317 

14,310 

14,570 

13,854 

13,884 

13,709 

13,648 

13,653 

13,601 

14,230 

14,868 

15,364 

15,379 

16,198 

16,623 

16,285 

17,117 

261 

462 

926 

1,797 

3,626 

5,016 

5,138 

5,065 

4,830 

4,430 

3,822 

3,547 

3,101 

3,071 

3,093 

2,759 

2,915 

3,225 

849 

3,440 

3,623 

4,030 

4,680 

4,992 

5,528 

6,328 

6,858 

6,925 

7,165 

9,809 

8,322 

10,097 

11,460 

13,046 

13,199 

13,064 

13,022 

12,543 

12,569 

12,457 

12,321 

12,459 

12,521 

13,304 

13,871 

14,360 

14,322 

15,234 

15,765 

15,568 

16,502 

490 

561 

814 

1,298 

1,550 

1,599 

1,574 

1,689 

1,664 

1,922 

2,013 

1,678 

1,512 

1,407 

1,623 

1,766 

1,892 

1,983 

460 

2,412 

2,738 

3,036 

3,848 

4,828 

6,679 

9,019 

10,195 

12,768 

14,126 

16,287 

17,679 

17,906 

15,616 

14,181 

15,023 

14,106 

13,166 

10,644 

11,514 

11,727 

12,359 

13,203 

12,941 

14,326 

15,740 

19,388 

19,115 

19,690 

22,114 

22,418 

24,795 

34 

43 

68 

199 

257 

213 

241 

214 

213 

174 

170 

141 

162 

133 

147 

158 

158 

168 

43 

194 

226 

248 

231 

234 

313 

327 

395 

584 

477 

466 

741 

560 

506 

772 

798 

731 

632 

759 

828 

789 

839 

982 

1,056 

1,062 

1,180 

1,305 

1,464 

1,551 

1,647 

1,680 

1,698 

34 

43 

68 

148 

214 

210 

229 

187 

184 

145 

118 

103 

95 

55 

54 

42 

30 

23 

5 

22 

34 

59 

40 

41 

61 

39 

34 

34 

35 

48 

241 

97 

79 

251 

223 

165 

74 

60 

46 

35 

103 

105 

164 

145 

166 

191 

209 

229 

245 

200 

195 

51 

43 

3 

12 

27 

29 

28 

20 

8 

27 

31 

40 

60 

64 

72 

22 

91 

103 

98 

93 

87 

145 

178 

236 

423 

309 

278 

352 

301 

243 

251 

327 

324 

312 

352 

472 

448 

435 

575 

575 

577 

644 

649 

745 

807 

860 

912 

862 

0.2 

0.2 

1 

2 

6 

10 

9 

8 

10 

3 

10 

10 

10 

12 

12 

12 

5 

3 

2 

2 

8 

14 

17 

31 

29 

34 

33 

31 

31 

36 

42 

43 

59 

60 

60 

64 

74 

71 

70 

82 

87 

90 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

3 

2 

4 

1 

6 

8 

8 

14 

16 

15 

20 

19 

15 

23 

19 

18 

21 

25 

26 

29 

25 

31 

32 

37 

39 

39 

37 

44 

36 

28 

42 

61 

73 

84 

65 

59 

0 

31 

28 

37 

39 

41 

44 

54 

59 

12 

65 

71 

73 

72 

78 

80 

85 

103 

110 

108 

112 

115 

121 

124 

211 

181 

180 

179 

278 

231 

219 

213 

200 

207 

232 

266 

337 

366 

360 

364 

404 

479 

1 

1 

3 

4 

4 

4 

4 

5 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

6 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

12 

13 

785

1,066

1,808

3,294

5,433

6,828

6,953

6,968

6,707

6,526

6,005

5,366

4,775

4,611

4,863

4,683

4,965

5,376

1,352

6,046

6,587

7,314

8,759

10,054

12,520

15,674

17,448

20,277

21,768

26,562

26,742

28,563

27,582

27,999

29,020

27,901

26,820

23,946

24,911

24,973

25,519

26,644

26,518

28,692

30,791

35,053

34,901

36,475

39,526

39,666

42,995

a. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total 

is sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total 

column because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as in space. For the years 1989–1997, this Other column also includes 

small figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also includes $2.1 billion for replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987. 

b. The DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

c. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years. 

