Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year

2018 Activities

Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year 2018

Activities
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 directed 

the annual Aeronautics and Space Report to include a 

“comprehensive description of the programmed activities and 

the accomplishments of all agencies of the United States in the 

field of aeronautics and space activities during the preceding 

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

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

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

covers activities that took place from October 1, 2017, through 

September 30, 2018. Please note that these activities reflect 

the Federal policies of that time and do not include subsequent 

events or changes in policy.

On the title page, clockwise from the top left: 1. Image of the full moon with topographical shadows 

added using elevation data derived from measurements by the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) 

aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center 

Scientific Visualization Studio. 2. Artist’s concept of NASA’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology 

Low-Boom Flight (QueSST) Demonstrator in flight. Credit: NASA/Lockheed Martin. 3. The Global 

Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, launched in 2014, is a joint international project 

with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). It is part of an international satellite constellation producing global observations of rainfall and snowfall. Credit: NASA. 4. The unbarred spiral 

galaxy NGC 5033, located about 40 million light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici 

(The Hunting Dogs). Credit: Hubble/European Space Agency (ESA). 5. On June 14, 2018, Ricky 

Arnold, pictured here, and Station Commander Drew Feustel completed the sixth spacewalk at the 

International Space Station in 2018. Credit: NASA 6. The Orbital ATK Antares rocket, with the 

Cygnus spacecraft onboard, launches from Pad-0A, Sunday, November 12, 2017, at NASA’s Wallops 

Flight Facility in Virginia. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls.
Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The National Space Council v

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate 1

Science Mission Directorate .

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 47

Space Technology Mission Directorate 54

Department of Defense 67

Federal Aviation Administration 91

Department of Commerce . 

Department of the Interior . 

Federal Communications Commission 149

U.S. Department of Agricultur  1

National Science Foundation 177

Department of State 191

Department of Energy 197

Smithsonian Institution . 

Appendices

A-1 U.S. Government Spacecraft Recor  2

A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in

Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond . 

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

C Human Spaceflights . 

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

Authority in Millions of Real-Year Dollars . 

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

Authority in Millions of Inflation-Adjusted FY 2018 Dollars . 

D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget . 

D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget . 

E-1 Space Policy Directive-2 of May 24, 2018: Streamlining Regulations on

Commercial Use of Space 228

E-2 Space Policy Directive-3 of June 18, 2018: National Space Traffic

Management Policy . 

Acronyms 239

vThe National Space Council

The National Space Co

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

Council has advised and assisted the President on national space policy and strategy and fostered close coordination and cooperation among the domestic civil, 

national security, and commercial space sectors, as well as advising on international 

space activities. The Council’s Chair, Vice President Mike Pence, is supported by 

the National Space Council members, which include the heads of the agencies, 

offices, and departments responsible for the United States space enterprise. 

The Council held its first meeting on October 5, 2017, at the Smithsonian 

National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, 

Virginia. At the meeting, Vice President Mike Pence articulated the 

Administration’s direction for space exploration, and the Council adopted a recommendation to the President to return American astronauts to the Moon, and then 

send crewed mission to Mars and other destinations. Space Policy Directive–1, 

signed by President Donald Trump on December 11, 2017, adopted this recommendation, calling for “an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with 

commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar 

system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities.”

The Council met again on February 21, 2018, at the Space Station Processing 

Facility at the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. This meeting resulted in four recommendations focusing on regulatory reform to advance 

the commercial space industry. In an effort to modernize existing regulatory 

frameworks, Space Policy Directive–2, signed by President Trump on May 24, 2018, 

directs the transformation of launch and reentry licensing for spacecraft; the elevation of space functions within the Department of Commerce; the review of a wide 
viAeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

variety of new issues to enable efficient and predictable regulation of space activities; the protection of radiofrequency spectrum for space activities; and an update 

to commercial space-related export controls.

The Council met for a third time on June 18, 2018, in the East Room of the 

White House, where the Council adopted a recommendation to change the way 

that space traffic management is conducted in the United States. Space Policy 

Directive–3, signed at the third meeting of the Council, was issued to address the 

challenges of operating in a congested space environment by establishing clear 

roles and responsibilities for U.S. Government departments and agencies. The 

foundational principles of the new space traffic management policy include safety, 

stability, and sustainability; timely and actionable space situational awareness data; 

accessible data and user interface; and a framework that consists of best practices, 

technical guidelines, safety standards, behavioral norms, pre-launch risk assessments, and on-orbit collision avoidance services.

On February 18, 2018, it was announced that the Council would be supported by 

a Users’ Advisory Group comprised of non-federal senior leaders from industry, academia, and other non-governmental organizations. The Users’ Advisory Group met 

for the first time on June 19, 2018, to focus on strengthening public engagement, 

increasing commercialization activities in low Earth orbit, accelerating a return to 

the moon, identifying opportunities for international cooperation, and strengthening the relationship between science and exploration. The Users’ Advisory Group 

has established six subcommittees: exploration and discovery, national security 

space, economic development and the industrial base, technology and innovation, 

outreach and education, and space policy and international engagement.
1National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Aeronautic

Space Administr

NASA

Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate

Exploration Systems Development

The Exploration Systems Development (ESD) programs—Space Launch System 

(SLS), Orion, and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS)—continue to make steady 

progress toward the first missions of the Orion spacecraft and the SLS rocket that 

will lead the next steps of human exploration to the Moon and beyond, extending human exploration farther into space than ever before. Exploration Mission–1 

(EM-1) will be the first integrated test of Orion, SLS, and the supporting ground 

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

Florida, in 2020 (date under review) and will pave the road for future missions 

with astronauts.

Orion

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

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

heavy-lift rocket, the SLS.

The Orion team has completed the majority of the work to assemble the EM-1 

crew module. Thousands of components like Orion’s windows, avionics, wire 
2Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

harnessing, and parachutes, which make up more than 30 subsystems, have been 

integrated and tested through evaluations like thermal cycle testing, proof tests 

on propulsion lines, and functional tests to ensure that systems work as planned. 

The team recently installed the heat shield that will protect the EM-1 crew module 

upon reentry from the lunar vicinity through Earth’s atmosphere. 

Testing on a structural test article in Denver for sound and vibration evaluations has confirmed that Orion can withstand the extreme acoustic and vibration 

environments of the launch and separation event in space. At sea, NASA and the 

Department of Defense (DOD) have honed the procedures and skills they will 

use to recover Orion upon splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Flight controllers 

also conducted tests to ensure that Orion can communicate with Mission Control 

through NASA’s satellite network. Welding of the Orion Exploration Mission–2 

(EM-2) crew module pressure vessel was completed at Michoud Assembly Facility 

(MAF), and the assembly has been shipped to KSC for outfitting.

The Agency tested Orion’s parachute system for the final time in mid-September 2018, bringing NASA another step closer to verifying that the spacecraft is 

ready to bring crews home in any scenario. Work is progressing at several NASA 

Centers in preparation for a test of Orion’s launch abort system in the summer 

of 2019 that will verify that the crew can be carried to safety in an emergency 

during launch.

Space Launch System

The SLS is the most powerful, most capable launch system in the history of 

spaceflight. NASA is designing and implementing a manufacturing capability to 

efficiently produce, test, and qualify spaceflight hardware for long-term use, to 

human-rating standards, on a scale never achieved before, and this work represents 

a national investment in a long-term commitment to deep space exploration.

This year, NASA’s Super Guppy aircraft delivered the EM-1 Orion stage adapter, 

the second of five major elements of the first SLS flight vehicle, to KSC. At MAF, 

the five major structural pieces of the SLS core stage are completing final outfitting 

and assembly. Construction of the forward skirt and intertank are complete, and 

the liquid-oxygen and -hydrogen tanks are nearing completion. The structural test 
3National Aeronautics and Space Administration

article for the hydrogen tank is planned to be completed by the end of the calendar 

year and will be ready for shipment to Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) for 

testing that will simulate the forces of flight. Structural qualification testing of 

the engine section was completed some time ago, and intertank structural qualification is under way. Teams have also been applying the thermal insulation to 

flight hardware for protection from the extreme temperatures it will face during 

launch. Improvements to the application process are reducing the time needed for 

this work.

The SLS team is putting the finishing touches on the 30-foot-tall launch vehicle 

stage adapter that will connect the core stage to the interim cryogenic propulsion 

stage, which was delivered to KSC last year. All four EM-1 RS-25 core stage engines 

are complete and ready for shipping to MAF for integration with the EM-1 core 

stage. The SLS booster team in Utah has finished nine of the ten EM-1 solid rocket 

motor segments. EM-2 flight hardware fabrication and assembly are also well under 

way on the SLS core stage, boosters, and core-stage engines. The liquid engines 

team is green-run hot fire testing engine controllers to be used as far out as the 

fourth flight of SLS, as well as testing new hardware made with advanced manufacturing technologies that will reduce engine costs by better than 33 percent.

Exploration Ground Systems

The Exploration Ground Systems Program is responsible for overseeing ground 

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

spacecraft for EM-1, deep space missions, and NASA’s journey to Mars.

During 2018, major critical launch infrastructure neared completion in preparation for launch. EGS completed construction on the main flame deflector at the 

launch pad, and launch control teams conducted realistic launch simulations. Over 

the summer, software teams completed critical updates to use for command and 

control from the firing room to support the first mission.

In August 2018, EGS installed the final umbilical on the mobile launcher. In 

September 2018, for the first time since the mobile launcher was modified for the 

SLS, the massive tower rolled out atop the Crawler-Transporter 2 to Launch Pad 

39B for a fit check that verified all physical connections between the launcher and 
4Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

pad systems before rolling into the Vehicle Assembly Building for further analysis 

and detailed adjustments.

Commercial Crew Program

During FY 2018, NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX continued making technical and 

programmatic progress in maturing and certifying our partners’ commercial crew 

transportation systems. This year has seen our commercial partners transition from 

final systems design and development efforts to flight hardware production, certification, and final acceptance testing as both partners prepare for their demonstration flights and Post Certification Mission (PCM) flights to the International 

Space Station (ISS). Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA continue to work issues identified 

during testing as both partners move closer to flight.

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

reports, conducting verification events, and closing out requirements verification closure products. Critical flight and ground infrastructure are in final work or have been 

completed, including the manufacture of spacecraft and launch vehicles and key 

ground systems, such as crew access arms required for crew ingress prior to launch.

Boeing completed several critical programmatic and technical milestones during 

FY 2018, including Integrated Parachute System Drop Tests 1 and 2, the start of 

ISS Software NASA Docking System (NDS) test development, the completion of 

Crew Seat Incline, NDS range-of-motion test, and Orbital Flight Test (OFT) Flight 

Operations Review (FOR).

SpaceX completed several programmatic and technical milestones during 

FY 2018, including the Demo-1 Dragon Integration Checkpoint; the Certification 

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

Parachute Qualification, Part 1; the F9 Launch Vehicle Integration Review; and 

the Merlin Engine Qualification Checkpoint.

Through the Commercial Crew Program, NASA is ensuring that the Agency’s 

commercial partners’ crew transportation systems are safe, reliable, and costeffective. The certification process assesses progress throughout the production and 

testing of the partners’ systems, which include launch vehicle, spacecraft, ground 

systems, and all aspects of operations.
5National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities

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

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

continue making technical and programmatic progress in maturing their respective 

commercial space capabilities.

International Space Station

The International Space Station continued its focus on research and technology development in such disciplines as biology, human research, biotechnology, 

Earth science, physical science, and astrophysics during FY 2018. Enabling such 

research are frequent Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) flights from Northrop 

Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) and SpaceX. Prior to Northrop Grumman’s 

purchase of Orbital ATK, Orbital ATK completed two cargo flights, and SpaceX 

completed three cargo flights to the ISS. In June 2018, Northrop Grumman 

completed its purchase of Orbital ATK, creating a new business unit named 

Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. These cargo missions were complemented by those of our International Partners, particularly Roscosmos, which 

provided three Progress cargo missions, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration 

Agency (JAXA), which was responsible for the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-7) 

mission during FY 2018. Additionally, NASA and Bigelow Aerospace extended 

Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) presence on the ISS in order to 

provide additional performance data on expandable habitat technologies and 

enable new technology demonstrations. The module will also increase onboard 

stowage capability.

Three Soyuz crew rotation missions were accomplished in FY 2018. The departure of Soyuz 51S in December 2017 marked the end of Expedition 53. Their time 

aboard marked the first long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment of the 

ISS from three to four, allowing NASA to maximize time dedicated to research 

on the Station. Less than a week after the 51S crew landed, Soyuz 53S and the 

remaining members of Expedition 54 arrived on the ISS. This crew continued the 

long-term increase in crew size on the U.S. segment, enabling NASA to double the 
6Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

time dedicated to research and achieve a record-setting week of research that surpassed 100 hours. Through the end of Expedition 54 (February 2018), the ISS had 

hosted over 2,500 investigations from more than 105 countries/areas. Soyuz 54S 

and 55S docked to the Station in March and June 2018 respectively. Expeditions 55 

and 56 (which ended October 4, 2018) marked the completion of NASA’s Year of 

Education on Station. In that timeframe, the ISS crew reached more than 200,000 

students in 29 states.

Eight U.S. extravehicular activities (EVAs) were conducted during FY 2018. 

A trio of EVAs in October 2017 successfully replaced and lubricated one of two 

Latching End Effectors (LEEs) on the Station’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, as well as 

removing and replacing the arm’s camera system. The two end effectors on each 

end of the arm are used as “hands” to grapple visiting vehicles (such as Dragon) 

and components during a variety of operational activities. The next pair of EVAs, 

on January 23 and February 16, 2018, respectively, replaced another LEE each and 

installed them in their long-term operational locations. An EVA in March 2018 

installed wireless communications antennas and removed hoses from a cooling 

system. U.S. EVA #50 in May 2018 moved the Pump Flow Control Subassembly 

(PFCS) from a spare parts platform on the Station’s truss to the Special Purpose 

Dexterous Manipulator (also known as Dextre), a maintenance robot that can be 

attached to Canadarm2. The PFCS controls the flow of ammonia through the 

exterior portions of the Station’s cooling system. In June 2018, the final spacewalk 

of FY 2018 successfully installed new high-definition cameras that will provide 

enhanced views during the final phase of approach and docking of the SpaceX 

Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner commercial crew spacecraft that will soon 

begin launching from American soil.

Orbital ATK’s eighth contracted cargo mission, OA-8, arrived at the ISS on 

November 14, 2017, following a November 12 launch on an Antares rocket from 

the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a complex owned by the state of Virginia at 

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The Cygnus spacecraft delivered over 7,400 pounds 

of crew supplies, science experiments, spacewalk gear, Station hardware, and computer parts. Some of the research payloads delivered investigated the space impacts on 

microbiology and botany. The advanced space research will explore the effectiveness 

of antibiotics on astronauts and observe how plants absorb nutrients in microgravity.
7National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Orbital ATK launched its ninth contracted cargo mission, OA-9, to the ISS on 

May 21, 2018. The Cygnus spacecraft, carrying 7,400 pounds of cargo, was berthed 

at the ISS three days later. During Cygnus approach, it became the first spacecraft 

to use the new Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles (C2V2). This communication system unifies all communications through a single system and provide 

a more reliable communication link for future cargo and commercial vehicles. In 

addition to delivering a variety of research investigations, the Cygnus vehicle also 

performed a thruster firing to increase the Station’s altitude. This was the first 

reboost of the ISS by a U.S. spacecraft since the retirement of the Space Shuttle.

SpaceX launched its 13th contracted cargo mission, SpX-13, to the ISS on 

December 15, 2017. The Dragon spacecraft was successfully berthed to the ISS 

on December 17, 2017. This commercial resupply mission delivered more than 

4,800 pounds of supplies and payloads to the Station. Among the research materials delivered was an investigation demonstrating the benefits of manufacturing 

fiber optic filaments in a microgravity environment. Designed by the company 

Made in Space, and sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in 

Space (CASIS), the investigation pulled fiber-optic wire from ZBLAN, a heavymetal fluoride glass commonly used to make fiber-optic glass. Results from this 

investigation could lead to the production of higher-quality fiber-optic products for 

use in space and on Earth. The Dragon spacecraft departed the Station on January 

13, 2018, and returned to Earth with nearly 4,100 pounds of research, hardware, 

and crew supplies.

Two days after its launch from Florida on April 2, 2018, the SpaceX-14 mission’s Dragon cargo spacecraft was grappled and berthed on the Harmony module 

of the ISS. This 14th contracted commercial resupply mission delivered about 

5,800  pounds of cargo to the ISS. Among the research arriving for the U.S. 

National Laboratory was a Metabolic Tracking investigation to evaluate the use 

of a new method to test, in microgravity, the metabolic impacts of pharmaceutical 

drugs. This work could lead to more-effective, less-expensive medicines on Earth. 

The Multi-use Variable-g Platform (MVP) will serve as a new test bed aboard the 

Space Station, able to host 12 separate experiment modules with samples such as 

plants, cells, protein crystals, and fruit flies. The Center for the Advancement 

of Science in Space (CASIS), which manages the U.S. National Laboratory, 
8Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

sponsored the investigation and the MVP. Dragon remained attached to the ISS 

until May 5, when it returned to Earth with more than 4,000 pounds of cargo.

A SpaceX-15 Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at 

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 29, 2018, with more than 

5,900 pounds of research, equipment, cargo, and supplies that supported dozens 

of investigations aboard the orbiting laboratory. Among the cargo was a spare 

Latching End Effector. This was the 30th grapple of an arriving spacecraft and 

the 15th time the Canadarm2 has captured a Dragon. Among the research arriving on Dragon was a cellular biology investigation (Micro-12) to understand how 

microgravity affects the growth, gene expression, and ability of a model bacterium 

to transfer electrons through its cell membrane along the bacterial nanowires it 

produces. Such bacteria could be used in microbial fuel cells to make electricity from waste organic material. Additionally, an Earth science instrument called 

the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station 

(ECOSTRESS) was delivered with expectations to provide a new space-based measurement of how plants respond to changes in water availability. These data can 

help society better manage agricultural water use.

The HTV-7 cargo mission was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in 

southern Japan on September 22, 2018, and was berthed to the ISS five days later. 

The cargo spacecraft began its trip to the orbiting laboratory with a launch on an 

H-IIB rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center. The cargo delivery includes more 

than five tons of supplies, water, spare parts, and experiments for the crew aboard the 

ISS. The spacecraft also carried a half dozen new lithium-ion batteries to continue 

upgrades to the Station’s power system. After its release in early FY 2019, a new, 

small reentry capsule was deployed from the unpiloted HTV-7 vehicle. The conically 

shaped capsule was a technology demonstration designed to test JAXA’s ability to 

return small payloads from the Station for expedited delivery to researchers.

Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA)

Human Research Program (HRP)

In 2018, NASA sponsored research to mitigate human health and performance risks associated with long-duration spaceflight. NASA ISS crewmembers 
9National Aeronautics and Space Administration

conducted 11 biomedical investigations during each of the ISS mission increments; 

completed three major ISS flight investigations; initiated six new flight investigations; and continued two ongoing investigations that included pre-flight baseline 

data collection, in-flight ISS data collection, and post-flight data collection as 

required. These long-duration spaceflight studies included research on standardized 

behavioral measures for detecting potential behavioral health risks during future 

exploration missions, assessment of exploration food technology for long-term 

food stowage and fresh food production, and physiological research on vertebral 

strength and injury risk. Additionally, NASA implemented the ISS Spaceflight 

Standard Measures project to collect a set of core measurements during and after 

long-duration ISS missions; these measurements can be used to study many of the 

astronaut health risks. The goal is to ensure that an optimized set of measures is 

consistently captured from all ISS crewmembers in order to characterize the health 

of a human in space in preparation for exploration missions.

NASA is continuing analysis of the ISS One-Year Mission and Twins Study data 

to support the future publication of research results in 2019. For more than a year, 

identical twin brothers Scott and Mark Kelly participated by providing physiological samples and performing psychological tests. For Scott, samples were collected 

before, during, and after his one-year ISS mission. This approach allowed for a 

more complete and accurate assessment of how genes may be expressed differently 

due to environmental factors over time during the year of spaceflight. This comprehensive biological, physiological, and psychological analysis will allow NASA 

to better understand the health risks associated with space travel and develop 

strategies to mitigate these risks. Further, NASA is also assessing ISS plans and 

recommendations regarding additional future One-Year Missions to gain a better 

understanding of the effects of these longer-duration spaceflights, as well as how 

to use the ISS as an exploration operational analog to assess the impacts of crew 

isolation during exploration missions.

NASA’s Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH), headquartered at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, is charged with developing 

innovative approaches to reducing risks to humans during long-duration exploration missions. TRISH continued to solicit from the national biomedical research 

community’s cutting-edge terrestrial research to translate their findings into 
10Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

mitigation strategies for exploration missions. This translational interdisciplinary 

research model focuses on rapidly translating fundamental research concepts into 

practice, thereby generating tangible health outcomes—in this case, for astronauts. During 2018, TRISH identified biomedical innovations and has 22 projects 

selected through two research announcements: 1) Biomedical Research Advances 

for Space Health solicited six deep space–relevant topic areas and 2) the industry 

solicitation requested proposals from small U.S.-based companies for technologies 

essential for self-reliant healthcare in deep space. TRISH also initiated an industryfocused partnership with the Consortia for Improving Medicine with Innovation 

and Technology, solicited and funded outstanding postdoctoral fellows, and supported training for future NASA flight surgeons.

In 2018, the HRP completed the following key milestones:

• The Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) Simulator Project went operational at 

the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at the Department of Energy’s 

Brookhaven National Laboratory. NASA will use the GCR simulator to 

rapidly switch between ion species and energies, allowing for a more realistic 

simulation of the actual radiation environment found in space. This process 

will help NAS to better understand the radiation health risks to astronauts.