* Transition Quarter
147 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Appendix D-1B

spaCe aCTiviTies of The u.s. governmenT

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 2008 dollars)

FY

Inflation 

Factors

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DOD Othera DOEb DOC DOI USDA NSFc DOT

Total 

Space

1959 

1960 

1961 

1962 

1963 

1964 

1965 

1966 

1967 

1968 

1969 

1970 

1971 

1972 

1973 

1974 

1975 

1976 

TQ* 

1977 

1978 

1979 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1986 

1987 

1988 

1989 

1990 

1991 

1992 

1993 

1994 

1995 

1996 

1997 

1998 

1999 

2000 

2001 

2002 

2003 

2004 

2005 

2006 

2007 

2008 

5.860 

5.769 

5.700 

5.620 

5.558 

5.489 

5.424 

5.332 

5.221 

5.057 

4.884 

4.671 

4.429 

4.218 

4.028 

3.858 

3.598 

3.259 

3.040 

2.946 

2.828 

2.650 

2.452 

2.254 

2.053 

1.922 

1.841 

1.775 

1.719 

1.680 

1.637 

1.587 

1.528 

1.473 

1.420 

1.385 

1.354 

1.326 

1.299 

1.274 

1.252 

1.237 

1.221 

1.197 

1.169 

1.148 

1.125 

1.096 

1.062 

1.027 

1.000 

1,940 

3,023 

5,495 

10,257 

20,413 

27,993 

28,477 

27,595 

25,926 

23,199 

19,493 

17,496 

14,664 

13,949 

13,719 

11,716 

11,618 

11,570 

2,833 

11,249 

11,482 

12,178 

12,849 

12,440 

12,410 

13,212 

13,727 

13,443 

13,422 

18,352 

14,838 

17,413 

18,832 

20,651 

20,331 

19,822 

19,735 

18,370 

18,031 

17,468 

17,092 

16,893 

16,611 

17,035 

17,388 

17,631 

17,298 

17,757 

17,657 

16,731 

17,117 

1,529 

2,665 

5,279 

10,099 

20,152 

27,532 

27,869 

27,008 

25,216 

22,405 

18,667 

16,567 

13,734 

12,954 

12,458 

10,644 

10,489 

10,511 

2,581 

10,135 

10,246 

10,678 

11,476 

11,254 

11,351 

12,161 

12,623 

12,292 

12,318 

16,480 

13,626 

16,029 

17,512 

19,221 

18,743 

18,096 

17,638 

16,632 

16,323 

15,873 

15,430 

15,416 

15,292 

15,926 

16,222 

16,478 

16,109 

16,700 

16,746 

15,994 

16,502 

2,871 

3,236 

4,640 

7,295 

8,614 

8,777 

8,538 

9,006 

8,687 

9,720 

9,832 

7,837 

6,696 

5,935 

6,537 

6,813 

6,808 

6,463 

1,398 

7,107 

7,743 

8,044 

9,436 

10,884 

13,714 

17,333 

18,765 

22,664 

24,286 

27,364 

28,948 

28,425 

23,863 

20,894 

21,333 

19,540 

17,833 

14,114 

14,953 

14,942 

15,478 

16,336 

15,805 

17,150 

18,408 

22,248 

21,500 

21,585 

23,490 

23,032 

24,795 

199 

248 

388 

1,118 

1,428 

1,169 

1,307 

1,141 

1,112 

881 

832 

659 

717 

563 

594 

610 

568 

549 

131 

570 

639 

657 

567 

528 

642 

629 

727 

1,036 

820 

783 

1,213 

889 

773 

1,138 

1,133 

1,012 

857 

1,006 

1,075 

1,006 

1,051 

1,215 

1,289 

1,271 

1,380 

1,498 

1,647 

1,700 

1,749 

1,726 

1,698 

199 

248 

388 

832 

1,189 

1,153 

1,242 

997 

961 

733 

576 

481 

421 

232 

218 

162 

108 

75 

15 

65 

96 

156 

98 

92 

125 

75 

63 

60 

60 

81 

395 

154 

121 

370 

317 

229 

100 

79 

60 

45 

129 

130 

200 

174 

194 

219 

235 

251 

260 

205 

195 

0 

0 

0 

287 

239 

16 

65 

144 

151 

142 

98 

37 

120 

131 

161 

231 

230 

235 

67 

268 

291 

260 

228 

196 

298 

342 

434 

751 

531 

467 

576 

478 

371 

370 

464 

449 

423 

467 

613 

571 

545 

711 

702 

691 

753 

745 

838 

885 

913 

937 

862 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

5 

9 

25 

40 

35 

29 

33 

9 

29 

28 

26 

29 

27 

25 

10 

6 

4 

3 

13 

23 

27 

47 

43 

48 

46 

42 

41 

47 

54 

54 

73 

73 

72 

75 

85 

80 

77 

87 

89 

90 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

5 

5 

5 

4 

8 

8 

12 

7 

13 

3 

18 

23 

21 

34 

36 

31 

38 

35 

27 

40 

32 

29 

33 

38 

38 

41 

35 

42 

42 

48 

50 

49 

46 

54 

43 

33 

48 

69 

80 

89 

67 

59 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

152 

131 

164 

166 

167 

170 

193 

193 

36 

190 

201 

193 

177 

176 

164 

163 

189 

195 

185 

188 

188 

192 

189 

311 

257 

249 

243 

369 

300 

280 

267 

247 

252 

278 

311 

387 

412 

395 

387 

415 

479 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

2 

5 

6 

6 

6 

6 

7 

8 

8 

8 

8 

7 

7 

14 

14 

14 

13 

13 

13 

12 

13 

4,600

6,150

10,306

18,513

30,194

37,477

37,714

37,155

35,015

33,006

29,331

25,063

21,147

19,451

19,589

18,067

17,864

17,522

4,110

17,812

18,628

19,379

21,478

22,667

25,707

30,123

32,114

35,992

37,424

44,628

43,787

45,343

42,147

41,253

41,209

38,649

36,328

31,752

32,351

31,821

31,959

32,967

32,386

34,347

36,010

40,224

39,256

39,986

41,985

40,752

42,995

a. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total column 

because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as in space. For the years 1989–1997, this Other column also includes small 

figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also includes $2.1 billion for replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

b. The DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

c. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
148Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix D-2

federal spaCe aCTiviTies budgeT

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year) 

Federal 

Agencies 2007 

actual

2008 

actual

Budget Authority

2009 

enacted

Recovery 

enacted

2010 

est.

Budget Outlays

2007 

actual

2008 

actual

NASA1, 2 15,568 16,502 17,282 852 18,179 15,247 17,231

DOD 22,487 24,795 25,595 0 26,463 22,060 24,080

DOE3 200 195 191 5 234 188 192

DOC 912 862 1,074 74 1,350 803 603

DOI 87 90 87 15 88 87 86

USDA 65 59 68 0 57 46 46

DOT 12 13 14 0 15 11 12

NSF 404 479 499 291 481 370 361

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 that 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.
149 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Appendix D-3

federal aeronauTiCs aCTiviTies budgeT

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year) 

Budget Authority Budget Outlays Federal 

Agencies 2007 2008 

actual

2009 

enacted

Recovery 

enacted

2010 

est.

2007 

actual

2008 

actual actual

NASA1, 2 717 615 500 150 507 614 603

DOD 11,614 10,873 14,253 52 14,664 10,640 10,994

DOT 2,632 2,646 2,879 200 3,089 2,426 2,562

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).
150Aeronautics and Space Report of the President
151 a Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

Cronyms

3-D three-dimensional

4-D four-dimensional (three spatial dimensions plus time constraints); 4-Dimension 

(as part of 4-D Weather Data Cube Management Team)

6DOF Six Degrees of Freedom

A

AAD Aircraft Aging and Durability

AATE Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine

ACCA Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft

ACD Advanced Capabilities Division

ACES Automatic Collection Exchange System

ACT Atacama Cosmology Telescope

ADL Airport Data Logger

ADS-33 Aeronautical Design Standard-33

ADS-B Airborne Dependent Surveillance Broadcast

ADVENT Adaptive Versatile Engine Technology

AFB Air Force Base

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

AGRHYMET Agricultural-Hydrological-Meteorological

AGS Alternating Gradient Synchrotron

AHW Advanced Hypersonic Weapon

AIA Aerospace Industries Association

AIAA American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder

AIS Automatic Identification System

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

AMISR Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar

AMPERE Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment

AMS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

AP Associated Press

APHIS Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

APLC Aerospace Products Literature Center

ARC Ames Research Center

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

ARS Agricultural Research Service

AS&T Aeronautics Science and Technology

ASCAT Advanced Scatterometer

ASI Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer

ASIAS Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing

AST Division of Astronomical Sciences

ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

ATD Advanced Technology Demonstration

ATHLETE All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer

ATI Airborne Technologies, Inc.