• The Effects of Isolation on Behavioral Health and Performance Project 

completed four 45-day isolation study campaigns using the Human 

Exploration Research Analog (HERA) facility located at NASA Johnson 

Space Center. HERA is a unique three-story habitat designed to serve as 

an analog for isolation, confinement, and remote conditions in exploration scenarios. Each HERA campaign puts crews of four through simulated deep space missions and is supported by a mission control team. A 

variety of experiments are conducted during each 45-day simulated mission. Additionally, NASA is continuing preparations for long-duration 

isolation and confinement studies at the Nazemnyy Eksperimental’nyy 

Kompleks (NEK) facility in Moscow, Russia, in collaboration with the 

Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for Biomedical Problems. The collaboration included a two-week SIRIUS-17 mission, which commenced in 

early FY 2018, to test the feasibility of systems in support of a longer fourmonth SIRIUS-18 mission, which will commence in the spring of 2019.
11National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• The Advanced Twin Lifting and Aerobic System (ATLAS) Project completed the preliminary design review in preparation for the development 

and validation of a deep space exercise device on the ISS and is scheduled 

to be launched in the 2020 timeframe. ATLAS is an advanced servomotorbased exercise device for resistance and aerobic training, designed to support long-duration space missions where mass and volume are severely 

limited. It meets aerobic and resistance exercise functional performance 

requirements needed to maintain crew health and performance for exploration missions, such as those envisioned for the Gateway and habitat 

concepts, and accomplishes this in an extremely compact footprint.

Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS)

Under the management of the Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and 

Applications Division, BPS at NASA continues its strategy to explicitly align 

research on two primary thrusts, Enabling Exploration and Pioneering Scientific 

Discovery. This structure is in keeping with the framework for research prioritization recommended by the National Research Council in its Decadal Survey for Life 

and Physical Sciences at NASA and reaffirmed in its mid-term assessment report 

released in 2018.

SLPSRA has made several focused efforts to connect research it sponsors under 

the theme of Enabling Exploration with organizations responsible for integrating 

technologies into exploration missions. One such effort, the Zero Boil-Off Tank 

(ZBOT) experiment, is a research project developed and operated by SLPSRA on 

the ISS in 2018. It was identified by the Space Technology Mission Directorate as 

“Exploration Critical” in recognition of the value of the data from the experiment 

for the design of future cryogenic fuel storage facilities in space. ZBOT provided 

archival data for benchmarking and improving computational fluid dynamics 

(CFD) models and codes used by the cryogenic fluids management community and 

aerospace companies for future (ground-tested-only) tank designs.

SLPSRA research in 2018 is also part of NASA’s commitment to develop the 

potential of low-Earth orbit (LEO) through pioneering scientific discovery. The 

continuing success of the ISS partnership hinges on NASA’s continuing leadership in space research and development. An example of how SLPSRA work in 
12Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

2018 helped maintain the vitality of the ISS partnership is in cold atom research. 

Working with a team of distinguished physicists that includes three Nobel 

Laureates, NASA is operating the Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) on the ISS. In 

the weightless environment of the ISS, CAL is able to create the coldest atoms in 

the observable universe, atoms so cold and nearly motionless that, following the 

Uncertainty Principle, each atom will be almost observable with the naked eye. 

Physicists working in German laboratories have been using microgravity for several 

years now and have been eager to get access to facilities on the ISS. In 2018, the 

German Aerospace Center (DLR) and NASA have entered into an agreement that 

will see a German-developed follow-on to CAL on the ISS in the early 2020s. In 

2018, a joint U.S.-German Science Definition Team defined the capabilities and 

technical objectives for the new facility, called Bose-Einstein Condensate Cold 

Atom Laboratory (BECCAL) at the System Concept and Requirements Review, an 

important early milestone in the development of the ISS payload. BECCAL will 

be an important contribution to the scientific productivity of the ISS for European 

and American scientists in the next decade of ISS operations.

Scientific discovery is also the pioneering effort for future commercial developments. Throughout the history of science, basic research has created opportunities for commercial application. In 2018, SLPSRA and CASIS, which manages 

the ISS National Laboratory, cosponsored the Advanced Colloids ExperimentTemperature-6 (ACE-T-6), which was led by a Principal Investigator employed by 

Proctor and Gamble and which studied the microscopic behavior of colloids in the 

absence of sedimentation effects in microgravity. This experiment provided new 

and valuable insights into fundamental interactions that can improve the shelf life 

of various products, such as paints, gels, and creams.

In 2018, NASA made significant progress to enable exploration in the area of 

space biology. The Micro-12 experiment was completed, advancing the potential use of bioelectrochemical systems for wastewater processing and synthesis of 

products such as biofuels, food products, and therapeutics on future long-duration 

missions. Use of bioelectrochemical systems for wastewater processing and product 

synthesis also has potential applications on Earth, particularly in remote and harsh 

environments or critical situations such as natural disasters.
13National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A new series of Veggie experiments was conducted in 2018. The Veg-03 series 

expanded on previous validation tests to enable crew to grow cabbage, lettuce, 

and other fresh vegetables. Future long-duration missions will require a fresh food 

supply to supplement crew diets, which means growing crops in space. Tests determine which types of microorganisms are present in space-grown cabbage, providing 

baseline data for future crop-growing efforts. Behavioral health surveys assess the 

impact of growing plants on crew morale and mood.

The Rodent Research-7 (RR-7) experiment examined how the space environ-

ment affects the community of microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract of 

mice (also known as the microbiome). It also looked at microgravity’s effects on 

multiple physiological systems known to be affected by the microbiota, including 

the gastrointestinal, immune, metabolic, circadian, and sleep systems. Rodent 

Research-7 advanced knowledge of the role of gut microbiota in mammalian health 

and how spaceflight affects it over time. The study evaluates relationships between 

system changes such as sleep-wake cycle disruption and imbalance of microbial 

populations, identifying contributing factors and supporting the development of 

countermeasures to protect astronaut health during long-term missions. Many dis-

orders of human gastrointestinal, immune, metabolic, and sleep systems on Earth 

are affected by a person’s microbiota. The RR-7 investigation provides new insight 

to guide the development of interventions targeting an imbalance of microbial 

populations within the body.

The open science initiative, GeneLab, released version 2.0 of the publicly avail-

able data system. This 2018 release includes enhanced search capabilities, data 

federation, new metadata-tabbed user interfaces, a data-visualization dashboard, 

a collaborative workspace, and helpful user guides. GeneLab also formed Analysis 

Working Groups with researchers from around the country to best utilize the 

more than 200 datasets that are housed in the system. By using systems biology 

approaches to identify cross-species relevance, mechanisms, biomarkers, and 

potential health risks, GeneLab increases NASA’s scientific return on investment 

by accelerating the pace of scientific discovery and enabling exploration and the 

development of countermeasures.
14Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Human Spaceflight Capabilities

During FY 2018, Rocket Propulsion Testing (RPT) safely performed 1,056 tests of 

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

12,765 seconds. In addition to the hot fire tests, RPT facilities performed 326 hours 

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

facility-caused test delays, resulting in a 99.3 percent test stand availability, exceeding the Agency performance goal of 90 percent as defined in Space and Flight 

Support (SFS) section 15-1 of the NASA Management and Performance report.

RPT performed six RS-25 engine tests on the Stennis Space Center (SSC) A-1 

test stand. The tests accounted for 2,209 seconds of hot fire test time in a multiyear effort to certify the engine for use on the SLS core booster stage. In addition to the RS-25 tests performed on the A-1 test stand, SSC performed ten tests 

within 240 hours in support of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

(DARPA) XSP program. Other test activities included testing support for SpaceX, 

Aerojet Rocketdyne, other NASA programs, and DOD projects such as the U.S. 

Air Force (USAF)–designed and –developed Hydrocarbon Boost components. The 

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

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

supporting the USAF hydrocarbon program, NASA continued performing Aerojet 

Rocketdyne hydrocarbon component testing on E-1 Test Stand, Cell 2.

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

Aerojet Rocketdyne, the Missile Defense Agency, and the USAF Peacekeeper 

missile-safing project, as well as hot fire testing for the USAF Minuteman missile 

life-extension program. On Test Stands 301, 301A, 401, and 406, RPT continued 

testing the Orion service module (provided by the European Space Agency [ESA]) 

and the Boeing CST-100 service module, the launch abort engines, the reaction 

control system, and the orbital maneuvering and attitude control thrusters.

At Glenn Research Center (GRC) Plum Brook Station (PBS), following refurbishment in 2017, the In Space Propulsion Facility (ISPF) validated the updated systems and performed the thermal vacuum certification testing for the Commercial 
15National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Crew Program SpaceX Dragon Crewed Capsule. RPT also continued collaborating 

with GRC to refurbish the ISPF to perform propulsion-related testing for systems of 

up to 30 kilopound-force with 300 seconds of run time.

At MSFC, RPT continued testing rocket engine components manufactured 

using select laser melting and other additive manufacturing processes, furthering 

the capabilities of both NASA and RPT.

The RPT Program Office also pursued two initiatives to meet the changing needs 

of the propulsion systems developers. The first initiative is the development of two 

small test capabilities that can be operated with a minimum crew for development 

projects. The first of these test capabilities is the completion of a 5,000-poundforce portable test rig. The second capability is a collaborative initiative utilizing 

early-career engineers from the participating RPT centers to design and develop a 

larger 10,000- to 15,000-pound-force-thrust portable test capability. In addition to 

the chance to design a test capability, the early-career engineer initiative offers the 

participants an opportunity to gain critical experience in NASA’s design processes, 

enhance communications skills, and build relationships amongst the Centers.

The second initiative being pursued by the RPT Program Office is the RPT 

Benchmarking Initiative for Test Efficiencies and Affordability. The goal is to 

identify best practices that could be implemented at the participating RPT centers 

to identify tangible changes that could improve RPT operational efficiencies and 

decrease costs for the RPT Program Office and for test customers.

Results of the benchmarking initiative will be used to assist in planning activities by the RPT Program to ensure that efficient and affordable RPT test services 

are available to current and future test customers.

Launch Services

The Launch Services Program (LSP) successfully launched six missions aboard 

six different launch vehicle configurations from both the East and West Coast 

launch bases in FY 2018: the Joint Polar Satellite System–1 (JPSS-1) aboard a 

Delta II 7920 on November 18, 2017, from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in 

California; the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) 

aboard an Atlas V 541 on March 1, 2018, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 
16Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

(CCAFS) in Florida; the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) aboard a 

Falcon 9 on April 18, 2018, from CCAFS in Florida; the Interior Exploration using 

Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) aboard an Atlas V 

401 on May 5, 2018, from VAFB in California; the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) on 

August 12, 2018, aboard a Delta IV Heavy from CCAFS in Florida; and the Ice, 

Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat)-2 on September 15, 2018, aboard the 

final Delta II 7420 from VAFB in California. The LSP also continued to provide 

launch-related systems engineering, launch integration, and mission design and 

analysis support to over 60 NASA-sponsored missions in various phases of development. To learn more about these and other NASA science missions, see the 

Science Mission Directorate (SMD) section in this report.

The LSP continued its efforts to expand the selection of launch vehicles, working across the launch-vehicle industry to support the continued growth of the 

U.S. commercial space sector by offering competitive opportunities to U.S. commercial launch providers. Currently, launch services task order acquisitions are 

in work for four science missions: the Geostationary Operational Environmental 

Satellite (GOES)-T, the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), Lucy, and 

the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) missions. In addition, NASA and 

LSP continue to partner with several universities and NASA Centers to launch 

small research satellites through the CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), providing 

rideshare opportunities for small-satellite payloads to fly on upcoming launches 

when space is available. These partnerships have provided regular educational 

opportunities for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, thereby strengthening the Nation’s future workforce. To 

date, CubeSats have been selected from 39 states across the United States, with 

70 missions launched and 49 manifested on NASA, National Reconnaissance 

Office, U.S. Air Force, and commercial missions. In FY 2018, 21 CSLI CubeSats 

were launched. The Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contracts for 

CubeSats foster a commercial launch market dedicated to flying small-satellite 

payloads by serving as an alternative to the current rideshare approach, in which 

one or more CubeSats take advantage of excess payload capacity on a rocket 

whose primary mission is to launch a larger satellite. Rocket Lab USA has the 

first VCLS launch scheduled for the end of 2018 aboard the Electron launch 
17National Aeronautics and Space Administration

vehicle. Virgin Galactic will follow with a scheduled launch in the first half 

of 2019 aboard the LauncherOne launch vehicle. In addition, in January 2018, 

SpaceX successfully completed “Category 2” certification of the Falcon 9 “Full 

Thrust,” which supported the launch of the NASA TESS mission in March 2018. 

LSP will continue to work toward certifying new commercial launch vehicles 

to launch high-value payloads. Pre-certification activities are ongoing with 

Blue Origin’s “New Glenn,” United Launch Services’ “Vulcan,” and Northrop 

Grumman’s “Omega” launch vehicles.

Along with full end-to-end launch service management, the program continues to offer advisory support, expertise, and knowledge to NASA programs and 

projects utilizing launch services not procured and managed by LSP. The program 

is currently providing these advisory services to several programs and missions, 

including ISS Cargo Resupply Service missions; Gateway; the Commercial Crew 

Program; SMD’s James Webb Space Telescope (Webb), and the NASA–Indian 

Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) missions.

Advanced Exploration Systems (AES)

The Advanced Exploration Systems Division pioneers new ways to rapidly 

develop prototype systems, demonstrate key capabilities, and validate operational 

concepts to reduce the risk and cost of future human exploration missions. In 

FY  2018, the AES Division continued the successful execution of 28 research 

and technology development activities employing about 470 civil servants spread 

across all NASA Centers. The activities are grouped into four domains: Habitation 

Systems, Vehicle Systems, Foundational Technologies, and Robotic Precursors.

Activities in the Habitation Systems domain develop systems to enable the crew 

to live and work safely in deep space, including beyond-Earth-orbit habitats as well 

as life-support, radiation protection, fire safety, and logistics-reduction systems.

• The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) completed its twoyear mission on the ISS in May 2018. NASA and Bigelow Aerospace 

completed structural analysis to certify that BEAM could be used for the 

storage of ISS equipment during an extended mission lasting until the 

retirement of the ISS.
18Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

• AES continued the Phase 2 Next Space Technologies for Exploration 

Partnerships (NextSTEP) contracts with Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, 

Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, and Sierra Nevada Corporation to 

develop prototype deep space habitats for ground testing, as well as a 

contract with Nanoracks to study concepts for converting an expended 

upper stage into a habitat. These partnerships require the companies to 

contribute at least 30 percent of their own funding to the efforts. The 

contractors completed the designs and began assembly of the habitats 

in preparation for the ground tests that are planned to start in January 

2019. The ground tests will assess human factors, subsystem integration, 

interoperability standards, and common interfaces.

• The Life Support Systems activity launched a second flight of Aerosol 

Samplers to the ISS and returned samples for laboratory analysis. The 

Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor (SAM) Development Unit was assembled and tested in an environmental chamber. SAM will measure trace 

contaminants in the ISS air. The Critical Design Review for a Brine 

Processor Assembly (BPA) that will enable recovery of 98 percent of the 

water from urine was completed. An integrated test of a Plasma Pyrolysis 

Assembly (PPA), Sabatier reactor, and hydrogen separator was conducted. 

The PPA recovers hydrogen from the waste methane produced by the 

Sabatier reactor.

• The Radiation Sensors activity delivered the Hybrid Electronic Radiation 

Assessor (HERA) flight unit for EM-1 and conducted proof-of-concept 

experiments to assess the feasibility of using an electrostatic dipole to 

deflect incoming charged particles for active radiation shielding.

• The Spacecraft Fire Safety activity began the assembly of the Saffire-IV 

flight experiment that will fly on the Cygnus vehicle. Saffire-IV will 

investigate the effects of reduced pressure on fire propagation and monitor 

combustion products and postfire cleanup.

• The Logistics Reduction activity conducted ground integration tests 

of the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)–Enabled Autonomous 

Logistics Management (REALM) system and the Astrobee free flyer. 

REALM and Astrobee will track ISS inventory and can be used to locate 
19National Aeronautics and Space Administration

missing items quickly. This activity also continued the development of the 

Universal Waste Management System, which is a compact toilet that will 

be flown on the ISS and Orion. The toilet stall hardware was delivered for 

launch to the ISS. Two companies (UTAS and Sierra Nevada Corp.) were 

awarded NextSTEP contracts to develop prototype Trash Compaction 

and Processing Systems.

Activities in the Vehicle Systems domain develop systems to enable human and 

robotic exploration vehicles, including advanced in-space propulsion, lander technology, and modular power systems.

• AES is developing high-power electric thrusters for the next generation of solar electric propulsion systems via three NextSTEP Advanced 

Propulsion activities. Ad Astra Rocket Company is developing the 

Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR); Aerojet 

Rocketdyne is developing a nested Hall thruster; and MSNW is developing an Electrodeless Lorentz Force plasma thruster. In the final year 

of their three-year contracts, the companies assembled their thrusters, 

upgraded their test facilities, and began short-duration tests. The goal is 

to test the 100-kilowatt thrusters in a vacuum chamber for 100 continuous 

hours. The MSNW contract was de-scoped because they could not meet 

thruster performance targets.

• The Lander Technology activity assembled a brassboard system to demonstrate liquefaction of cryogenic propellants produced by in situ resource 

utilization. The Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft 

Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative continued to provide engineering and test support for three companies developing robotic lunar 

landers: Astrobotic, Moon Express, and Masten Space Systems.

• NASA issued a Request for Proposals for Commercial Lunar Payload 

Services (CLPS). CLPS will be used to procure end-to-end commercial 

launch and landing services for transporting small payloads to the surface 

of the Moon.

• The mockup Crew Module (CM) for the Orion Ascent Abort flight test 

vehicle completed acoustics testing, and the CM was mated with the 

Separation Ring. A mockup of the Orion capsule and an active Launch 
20Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Abort System will be launched on a booster rocket in May 2019 to demonstrate boost phase abort capabilities.

Activities in the Foundational Technologies domain enable more-efficient mission and ground operations and those that allow for more Earth independence, 

including autonomous mission operations, avionics and software, in situ resource 

utilization, in-space manufacturing, synthetic biology, and communication 

technologies.

• The Avionics and Software activity conducted an integrated test of a reference avionics architecture that uses three voting computers and timetriggered Ethernet to control life support, power, communications, and 

other subsystems for a deep space habitat.

• The In-Space Manufacturing activity awarded contracts to three companies (Interlog, Techshot, and Tethers Unlimited) to develop a prototype 

Multi-Material Fabrication Lab for demonstration on the ISS. This activity also delivered the Refabricator payload, which will recycle plastic parts 

on the ISS and produce feedstock for an integral 3D printer.

• The In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) activity selected ten contracts 

via a NextSTEP Broad Agency Announcement to conduct ISRU system 

studies and develop critical components and subsystems for the acquisition and processing of extraterrestrial resources to produce water, oxygen, 

and methane fuel.

• The Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) activity conducted interoperability tests with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) in 

preparation for their Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission and demonstrated DTN on the 21-meter antenna at Morehead State University for 

communicating with CubeSats.

Activities in the Robotic Precursor domain develop robotic missions and payloads 

to acquire strategic knowledge on potential destinations for human exploration to 

inform systems development, including CubeSats launched on EM-1, technology 

demonstrations on the Mars 2020 mission, and instrument development.

• AES continued the development of three payloads for the Mars 2020 

mission. The Engineering Model for the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource 

Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) was assembled and tested. NASA 
21National Aeronautics and Space Administration

provided a sky camera for the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer 

(MEDA) that is being developed by Spain. The Mars Entry, Descent, and 

Landing Instrumentation–2 (MEDLI-2) payload completed its Critical 

Design Review. MOXIE will demonstrate the production of oxygen from 

the Mars atmosphere; MEDA is a surface weather station; and MEDLI-2 is 

a suite of temperature and pressure sensors on the Mars 2020 heat shield 

to validate aerothermal models.

• AES plans to launch five CubeSats on EM-1 to fill gaps in our knowledge 

about space environments and the availability of lunar resources. These 

activities completed their design and safety reviews and began spacecraft 

integration. BioSentinel will investigate the effects of deep space radiation on yeast DNA. Lunar Flashlight will search for ice from lunar orbit 

using lasers to illuminate permanently shadowed lunar craters. NearEarth Asteroid Scout will use a solar sail to fly by an asteroid. The Lunar 

Infrared (LunIR) CubeSat is a NextSTEP partnership with Lockheed 

Martin to fly by the Moon and test a new infrared sensor. Lunar IceCube 

is a NextSTEP partnership with Morehead State University to detect 

water and other volatiles from lunar orbit using a broadband infrared 

spectrometer.

• AES selected Arizona State University to develop the ShadowCam 

instrument for flight on the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter. ShadowCam 

will image ice in permanently shadowed lunar craters. The instrument 

Preliminary Design Review was completed.

The AES Division is leading the definition of system concepts, requirements, 

and design standards for the Gateway concept that will be launched into lunar 

orbit around 2023. The Gateway may consist of a habitat, a solar electric propulsion 

and power element, logistics capabilities, and an airlock/docking node. Orion will 

dock with the Gateway, and a crew will stay onboard to gain experience in living 

and working in deep space and to test critical life-support and logistics management technologies for long missions.

Two design and analysis cycles were completed to refine the Gateway configuration and concept of operations. A Formulation Synch Review was held 

to coordinate activities supporting Gateway formulation, including allocating 
22Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

functions to the Gateway elements, defining system requirements and interoperability standards, developing an integrated master schedule, and establishing an 

acquisition strategy.