ATM Division of Atmospheric Sciences

ATP Aeronautics Test Program

ATST Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

ATV Automated Transfer Vehicle

AUVSI Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
152Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor

B 

BEPAC Beyond Einstein Program Advisory Committee

BIA Bureau of Indian Affairs

BIS Bureau of Industry and Security

BLM Bureau of Land Management

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory

BOR Bureau of Reclamation

C

C3PO Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office

CAAFI Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative

CAASD Center for Advanced Aviation System Development

CALIPSO Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations

CAMRAS Carbon Dioxide and Moisture Removal Amine Swingbed

CATHALAC Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean

CCMC Community Coordinated Modeling Center

CCRS Canada Centre for Remote Sensing

CCSP Climate Change Science Program

CDA Command and Data Acquisition

CDL Cropland Data Layer

CDR Critical Design Review

CEDAR Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions

CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites

CEPS Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

CERES Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System

CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research

CESTOL cruise efficient short takeoff and landing

CfA Center for Astrophysics

CH4

 methane

chl chlorophyll

CIBER Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment

CINDI Coupled Ion-Neutral Dynamics Investigation

CIO Chief Information Officer

CIR color infrared

CISM Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling

CLU Common Land Unit

CME coronal mass ejection

CNC computer numerical control

CNES Centre National d’Études Spatiales

CNN Cable News Network

CO carbon monoxide

CO-OPS Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services

CO2 carbon dioxide

COASTAL Coastal Oceanographic Applications and Services for Tides and Lakes

CONUS Continental United States

CORS Continuously Operating Reference Station

COS Cosmic Origins Spectrograph

COSH Control of Static Heaviness

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

COTS Commercial Orbital Transportation Services
153 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

CPA color-producing agent

CRISP Central Region Integrated Science Partnership Funds

CRS Commercial Resupply Services

CRW Coral Reef Watch

CS Commercial Service

CSLM-2 Coarsening in Solid-Liquid Mixtures-2

CSREES Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

CWTG Coastal Water Temperature Guide

CXO Chandra X-ray Observatory D

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DART Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami

DEM digital elevation model

Dextre Canadian Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator

DGPS differential global positioning system

DIO Directorate Integration Office

DLR German Aerospace Center

DOC Department of Commerce

doc dissolved organic carbon

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOS Department of State

dpi dots per inch

DSP Defense Support Program

DTM digital terrain map E

E-Nose Electronic Nose

EBIS Electron Beam Ion Source

ECOHAB Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms

EDL entry/descent/landing

EDMS Emissions and Dispersion Model System

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle

EKV Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle

ELM-PS Experiment Logistics Module, Pressurized Section (part of Kibo)

ELV expendable launch vehicle

EMA Ethiopian Mapping Authority

EOS Earth Observing System

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

ERIM Environmental Research Institute of Michigan

ERS Economic Research Service

ESA European Space Agency

ESMD Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

ESRL Earth System Research Laboratory

ET External Tank

ETDP Exploration Technology Development Program

EU European Union

EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUV extreme ultraviolet

EVA extravehicular activity

EVE EUV Variability Experiment
154Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

F

F-T Fischer-Tropsch fuel

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FACET Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service

FASR Frequency Agile Solar Radiotelescope

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FDMS Flight Deck Merging and Spacing

FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (previously GLAST)

FIM Flow-following Finite-volume Icosahedral Model

FIP Forecast Icing Product

FIPS Federal Information Processing Standards

FMS Flight Management System

FSA Farm Service Agency

FTS Fourier Transform Spectrometer

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service

FY fiscal year

G

GCJV Gulf Coast Joint Venture

GEM Geospace Environment Modeling

GEO Group on Earth Observations; Global Earth Observations

GeoMAC Geospatial Multi Agency Coordination

GHWG Global Harmonization Working Group

GIS Geographic Information System

GLAM Global Agriculture Monitoring

GLAST Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope

GLERL Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System

GloVis Global Visualization Viewer

GMSEC Goddard Mission Systems Evolution Center

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement

GPS Global Positioning System

GPSIIRM-19 specific GPS satellite

GPSRO Global Positioning System Radio Occultation

GRAV-D Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum

GRC Glenn Research Center

GSD Ground Systems Division

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

GSICS Global Space-Based Inter Calibration System

GV Gulfstream V

H

HAB Harmful Algal Bloom

HAB-FS Harmful Algal Bloom Forecasting System

HEETE Highly Efficient Embedded Turbine Engine

HIAPER High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research

HIPPO HIAPER Pole to Pole Observations

HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment

HiSTED High-Speed Turbine Engine Demonstration

HQP Helicopter Quieting Program
155 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