NASA initiated the development of the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE), 

which is the first element of the Gateway ready to be launched in 2022. The 

PPE consists of a commercial spacecraft bus and a high-powered Solar Electric 

Propulsion (SEP) system. A solicitation was issued for PPE development and flight 

demonstration. Contract awards are targeted for March 2019.

Power Propulsion Element

In FY 2018, NASA made substantial progress toward the development of the 

PPE planned as the first element of the Gateway. The PPE will utilize advanced 

50-kilowatt-class SEP to provide relocation capabilities for the Gateway as well 

as orbit maintenance, electrical power, communications, and research payload 

accommodations. In November 2017, NASA competitively awarded five contracts 

to U.S. industry to study PPE concepts and address key questions. These studies, 

conducted by Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corporation, 

and Space Systems Loral, helped inform a PPE acquisition approach that leverages 

existing industry capability and plans for a high-powered SEP. Final study briefings 

were completed on March 23, 2018.

During FY 2018, the process of PPE requirements definition was conducted in 

coordination with the Gateway and in interactions with potential International 

Partners. A study of a potential International Partner–provided payload to be 

hosted on the PPE was completed, including inputs from the five PPE study contractors. The PPE, the Gateway, and a potential International Partner have also 

held discussions to address interfaces and operations concepts between the PPE 

and the possible next Gateway element, which could be docked to the PPE. NASA 

requirements for the PPE were set, supporting the PPE acquisition.

On November 30, 2017, NASA issued a sources-sought notice for a PPE. A synopsis was published on February 20, 2018. A draft Broad Agency Announcement 

(BAA) for Spaceflight Demonstration of a PPE was released on June 21, 2018, 

for industry comment. An industry day was held at Glenn Research Center on 
23National Aeronautics and Space Administration

July 10, 2018. Many of the industry participants expressed their appreciation for 

a high-quality draft BAA and a very productive and useful industry day event. 

Industry comments were submitted by July 20, 2018. The final BAA was posted 

on September 6, 2018. Through this solicitation, NASA is seeking one or more 

partnerships with industry for the development and spaceflight demonstration of 

a PPE. At the completion of the demonstration, the BAA includes the option for 

NASA to acquire the PPE for NASA’s use as the first element of the Gateway.

Space Communications and Navigation

NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program continued 

to provide programmatic oversight and management of the Agency’s space communications and tracking capabilities and served as the Agency’s representative 

in domestic and international fora in the areas of spectrum management; space 

communication architectures and data standards; and positioning, navigation, 

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

communication and navigation technology for the benefit of scientific and 

human exploration missions in near-Earth and deep space and commercial space 

enterprises.

NASA’s three space communication networks—the Near Earth Network 

(NEN), Deep Space Network (DSN) and Space Network (SN)—composed of a 

ground network and its on-orbit Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRSs)—

continued their long record of providing their services at an average proficiency 

level of 99 percent or better, well above the 95 percent requirement. In this capacity, NASA served as a reliable partner to a wide range of external customers (other 

U.S. and international government agencies and commercial entities) for human 

exploration, robotic spaceflight launches, low-Earth and deep space science, and 

SmallSats (including CubeSats and NanoSats).

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

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

the data to individual mission control centers. During FY 2018, SCaN networks 

provided communication and navigation (C&N) services to 71 missions, including 
24Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

human spaceflight C&N requirements of the International Space Station. Several 

of these missions have more than one spacecraft, although these are counted as a 

single mission. Also, several missions are supported by more than one of the three 

networks; these are also counted as single missions. The networks provided launch 

and early-orbit telemetry, tracking, and communication (TT&C) services to 25 

expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) in FY 2018.

With the completion of an Independent Review Team study of the progress made 

in the SN Ground Sustainment System (SGSS) project and approval to proceed, 

SCaN continued the construction of this major ground system upgrade activity, 

completing the factory Systems Acceptance Test at the end of FY 2018. SCaN’s 

DSN Aperture Enhancement Project continued the addition of two 34-meter 

antennas at the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex in Spain, which 

will increase the DSN’s capacity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The CCSDS works closely with the Interagency Operations Advisory Group 

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

architecture plans and are responsive to Agency space missions. As NASA’s representative to the IOAG, SCaN engaged in key discussions and studies related to 

interoperability and cross support for future Moon and Mars missions, mission 

operations, optical communications, space internetworking, and other key issues. 

During FY 2018, NASA supported the IOAG’s efforts to develop an interoperable 

lunar communications and navigation architecture, including standards which 

were internationally approved by the ISS Program as the set of communications 

and navigation standards for the Lunar Gateway Program. NASA contributed 

to the IOAG’s preparations for an Interoperability Plenary of the IOAG member 
25National Aeronautics and Space Administration

agencies’ senior leadership; the plenary provides strategic oversight and guidance 

for the IOAG.

In FY 2018, SCaN continued building two Optical Ground Stations (OGSes)—

OGS-1 at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and OGS-2 in Hawaii, the 

U.S. locations with the least interfering cloud coverage. Through participation in 

the IOAG and the CCSDS, NASA reached agreements with JAXA and Centre 

National d’Études Spatiales (CNES) on optical communications standards, making 

interoperability between the participating agencies possible.

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

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

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

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

of the State Department–led U.S. delegation, SCaN continued coordination on 

agenda items on spectrum issues of interest and concern to NASA that will be 

addressed at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019.

SCaN continued sponsoring the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, 

and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board, an independent Federal Advisory Committee 

Act (FACA) board, and, as Executive Director, coordinated its biannual sessions 

and an additional intersession meeting. Key FY 2018 deliverables to the National 

Space-Based PNT Executive Committee, chaired by the Deputy Directors of 

Defense and Transportation, include a recommendation on Global Positioning 

System (GPS) spectrum protection as well as a Topics Paper describing the benefits 

of GPS across areas of the U.S. economy and with recommendations to preserve 

them. NASA also assisted the Air Force in the procurement process for GPS-IIIF 

to protect capabilities available to users within the Space Service Volume (SSV), 

which covers altitudes above LEO and up to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) 

altitude. NASA has also continued working with foreign Global Navigation 

Satellite Systems (GNSS) service providers to develop an Interoperable MultiGNSS SSV that expands the PNT capabilities available to space users well beyond 

what any one GNSS can provide on its own. A key FY 2018 deliverable is the 

United Nations’ “The Interoperable Global Navigation Satellite Systems Space 

Service Volume” booklet developed through cooperation at the International 

Committee on GNSS (ICG), now available in printed form at the United Nations 
26Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Headquarters in New York and online. This is a new international baseline for mission planners of partner space agencies and commercial space to use GPS/GNSS 

for cis-lunar operations. Finally, the NASA Search and Rescue (SAR) program 

continues to implement the GPS Search and Rescue (GPS SAR), the U.S. contribution to the GNSS-based Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) 

to locate emergency beacons. Key events included qualifying the emergency location beacon for the Orion crew life-preserver units and successfully tracking the 

October 11, 2018, Soyuz launch abort and emergency landing with only 1.7 kilometers (a little over one mile) in location error.

Science Mission Directorate

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) seeks new knowledge and understanding of our planet Earth, our Sun and solar system, and the universe. Working 

with the scientific community, industry, and other partners, SMD develops the 

world’s leading space observatories, as well as air-based and ground-based platforms, 

to provide unique data and imagery, enabling scientists to conduct scientific studies and advance the frontiers of discovery. In FY 2018, SMD operated more than 

100 space missions and sounding rocket, balloon, and Earth-based investigations. 

Altogether, SMD worked with more than 10,000 U.S. scientists.

SMD organizes its work into four broad scientific pursuits: Earth Science, 

Planetary Science, Heliophysics, and Astrophysics. Science is an interconnected 

enterprise, and within SMD, discoveries and capabilities in one scientific discipline 

help to inform and enable those in the others. SMD’s science activities follow three 

core elements: First, SMD is discovering the secrets of the universe through studies 

of the Sun and its effect on the solar system, Earth, other planets and solar system 

bodies, and the universe. These fundamental scientific discoveries enhance our 

understanding of the nature of the universe, shed light on some of most pressing 

and existential questions facing humankind, and help us to prepare for human 

and robotic exploration further into the solar system and beyond. Second, SMD 

searches for life elsewhere through research on the habitability of locations in the 

solar system, such as Mars and Europa, as well as through studies of the thousands 

of potentially habitable worlds around other stars. Finally, SMD is safeguarding and 
27National Aeronautics and Space Administration

improving life on Earth by detecting and studying near-Earth asteroids and comets, 

investigating the cause and effects of severe space weather events, and developing applications for use in improving life on Earth—efforts ranging from natural 

disaster response and recovery to applications for agriculture and transportation.

SMD also takes an integrated approach to technology development and science 

activation. SMD makes targeted technology investments that enable NASA to 

build the challenging and complex missions that accomplish its groundbreaking 

science. In FY 2018, SMD continued to make important investments in small 

spacecraft platforms that offer the potential to reduce the cost or broaden capabilities for scientific discovery through faster development times and innovative 

mission architectures, including constellations of small satellites. Investments are 

also helping to develop new optical systems that could contribute to the search for 

exoplanets around stars other than our Sun; a heatshield that would enable missions to withstand the intense atmospheric heating on Venus, Saturn, and Uranus; 

and many other technologies.

SMD’s Science Activation program leverages unique NASA infrastructure 

and scientific experts to engage with learners of all ages. In FY 2018, the Science 

Activation program continued its work through 25 cooperative agreements leveraging over 200 partners. SMD’s activities reach a broad audience, enabling STEM 

education and improving scientific literacy in the United States by working with 

community-based institutions, including libraries, museums, science centers, and 

planetariums, as well as digital and online platforms.

Earth Science

Earth is a complex, dynamic system that we do not yet fully understand. The 

Earth Science Division (ESD) studies Earth’s land, atmosphere, and oceans and the 

connections between them across spatial and temporal scales to advance knowledge of Earth as a system, to meet the challenges of environmental change, and 

to improve life on our planet. ESD develops and operates a coordinated series of 

satellite and Earth-based missions for long-term global observations. It also sponsors research that answers fundamental science questions and supports efforts to 

develop applications that leverage NASA observations to provide practical benefits 
28Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

for society in a wide range of areas, including weather, natural disasters, climate, 

oceans and water management, and agricultural production. The program invests 

in innovative new technologies and works closely with global partners in government, industry, and the public.

NASA launched a number of important new Earth Science missions in FY 2018. 

The joint U.S.-German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On 

(GRACE-FO) mission launched in May 2018; it succeeded the highly successful 

GRACE mission, which ended just seven months earlier, in October 2017, after 

15 years in orbit. Like its predecessor, GRACE-FO consists of twin satellites that 

operate in tandem to provide unique measurements of Earth’s gravitational pull. 

These measurements reveal the movement of mass around Earth, which can be 

used to understand changes in global groundwater resources, identify the location 

of dry soils that can contribute to drought, and measure the amount of ice being 

lost from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

On September 15, 2018, NASA launched the Ice, Cloud and land Elevation 

Satellite–2 (ICESat-2) mission. The mission measures elevation to see how much 

glaciers, sea ice, and ice sheets are rising or falling and will help to narrow the 

range of uncertainty in forecasts of future sea level rise. It also measures the height 

of ocean and land surfaces, contributing to flood and drought forecasts, wildfire 

response, and maritime navigation. ICESat-2 represents a significant advancement over its predecessor, carrying the most advanced laser instrument of its kind. 

ICESat-2’s laser will fire 10,000 times in one second, compared to a rate of 40 firings per second on the original ICESat. This higher rate will result in more detail 

in the measurements of height around Earth—ICESat-2 is able to measure the 

average annual change in vast ice sheets down to the width of a pencil.

After its launch onboard NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System–1 (JPSS-1) satellite in November 2017, the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System Flight 

Model 6 (CERES FM6) became the sixth in a family of instruments dating back to 

the 1990s to monitor Earth’s energy budget—the balance between the solar radiation arriving at Earth from the Sun and the reflected solar radiation and thermal 

emissions leaving Earth. Earth’s radiation budget provides a key measurement in 

understanding the warming of Earth—if you have more energy coming in than 

going out, the system will heat up.
29National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor (TSIS-1), launched in December 

2017 and installed on the International Space Station two weeks later, became 

fully operational, with all instruments collecting science data, by March 2018. 

TSIS measures the total amount of light energy emitted by the Sun and measures how the Sun’s energy is distributed over the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared 

regions of light. The instrument helps to better understand the Sun’s influence on 

Earth’s radiation budget, ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, and ecosystems and 

provides insight into the effects that solar variability has on the Earth system and 

climate change. TSIS continues 40 years of measurements of energy emitted by 

the Sun—measurements that can only be taken from the vantage point of space.

In addition to these space-based missions, SMD engaged in airborne studies 

of Earth. Operation IceBridge, an aircraft campaign designed to bridge the gap 

between the ICESat-1 and ICESat-2 missions, continued to carry out flights in the 

Arctic and Antarctic. Several flights included collaborations with international 

missions, such as underflights of the European Space Agency (ESA) Sentinel-3A 

and CryoSat-2 satellites over sea ice, or overflights of the U.S. Navy’s 2018 Ice 

Exercise (ICEX) campaign exploring sea ice north of Alaska.

In partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA embarked 

on the Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) oceanographic campaign. EXPORTS is the first coordinated multidisciplinary science 

campaign of its kind to study the life and death of the small organisms—microscopic plankton—that play a critical role in removing carbon dioxide from the 

atmosphere and in the ocean’s carbon cycle.

In April 2018, NASA’s North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study 

(NAAMES) mission began its fourth and final deployment, making it the first 

research mission to conduct an integrated study of all four distinct phases of the 

world’s largest phytoplankton bloom in the North Atlantic and how they impact the 

atmosphere. NAAMES makes use of both measurements taken aboard ships and aircraft to investigate the links between the oceans, atmospheric particles, and clouds.

In 2018, NASA flew the last deployment of the Atmospheric Tomography 

(ATom) mission. ATom used advanced instruments aboard a DC-8 research aircraft to sample over 400 different gases and a broad range of airborne particles, 

improving our understanding of how gases and pollutants travel around the globe.
30Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

In addition to adding new missions, NASA has been taking full advantage of the 

missions already operating. Imagery from Landsat 8 and the Aqua satellite showed 

summer phytoplankton and cyanobacteria blooms in the Baltic and Barents Seas. 

These images can help to identify the location and size of potential “dead zones”—

areas where these tiny organisms consume nutrients in the water and grow at a rate 

that depletes the oxygen content of the water, harming fish and other marine life.

Satellites contribute to our understanding of the atmosphere, as well as the 

ocean. A study of air pollution over China that used data from NASA’s CERES 

instrument showed that the smog not only makes it harder to breathe but also 

reduces the amount of sunlight reaching China’s solar panels.Other studies, based 

on satellite and ground-based sensors monitoring air pollution in China, showed 

that while levels of air pollution in China continue to be among the highest in the 

world, key pollutants have been decreasing in recent years. Scientists also found 

that India’s emissions are on the rise—at least in the case of sulfur dioxide. This 

finding was based on inventories of the number of factories, power plants, and 

other contributors to sulfur dioxide, as well as data from the Ozone Monitoring 

Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite.

The NASA Earth Science Disasters Program mobilizes NASA resources to assist 

with the detection of, response to, and/or recovery from wildfires, earthquakes, 

floods, severe weather, and other disasters. NASA instruments are often the first to 

detect actively burning fires in remote areas. They can help to track the transport 

of smoke from fires, provide information for fire management, and map the extent 

of changes to ecosystems, based on the extent and severity of burn scars. In 2018, 

California experienced its largest fire in recorded history—the Thomas Fire, which 

burned for more than six months. Satellites, including the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)–NASA Suomi National Polar Partnership 

(NPP) satellite and NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite, known as NOAA-20 now that it is 

in orbit and operational, were used to monitor the extent of the flames, hot spots, 

and smoke.

NASA’s ability to monitor flooding received a boost in 2018 as scientists evaluated the first year of data from the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System 

(CYGNSS) mission. Researchers found that GPS reflection data over land, a measurement used by CYGNSS, are very sensitive to the amount of water either in the 
31National Aeronautics and Space Administration

soil or on the surface, making that type of measurement useful for the creation of 

flood maps.

NASA is also applying its technology and expertise in another life-saving application: prevention of disease outbreaks. In August, measurements from NASA 

Earth-observing research satellites were used to help combat a potential outbreak 

of life-threatening cholera. Humanitarian teams in Yemen targeted interventions 

in areas identified by a NASA-supported project that precisely forecasts high-risk 

regions based on environmental conditions observed from space. The forecast tool 

analyzes a variety of NASA satellite observations, including precipitation data 

from the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, air and ocean temperatures 

from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments 

on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, and measurements of phytoplankton concentrations in nearby coastal ocean areas.

Through technology development, research, and development of new applications, NASA’s Earth Science program enhances our fundamental understanding 

of our home planet and improves everyday life on Earth. Below are five research 

highlights from FY 2018.

NASA Soil Moisture Data Advances Global Crop Forecasts

Data from the first NASA satellite mission dedicated to measuring the water 

content of soils are now being used operationally by the U.S. Department of 

Agriculture to monitor global croplands and make commodity forecasts. The Soil 

Moisture Active Passive mission, or SMAP, launched in 2015 and has helped map 

the amount of water in soils worldwide. Direct measurements of soil moisture available from SMAP replaced estimates of this critical variable based on precipitation 

and temperature, increasing accuracy.

NASA Satellites Reveal Major Shifts in Global Freshwater

In the first study of its kind, scientists combined data from multiple NASA satellites with data on human activities to map locations where freshwater is changing around the globe and determine why. The study, published in May 2018 in the 

journal Nature, finds that Earth’s wetland areas are getting wetter and dry areas 

are getting drier due to a variety of factors, including human water management, 
32Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

climate change, and natural cycles. The study relied on data from the Gravity 

Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), the Global Precipitation 

Measurement (GPM) mission, and the NASA–U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 

Landsat mission.

Pollutant Emissions Leveling Off a Bit in the U.S.

A study by NASA-supported researchers showed that while air quality in the 

United States has improved since the 1960s, it has not improved as quickly as predicted by models. Data from the OMI instrument on NASA’s Aura satellite and the 

Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument on NASA’s 

Terra satellite were used to provide global, standardized views of emissions, not subject to differences in regional and national ground-reporting. These measurements 

showed that decreases in carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide—chemicals emitted 

by vehicles and industrial sources—have leveled off in recent years.

Global Study of World’s Beaches Shows Threat to Protected Areas

A study of the world’s sandy shorelines with satellite data found that they have 

increased slightly on a global scale over the past three decades but decreased 

in protected marine areas, where many beaches are eroding. Researchers used 

machine learning techniques to analyze data from the NASA-USGS Landsat 

mission, resulting in a study of annual shorelines between 1984 and 2016 for the 

entire world. Differences in beach erosion seem to be largely influenced by human 

interventions along the coast.

NASA Study: First Direct Proof of Ozone Hole Recovery Due to Chemicals Ban

Scientists were able to use direct satellite observations of the ozone hole to show 

that levels of ozone-destroying chlorine are declining, reducing ozone depletion. 

The decline in chlorine is due to the international ban on chlorine-containing 

humanmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Past studies have used 

statistical analyses of changes in the ozone hole’s size to argue that ozone depletion 

is decreasing. This study is the first to use measurements of the chemical composition inside the ozone hole to confirm that not only is ozone depletion decreasing, 

but that the decrease is caused by the decline in CFCs.
33National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Joint Agency Satellite Division

In addition to its own Earth observation satellites, NASA also develops and 

launches instruments and satellites on behalf of NOAA on a reimbursable basis 

through the Joint Agency Satellite Division (JASD). NASA launched NOAA’s 

JPSS-1 and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 17 (GOES-17) in 

November 2017 and March 2018, respectively. Descriptions of these satellite programs can be found in the Department of Commerce chapter of this report.

Heliophysics

NASA’s Heliophysics Division (HPD) aims to understand the Sun and its interactions with Earth and the solar system, including space weather. The Heliophysics 

Division operates a variety of missions between Earth and the Sun that collect data 

to provide insight into these studies. It supports research to advance our fundamental understanding of the Sun and its impact on our solar system and to improve our 

ability to understand and forecast the impacts of space weather events on people 

and systems on Earth.

In August 2018, HPD launched the Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft the size of a 

small car that will fly closer to the Sun than any previous mission. When it makes 

its first pass close to the Sun in November 2018, Parker will fly through the solar 

atmosphere—the corona—and help to solve foundational mysteries of the Sun. It 

will investigate the drivers of supersonic solar wind, which blows a steady stream 

of solar material through the entire solar system, and help scientists to understand 

why the corona is more than 300 times hotter than the Sun’s surface.

Earlier in the year, NASA launched the Global-scale Observations of the Limb 

and Disk (GOLD) mission, the first NASA mission to fly as a hosted payload 

aboard a commercial satellite. GOLD will study the little-understood region 

where Earth’s uppermost atmosphere meets space—a critical boundary layer that 

responds both to terrestrial weather below and space weather above. GOLD is 

expected to be joined by NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), 

which will study the ionosphere and neutral upper atmosphere. ICON will fly 

just 350 miles above Earth, where it can gather close-up images of this region. 

Together, GOLD and ICON will provide the most comprehensive ionosphere 
34Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

observations gathered to date, enabling a deeper understanding of how our planet 

interacts with space.

HPD also utilizes sounding rockets to advance science. In October 2017, HPD 

launched the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI). The sounding rocket 

flight allowed for just six minutes of data collection, but within that time, the 

cutting-edge instrument found the best evidence to date of a phenomenon scientists have been seeking for years: signatures of tiny solar flares that could help 

explain the mysterious extreme heating of the Sun’s outer atmosphere. A second 

version of FOXSI, launched in September 2018, is further investigating this issue 

by taking more precise measurements that will provide a more complete picture of 

nanoflares and their contribution to coronal heating.

In FY 2018, NASA selected a team to implement the Interstellar Mapping and 

Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission, the highest priority in the National Academy 

of Sciences (NAS) Heliophysics Decadal Survey, and are partnering with NOAA 

to use a single launch vehicle for IMAP and a NOAA space weather monitoring 

payload. The IMAP mission will help researchers better understand the boundary of the heliosphere, a sort of magnetic bubble surrounding and protecting our 

solar system.

The Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) mission, which was in a definition phase in FY 2018, will provide key understanding of the interaction of various 

regions in geospace where space weather has its greatest impact on space assets. 

GDC, together with the proposed Explorer missions, will investigate fundamental 

space physics energization and coupling phenomena in the Sun’s extended atmosphere and in Earth’s magnetosphere and will develop observation techniques 

directly applicable to space weather capabilities.

A number of missions continued to collect data throughout FY 2018, advancing our understanding of heliophysics. NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) 

mission consists of four satellites flying in formation at speeds of up to 22,300 miles 

per hour. The first phase of the mission involved the study of the magnetosphere—

the magnetic bubble surrounding Earth—on the side of the planet closest to the 

Sun. Phase two of the mission was an exploration of the magnetosphere on the 

dark side of Earth. In January 2018, MMS began a new extended mission phase, 

returning to the dayside but flying at a distance about twice as far from Earth as in 
35National Aeronautics and Space Administration

phase one. MMS data has already been used in 340 papers by scientists around the 

world, and this extended phase will open doors to even more discoveries.

A study published in March 2018 used data from the Interstellar Boundary 

Explorer (IBEX) spacecraft to better understand what happens when solar wind 

suddenly begins to blow significantly harder. Researchers found that two years 

after the solar wind pressure—a combined measure of its speed and density—had 

increased by approximately 50 percent, it significantly expanded the size of the 

heliosphere, the bubble of solar wind that encases all of the planets in our solar 

system and much of the space beyond them, separating the domain of our Sun from 

that of interstellar space.

Scientists used NASA’s Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory-A, or 

STEREO–A, spacecraft, which circles the Sun between Earth and Venus, to take 

longer, more frequent exposures of the solar corona than had been taken in the 

past. After using unique processing methods, they were able to show in a publication released in July 2018 that the corona is structured, not smooth and homogenous, as previously thought. This structure may help to explain the variability 

seen in the solar wind when it hits Earth’s magnetosphere.

Some studies make use of more than one Heliophysics mission to enable their 

research. In a paper published in February 2018, scientists used data from both the 

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the STEREO-A and -B satellites 

to study two Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) events—explosions of plasma erupting 

from the Sun. Using data from multiple spacecraft allowed scientists to develop a 

3D view of the events, reconstructing their journey from space. This work helped 

scientists to deduce important pieces of information for space weather forecasting—in this case, for the first time, the density of the plasma around the shock, in 

addition to the speed and strength of the energized particles. All of these factors 

are key to assessing the danger CMEs present to astronauts and spacecraft.

In another study, scientists combined data from 16 separate NASA and Los 

Alamos National Laboratory spacecraft to understand how a particle phenomenon 

in the magnetic environment around Earth occurs. Data from each individual mission are only able to provide a snapshot of what the environment looks like at a 

specific place and a specific time. While this snapshot allows scientists to understand some space plasma phenomena in detail, it is difficult to get a comprehensive 
36Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

picture of where the particles came from and where they are going. However, by 

combining datasets from spacecraft situated in locations spread around Earth, 

researchers were able to address big-picture questions about particle movement.

The Heliophysics Division collects data and supports technology development 

and research that improve our understanding of the Sun and its effects on Earth and 

other planets in our solar system. Below are five research highlights from FY 2018.

NASA Spacecraft Discovers New Magnetic Process in Turbulent Space

Scientists working with MMS uncovered a new type of magnetic event in the 

near-Earth environment by using an innovative technique to squeeze extra information out of the data. Scientists discovered that magnetic reconnection—which 

occurs when crossed magnetic field lines snap, explosively flinging away nearby 

particles at high speeds—occurs not only in relatively calm areas, as originally 

thought, but also in turbulent zones. This discovery could help scientists better 

understand this important phenomenon and potentially improve forecasts of space 

weather events in the future.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Reveals How a Magnetic Cage on the Sun 

Stopped Solar Eruption

Using data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), researchers provided insight into why some strong solar flares—intense bursts of radiation and 

light—are followed by a CME—a massive, bubble-shaped eruption of solar material 

and magnetic field—while others are not. SDO data regarding the magnetic fields 

at the Sun’s surface showed that in the area where a large solar flare had occurred 

in 2014, a twisted magnetic “rope”—known to be associated with the onset of 

CMEs—had formed, but it had been covered by a dense “cage” of magnetic fields. 

The scientists found that this magnetic cage physically prevented a CME from 

erupting that day.

Mystery of Purple Lights in Sky Solved with Help from Citizen Scientists

In March 2018, scientists published a study providing insight into a phenomenon with help from citizen scientists. The phenomenon, referred to as the Strong 

Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement (STEVE), did not look like a normal 
37National Aeronautics and Space Administration

aurora. Rather than being oval-shaped and green, blue, or red, STEVE was a 

purple line. Using data contributed by citizen scientists, as well as data collected 

by observing systems on the ground and in space, researchers demonstrated that, 

like aurora, STEVE was caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with 

Earth’s magnetic field lines. However, these field lines were closer to Earth’s equator, and the particles were fast-moving and extremely hot.

Pulsating Aurora Mysteries Uncovered with Help from NASA’s Time History of Events 

and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms Mission

Auroras typically appear as shimmering green, blue, or red areas in the sky, 

but another type of aurora, called a pulsating aurora, appears less frequently and 

produces a dimmer display. Scientists using data from NASA’s Time History of 

Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) mission and 

Japan’s Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG), also known 

as Arase, satellite found that pulsating auroras are caused by a particular type of 

plasma wave, called a whistler mode chorus. This wave hits the magnetosphere, 

scattering electrons down to Earth’s atmosphere, causing the aurora. The results 

also help scientists better understand how plasma waves can influence electrons—

something that occurs in processes across the universe.

Predicting the Corona’s Appearance During the August 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse

Researchers used data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory to develop a model 

that simulates the Sun’s corona. They used measurements of magnetic fields on 

the Sun’s surface to predict the structure of the magnetic field that shapes the 

corona. The eclipse offered the scientific community a unique opportunity to test 

the model because the coronal region near the Sun can be examined in more detail 

during an eclipse than at any other time. Researchers found that the structure of 

the magnetic field during the 2017 total solar eclipse predicted by the model bore a 

striking resemblance to the actual corona observed at that time. The results from 

this model can help to provide context for the Parker Solar Probe mission as it 

travels through the corona later in 2018.
38Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Planetary Science

NASA’s Planetary Science Division (PSD) aims to ascertain the content, origin, 

and evolution of the solar system and the potential for life elsewhere. PSD develops 

spacecraft that travel to other objects within our solar system, conducting flybys, 

orbiting around or landing on these objects, and sometimes returning samples to 

Earth. PSD develops innovative new technologies to enable spacecraft to travel to 

locations ranging from the innermost planet, Mercury, to the edges of the solar 

system, and it supports research to enhance our understanding of our solar system. 

PSD also supports efforts to identify, characterize, and develop responses to potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs).

In December 2017, President Trump released Space Policy Directive 1, a change 

in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with 

private-sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to 

Mars and beyond. In alignment with the plan, NASA is preparing to conduct more 

research on the Moon’s surface ahead of a human return and intends to purchase 

new small lunar payload delivery services. In September 2018, NASA released a 

Request for Proposals encouraging the U.S. commercial space industry to introduce 

new technologies to deliver payloads to the Moon. This request for Commercial 

Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) will further expand efforts to support development 

and partnership opportunities on the lunar surface.

Long-term exploration and development of the Moon will give us the experience 

for the next giant leap—human missions to Mars and destinations beyond. NASA’s 

Science Mission Directorate continues to make important progress in our studies 

of the Red Planet. In May 2018, NASA launched the Interior Exploration using 

Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) lander. Insight is 

scheduled to land on Mars in November 2018 and study for the first time what lies 

deep beneath the surface of the planet. The InSight lander will probe and collect 

data on Martian earthquakes, heat flow from the planet’s interior, and the way 

the planet wobbles to help scientists understand what makes Mars tick and the 

processes that shaped the four rocky planets of our inner solar system.

Launched along with InSight were two CubeSats, called Mars Cube One A 

(MarCO-A) and MarCO-B. They are designed to trail InSight on the way to Mars, 
39National Aeronautics and Space Administration

aiming to relay data about InSight as it enters the planet’s atmosphere and attempts 

to land. The MarCO mission is a test of miniaturized communication and navigation technology that can blaze a path for future CubeSats sent to other planets.

When InSight arrives at Mars, it will join numerous NASA missions already 

there. In March 2018, Mars Curiosity celebrated its 2,000th Martian day, or sol, on 

the Red Planet. In June, the rover analyzed drilled samples in one of its onboard 

labs for the first time in more than a year, using a technique designed by NASA 

engineers to overcome a mechanical issue that took the drill offline in December 

2016. Elsewhere on Mars, NASA’s Opportunity rover went silent in June 2018 when 

a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly 15-year-old rover. 

Scientists will not know the status of the rover until the skies clear and the rover 

recharges enough to attempt to “phone home.” At the time of writing, the dust 

storm has largely dissipated, however, Opportunity still has not responded.

In the meantime, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) used two 

instruments to study the dust storm. Each day, the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) 

mapped the entire planet in midafternoon to track the evolution of the storm. 

Meanwhile, MRO’s Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument measured how the 

atmosphere’s temperature changes with altitude. NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and 

Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) continues to examine how the dust storm 

affects Mars’s upper atmosphere.

NASA has also continued to develop the next round of scientific Mars missions, announcing in May 2018 that the Mars 2020 mission will include the Mars 

Helicopter, a small, autonomous rotorcraft, to demonstrate the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. As a technology demonstration, 

the Mars Helicopter is considered a high-risk, high-reward project. If it does not 

work, the Mars 2020 mission will not be impacted. If it does work, helicopters may 

have a real future as low-flying scouts and aerial vehicles to access locations not 

reachable by ground travel.

In July, NASA’s Juno mission marked two years of studying Jupiter and its moons, 

continuing to enable a wide array of research findings. Juno collected data on a 

new heat source close to the south pole of the moon Io that could indicate a previously undiscovered volcano. The mission continued to monitor Jupiter’s Great Red 

Spot, showing that the iconic feature penetrates well below the clouds. The spot 
40Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

has been shrinking for a century and a half, and scientists found that the storm 

seems to be growing taller as it gets smaller in diameter.

NASA’s Dawn spacecraft entered its lowest-ever orbit in June 2018 for a closeup examination of the inner solar system’s only dwarf planet—less than 30 miles 

above the surface of Ceres. Besides the high-resolution images, the spacecraft is 

collecting gamma-ray and neutron spectra, infrared and visible spectra, and gravity 

data. The main goal of the observations is understanding the evolution of Ceres 

and testing for possible ongoing geology.

After an almost-two-year journey, NASA’s asteroid sampling spacecraft, the 

Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer 

(OSIRIS-REx), caught its first glimpse of asteroid Bennu in August 2018 and began 

the final approach toward its target. New images are being released as they are available. OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first mission designed to visit a near-Earth asteroid, 

survey the surface, collect a sample, and deliver it back to Earth. The spacecraft has 

traveled approximately 1.1 billion miles (1.8 billion kilometers) since its September 

2016 launch and is scheduled to arrive at Bennu in December 2018.

OSIRIS-REx is NASA’s first asteroid sample return mission; however, the 

Agency has been observing these and other near-Earth objects (NEOs) for more 

than 20 years. NEOs are asteroids and comets in orbits that bring them into the 

inner solar system, within 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) of the Sun, 

and also within roughly 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit 

around the Sun. There are now over 18,000 known NEOs, and the discovery rate 

averages about 40 per week. No known asteroid poses a significant risk of impact 

with Earth over the next 100 years; however, researchers continue to study and 

characterize these objects and assess the danger they may pose in the future. In 

June 2018, the U.S. Federal Government released the “The National Near-Earth 

Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan,” which organizes efforts related to 

NEOs within the Federal Government over the next 10 years to ensure that the 

Nation can more effectively respond should circumstances warrant.

NASA’s Planetary Science Division uses an array of spacecraft to help us understand our solar system and the potential for life elsewhere and undertakes efforts 

to understand and prepare for potentially hazardous NEOs. Below are five research 

highlights from FY 2018.
41National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Ice Confirmed at the Moon’s Poles

In a study published in August 2018, a team of scientists used data from NASA’s 

Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument to identify three specific signatures 

that definitively prove that there is water ice at the surface of the Moon. M3 was 

launched aboard the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft by the Indian Space Research 

Organization in 2008. Not only did it collect data that picked up the reflective 

properties we would expect from ice, but M3 also was able to directly measure the 

distinctive way the ice molecules absorb infrared light so that it could differentiate 

between liquid water, vapor, and solid ice.

NASA Finds Ancient Organic Material, Mysterious Methane on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover found organic molecules—preserved in rocks on Mars—

that suggest that the planet could have supported ancient life. Curiosity also found 

seasonal variations in the levels of methane in the Martian atmosphere that could 

have biological or nonbiological origins. Data from Curiosity reveal that billions 

of years ago, a water lake inside Gale Crater held all the ingredients necessary for 

life, including chemical building blocks and energy sources. While not necessarily 

evidence of life itself, these findings are a good sign for future missions exploring 

the planet’s surface and subsurface.

Complex Organics Bubble Up from Ocean World Enceladus

Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft revealed complex organic molecules originating from Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, strengthening the idea that this ocean 

world hosts conditions suitable for life. Powerful hydrothermal vents mix up material from the moon’s water-filled, porous core with water from the moon’s massive 

subsurface ocean—and it is released into space, in the form of water vapor and ice 

grains. Scientists analyzed the makeup of the ejected ice and identified fragments 

of large, complex chemicals. Complex molecules comprising hundreds of atoms 

are rare beyond Earth. The presence of the large, complex molecules, along with 

liquid water and hydrothermal activity, bolsters the hypothesis that the ocean of 

Enceladus may be a habitable environment for life.
42Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Juno Solves 39-Year-Old Mystery of Jupiter Lightning

Lightning bolts act like radio transmitters, sending out radio waves when they 

flash across the sky. But lightning signals on Jupiter collected by Voyagers 1 and 

2, Galileo, and Cassini were limited to either visual detections or signals from the 

kilohertz range of the radio spectrum, rather than the megahertz range as scientists 

would expect. The Juno mission, which arrived at Jupiter in July 2016, carried the 

Microwave Radiometer Instrument, and it was able to detect lightning discharges 

in the megahertz and gigahertz range. Scientists think the detections were possible 

because Juno was flying closer to the lightning than ever before and was searching 

a radio frequency that could pass easily through Jupiter’s ionosphere.

Icy Dunes on Pluto Reveal a Diverse and Dynamic Dwarf Planet

Newly discovered dunes on Pluto tell us that the dwarf planet’s geology and 

atmosphere are far more dynamic than previously expected, with the winds of its 

thin and multi-layer atmosphere helping shape the landscape. These formations 

appear to be quite young in geological terms, on the scale of decades or centuries 

old. NASA New Horizon’s scientists found these evenly spaced ridges on Pluto’s 

surface using imagery from the 2015 flyby. The ridges appear to have formed out 

of particles of methane ice as small as grains of sand, arranged into dunes by wind 

from the nearby mountains.

Astrophysics

The goal of NASA’s Astrophysics Division (APD) is to discover how the universe 

works, explore how it began and evolved, and search for life on planets around 

other stars. It collects data using an array of space-based observatories, as well as 

sounding rockets, high-altitude balloons, and the world’s largest airborne observatory. ADP supports research that provides insight into our universe and advances 

the search for life elsewhere.

In April 2018, NASA launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite 

(TESS), a mission to find worlds beyond our solar system, including some that 

could be potentially habitable. TESS began its science operations in July 2018. 

The mission will spend the next two years monitoring the nearest and brightest 
43National Aeronautics and Space Administration

stars for periodic dips in their light. These events, called transits, are caused by 

a planet passing in front of its star. Using this method, TESS is expected to find 

thousands of planets, many of which can then be studied in more detail by the 

Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, as well as groundbased observatories.

Astrophysics is utilizing innovative methods to collect data. HaloSat, a CubeSat 

designed to detect the halo of hot gas surrounding the Milky Way, was released 

from the International Space Station in July 2018. The measurements made by 

HaloSat will help scientists investigate the location of heretofore invisible matter 

within the universe in the form of x-ray-emitting hot plasma. The High-Resolution 

Microcalorimeter X-ray Imaging Rocket (Micro-X) launched in July aboard a sounding rocket to test new detector technology. Scientists showed that the sensor could 

successfully act as a highly sensitive thermometer capable of detecting the energy of a 

single photon of x-ray light—making an ideal detector for a future x-ray observatory.

NASA’s Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) mission, which 

was installed aboard the International Space Station in June 2017, rapidly made 

interesting discoveries. Using NICER, researchers discovered two stars located 

closer together than Earth and the Moon, revolving around each other every 

38 minutes. The discovery, published in May 2018, bestows the stellar pair with 

the record for the shortest known orbital period for a certain class of pulsar binary 

system. NICER’s ongoing mission is to provide high-precision measurements to 

further study the physics and behavior of neutron stars.

NASA’s collection of long-operating space observatories continued to make 

important contributions to astrophysics. In October 2017, after nearly a decade 

in space, Fermi contributed to the first joint observations of light and gravitational waves produced by the same event. Fermi was the first observatory to pick 

up the pulse of high-energy light, which was immediately reported to astronomers 

around the globe as a short gamma-ray burst. The scientists at the National Science 

Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) 

detected gravitational waves from the gravitational wave source, a pair of merging 

neutron stars, tied to the gamma-ray burst. The detection of light from a gravitational-wave-emitting event has revealed details of the event that complement 

information obtained from gravitational waves.
44Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Scientists used data from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array 

(NuSTAR) space telescope to show that Eta Carinae, the most luminous and 

massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years, is accelerating particles to high 

energies—some of which may reach Earth as cosmic rays. Scientists know that 

high-energy cosmic rays come to Earth from beyond the solar system, but because 

their paths are affected by galactic magnetic fields, determining the origin of these 

particles is challenging. The study showed that extreme environments, such as that 

at Eta Carinae, are one source of these particles.

Observations by NASA’s Swift spacecraft, renamed the Neil Gehrels Swift 

Observatory in 2018 after the mission’s late Principal Investigator, have captured 

an unprecedented change in the rotation of a comet. In a paper published in 

January 2018, scientists showed that images taken in May 2017 reveal that comet 

41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák was spinning three times slower than it was in March, 

when it was observed by the Discovery Channel Telescope at Lowell Observatory 

in Arizona. The abrupt slowdown is the most dramatic change in a comet’s rotation ever seen. Scientists believe the change may be caused by jets of dust particles 

and icy grains that erupt as the comet nears the Sun. The increased heat causes its 

surface ice to change directly to a gas.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has been operating for nearly 

20 years, was used to study a cold front, located in the hot intergalactic gas that 

pervades the Perseus galaxy cluster, that extends for about two million light years, 

or about ten billion billion miles. The enormous cold front studied with Chandra 

formed about five billion years ago and has been traveling at speeds of about 

300,000 miles per hour ever since. Surprisingly, the front has remained extremely 

sharp over the eons, rather than becoming fuzzy or diffuse. Scientists are continuing to study what makes this cold front so resilient.

Nearing 30 years on orbit, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope continued to provide 

a window to amazing phenomena within our universe, detecting the farthest star 

ever seen, a globular cluster full of the oldest stars in our galaxy, a collection of 

“homeless” stars strung out between galaxies, and many other interesting phenomena. In May 2018, an international team of astronomers released the most comprehensive, high-resolution ultraviolet-light survey of nearby star-forming galaxies, 

based on Hubble data. One of the key questions the survey may help astronomers 
45National Aeronautics and Space Administration

answer is the connection between star formation and the major structures, such as 

spiral arms, that make up a galaxy.

NASA’s next large space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, completed its cryospheric testing in November 2017. Subsequently, it was determined 

that final integration and testing will require additional time, and following a 

review by an Internal Review Board, a revised launch date was established for 

March 2021. The first telescope of its kind, and an unprecedented feat of engineering, Webb is at the very leading edge of technological innovation and development. When complete, Webb will shed light on many mysteries of the universe, 

from detecting the light of the first stars and galaxies in the distant universe to 

probing the atmospheres of exoplanets for possible signs of habitability.

NASA’s Astrophysics Division has advanced our understanding of our universe 

and the search for life throughout FY 2018. Below are five research highlights.

Dark Matter Goes Missing in Oddball Galaxy

Astrophysics theory suggests that every galaxy has dark matter and that dark 

matter is how a galaxy begins. However, researchers faced a challenge to that 

theory when data from the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as ground-based telescopes, showed a galaxy that is missing most, if not all, of its dark matter. The 

unique galaxy, called NGC 1052-DF2, contains at most 1/400 the amount of dark 

matter that astronomers had expected. The Hubble image also showed that the 

galaxy is so sparse that one can see all of the galaxies behind it. It does not have 

characteristics of a spiral, elliptical, or other traditional galaxy shape. Further 

analysis of this mysterious galaxy will help scientists better understand the role of 

dark matter in galaxy formation.