HRP Human Research Program

HRRR High-Resolution Rapid Refresh

HST Hubble Space Telescope

HTCG High Technology Cooperation Group

HTDP3.0 Horizontal Time-Dependent Positioning software, version 3.0

HTV-2 Hypersonic Technology Vehicle

HyFly Hypersonic Flight I

I&M Inventory and Monitoring

IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer

ICG International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems

IDPS Integrated Data Processing System

IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IGRS Iraqi Geospatial Reference System

IGS International GNSS Service

IIFD Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck

InSPACE-2 Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions-2

INVENT Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology

IOCM Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

IPO Integrated Program Office

IPY International Polar Year

IRAC Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control; Infrared Array Camera

ISDAC Indirect and Semi-Direct Aerosol Campaign

ISO International Organization for Standardization

ISOC Instrument Science Operations Center

ISRE International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment

ISRU In Situ Resource Utilization

ISS International Space Station

ITA International Trade Administration

IVHM Integrated Vehicle Health Management J

J2X upper stage engine (relating to Ares I)

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JDEM Joint Dark Energy Mission

JEM-PM Japanese Experiment Module, Pressurized Module

JFC Joint Force Commander

JP-8 Jet Propellant 8

JPDO Joint Planning and Development Office

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JWST James Webb Space Telescope K

KSC Kennedy Space Center L

LAS Launch Abort System

LASP Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

LAT Large Area Telescope
156Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

LBIR Low Background Infrared

LBNL Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

LC Launch Complex (e.g., LC-39A)

LCROSS Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite

LDCM Landsat Data Continuity Mission

LEO low-Earth orbit

LIDAR LIght Detection And Ranging

LPRP Lunar Precursor Robotic Program

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LSP Launch Services Program

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

LULC land use and land cover

M

M.Y.S.P.A.C.E. Multinational Youth Studying Practical Applications of Climatic Events

MAF Michoud Assembly Facility

MANPADS man-portable air defense system

MARSIS Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding

MDA Missile Defense Agency

MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership

MER Mars Exploration Rovers

MERIS Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer

MESSENGER MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

MHz megahertz

Mini-SAR Miniature Synthetic Aperture Radar

MISR Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MMT Multi Mirror Telescope

MOA Mars Organic Analyzer; Memorandum of Agreement

MOBY Marine Optical Buoy

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MRLC Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

MTBS Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity

MTRI Michigan Tech Research Institute

MWA Murchison Widefield Array

N

NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

NAIP National Agricultural Imagery Program

NAS National Airspace System

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASM National Air and Space Museum

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research

NCCOS National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science

NCEP National Center for Environmental Prediction

NDBC National Data Buoy Center

NERSC National Energy Research Scientific-Computing Center

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System

NEXRAD Next Generation Weather Radar

NFAC National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex
157 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

NFMTC National Force Measurement Technology Capability

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

NGDC National Geophysical Data Center

NGS National Geodetic Survey

NIERSC Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center

NIOSH National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health

NIRSpec near-infrared spectrograph

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NLCD National Land Cover Dataset

NLS NASA Launch Services

NMSA New Mexico Spaceport Authority

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory

NODC National Oceanographic Data Center

NOS National Ocean Service

NPAT National Partnership for Aeronautical Testing

NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project

NPS National Park Service

NRA NASA Research Announcement

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRO National Reconnaissance Office

NSAS National Strategy for Aviation Security

NSCOR NASA Specialized Center of Research

NSDI National Spatial Data Infrastructure

NSF National Science Foundation

NSO National Solar Observatory

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

NSWP National Space Weather Program

NVLAP National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program

NWI National Wetland Inventory

NWR National Wildlife Refuge

NWS National Weather Service O

OAAI Office of Aerospace and Automotive Industries

OAR Oceanic and Atmospheric Research

OASCR Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research

OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OFES Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

OGA Office of Global Analysis

OLI Operational Land Imager

OMAC Organization for Machine Automation and Control

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OMPS Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite

OPP Office of Polar Programs

OPUS Online Positioning User Service

OPUS-RS OPUS-Rapid Static

Orbital Orbital Sciences Corporation

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORS Operationally Responsive Space

OSC Office of Space Commercialization
158Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

OSTM Ocean Surface Topography Mission

OSVW ocean surface vector wind

P

PA Pad Abort test for Orion (e.g., PA-1)

PALSAR Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar

Pan-STARRS Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System

PARASOL Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric 

Sciences coupled with Observations with a Lidar

PDR Preliminary Design Review

PDT Procurement Development Team

PER Pre-Environmental Review

PISCES Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems

PMA Pressurized Mating Adapter (e.g., PMA-2)

PNAS “Proceedings of the National Academies of Science”

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Lab

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite

PPPL Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory

Q

QA4EO Quality Assurance for Earth Observations

QMD Quality Measurement Data

QuikSCAT Quick Scatterometer

QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

R

R&D research and development

RATTLRS Revolutionary Approach To Time-critical Long Range Strike

RAVAR Rapid Assessment of Values at Risk

RDT&E research, development, test, and evaluation

RHIC Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

RMA Risk Management Agency

RPIF Regional Planetary Image Facility

RPT Rocket Propulsion Test

RSAC Remote Sensing Applications Center

RSGIG Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Group

RSIWG Remote Sensing Interagency Working Group

RTK real-time kinematic

RTT Research Transition Team

RUC Rapid Update Cycle

S

SAA Space Act Agreement; Sense and Avoid

SAME Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

SAR Systems Acceptance Review; Search and Rescue; Synthetic Aperture Radar

SARJ Solar Alpha Rotary Joint

SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking

SBUV/2 Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Spectral Radiometer

SC Office of Science

SCaN Space Communications and Navigation

SciDAC Scientific Discovery through Advanced Scientific Computing
159 Fiscal Year 2008 Activities

SDL Space Dynamics Laboratory

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory

SDR System Definition Review

SEA Satellite Educators Association

SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view

SHAAC Shuttle Hazard Area to Aircraft Calculator

SHARAD Shallow Subsurface Radar

SHC strategic habitat conservation

SHERE Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment

SHINE Solar, Heliosphere, and INterplanetary Environment

SIA Satellite Imagery Archive

SIASC Standing Interagency Aviation Security Committee

SIRR Systems Integration Readiness Review

SLAC Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

sm suspended minerals

SMA Submillimeter Array

SMAP Soil Moisture Active-Passive

SMART Smart Material Actuated Rotor Technology

SMD Science Mission Directorate

SOMD Space Operations Mission Directorate

SOS Science on a Sphere

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies

SPF Space Power Facility

SPP Space Protection Program

SQUID Superconducting Quantum Interference Device

SRM Standard Reference Material

SSA space situational awareness

SSME Space Shuttle Main Engine

SSS Sea Surface Salinity

SST sea surface temperature

STAR Center for Satellite Applications and Research; Science to Achieve Results

STFC Science and Technology Facilities Council

SuperDARN Super Dual Auroral Radar Network

SURF III Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility

T

TAMDAR Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Reporting

TES transition-edge sensor

TGF temperature gradient focusing

THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms

TIM Total Irradiance Monitor

TIMED Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics

TIR thermal infrared

TOPEX TOPography EXperiment

TSIS Total Solar Irradiance Sensor

TSS total suspended solids

TWINS Two Wide-angle Imaging Neutral-atom Spectrometers (with mission designation, 

TWINS-A or TWINS-B)

TWP Tropical Western Pacific

U

UAF Upper Atmospheric Facilities

UARS Upper Atmospheric Research Section

UAS Unmanned Aerial System; Unmanned Aircraft System; Uninhabited Aerial System
160Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

ULA United Launch Alliance

UNCOPUOS United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization

US&FCS U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USCRN U.S. Climate Reference Network

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USFS U.S. Forest Service

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

USTR U.S. Trade Representative

UVCS Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer

V

VAATE Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine

VAFB Vandenberg Air Force Base

VLA Very Large Array

VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry

VSHFE Very Small Heavy Fuel Engine

VTOL Vertical Take-Off and Landing

VUV vacuum ultraviolet

W

WAOB World Agricultural Outlook Board

WIMP weakly interacting massive particle

WRC World Radiocommunication Conference

WRF-Chem Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry

X

XRT X-Ray Telescope