NASA Finds a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet’s Atmosphere

Researchers using data from the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes detected 

water in the atmosphere of a hot, bloated, Saturn-mass exoplanet about 700 lightyears away. Although the planet is similar to Saturn in size, it is 20 times closer to 

its star than Earth is to the Sun, and it has significantly more water, which suggests that it must have formed differently. The research demonstrates that studying 

exoplanets can help us to better understand our own solar system and suggests 
46Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

that planet formation is more complicated than we originally thought. Scientists 

hope to use the Webb Space Telescope to gather more detailed information on the 

exoplanet to better understand where and how the planet formed.

Improved Hubble Yardstick Gives Fresh Evidence for New Physics in the Universe

Astronomers have used NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to make the most precise measurements of the expansion rate of the universe since it was first calculated 

nearly a century ago by Edwin Hubble himself, the Hubble Space Telescope’s namesake. The team’s new study extends precise geometric measurements of stellar distance to stars up to ten times farther into space than previous Hubble studies. The 

value reinforced the disparity with the expected value derived from observations 

of the early universe’s expansion, 378,000 years after the Big Bang, made based on 

measurements from the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite. The difference 

between the two values is about 9 percent. This finding is forcing astronomers to 

consider that they may be seeing evidence of something unexpected at work in 

the universe and may signal the need for new physics to explain the inconsistency.

New Clues to TRAPPIST-1 Planet Compositions and Atmospheres

It has been a year since scientists discovered the TRAPPIST-1 system of seven 

Earth-sized planets. In that time, scientists have used a combination of space- and 

ground-based telescopes to learn more about this planetary system. Using data 

from NASA’s Spitzer and Kepler Space Telescopes, along with detailed computer 

models, researchers determined that all of the planets are made of mostly rock. 

Additionally, some have up to five percent of their mass in water, which would be 

250 times more water than the oceans on Earth. For the planets closest to the star, 

this water is likely in vapor form, while for those farthest away, it is probably frozen 

as ice on the surface. At least one of the exoplanets is in the habitable zone, and 

this has a surface temperature conducive to hosting liquid water.

No Planets Needed: NASA Study Shows Disk Patterns Can Self-Generate

Young stars are often surrounded by disks of dust and gas. When scientists detect 

patterns in the debris—such as rings, arcs, and spirals—they believe these are 

caused by an orbiting world. However, new analysis shows that these features may 
47National Aeronautics and Space Administration

form without the involvement of planets. NASA scientists using complex computer 

simulations found that high-energy ultraviolet light might drive the creation of 

patterns in the gas and dust that make up circumstellar disks. The light heats the 

gas, which causes it to capture more dust, which in turn heats more gas. This cycle 

can work in tandem with other forces to create some of the features astronomers 

have observed in debris disks.

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) remained committed to fulfilling its critical research commitments during FY 2018, all of which are 

intended to transform aviation in ways that directly meet the ever-evolving needs 

of industry, sustain the highest levels of safety, and maintain the Nation’s reputation as the world’s leader in all things related to flight operations and aeronautical 

innovation.

Those research commitments continue to be dominated by the long-term investigations necessary to achieve improvements in aircraft design and propulsion 

methods (including revolutionary use of electric propulsion) that will enable new 

opportunities for passenger mobility and cargo, significantly reduce the Nation’s 

reliance on petroleum-based fuel, diminish the amount of potentially harmful 

emissions released into the atmosphere, and shrink annoying noise levels—especially those heard immediately next to airports during takeoffs and landings.

NASA also remains steadfast in its commitment to working with industry and 

academia in supplying technical solutions to the Federal Aviation Administration 

(FAA) for its Next Generation Air Transportation System. More efficient methods 

for managing air traffic using NASA-developed software were tested in the field 

during FY 2018 and, in one case, officially transferred to the FAA for further testing and implementation.

Key highlights of NASA’s aeronautical achievements during FY 2018 include 

awarding Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company a contract to build the X-59 

Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) aircraft as the Agency works toward 

enabling commercial supersonic air travel over land. Another major focus was 

NASA’s ongoing leadership in the fast-growing demand for safely integrating the 
48Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly called “drones,” throughout 

the National Airspace System, including above densely populated areas—what is 

now called Urban Air Mobility.

Quiet Supersonic Flight Over Land

Involving teams from the Advanced Air Vehicles Program and the Integrated 

Aviation Systems Program, the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission was 

active in preparing for its comprehensive, scientifically driven effort to provide 

U.S. and international regulators with statistically valid data required to approve 

new rules that will allow commercial supersonic flight over land. The centerpiece 

of this mission is the X-59 QueSST, an experimental supersonic aircraft shaped to 

reduce the loudness of a sonic boom reaching the ground to that of a gentle thump, 

if it can be heard at all. Once completed, the X-59 will be flown above select 

U.S. communities to measure public response to its noise while flying supersonic. 

A one-of-a-kind airplane, the X-59 officially received its historic X-plane number 

designation from the Air Force during FY 2018, shortly after NASA awarded the 

construction contract to Lockheed Martin. More information is available online at 

https://www.nasa.gov/lowboom/new-nasa-x-plane-construction-begins-now and https://

www.nasa.gov/aero/nasa-experimental-supersonic-aircraft-x-59-quesst.

In preparation for flying the X-59 in about three years, NASA in FY 2018 used 

its F/A-18 supersonic research jet in ongoing flight tests to better understand how 

sonic booms propagate through the turbulent atmosphere. Having already conducted a series of research flights during 2016 in the dry air over Edwards Air Force 

Base in California, the Sonic Booms in Atmospheric Turbulence research team 

deployed for two weeks in August 2017 to fly in the humid air over Kennedy Space 

Center in Florida. Repeating the same series of supersonic flights in the tropical 

environment helped researchers validate tools and models necessary for aiding in 

the design and operation of the X-59. The Florida visit also provided valuable experience in managing public awareness and reaction to the sonic booms, experience 

that will be fruitful when the F/A-18 is deployed to Galveston, Texas, in FY 2019 

to test methods for gathering public response to any supersonic-related noise they 

might or might not hear. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.
49National Aeronautics and Space Administration

gov/centers/armstrong/features/sonic_boom_tests_set_for_ksc.html and https://www.

nasa.gov/aero/nasa-prepares-to-go-public-with-quiet-supersonic-tech.

Urban Air Mobility

NASA aeronautical innovators representing all four of ARMD’s programs at the 

four NASA Field Centers where aeronautics research is dominant came together 

in FY 2018 to address how the Agency can best serve the needs of industry when it 

comes to UAS. Particular emphasis was placed on the convergence of technologies 

and new business models enabled by the digital revolution that is making it possible 

to explore new ways for people and cargo to move within cities—an idea increasingly known as Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

Public-private partnerships are essential to ensuring safe, efficient UAM operations 

in populated areas. To that end, NASA during FY 2018 signed its second Space Act 

Agreement with Uber Technologies, Inc. Under this agreement, Uber will share its 

plans for implementing an urban aviation rideshare network. NASA will use the latest in airspace management computer modeling and simulation to assess the impacts 

of small aircraft—from delivery drones to passenger aircraft with vertical takeoff and 

landing capability—in crowded environments. This is NASA’s first such agreement 

specifically focused on modeling and simulation for UAM operations.

More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/aero/taking-airtravel-to-the-streets-or-just-above-them and https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/

nasa-uber-to-explore-safety-efficiency-of-future-urban-airspace.

Electric Propulsion

NASA engineers reached a major milestone in FY 2018 with the successful testing of the battery system that will power NASA’s first all-electric X-plane, the X-57 

Maxwell. The testing validated that the battery system has the necessary capacity 

to safely power NASA’s first piloted X-plane in two decades for an entire flight 

profile. The test also confirmed the battery design’s ability to isolate potential overheating issues to single battery cells, preventing unsafe conditions from spreading 

to the rest of the battery system.
50Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

The first test performed was a battery functional test, which examined the battery’s capacity, demonstrating the ability of the battery to power the aircraft for the 

duration of a flight without overheating to unsafe levels. The X-57 will be powered 

using lithium-ion batteries that will warm up as they discharge during flight. The 

second test, known as a thermal runaway and propagation test, was critical in validating the redesign of the battery system, which took place following the results of 

similar testing in December 2016. While the tests were successful, subsequent data 

analysis and tests of the redesign prompted further study and refinements. NASA 

has contributed significantly to community understanding of the challenges and 

solutions to using these technologies in aviation through extensive publication of 

research and community engagement.

More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/

feature/X-57_battery_major_milestone.html and https://www.nasa.gov/centers/

armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-109.html.

Highlights from NASA ARMD’s Programs

Advanced Air Vehicles Program

NASA’s Commercial Supersonic Technology project in FY 2018 continued 

developing technologies focused on reducing the noise produced by the exhaust of 

a supersonic aircraft’s jet engines, especially during takeoff and landing. Acoustics 

experts in NASA’s Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory completed an evaluation 

of a small-scale model of a jet engine in a simulated environment. Results helped 

researchers determine how well noise levels produced in a laboratory can be compared to noise data gathered during actual flight tests. More information is available 

online at https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/evaluating-the-noise-of-future-aircraft.

In FY 2018, NASA flight tests successfully demonstrated technologies that 

significantly reduce aircraft noise over communities near airports. The technologies, collectively known as Acoustics Research Measurements, addressed 

airframe noise produced by nonpropulsive parts of an aircraft during landing. 

Using a Gulfstream III research aircraft, NASA tested experimental designs 

on several airframe components. These included NASA’s Landing Gear Noise 

Reduction technology, which featured sound-absorbing foam and porous fairings 
51National Aeronautics and Space Administration

that reduce noise without increasing drag, and the Adaptive Compliant Trailing 

Edge wing flap, a seamless, flexible design that reduced noise by eliminating 

gaps between flaps and the wing body during takeoff and landing. During testing, the aircraft flew at an altitude of 350 feet over an array of 185 microphones. 

The technologies tested produced a greater-than-70-percent reduction in airframe 

noise. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/

nasa-technologies-significantly-reduce-aircraft-noise.

In FY 2018, NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) continued 

their collaborative research into alternative aircraft biofuels. In a series of 

flight tests to analyze engine performance, emissions, and contrail formation, 

DLR’s Advanced Technology Research Aircraft A320 burned alternative biofuels while NASA’s DC-8 “Flying Laboratory” trailed behind to gather emissions 

samples and take measurements. The data will be analyzed to determine how 

soot from emissions affects contrail ice particles. Previously, the two agencies 

collaborated in the NASA-led Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise 

Emissions I and II programs. Those flight tests determined that using a 50/50 

blend of biofuel and regular fuel to power jet engines significantly reduced soot 

emissions. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/aero/

nasa-takes-international-aviation-research-to-the-max.

Airspace Operations and Safety Program

NASA and Alaska Airlines during FY 2018 tested cockpit-based software 

developed to help pilots determine the most fuel-efficient routes during flight. 

The Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR) research project 

employed the Agency’s Traffic Aware Planner (TAP) software, which merged 

and evaluated real-time data to obtain optimized flight plan options. TASAR 

improved the process pilots used to request flight paths and altitude modifications based on changing flight conditions as directed by Air Traffic Control 

(ATC). Typically, pilots make these requests with limited awareness of local 

flight conditions. Consequently, some requests are denied, resulting in no flight 

improvements and unnecessary increases in workload for both pilots and the 

ATC. During testing, TAP software onboard Alaska Airlines aircraft successfully made rerouting recommendations that saved fuel; lowered emissions; and 
52Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

reduced flight time, operating costs, and environmental impact of the test planes. 

More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/

nasa-and-alaska-airlines-test-software-that-saves-time-fuel.

A three-year-long demonstration of a new suite of air traffic management technologies at the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in North Carolina successfully concluded its first year of operations during FY 2018. Known as Airspace 

Technology Demonstration–2, the software solutions are designed to better manage 

air traffic to and from an airport, with an emphasis on more efficiently handling 

aircraft movements between the terminal gate and runway. The shakedown of 

technology and new procedures involved NASA closely working with the Federal 

Aviation Administration, the air traffic controllers union, American Airlines, and 

officials at Charlotte. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/

aero/nasa-air-traffic-management-demo-goes-live.

NASA partnered with Honeywell in FY 2018 to test an aircraft engine in a 

high-altitude environment to explore ice crystal icing, a phenomenon that 

occurs when ice crystals enter an engine’s core and accrete. The accumulated ice can cause loss of thrust, stall, surge, and potential damage when ice 

particles break up and pass through the engine’s fan. During testing, researchers identified conditions under which engine ice forms and manipulated variables like temperature and engine fan speed to observe how icing behavior 

changes. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/feature/

nasa-glenn-tests-aircraft-engines-in-an-ice-crystal-environment.

Integrated Aviation Systems Program

The centerpiece of the Low-Boom Flight Demonstration mission—the 

X-59 QueSST aircraft—evolved in FY 2018 from its beginning as a theoretical 

design on paper to the next step in producing a real flying machine when the 

Low-Boom Flight Demonstration project awarded a $247.5 million construction 

contract to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company of Palmdale, California. 

The contract award was a significant milestone in NASA’s historic return to 

flying experimental aircraft. In addition to the fabrication and assembly of the 

X-59, the contract also calls for Lockheed to orchestrate the initial flight tests 

that will demonstrate that it is safe to fly and meets all of NASA’s performance 
53National Aeronautics and Space Administration

requirements. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/

lowboom/new-nasa-x-plane-construction-begins-now.

NASA in FY 2018 selected three companies to collaborate in the area of UAS 

flights in the National Airspace System. They will work together to tackle key 

challenges that prevent routine commercial UAS operations today, including the 

development, integration, and certification of unpiloted aircraft and avionics. 

Known as Systems Integration and Operationalization, this research is to cumulate 

in multiple flight demonstrations in 2020 that focus on UAS missions occurring 

at altitudes greater than 500 feet above ground level and include integrated Detect 

and Avoid and Command and Control technologies. More information is available 

online at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/newsreleases/2018/18-18.html.

NASA’s remotely piloted Ikhana aircraft successfully flew its first mission in 

the National Airspace System without a safety chase aircraft. The milestone 

flight was conducted to help the United States normalize and open new uncrewed 

aircraft operations in the airspace used by commercial and private pilots. The 

Ikhana flew into airspace typically reserved for commercial airliners and communicated in real time with airport air traffic controllers throughout various 

points of its flight. Prior to the Ikhana’s inaugural solo flight, the FAA granted 

NASA special permission to use the latest Detect and Avoid technologies, which 

enabled the remote pilot on the ground to see and avoid other aircraft during the 

flight. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/

nasa-flies-large-unmanned-aircraft-in-public-airspace-without-chase-plane-for-first.

Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program

In the fourth year of NASA’s Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) project, 

which is designed to identify and nurture “out-of-the-box” thinking about technology that might help transform aviation, three new ideas were selected for study to 

determine if they are technically feasible and perhaps worthy of additional pursuit 

within NASA or industry. The selections represented a broad range of research 

topics, yet each could significantly contribute to building future aircraft that 

are more energy-efficient, produce fewer emissions, and are quieter. The selected 

projects involved developing a new assembly technique with composites, finding 

ways to reduce and shed heat generated by an electric motor, and exploring the 
54Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

use of a water-based solution for generating electricity to replace lithium-based 

batteries. More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/aero/

nasa-selects-three-ideas-to-pursue-that-could-transform-aviation.

Significant advances in electric propulsion technology took place in FY 2018, as 

NASA tested motors and motor controllers that will power the first fully electric 

X-plane, the X-57 Maxwell. Engineers used a test stand called Airvolt to measure system voltage, current, temperature, vibration, torque, and thrust. These 

data were used to analyze electric propulsion system efficiency and to determine 

whether motor components can operate within high- and low-temperature limits. 

One objective of Airvolt testing and future X-57 research flights is to help the 

flight certification community identify and establish airworthiness standards for 

the future. The data gathered by these efforts will be provided to the certification 

community to help establish airworthiness standards for future electric aviation. 

More information is available online at https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/

feature/All-electric_X-57_Cruise_Motors_Begin_Testing.html.

As part of the Spanwise Adaptive Wing (SAW) project, NASA researchers in 

FY 2018 conducted flight tests using new technology that allowed a small UAS to fold 

its wings during flight for improved aerodynamics. The technology employed a lightweight, thermally triggered shape memory alloy to fold the outer portions of wings 

from zero to 70 degrees to obtain optimal angles for improved fuel efficiency and controllability, as well as reduced drag. During the tests, researchers flew the small UAS 

called Prototype Technology-Evaluation Research Aircraft, a “flying laboratory” that 

is ideal for gathering SAW data. More information is available online at https://www.

nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/feature/nasa-tests-new-alloy-to-fold-wings-in-flight.html.

Space Technology Mission Directorate

The Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) develops and incorporates 

transformative space technologies to enable NASA’s future missions. STMD has 

developed a diverse technology portfolio, creating a pipeline to solve the Nation’s 

most difficult challenges in space. Space technology is an investment in our 

Nation’s high-tech economy, spurring innovation and building partnerships across 

the aerospace sector and beyond.
55National Aeronautics and Space Administration

In FY 2018, STMD made significant progress toward advancing NASA’s current 

and future deep space exploration missions. In order to enable and enhance the 

Agency’s capabilities, investments focused primarily on five strategic thrust areas:

Presently, STMD has over 1,000 active project activities led by more than 400 

companies and over 360 activities led by more than 120 academic institutions. In 

addition, STMD is partnered with 15 other Government agencies or departments 

as well as four international organizations. In FY 2018, STMD evaluated over 3,600 

proposals and funded new technology selections, amounting to over $380 million 

in award investments.

In 2018, NASA’s investments in space technology advanced capabilities for 

future exploration missions. New technology demonstrations, challenges, and 

partnerships helped solve complex challenges needed to land, live, and explore the 

Moon and Mars.

Tipping-Point Partnerships

In August, STMD announced its partnerships with six U.S. companies to 

develop 10 “tipping point” technologies that have the potential to significantly 

benefit the commercial space economy and future NASA missions, including 

lunar lander and deep space rocket engine technologies. These awards focus on 

technology collaborations with the commercial space sector that leverage emerging markets and capabilities to meet NASA’s exploration goals. While these key 

technologies will support NASA’s science and human exploration missions in the 

future, these awards also showcase NASA’s commitment to the Nation’s growing 

commercial space industry today.

Technology Demonstration Missions (TDMs)

Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC): The DSAC project will fly and validate a 

miniaturized, ultra-precise, mercury-ion atomic clock that is orders of magnitude 

more stable than today’s best spacecraft clocks, potentially changing the way we 

conduct deep space navigation. The clock will provide enhanced navigation accuracy, increased science data bandwidth, and improved gravitational measurements 
56Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

necessary for future planetary science and exploration missions. In FY 2018, the 

DSAC payload successfully completed its final integrated verification testing and 

successfully passed the Mission Readiness Review (MRR). DSAC remains in clean 

room storage, awaiting a 2019 launch on the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program 

(STP)–2 mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM): The GPIM spacecraft—designed 

to test the unique attributes of a high-performance, nontoxic, “green” fuel on 

orbit—completed all flight system integration and test activities and is ready for 

launch next year. The propellant, a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate–based fuel/oxidizer mix also known as AF-M315E, can replace the highly toxic hydrazine and 

complex bipropellant systems in use today, providing enhanced performance and 

volumetric efficiency. The spacecraft is being maintained in readiness for a launch 

to low-Earth orbit in 2019 in partnership with the U.S. Air Force’s STP-2 mission 

aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy.

Laser Communication Relay Demonstration (LCRD): The LCRD mission 

proposes to revolutionize the way we send and receive data, video, and other information, using lasers to encode and transmit data at rates 10 to 100 times faster than 

today’s fastest radio-frequency systems, with significantly less mass and power. The 

LCRD project continues to meet developmental milestones on its way to a launch 

in 2020 to demonstrate bidirectional optical communications from geosynchronous 

orbit, providing critical performance data and operational experience. In FY 2018, 

the project completed system integration and functional and environmental testing, and it is preparing to deliver the flight payload to the spacecraft integrator in 

FY 2019 to support a No Earlier Than (NET) April 2020 Launch Readiness Date.

In-Space Robotic Manufacturing and Assembly: The three project teams 

have completed the final year of the two-year Phase 1 effort. The Made In 

Space Archinaut team completed thermal-vacuum testing of the Ground Based 

Manufacturing and Assembly System Hardware (GBMASH) to demonstrate additive manufacturing and assembly of structures in a relevant, spacelike environment. The Space Systems Loral (SSL) Dragonfly team completed reviews of system 

requirements, verification plans, performance, interfaces, and hardware robotic 

assembly designs, and they successfully demonstrated in-space manufacturing 

mechanisms and conducted a successful Phase 1 closeout review. The Northrop 
57National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Grumman Commercial Infrastructure for Robotic Assembly and Services (CIRAS) 

project advanced in-space assembly components and processes, including demonstrations of a robotic arm, end effectors, assembly tools, reversible joining methods, control software, a quick-disconnect interface, and modular truss structures. 

Phase 2 selections are pending.

Robotic Refueling Mission 3 (RRM3): RRM3 builds on the first two phases 

of International Space Station (ISS) technology demonstrations that tested tools, 

technologies, and techniques to refuel and repair satellites in orbit. RRM3 will 

demonstrate innovative methods to store, transfer, and freeze standard cryogenic 

fluid in space. The project completed payload integration and environmental testing on all hardware. The hardware will launch on the SpaceX CRS-16 mission in 

December 2018.

Restore-L: The Restore-L mission’s objective is to refuel a U.S. Government 

satellite in low-Earth orbit, demonstrating a suite of satellite-servicing technologies and potentially enabling the burgeoning U.S. satellite-servicing industry. The 

project has been working on integrated design, development, testing, and evaluation. In FY 2018, the project successfully completed an end-to-end demonstration 

of an autonomous capture with a LandSat 7 mock-up and a payload simulator. The 

project has begun a suite of subsystem reviews as it is readying for mission-level 

review in FY 2019.

LEO-based Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID): The LOFTID 

project became part of the TDM portfolio in FY 2018. The objective is to demonstrate a Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) to mature 

inflatable aeroshell technology for future NASA heavy down-mass missions and 

commercial applications. In early FY  2018, contractors were selected: Airborne 

Systems, Inc., to provide the reentry vehicle inflatable structure and Jackson-Bond 

Enterprises to supply the flexible thermal protection system. An agreement has also 

been finalized with industry partner United Launch Alliance (ULA). The project defined functional and performance requirements and developed preliminary 

project plans, culminating in a successful System Requirements Review in May. 

Fabrication of the reentry vehicle Engineering Development Unit (EDU) is under 

way, as well as the avionics subsystem design. The preliminary design of the system 

is also in progress, with the Preliminary Design Review scheduled for February 2019.
58Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Evolvable Cryogenics (eCryo): In FY 2018, the eCryo team conducted ground 

testing of the Radio Frequency Mass Gauge (RFMG) flight hardware with RRM3. 

Final testing and reporting on advanced cryogenic insulation systems was completed as part of the Improved Fundamental Understanding of Super Insulation 

(IFUSI) task. Preparations for FY  2019 Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation 

Vibration Evaluation Rig (SHIIVER) testing continued. The foam-insulated 

SHIIVER tank, thermal test support stand, forward skirt (with vapor-cooling heatintercept channels) and skirt multi-layer insulation have been delivered to Plum 

Brook Station for assembly and integration. Fabrication of the remaining SHIIVER 

components is under way. Cryogenic Fluid Management modeling and analysis 

collaboration with JAXA continued in 2018.

Game Changing Development (GCD)

The Kilopower project objective is to demonstrate a compact, safe, scalable 

space fission power system to enable crewed surface missions on planetary bodies. 

The NASA and Department of Energy team successfully completed the Kilopower 

Reactor Using Stirling Technology (KRUSTY) full-power test of a 1-kilowatt reactor over a two-day period in March at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS). 

The project employed the novel integration of available uranium-235 fuel form, 

passive sodium heat pipes, and flight-ready convertors. The KRUSTY experiment 

is the first fission nuclear reactor test in over 50 years.

The Adaptable, Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT)

project’s objective is to advance heat shield technology for planetary landers and 

sample return missions. The ADEPT flight test was conducted on September 12 

aboard an UP Aerospace sounding rocket. It achieved full deployment and performed as expected, and all data sources were recovered. The team will continue to 

analyze the data in the coming months.

The Low-Cost Upper Stage-Class Propulsion (LCUSP) project was a five-year 

effort to develop and demonstrate additive manufacturing processes to produce 

rocket propulsion components in less time and at a lower cost than conventional manufacturing methods. The LCUSP was a very successful project, having achieved a number of technology firsts, including the use of Selective Laser 
59National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Manufacturing (SLM) and Electron Beam Free Form Fabrication in the fabrication 

of two different combustion chambers. The project successfully achieved its goals 

and culminated in a successful hot fire test of a 35,000-pound-force combustion 

chamber and nozzle at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center on March 2. The 

team has been successful in infusing technology into industry, leading to growth in 

advanced manufacturing jobs. Major aerospace prime contractors, such as SpaceX, 

Orbital ATK, Aerojet-Rocketdyne, ULA, and Blue Origin, are investigating the 

use of SLM in the production of propulsion components for their vehicles.

Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) Gears technology offers to develop planetary and 

strain wave (a.k.a. Harmonic Drive) gearboxes capable of reliable operation at 

or below 100 kelvins without the use of heaters. The product capability offers a 

viable gearing technology for power-constrained missions in cryogenic environments such as the Moon during lunar night, permanently shadowed craters, or icy 

bodies such as Europa. Once fully matured, the technology will enable operation 

for low-temperature, power-constrained missions such as missions to the Moon. In 

FY 2018, the project successfully completed cold life testing of planetary gears, both 

unlubricated and dry-lubricant operation at <100 kelvins and >1 hour.

The High Performance Spaceflight Computing (HPSC) project is developing a next-generation flight computing system that addresses the computational 

performance, energy management, and fault tolerance needs of NASA missions 

through 2030 and beyond. The Boeing Company was contracted to develop and 

provide the chiplet, a multicore hardware processor, associated system software and 

software development environment, an evaluation board, and a software simulator/

emulator. In May 2018, the HPSC Project successfully completed the Preliminary 

Design Review for the HPSC chiplet. This allowed the chiplet design team to 

begin the register-transfer level (RTL) layouts of the HPSC chiplet subsystems. In 

July 2019, the HPSC Project is expected to complete the RTL layouts of all chiplet 

subsystems in preparation for a chiplet Critical Design Review in the fall of 2019.

The Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE)

project is focused on the development, technology readiness maturation, flight 

demonstration, and infusion of Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance 

(PL&HA) technologies into NASA missions and commercial spaceflight missions. 

In FY 2018, the project completed the Hardware-in-the-Loop (HWIL) simulation. 
60Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

This HWIL simulation was integrated with the SPLICE Descent and Landing 

Computer (DLC). The DLC incorporates a surrogate of the HPSC processor (see 

above), which will accelerate the integration of the HPSC components on future 

precision landing and hazard-avoidance demonstrations.

The Astrobee project is developing a set of three free-flying robots that will 

operate inside the ISS alongside astronauts. Astrobee’s primary objective is to 

provide a zero-g research facility for guest scientists. In FY 2018, the project completed building Certification and Flight Units of the Docking Station. The project 

completed the Free Flyer Certification Unit build and procured and installed the 

Ground Server that will provide storage for experiment data for the Astrobee facility. Astrobee free flyers will launch in spring 2019 on NG-11 and SpaceX CRS-18.

The In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) project is focused on the development and 

demonstration of advanced manufacturing techniques, including additive manufacturing, to enable on-demand fabrication of components and spare parts in space. 

ISM is demonstrating these capabilities on the ISS. In FY 2018, ISM awarded three 

contracts to Techshot, Tethers Unlimited, and Interlog under the NextSTEP Broad 

Agency Announcement to develop a Multi-material Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab).

Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology 

Transfer (STTR)

NASA awarded 555 contracts for a total of $180.1 million in FY 2018. Specifically, 

304 SBIR and 44 STTR Phase I proposals were selected for award to 277 U.S. 

small businesses to establish the scientific, technical, and commercial feasibility 

of each proposed innovation. In addition, 144 SBIR and 24 STTR Phase II awards 

were selected to further expand upon their Phase I work. Through the Phase II 

Extended/Expanded program, 39 options were exercised for $10.6 million in SBIR/

STTR funding, which was matched by over $7 million from investors outside the 

program (other NASA programs, other Government agencies, and commercial 

investors). Additionally, 32 Phase III awards were made leveraging over $7.8 million 

in non-SBIR/-STTR funding.

A highlight for the year included Pancopia in Hampton, Virginia, who created an 

innovative water-recycling process that leverages novel microorganisms to provide 
61National Aeronautics and Space Administration

cost-effective, closed-loop water purification on the ISS and on Earth. NASA SBIR 

awarded Pancopia $885,000 to build and expand the prototype. Pancopia received 

two commercialization awards with the United States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) for this new recycling system and has partnered with the USDA to license 

its patented anammox bacteria.

Small Spacecraft Technology Program (SSTP)

The SSTP launched two successful technology demonstration missions on 

November 12, 2017, on the Cygnus Resupply Mission (OA-8), later deploying them 

to low-Earth orbit on December 6, 2017.

The Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) mission, 

developed and operated by the Aerospace Corporation, transmitted at an errorfree data rate of 200 megabits per second (approximately a 100× increase over 

CubeSat state of the art) to a 30-centimeter telescope. A second demonstration 

successfully completed by OCSD’s twin 1.5-unit spacecraft involved a propulsive 

rendezvous with water-fueled maneuvering thrusters to rejoin the spacecraft after a 

460-kilometer post-deployment drift to a closest approach of six meters.

The Integrated Solar Array Reflectarray Antenna (ISARA) mission, developed and operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerospace 

Corporation, is the first in-space demonstration of a Ka-band reflectarray, which is 

an integrated solar array and radio antenna structure. The reflectarray technology 

is capable of data rate transmission of up to 100 megabits per second (Mb/s). By 

integrating the solar panel and antenna structure together, more volume is made 

available for payloads in the CubeSat structure. The technologies demonstrated on 

these missions pave the way for high-value science missions and formation flying 

missions that use distributed CubeSats and small satellites. The technology pioneered for use in spaceflight by the primary ISARA payload, the JPL reflectarray 

antenna, was an integrated part of the successful data relay by the two MarCO 

spacecraft during the Insight landing on November 26.

The Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator (PTD) project completed its payload assessment of the Tethers Unlimited, Inc. (TUI), HYDROS water hydrolysis 

thruster-based propulsion system. The HYDROS system separates onboard water 
62Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

into hydrogen and oxygen propellants by applying an electric current through the 

water. The propulsion system uses the on-orbit power provided by the arrays to 

power a miniature water electrolysis system. The in-space demonstration will test 

propulsion performance through programmed changes in spacecraft velocity and 

altitude executed by the water-fueled thrusters. This first PTD mission is slated for 

launch in 2019.

The program awarded nine university teams to collaborate on the development and demonstration of new technologies and capabilities for small spacecraft. 

Proposals were awarded in three topic areas: instrument technologies for small 

spacecraft; technologies that enable large swarms of small spacecraft; and technologies that enable deep space small spacecraft missions. This is the fourth round 

of projects selected under the Smallsat Technology Partnerships initiative.

Flight Opportunities

In FY 2018, the Flight Opportunities program funded flights on four vertical 

takeoff/vertical lander flight campaigns, two Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle 

(sRLV) flight campaigns, five high-altitude balloon flights, and two parabolic 

campaigns for researchers developing technologies that are of interest to NASA 

and the commercial space industry. The program flew 28 technology payloads in 

FY 2018 on 17 flights.

• Blue Origin had two successful test flights of its New Shepherd rocket in 

FY 2018, each carrying Flight Opportunities–funded payloads. In April, a 

sensor package developed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center to study the 

internal environment of suborbital vehicles as test platforms was tested, as 

well as wireless technology to perform the world’s first commercial tweet 

from space. The July flight test carried five NASA-supported technologies 

onboard, and for each of these payloads, the flight was one in a series of 

suborbital demonstrations to facilitate technology development.

• UP Aerospace launched two of its SpaceLoft rockets for NASA within 

five days. In addition to testing eight technology payloads, including the 

ADEPT heat shield, the back-to-back launches demonstrated responsive 

and rapid relaunch capabilities.
63National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• In May, Masten Space Systems Xodiac rocket-flight-tested HoneyBee 

Robotics’ pneumatic sampler collection system, PlanetVac. PlanetVac is a 

surface soil–collection system for a sample return mission. This flight provided HoneyBee with the opportunity to test in a situation more realistic 

to what the payload might encounter on a space mission.

• Two Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion (REDDI) 

parabolic flights tested technologies in propellant gauging and optimizing 

chilldown methods for cryogenic propellant tanks imperative for efficient 

fuel transfer in deep space. Also tested were bio-inspired flexible probes for 

interaction with and anchoring to the surface of asteroids and other lowgravity bodies for sampling operations and collection for In-Situ Resource 

Utilization (ISRU). The capabilities sought by these technologies—ISRU 

collection and subsequent storage and transfer of fuel in space—are critical for sustained exploration activities beyond Earth.

• World View Enterprises balloon flights in March and September made 

strides in advancing technology for understanding planetary evolution by 

measuring how electromagnetic waves penetrate the surface—and what 

information that might reveal.

Space Technology Research Grants (STRG)

Since its inception, STRG has funded exciting space technology research via 

595 grants at 107 universities across 43 states and one U.S. territory. In FY 2018, 

the program made 14 Early Stage Innovations awards, 11 Early Career Faculty 

awards, and 56 NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship awards. The inaugural Space Technology Research Institutes—the Center for Utilization of Biological 

Engineering in Space (CUBES), led by the University of California, Berkeley, and 

the Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP), 

led by Michigan Technological University—both successfully completed the first 

year of these multi-year awards.

• CUBES, working to advance the practicality of an integrated, multifunction, multi-organism bio-manufacturing system on a Mars mission, 

demonstrated a microbial electrocatalysis system that reduces Martian 
64Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

dinitrogen (N2) levels to the levels needed for sustainable plant production 

and developed a method to synthesize a bone-regeneration hormone in lettuce leaf tissue as a possible microgravity countermeasure for crew health.

• US-COMP, in its efforts to enable computationally driven development of 

carbon nanotube (CNT)–based ultra-high-strength lightweight structural 

materials, demonstrated an improvement in the microstructure of four-ply 

core-spun yarns, completed preliminary mechanical tests, and fabricated 

small yarn composite samples.

Other program research highlights include the following: 

• Simon Vecchioni from Columbia University grew his own DNA-based 

biowires, which are 20 times more conductive than normal DNA. Simon 

demonstrated the first-ever electrically functional DNA nanoelectric 

components and proved that successful fabrication of biowires is possible 

in a low-resource environment, such as those that will be encountered on 

future deep space missions.

• Carmel Majidi from Carnegie Mellon University was featured in a 

Washington Post article for creating self-healing “Terminator skin” that 

combines electronic circuits, soft sensors, and elastic conductive material. The material can spontaneously repair itself after sustaining damage; 

Carmel demonstrated the ability to power a clock while simultaneously 

damaging the conductive connections using a sharp object. Stretchable 

electronics have potential applications in planetary exploration where 

resilient, lightweight, and flexible sensors can be worn by bio-inspired soft 

robots in treacherous environments such as Mars.1

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC)

In 2018, NIAC awarded 16 Phase I and nine Phase II awards across industry, 

academia, and NASA Centers while completing 15 2017 Phase I studies and eight 

1 Peter Holley, “Terminator Skin: Researchers Create ‘Self-Healing’ Material for Robots,” 

Washington Post (May 24, 2018), available at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/

wp/2018/05/24/terminator-skin-researchers-create-self-healing-material-for-robots/?utm_

term=.9a7a590f7cc9 (accessed July 26, 2019).
65National Aeronautics and Space Administration

2016 Phase II studies. In partnership with World Book, NIAC received approvals 

for a second inspiring eight-book STEM series to further promote NASA science 

globally, with a theme of “Out of This World.” In the series, NASA scientists share 

their individual stories about how they grew from young students to scientists and 

how they are working on solving some of NASA’s biggest challenges.

Centennial Challenges

The Centennial Challenges program conducted two competition events in 

FY 2018, awarding $220,000 in prize money. A new competition was launched—the 

CO2 Conversion Challenge—and opened for registration. The program also began 

the formulation and development of two new challenges slated to open in 2019.

• The program began work on creating Phase 2 of the Space Robotics 

Challenge. Phase 1 took place in FY 2017, and 23 teams won a total of 

$555,000 over the course of the competition. The goal of Phase 2 is to 

advance robotics software and autonomy, and the goal launch date is 

in 2019.

• With the preliminary Ground Tournaments ending in FY  2017, Cube 

Quest teams are preparing their CubeSats for the in-space competitions 

that will begin with the first flight of the Space Launch System, EM-1. 

The purpose of these Deep Space and Lunar Derbies is to design, build, 

and launch flight-qualified, small satellites capable of advanced operations 

near and beyond the Moon.

• Phase 3 of the 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge opened in November 2017, 

and teams have competed in two of the five sublevels, winning a total of 

$220,000 so far. The multi-phase challenge is designed to advance the 

construction technology needed to create sustainable housing solutions 

for Earth and beyond. It will culminate in April 2019 with a head-to-head 

construction demonstration.

• The newest competition—the CO2 Conversion Challenge—launched 

in August. It is a $1 million competition to convert carbon dioxide into 

sugars such as glucose as a first step to creating mission-critical resources. 

Such technologies will allow us to manufacture products using local, 
66Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

indigenous resources on Mars, and on Earth by using waste and atmospheric carbon dioxide as a resource.

• The Vascular Tissue Challenge is ongoing, with 12 teams registered. The 

goal is to advance the field of tissue engineering by successfully growing thick, vascularized human tissue for a major organ. The prize purse 

is $500,000.

Technology Transfer

The Technology Transfer program continued to create value for NASA and 

taxpayers by spinning out an unprecedented number of new technologies. For the 

seventh year in a row, the program set new records for the volume of technologies 

shared with partner companies—with 99 new patent licenses and 2,987 software 

usage agreements. This year’s totals were helped along by the release of a new 

software catalog and the launch of an automated online licensing application tool.

iTech

The iTech program—a collaborative effort that identifies and fosters innovative solutions for solving challenges on Earth and also in space—conducted three 

cycles of competitions in FY 2018, including one with the U.S. Department of 

Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) to identify transformational energy technologies that can improve energy generation, storage, and 

distribution to the benefit of both space exploration and life on Earth.
67Department of Defense

Department of Def

DOD

Aeronautics

Rotorcraft

Army

The United States Army (USA) is continuing its modernization efforts across 

the entire aviation fleet. Rotary-wing aircraft fielding of the AH-64E Apache, 

UH-60M Blackhawk, CH-47F Block II Chinook, HH-60V MEDEVAC Blackhawk, 

and LUH-72 Lakota will ensure that Army aircraft will be capable for decades 

to come.

The USA Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) demonstrated 

progress in support of technology development for Future Vertical Lift (FVL). 

Although not flying demonstrators, vendors have produced significant technology 

advancements in tiltrotor and coaxial rotor technology as well as actuator designs. 

Additional efforts include the Mission System Architecture Demonstration. This 

collaborative industry effort is developing an open system architecture for future 

platforms across the Department of Defense.

Navy

The United States Navy (USN) CH-53K Super Stallion program reached a 

major milestone as it began low-rate initial production. With nearly three times 

the external lift capacity of the CH-53E and a mission radius of up to 200 nautical 

miles, the CH-53K has the lift and range to support the future Marine Air Ground 

Task Force. Flight Test Operations shifted from the contractor facility in West 

Palm Beach, Florida, to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.
68Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

The VH-92 Presidential Helicopter Replacement commenced Integrated 

Government Flight Test in August 2018. The program received a successful 

Milestone C decision in May 2019 authorizing Low-Rate Initial Production of the 

first six operational aircraft.

The V-22 Osprey has been in production for several years, with more than 350 

aircraft delivered to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and United States 

Special Operations Command. This tiltrotor aircraft provides unique capabilities 

to the warfighter, combining the flexibility of a helicopter with the speed and range 

of a fixed-wing aircraft. In addition to the wide range of missions that the aircraft 

can currently support, new capabilities continue to be developed, such as the ability to act as a tanker for aerial refueling. Other upgrades are being completed to 

enable the aircraft to meet the USN requirements for carrier onboard delivery.

The USN has delivered 526 of 555 MH-60 helicopters and transitioned 

all Helicopter Sea Combat and Helicopter Maritime Strike squadrons to the 

MH-60R/S. Due to high operational demand and evolving warfighter needs, the 

program has initiated a Service Life Assessment intended to evaluate requirements 

for a Service Life Extension. These efforts will improve mission systems/sensors, 

recapitalize current MH-60 investments to pace the threat out to 2040, and 

establish the foundation to rapidly and affordably migrate to the Future Vertical 

Lift platform.

In the fall of 2018, the United States commenced the effort to recapitalize its 

Advanced Helicopter Training System. The Navy intends to pursue a nondevelopmental approach and procure a commercial helicopter.

Air Force

The United States Air Force (USAF) awarded a contract to Boeing on 

September 24, 2018, to purchase up to 84 helicopters and associated training 

devices and ground equipment to replace the legacy UH-1Ns. The replacement 

helicopter meets the need to secure and defend the Nation’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and provide continuity of operations, flights, training, testing, and operational support airlift. The replacement is planned to reach Initial 

Operational Capability (IOC) in 2023.
69Department of Defense

Fixed-Wing

Navy

The transition of the P-3C to the P-8A continues to progress, with 74 P-8A aircraft delivered to the USN and four aircraft delivered to the Royal Australian Air 

Force under a cooperative agreement. The USN has transitioned nine of 12 fleet 

squadrons with the tenth squadron currently in transition. With over 63 percent 

of the aircraft delivered, the USN has flown nearly 25,000 sorties and logged over 

135,000 flight hours.

DOD completed the System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flight testing phase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Naval Air Station (NAS) Lemoore 

stood up the first USN F-35 Master Jet Base in January 2017 and began training 

the first operational F-35C squadron in January 2018. In June 2018, the first F-35Bs 

operationally deployed aboard the USS WASP and USS Essex, conducting operations in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. In September, USMC F-35Bs were the 

first U.S. Joint Strike Fighters employed in combat. In August 2018, VFA-125 and 

VFA-147 participated in the first integrated Carrier Air Wing Operations aboard 

the USS Abraham Lincoln. In September, two F-35s successfully landed onboard 

the HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time, with both USMC and Royal Air Force 

(RAF) aircraft participating. To date, 320 F-35 aircraft have been delivered, with 91 

planned for delivery in calendar year 2019.

The USMC has delivered 54 of 104 KC-130J aircraft, transitioning four activeduty squadrons and one reserve squadron. Concurrently, the USMC began installing the NP2000 eight-bladed propeller on its legacy C-130 fleet.

The USN and USAF are working together on a joint Analysis of Alternatives 

to determine the best material solution to recapitalize E-6B and other National 

Command and Control Aircraft.

In March 2018, the USN awarded Boeing a contract to modernize the F/A-18 

fleet, extending the life of existing Super Hornets from 6,000 to 9,000+ flight 

hours. In the early 2020s, Boeing will begin installing initial updates to the aircraft 

that will convert existing Block II Super Hornets to a new Block III configuration. 

The Block III conversion will include enhanced network capability, longer range 

with conformal fuel tanks, an advanced cockpit system, signature improvements, 

and an enhanced communication system.
70Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

The E-2D program has delivered 34 aircraft to date. The USN received approval 

to award a multi-year procurement in fiscal year (FY) 2019 to build 12 E-2D aircraft. Upgrades to the platform continued in FY 2018 as the Navy released Delta 

Software System Configuration 2, allowing the E-2D to pace the evolving threat.

Air Force

The USAF awarded a contract to Boeing on September 27, 2018, to purchase 351 

aircraft, 46 associated training devices, and other ancillary supplies and service to 

replace Air Education and Training Command’s fleet of T-38C training aircraft. 

The Advanced Pilot Training program is expected to provide student pilots in 

undergraduate- and graduate-level training courses with the skills and competencies required to transition to fourth- and fifth-generation fighter and bomber aircraft. The USAF plans to achieve Initial Operational Capability in 2024.

Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technologies (LCAAT) is an Air Force Research 

Laboratory (AFRL) effort focused on reducing the cost of building an aircraft 

airframe by more than a factor of ten. LCAAT will enable a family of limitedfunction, rapidly produced, low-cost, attritable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) 

to augment piloted weapon systems to force a cost-imposition effect on near-peer 

adversaries. The effort completed vehicle build and is currently in testing, with first 

flight test to occur in late 2018.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)

Army

The USA continues to modernize the MQ-1C Gray Eagle and RQ-7B Shadow 

UAS in stride with combat operations. In August 2018, the Army fielded its 14th 

Gray Eagle Company (15 total) and has begun transitioning units to the new 

Extended Range Gray Eagle, which increases the endurance to 41 hours. Gray 

Eagle units are assigned to Active Army Divisions, the Intelligence and Securities 

Command (INSCOM), and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The 

Shadow is nearing the end of its modernization in FY 2019 with the fielding of 

the remaining RQ-7B V2. That upgrade includes a new universal ground control 

station. Additionally, in FY 2019, the USA will begin experimenting on a future 

tactical UAS initiative that will eventually replace the RQ-7 Shadows in Brigade 
71Department of Defense

Combat teams. Currently, Shadows are assigned to all Brigade Combat Teams, 

Special Forces Groups, and Combat Aviation Brigades.

Navy

The MQ-4C Triton (formerly Broad Area Maritime Surveillance UAS) will 

develop maritime-capable UAS systems for operational deployment by providing 

persistent maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) services. 

Along with the P-8A Poseidon, the Triton UAS is an integral part of the Maritime 

Patrol and Reconnaissance Force family of systems, and it will provide combat 

information to operational and tactical users such as the Expeditionary Strike 

Group, Carrier Strike Group, and Joint Forces Maritime Component Commander. 

Developmental testing on the baseline capability was completed in October 2017, 

and Early Operational Capability is planned for 2018. The upgraded multiple intelligence capability is on track to support the maritime ISR and targeting transition 

plan in FY 2021.

The MQ-8 Fire Scout UAS program provides real-time and non-real-time ISR 

data to tactical users without the use of crewed aircraft or reliance on limited joint 

theater or national assets. An MQ-8 system is composed of air vehicles (MQ-8B/

MQ-8C), a mission control station, tactical control system software, a tactical common data link, a UAV common automatic recovery system for takeoffs and landings, payloads (electro-optical/infrared/laser designator-range finder, automated 

information system, voice communications relay, radar, coastal battlefield reconnaissance and analysis, and other specialty payloads), and associated spares and 

support equipment. Fire Scout provides a 240-degree instantaneous field of view 

and a range of digital modes to include Maritime Surveillance, Synthetic Aperture, 

Inverse Synthetic Aperture, weather detection, and ground moving target indicator. The MQ-8 launches and recovers vertically and can operate from all suitably 

equipped air-capable ships. MQ-8C Initial Operational Capability is scheduled for 

FY 2019.

The MQ-25 program is rapidly developing an uncrewed capability to embark on 

CVNs (aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion) as part of the Carrier Air Wing 

(CVW) to conduct aerial refueling as a primary mission and provide ISR capability 

as a secondary mission. MQ-25 extends CVW mission effectiveness range, partially 
72Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

mitigates the current Carrier Strike Group organic ISR shortfall, and fills the future 

CVW-tanker gap, mitigating Strike Fighter shortfall and preserving F/A-18E/F 

fatigue life. MQ-25 will achieve these goals through the use of a carrier-suitable, 

semiautonomous (man-in-the-loop, air vehicle executes preplanned missions) UAS 

(provided by the Air System segment) and controlled through existing Command, 

Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) networks from the 

control systems integrated into the CVNs. MQ-25 will initially be integrated aboard 

Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, followed by Ford-class. The Chief of Naval Operations 

and Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisitions 

have approved accelerated, streamlined processes for the program office to move the 

IOC from FY 2028 to FY 2024. The Government executed this acceleration through 

the conduct of source selection culminating with the August 2018 contract award 

($805 million) to Boeing. The combined Government-industry team will use modern processes and advanced technology, such as Model-Based Systems Engineering 

(MBSE) and embedded teaming, to keep the program on track to be the fastest 

contract award-to-IOC of any modern major aviation program.

Weapons

Army

The USA is actively pursuing advanced precision munitions with longer ranges 

to allow our aircraft to operate outside of threat weapon system effective ranges. 

These precision munitions will make U.S. aircraft more survivable in a peer/nearpeer threat environment and help solve the anti-access, area denial challenge 

posed by current threats, while operating in an enemy integrated air defense system 

environment. USA Aviation is also developing smaller, more versatile modular 

missile technology that allows a more scalable and tailorable precision munition 

for soft/mid-range targets. Tailoring of the munitions will allow a more affordable 

precision munition for our UAS. These smaller precision weapons will increase 

lethality and provide more flexibility in targeting.

The USA began fielding and improving other munitions, including the Joint 

Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) and the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System 

(APKWS). JAGM is a multi-mode guidance munition capable of precision point 

and fire-and-forget targeting. These capabilities can be employed in adverse 
73Department of Defense

weather and against countermeasures while also affording simultaneous engagements on both moving and stationary targets with increased lethality. In 2018, 

the USA had multiple successful engagements with the APKWS in operational 

theaters, validating the capability and investments in lighter precision munitions.

Navy

During FY 2017, the USN matured its long-range Cruise Missile Strategy. 

Key developmental and sustainment tenets of this strategy include support of 

Tomahawk Land Attack/Block III and Tactical Tomahawk/Block IV (TACTOM) 

through their anticipated service lives, integration of modernization and obsolescence upgrades to TACTOM during a midlife recertification program (which 

extends the missile service life an additional 15 years), fielding of the Long-Range 

Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) as the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare/Increment 1 

material solution to meet near- to mid-term anti-access Anti-Surface Warfare 

(ASuW) threats, and development of follow-on Next Generation Strike Capability 

(NGSC) weapons to address future threats and targets. NGSC includes capabilities 

for both the air-launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW)/Increment 2 

capabilities to counter long-term anti-surface warfare threats and a surface- and 

subsurface-launched Next Generation Land Attack Weapon (NGLAW) to initially 

complement, and then replace, legacy land attack cruise missile weapon systems.

LRASM continues to pioneer advanced semi-autonomous strike weapon capabilities. In FY 2018, LRASM had multiple successes, including a two-weapon salvo 

that demonstrated autonomous behaviors against multiple moving ships, culminating in a direct hit on the intended target. The LRASM program also delivered the 

first tactical rounds to support USAF B-1 Early Operational Capability.

The Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM)/Block 1 had formal 

fleet release in the summer of 2017. AARGM is a cooperative development program 

with the Italian Air Force to transform the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile 

(HARM) into an affordable, lethal, and flexible time-sensitive strike weapon system for conducting Destruction of Enemy Air Defense missions. AARGM adds 

multispectral targeting capability and targeting geospecificity to its supersonic 

fly-out to destroy sophisticated enemy air defenses and expands upon the HARM 

target set.
74Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Using multi-mode seeker and two-way datalink capabilities, the Joint Small 

Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) program provides an adverse-weather, day-or-night 

standoff capability against mobile, moving, and fixed targets and enables target 

prosecution while minimizing collateral damage. During FY 2017, SDB II continued Government confidence tests that had multiple program firsts, including conducting a successful test employment against multiple advanced countermeasures 

and hitting targets in a cluttered urban environment.

The APKWS guidance kit transforms an unguided 2.75-inch (70-millimeter) 

rocket into a precision-guided rocket, giving warfighters a low-cost surgical-strike 

capability. The APKWS rocket redefines precision by hitting the target with 

pinpoint accuracy and minimal collateral damage. The rocket is proven in combat for five years. The Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II continued its 

high level of reliability and lethality as this weapon has become one of the key 

weapons in the current fight against the Islamic State (known variously as ISIS 

and ISIL).

Aviation Survivability Equipment

Army

In 2018, the USA continued a concerted effort to modernize the infrastructure for its Aircraft Survivability Equipment in order to allow for more rapid 

and responsive fielding of improved threat detection and defensive countermeasures. The Common Missile Warning System (CMWS) continues to provide 

the USA’s fleet with infrared (IR) threat detection with the primary focus on 

Man Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). CMWS employs a range of 

expendable countermeasures on all platforms, with the addition of the Advanced 

Threat IR Countermeasure system on CH-47s to defeat incoming MANPADSes. 

Army Aviation will begin receiving production systems of the Common Infrared 

Countermeasure in early FY 2019.

Army Aviation is also developing requirements for the Advanced Threat 

Detection System (ATDS) designated as the next-generation missile/threat warning system that will significantly increase the array of threats that can be detected 

and defeated. ATDS is targeted for fielding in FY 2027 and will also provide greater 

situational awareness to aircrews against additional threats, such as rocket-propelled 
75Department of Defense

grenades, anti-tank guided missiles, and unguided ballistic projectiles such as 

heavy, crew-served machine guns.

The USA is also investing in upgraded detection and countermeasures to address 

Radio Frequency (RF) threats. Radar Warning Receiver (APR-39D[V]2) fielding 

begins mid-FY  2019 and will continue through FY  2022 as a bridging solution 

until the Modernized Radar Warning Receiver is fielded. Along with advances in 

detection capabilities, the USA is also advancing its threat defeat capabilities with 

the development of a family of Advanced Airborne Expendable Countermeasures. 

Production on an improved counter-RF expendable countermeasure (chaff) has 

also commenced and is expected to be fielded to the force in 2024. Upgraded chaff 

and Electronic Countermeasures fielding will coincide with the improved detection initiatives. Essential to the protection of aircraft against emerging threats, 

Army Aviation will pursue science and technology efforts to develop follow-on 

systems that are able to detect and defeat a threat system regardless of its targeting 

and guidance systems, propulsion means, or warhead type.

Propulsion

Army

The Army is developing the Improved Turbine Engine, a 3,000-shaft-horsepower 

engine, designed to replace the current GE 701D engine that powers the AH-64E 

and UH-60. This engine will bring new technologies that increase the engine’s 

power and the overall fuel efficiency. This capability will enable the USA to 

carry required payloads at increased ranges and greatly increased endurance while 

decreasing the need for the logistics involved in resupplying fuel. The Improved 

Turbine Engine will also reduce the cost of ownership by increasing engine design 

life and overall engine reliability through advanced internal aerodynamics, hybrid 

ceramic bearings, and improved inlet particle separation. Two competing preliminary engine designs were completed in 2018. The downselect to one vender for the 

Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase of procurement is expected 

in January 2019.
76Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Air Force

The USAF Research Laboratory and Honeywell recently completed a preliminary design and will complete a detailed design of the TPE331 Improved 

Performance Technology Engine (IPTE) in the fall of 2018. The new advanced 

technologies will take Honeywell’s existing TPE331 turboprop engine, which 

has supported everything from modern-day general aviation aircraft to military 

uncrewed systems (e.g., the MQ-9 Reaper), and give it 30 percent more power and 

15 percent better fuel efficiency while keeping it in the same size and package as 

the existing engine. With the TPE331 IPTE program, Honeywell’s next-generation 

engine will have the performance and capabilities for continued use in future 

military missions while finding success and new applications across the commercial industry, such as upgrading twin-engine turboprop aircraft, accelerating 

performance growth for single-engine platforms, and meeting large-load capacity 

requirements for agricultural aircraft. The development and testing of the engine 

will be completed by 2021.

The Supersonic Turbine Engine for Long Range (STELR) successfully completed 

57 minutes of a durability engine testing at Mach 2.7. The objective of the STELR 

project is to demonstrate robust, supersonic expendable turbine engine technologies. Engines using these technologies could be used for long-range supersonic 

cruise missiles or be the basis for future reusable boosters for reusable hypersonic 

vehicles in a Turbine-Based Combined Cycle propulsion system.

Hypersonics

Air Force

AFRL, with the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC), successfully reactivated the Von Kármán Facility Wind Tunnel D for use in supersonic 

and hypersonic research. The tunnel was originally operated from 1953 to 1977 

as a low-cost research and customer test facility before lying dormant for nearly 

40  years. AFRL led a 2016–18 return-to-service effort as part of a strategy to 

improve technology transfer between the research and ground-test communities. 

The building housing Tunnel D was renovated as a collaborative research facility 

and equipped with new supply infrastructure, state-of-the-art controls, data, and 

safety systems, as well as a full suite of advanced diagnostics. It now serves as one 
77Department of Defense

of AFRL’s platforms for diagnostics development and research in high-speed aerodynamics and fluid-structure interactions.

Building upon initial funding from the Small Business Innovative Research 

(SBIR) program with Generation Orbit Launch Services, Inc., AFRL awarded a 

follow-on contract (valued at $11.8 million) to finalize the design and conduct 

the initial flight test of GOLauncher1 (GO1). The USAF has designated the 

GO1 hypersonic flight research vehicle as X-60A. GO1 is an air-dropped, liquidpropelled rocket designed for routine and affordable hypersonic flight testing of key 

hypersonic technologies that cannot be tested in current hypersonic wind tunnels. 

AFRL completed hot fire testing of the GO1 stage at AFRL’s Rocket Lab facilities 

at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California, and a store separation wind tunnel 

test in Calspan’s transonic tunnel in Buffalo, New York. The first flight test of 

GO1 is scheduled for spring 2019, when it will cruise at Mach 6. Flight testing is 

planned to be based out of Cecil Field near Jacksonville, Florida. GO1 will provide 

much more affordable, commercial testing capability available to all parties working on hypersonic technologies and wanting to conduct hypersonic testing. It will 

become a critical test asset to the Nation.

Space

Science and Technology

Air Force

The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter 

(ESPA) Augmented Geosynchronous Laboratory Experiment (EAGLE) multimission spacecraft flight experiment was successfully launched on Air Force Space 

Command (AFSPC)–11 by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape 

Canaveral, Florida, on April 14, 2018. ESPA is an AFRL innovative technology that increases the number of satellites that can be put into space on a single 

launch. Much like a train can just add extra cars to transport more cargo, one or 

more ESPA rings can be added under the primary payload to launch more satellites. 

EAGLE will demonstrate a maneuverable ESPA-based space vehicle design that 

allows six or more deployable or hosted spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit. It will 

also demonstrate the capability to provide low-cost access to geosynchronous orbit 
78Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

and geosynchronous transfer orbit for smaller-class space vehicles by using excess 

weight and volume available on the EELV launch vehicle family. One of the EAGLE 

payload experiments is another AFRL-developed spacecraft called Mycroft, which 

is a separable, fly-away satellite. The Mycroft vehicle will deploy from EAGLE, drift 

to approximately 35 kilometers away, and cautiously progress over several months 

to ranges approaching 1 kilometer. While in orbit, the Mycroft spacecraft will be 

supporting the Mycroft program’s three experimental objectives to advance Space 

Situational Awareness (SSA) technology in near-geosynchronous orbit. It will 

explore ways to enhance space object characterization and navigation capabilities, 

investigate control mechanisms used for flight safety, and explore the designs and 

data-processing methods for enhancing SSA. Other experiments hosted on EAGLE 

will detect, identify, and analyze system threats such as humanmade disturbances, 

space weather events, or collisions with small meteorites.

The University Nanosat Program (UNP) held the Nanosat-9 Phase-A downselect meeting in January 2018. The teams from the University of Colorado Boulder 

and the University of Georgia were selected to proceed to satellite build (Phase B). 

In addition, preparation for the tenth round of the University Nanosat Program 

(NS-10) are under way for a kickoff meeting in January 2019. Under NS-10, ten 

U.S. universities will be building small satellites and exploring SmallSat technologies, including propulsion, small-satellite laser communications, advanced radiofrequency communications, and rendezvous and formation flying, among others. 

Founded in 1999, the UNP was the first federally funded research program to fund 

small-satellite projects at universities. The objective of the UNP is to promote and 

sustain university research and education focused on small satellites and related 

technologies. The primary outcome of individual projects funded under this program has been the design, fabrication, and functional testing of a small satellite. 

Secondary objectives are to foster research in enabling technologies for small satellites and the design of experiments that can be performed by small satellites 

in orbit.

The Shiver mission includes four 12U CubeSats and is sponsored by the USAF 

Research Laboratory (AFRL). The Shiver mission is a formation-flying mission 

intended to study the practices, processes, and methods of formation entry and 

maintenance. Shiver will execute several formations and is testing autonomy on 
79Department of Defense

the space vehicles by designing the vehicles to be able to maintain their own orbit. 

There are several flight-of-opportunity payloads for the formation mission as well. 

Shiver is scheduled to launch in late 2020.

Command and Control

Air Force

The Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) was redesignated as the Combined 

Space Operations Center (CSpOC) on July 18, 2018. The CSpOC Mission System 

(CMS) provides real-time, integrated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) to allow 

informed, rapid decision making by the Commander, Joint Functional Component 

Command–Space, including the ability to plan, direct, coordinate, and control 

operations of assigned forces. It will allow increased capability, including a User 

Defined Operational Picture (UDOP), a high-accuracy satellite positional database/catalog, increased capacity for additional space objects, ability to leverage 

nontraditional sensors/data sources, and automated satellite collision-avoidance 

assessment/prediction services.

The CMS Increment 2 is the program of record to replace the aging and 

sustainment-challenged Space Defense Operations Center, which met its design 

end of life in 2002. Increment 2 employs agile elements in a net-centric, serviceoriented architecture (SOA) to allow

• capabilities to be incrementally deployed in service packs,

• loosely coupled capabilities/applications to enable the integration of the 

latest commercial and Government-developed software and technologies,

• operators to utilize a User Defined Operational Picture via Web start,

• third-party software deployment via a Software Development Kit, and

• the ability to tailor certain content of Service Pack(s) based on warfighter 

requirements and urgent needs.

The CMS Increment 2 Program Service Pack 9 is completing Operational 

Testing and Evaluation (OT&E). Service Pack 11 development is under way.

DOD has a need to improve both its systems’ timeliness and accuracy and its 

processes for managing multiple simultaneous events to better enable commanders 

and decision makers to rapidly command and control (C2) space assets throughout the range of operations. Enterprise Space Battle Management Command 
80Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

and Control (ESBMC2) is a command and control software (SW) program. The 

SW will be able to better integrate multiple streams of SSA, initial delivery of 

Indications and Warning (I&W), and counter-space data to provide decision makers with a clearer picture of the contested space environment. The program is 

specifically designed for the National Space Defense Center and aimed at managing any future space conflicts. ESBMC2 involves multiple lines of effort by the 

AFSPC, the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), AFRL, and the Air Force 

Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) to quickly provide C2 capabilities across the 

DOD Enterprise and leverage commercial capabilities to the maximum extent 

possible. The ESBMC2 program will deliver an automated approach at multiple 

classification levels to link disparate information across geographically separated 

operations in order to direct forces on operationally relevant timelines. It will 

provide commanders and decision makers with the tools needed to improve timelines and accuracy in commanding and controlling space assets simultaneously. 

A Request for Information (RFI) for a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 

contract was issued in January 2017 and opened in May 2017. Responses have 

been received and will allow the ESBMC2 program to start developing initial 

space Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) applications. Multiple 

Requests for Proposals (RFPs) will be going out based on RFI responses received. 

ESBMC2 lines of effort include the following:

• Providing the initial National Space Defense Center (NSDC) infrastructure (through 2019).

• Spiral 1: Initial delivery of I&W and Course of Action (COA) tools to 

the NSDC.

• Spiral 2: Infrastructure Initial Operational Capability (IOC), I&W, COA, 

sensor tasking using a satellite experiment effort, and multiple operation 

center collaboration.

• Spiral 3: Standup of the Shadow Operations Center (ShadowOC) for continued training and experimentation with prototypes, as well as improved 

Spiral 2 tools to meet top requirements.

The USAF Rapid Capabilities Office will develop enterprise open standards 

using a consortium and will leverage lessons learned. Spiral 4 will demonstrate 

space command and control using proven open, scalable, and interoperable 
81Department of Defense

systems. The ESBMC2 program will also develop prototypes to address identified 

capability gaps at space operations centers.

Environmental Monitoring

Air Force

The development of the USAF’s family of systems to meet future Space Based 

Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) sensing needs progressed significantly in 2018. 

All elements of the family of systems are on track to replace legacy sensing capabilities in the early half of the next decade.

The Weather Satellite Follow-on (WSF) is a two-phased acquisition approach 

that places the Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) technology 

demonstration in 2021 on the International Space Station (ISS). The COWVR 

demonstration is intended to mature the technology and provide some residual 

operational capability. The WSF–Microwave (WSF-M) program will collect 

critical observations on ocean surface vector winds and tropical cyclone intensity. WSF-M is the planned replacement for the legacy Windsat mission as well as 

the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) sensors that fly on the 

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. The first of up to 

two WSF-M satellites is in development with acquisition Milestone-B planned for 

spring 2019 and initial launch capability in late 2022. Technical risk for WSF-M 

development is being reduced via the Operationally Responsive Space-6 (ORS-6) 

mission. The ORS-6 technology demonstration incorporates lessons learned from 

the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) COWVR payload development and 

includes a potential flight aboard the International Space Station.

The Electro-optical/infrared Weather System (EWS) pre-acquisition activities were conducted throughout the year leading to the release of the system 

Request for Proposals in late 2018. EWS will satisfy DOD’s two highest-priority 

SBEM sensing needs from the family of systems’ “early-morning” orbit—Cloud 

Characterization and Theater Weather Imagery. Initial launch capability for EWS 

is predicted for late 2023. Additionally, to reduce the risk of coverage gaps between 

the fly-out of legacy DMSP and the availability of EWS, the USAF is developing 

the Operationally Responsive Space-8 (ORS-8) mission. ORS-8 was initiated in 
82Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

response to a United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) urgent need 

and is on track for initial launch capability in 2021.

Throughout 2018, the USAF and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration (NOAA) conducted various technical interchanges, site surveys, 

and planning activities for the EWS-Geostationary (EWS-G—formerly WSF-G). 

The intended purpose of EWS-G is to provide persistent weather monitoring of the 

Central Command (CENTCOM) Area of Responsibility (AoR) from a dedicated 

United States geostationary SBEM satellite. This coverage is currently provided 

by the allied European Meteosat-8, which has a projected end of mission in 2020. 

EWS-G will ensure that U.S. operations in the CENTCOM continue to be supported by timely and reliable SBEM capabilities when the current Meteosat-8 

support ends.

Missile Warning/Attack Assessment

Air Force

The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) remains an unblinking eye for ballistic missile warning and defense, battlespace awareness, and technical intelligence for the United States and its allies. SBIRS satellites and ground systems 

provide operational capability today and will continue to incrementally deliver 

additional capability to the warfighter in the future. The USAF is taking projected threats seriously and focusing investments on maturing resilient technology 

now. An acquisition strategy is under development for a next-generation Overhead 

Persistent Infrared (OPIR) space segment. The strategy is being discussed in predecisional forums within the USAF and seeks to replenish the constellation and 

address emerging resiliency requirements while addressing a rapidly changing 

threat environment.

Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

Air Force

The Global Positioning System (GPS) program celebrated its 23rd anniversary 

this year of providing uninterrupted Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) 

data, free of charge, to users worldwide. GPS has been operational since July 1995. 

The success of the GPS program can be reflected in the total number of GPS 
83Department of Defense

receivers produced to date, estimated at four billion worldwide. The first GPS III 

satellite is scheduled for launch on December 2018. The second GPS III satellite 

completed assembly and factory testing in August 2018 and is in storage awaiting shipment to the launch base. GPS III satellites 3 through 10 are in various 

stages of production. In addition, the GPS III Follow-on (GPS IIIF) contract was 

awarded in September 2018. GPS IIIF satellites will provide an eightfold increase 

in anti-jam performance over current GPS satellites. The GPS Next-Generation 

Operational Control System (OCX) achieved its Milestone B recertification in 

September 2018. This modernized ground system will enable the effective use of 

the latest military and civilian GPS signals. For military GPS user equipment, the 

first M-Code ground receiver card obtained security certification and completed 

qualification tests in 2018. These military GPS receiver cards will provide users 

with access to higher-power military signals and are more jam-resistant than previous generations.

Satellite Communications (SATCOM)

Air Force

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) is a joint-service satellite 

communications system that provides global, survivable, secure, protected, and 

jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea, and air assets. 

Three on-orbit AEHF satellites augment the existing Milstar constellation, providing protected satellite communications for strategic users. Three additional AEHF 

satellites are currently in production, with the next launch forecast to occur in the 

first quarter of FY 2019.

The Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program will 

field nuclear-event-survivable terminals capable of communicating with the Milstar 

and AEHF satellite constellations using jam-resistant, low-probability-of-intercept, 

and low-probability-of-detection waveforms. On April 18, 2018, FAB-T received 

Milestone Decision Authority approval to purchase the new ground transportable 

antenna configuration. In total, 51 Low Rate Initial Production terminals are now 

on contract and ten terminals have been installed.

The Enhanced Polar System (EPS) program now has two hosted payloads on 

orbit that were launched in FY 2015 and FY 2017. Operational testing is slated for 
84Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

FY 2019, along with initial operational capability shortly thereafter. The EPS will 

replace the Interim Polar System to ensure that critical protected communications 

requirements above 65 degrees north latitude are satisfied for joint forces. The 

USAF is procuring two replenishment EPS payloads to prevent a Military Satellite 

Communications Systems Directorate (MILSATCOM) mission gap in the polar 

region in the 2023 timeframe. A sole-source Request for Proposal for two functional equivalent EPS payloads was released to Northrop Grumman Aerospace 

Systems in November 2017 and was definitized on August 10, 2018.

The Wideband Global Satellite Communications (WGS) satellite program consists of ten satellites with nine currently on orbit. WGS 10 is scheduled to launch 

in 2019. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY 2018 includes a $600 million 

congressional addition to “fully fund” WGS 11–12. The USAF released, on June 

21, 2018, a sole-source Request for Proposal to Boeing for two WGS satellites. 

WGS is the DOD SATCOM constellation with the highest capacity and was 

declared at Full Operational Capability (FOC) with five satellites on May 12, 

2014. The WGS system provides up to 3.6 gigabits per second (Gbps) per satellite 

(13.7 Gbps worldwide as of April 2016) to support various missions of the Unified 

Combatant Commanders, military services, other DOD agencies, and international partners (Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and 

Luxembourg).

The WGS system is composed of space, control, and terminal segments. The 

space segment operates in the X-band and Ka-band with flexible connectivity 

between bands and coverages to support and connect users operating worldwide.

The Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) is a ground system that will 

provide anti-jam protection via WGS to tactical warfighters currently unable to 

operate through interference in anti-access/area-denial operational environments. 

The development contract Request for Proposal was released on March 29, 2018, 

and is currently in source selection. On June 18, 2018, the USAF Acquisition 

Executive designated PTES as an FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act 

(NDAA), Section 804, Rapid Prototyping activity and authorized PTES to pursue 

a prototype capability (two Navy Carrier Strike Groups in the Pacific Theater) by 

the end of the first quarter of FY 2022.
85Department of Defense

Space Access

Air Force

The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program continued to successfully place satellites into orbit during FY 2018. United Launch Alliance (ULA) 

continued its record of 100 percent mission success with four National Security 

Space (NSS) launches during FY 2018:

(Launch Date, Launch Vehicle Configuration, Payload)

• October 15, 2017, Atlas V (421), National Reconnaissance Office Launch 

(NROL)-52

• January 12, 2018, Delta IV Medium+ (5,2), NROL-47

• January 19, 2018, Atlas V (411), SBIRS Geostationary (GEO) 3—Flt 4

• April 14, 2018, Atlas V (551), AFSPC-11

In the next fiscal year, EELV will be retitled the National Security Space Launch 

program in accordance with congressional direction contained in the FY  2019 

National Defense Authorizations Act, enacted August 13, 2018.

The Launch and Test Range System (LTRS) provides public safety and assured 

access to space. LTRS modernization efforts continue at both the Eastern and 

Western Ranges, Patrick AFB/Cape Canaveral AFS, Florida, and Vandenberg 

AFB, California, respectively, in support of DOD, civil, and commercial satellite 

launches and DOD ballistic missile evaluation launches. LTRS comprises numerous 

subsystem capabilities: Range Safety and Command Destruct, Radar and Optics 

Tracking, Telemetry Reception, Communications and Data Handling, Timing and 

Sequencing, and Planning and Scheduling.

The USAF continued to competitively award launch services in FY 2018. The 

GPS III-4, -5, and -6 launch services awards were made on March 14, 2018, to 

SpaceX, while AFSPC-8 and AFSPC-12 launch services awards were made on 

March 14, 2018, to ULA. Additionally, AFSPC-52 launch service was competitively awarded to SpaceX on June 20, 2018, and is scheduled to be launched on 

the Falcon Heavy. The USAF’s program office released RFP 1A-6 on January 31, 

2018. RFP 1A-6 includes six launch services (AFSPC-44, SBIRS GEO-5, SBIRS 

GEO-6, Silent Barker, NROL-85, and NROL-87) that will be awarded individually. 

Proposals were received on April 16, 2018, with awards projected in the first quarter 

of FY 2019.
86Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

The USAF funded three providers to develop full launch systems through launch 

service agreements (LSAs) in 2018 and ultimately select two providers for the next 

generation of launch service procurements in late 2019. These LSAs remain a 

key component in moving away from the use of non-allied space launch engines, 

maintaining assured access to space with two or more fleets of launch vehicles, 

and introducing sustainable competition for future EELV NSS launch services to 

maintain a healthy space industrial base with more-affordable pricing.

Range modernization efforts continued in FY  2018 with the following 

accomplishments:

• The Western-Range Modernization of Network (WMN) contract was 

awarded as a small business set-aside to upgrade the Western Range mission communications core, addressing obsolescence issues and improving 

cyber protection. As part of WMN, the contract upgrades the Western 

Range’s communications network from Asynchronous Transfer Mode to 

Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

• Construction was completed on a new Range Communications Facility 

(RCF) at the Eastern Range, and equipment installation has already 

commenced. The purpose of the new building is to relocate communications capabilities from the XY building to a new RCF, resolving building 

deterioration, a high risk of flooding, software code noncompliance, and 

other high-risk capability off-loading. The expected completion date is 

November 2023 (FY 2024).

• Modernization of the Range Command Destruct subsystem continues, in 

order to employ a new secure command destruct code and the enhanced 

flight termination system, the latter mandated by the National Security 

Agency.

• Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) implementation is ongoing. 

AFSS will transfer the most critical range and public safety requirements 

to rocket and test vehicle onboard systems, enabling agile acquisition of 

commercial off-the-shelf solutions for instrumentation needs.

• Modernization of LTRS capabilities ensures that both ranges are better able to sustain operations and respond more readily to a changing 

space threat environment, enabling the facilities to rapidly integrate new 
87Department of Defense

capabilities to make the ranges a more resilient warfighting force in a 

contested battlespace.

In 2017, with changes in 2018, Congress redesignated the Operationally 

Responsive Office as the Space Rapid Capabilities Office (Space RCO) within 

USAF Space Command as a program office. The mission of the Space RCO is 

1) to contribute to the development of low-cost, rapid-reaction payloads, busses, 

launch, and launch control capabilities in order to fulfill joint military operational 

requirements for on-demand space support and reconstitution; 2) to coordinate 

and execute space rapid capabilities efforts across the Department of Defense with 

respect to planning, acquisition, and operations; and 3) to rapidly develop and field 

new classified space capabilities. This mission enables the ability to expedite the 

fielding of critical space capabilities to the warfighter and to enhance the materiel 

responses to Combatant Commander needs.

On May 31, 2018, ORS-5 was declared operational to meet validated urgent 

needs. A Space Situational Awareness payload successfully launched in August 

2017, ORS-5 accomplishes roughly 85 percent of the work of its predecessor, Space 

Based Space Surveillance Block 10, freeing it to focus on higher priorities.

ORS-7 has demonstrated the ORS responsive manufacturing assembly line by 

producing two CubeSats for the Coast Guard’s Arctic search-and-rescue mission. 

These two ORS-7 CubeSats have completed final integration and testing and will 

be integrated into the Department of Homeland Security’s Adaptive Space-based 

Analytics Project when launched in November 2018.

ORS-8 continues its development to satisfy the Department of Defense–

validated urgent need for an interim capability for weather Gap 1 (cloud characterization) and Gap 2 (theater weather imagery) with a planned launch in 2021.

On June 7, 2018, the Space RCO Executive Committee approved a new program, 

ORS-9, to address the U.S. Strategic Command–validated urgent need for persistent all-weather tactical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

Space Control

Air Force

The Counter Communications System (CCS) provides expeditionary, deployable, and reversible counter-space effects applicable across the full spectrum of 
88Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

conflict. CCS denies adversary satellite communications in an area of conflict in 

ways that include command and control, early warning, and propaganda dissemination. Development was continued in 2018 for the purchase of seven new Counter 

Communications Systems for the Air National Guard. The preplanned product 

improvements, which transition the system to Increment 10.2, are on track and 

progressing well. Nine of 16 systems have been delivered to date, with remaining 

deliveries scheduled by the end of FY 2020.

The Space Security and Defense Program (SSDP) is a joint DOD and Office of 

the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) organization, established to function 

as the center of excellence for options and strategies (materiel and non-materiel), 

leading to a more resilient and enduring National Security Space Enterprise. In 

FY 2018, SSDP completed efforts resulting in the delivery and implementation of 

specific cyber and materiel solutions to emergent capability needs. These include 

the following:

• Developing and accessing protection capabilities, architectures, and 

requirements across the NSS enterprise.

• Performing technical analyses, studies, and modeling to inform national, 

DOD, and Intelligence Community (IC) policy for enhancing the U.S. 

space protection posture.

• Designing and developing tools that provide actionable recommendations 

to individual programs for increasing system resiliency and informing 

investment decisions.

• Maturing analytical capability to evaluate the resiliency of proposed 

architectures (both mission-specific and enterprise-wide).

• Developing experiments and exercises to advance space protection 

Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs); Concept of Operations 

(CONOPS); and SSA C2.

• Prototyping C2 and SSA integration solutions to speed information sharing, streamline operations, and shorten decision timelines.

• Refining Space C2 requirements based on National Space Defense Center 

experiment results, C2 prototypes, and SSA experiments.
89Department of Defense

Space Situational Awareness

Air Force

The Space Fence provides un-cued surveillance of small objects and satellites 

primarily in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), as well as Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and 

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) (secondary), to provide spaceflight safety, 

early detection, custody of threats, and awareness to satellite operators in the 

human spaceflight regime. Space Fence will be the most accurate high-capacity 

radar in the Space Surveillance Network (SSN) and will provide extensive updates 

to the space catalogue; increase sensitivity for new object discovery; and deliver 

optimum orbital coverage, including coverage of much lower inclinations of orbiting objects. Space Fence greatly increases the ability to understand the Space 

Domain battlespace and inform warfighter decisions. The increased sensitivity, 

coupled with increased computing capabilities of the Joint Space Operations 

Center Mission System, improves understanding of the space operating environment and associated threats.

The acquisition strategy implements Better Buying Power—cost, capability, and 

design trade studies; prototyping; and risk reduction in the System Development 

and Preliminary Design Review phases. Current efforts are focused on the first 

site and the operations center, which provide system IOC. The installation and 

checkout at the operations center is complete, and the construction of the sensor 

site is near completion. In addition, the radar hardware and software production 

are near completion. Installation and checkout of the radar components are under 

way at the sensor site. The program is on track to achieve IOC in the first quarter 

of FY 2019.

The Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) vehicles 

will operate in the near-GEO regime and provide the United States with an 

operational capability to support U.S. Strategic Command’s Space Surveillance 

Operations as a dedicated space-based SSN sensor. The enhanced maneuverability of GSSAP also allows rendezvous and proximity operations to enable on-orbit 

object characterization and anomaly resolution. Two additional GSSAP space 

vehicles were launched in August 2016.

91Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Aviat

Administrat

FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has achieved more milestones 

in its ongoing Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) effort. 

NextGen is transitioning the National Airspace System (NAS) from analog and 

ground-based communication, navigation, and surveillance systems to cutting-edge 

digital and satellite-enabled technologies. NextGen is fundamentally changing the 

way we see, navigate, and communicate in the Nation’s skies.

NextGen seeks to move away from the current system of air traffic control 

(ATC)—based on knowing where an aircraft is using radar—to a time-based 

management system that operates on shared knowledge of the precise location 

of an aircraft at any given point in time along its projected trajectory. Trajectory 

Based Operations (TBO) is an air traffic management (ATM) method for strategically planning, managing, and optimizing flights throughout the operation 

by using time-based management, information exchange between air and ground 

systems, and the aircraft’s ability to fly precise paths in time and space. TBO will 

increase safety, reduce delays and congestion, decrease fuel burn, and lower aircraft 

exhaust emissions.

NextGen is essential to protecting aviation’s contributions to U.S. economic 

strength. A healthy aviation industry is vital to the Nation’s prosperity, as civil 

aviation contributes 10.6 million jobs and $1.6 trillion a year to the U.S. economy. 

In total, the FAA estimates that NextGen implementations from 2010 through 

2018 have accrued $6 billion in early benefits to industry and society.
92Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Automation

Two cutting-edge automation systems are helping to modernize ATC. While 

neither platform is a NextGen technology in and of itself, both enable critical 

NextGen capabilities in terminal and en route airspace.

Under the Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement (TAMR) 

program, the FAA is replacing the Automated Radar Terminal System in terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities with the Standard Terminal 

Automation Replacement System (STARS). TRACONs guide aircraft transitioning to and from high-altitude airspace.

STARS is replacing the automation in TRACONs and their associated air traffic control towers across the country and is operational at the 11 sites that control 

80 percent of U.S. traffic:

• Atlanta

• Chicago

• Dallas/Fort Worth

• Denver

• Louisville

• Minneapolis–St. Paul

• New York

• Northern California

• Potomac (Washington, DC, area)

• St. Louis

• Southern California

STARS enables many NextGen technologies in terminal airspace, such as 

Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B), the satellite-based successor to radar, and the advanced terminal sequencing and spacing function for 

Time Based Flow Management (TBFM).

The FAA completed deploying the En Route Automation Modernization 

(ERAM) system to all 20 air route traffic control centers in the contiguous 

United States in 2015. Like STARS, ERAM enables key NextGen capabilities in 

the facilities that control traffic at cruising altitude, including ADS-B—which is 

fully integrated—and Data Communications (Data Comm), which supplements 
93Federal Aviation Administration

voice communications with digital text-based messages between controllers 

and pilots.

Data Comm

Departure clearance tower service is active at 62 U.S. locations. The FAA finished the first 55 locations more than two years ahead of schedule in December 

2016. The team then targeted seven additional sites and completed those additional 

installations in August 2018—13 months ahead of the original 55-airport baseline.

Using Data Comm, controllers select and send departure clearance instructions 

electronically to the cockpits of equipped aircraft instead of speaking them to pilots 

over the radio. Air carrier flight operations centers simultaneously receive the same 

information, giving all decision makers a shared awareness for faster reactions to 

changes. Flight crews signal concurrence with the press of a button. Instructions 

can then be automatically loaded into the aircraft’s flight management system. By 

providing an air-to-ground data link, this transformational program is a critical 

component of the FAA’s vision for TBO.

Data Comm is a priority focus area identified by the NextGen Advisory 

Committee (NAC). Composed of senior Federal and industry aviation stakeholders, the NAC provides independent advice and recommendations to the FAA 

and responds to specific taskings from the agency. The NAC also recommends 

consensus-driven standards relating to Air Traffic Management System modernization for FAA consideration.

The FAA is taking the next step for Data Comm, beginning to implement en 

route services that support the portion of flight at cruising altitudes. Data Comm 

en route services will contribute to more efficient routes and a reduction in flight 

delays, resulting in increased operational efficiency and enhanced flight safety—all 

while reducing costs for airspace users. En Route Data Comm capabilities are currently being field tested at the first two Air Route Traffic Control Centers. The 

FAA estimates that Data Comm will save aircraft operators more than $10 billion 

over the 30-year life cycle of the program. The FAA expects to save about $1 billion in future operating costs.
94Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

ADS-B

Aircraft flying in most controlled airspace must be equipped to transmit their 

position using ADS-B Out by January 1, 2020. The Equip 2020 Governmentindustry working group is trying to eliminate equipage impediments for commercial and general aviation operators. As of October 2019, more than 93,000 U.S. 

aircraft are equipped with properly functioning ADS-B Out avionics.

ADS-B uses GPS to determine aircraft position more accurately and with faster 

updates than radar. Equipping with ADS-B In is not mandatory, but operators who 

install it experience benefits such as seeing the same traffic picture on their cockpit 

displays as controllers. General aviation operators who equip with ADS-B In also 

can view graphical weather and flight information delivered to the cockpit at no 

further cost.

To encourage ADS-B Out equipage within a portion of the general aviation 

community, the FAA began offering a $500 rebate in September 2016 to operators 

of U.S.-registered fixed-wing single-engine piston aircraft. The rebate is intended 

to defray ADS-B equipment and installation costs. More than 10,200 pilots 

claimed the offer that ended one year after its start. On October 12, 2018, the FAA 

restarted the rebate program. It will run for one year or until funds are exhausted. 

As of September 30, 2019, the program manager recorded

• 9,792 reservations;

• 8,640 fly-outs to fly, test, and validate equipment; and

• 8.482 rebate payouts by the FAA.

Performance Based Navigation

Performance Based Navigation (PBN) uses satellites and onboard equipment 

for navigation procedures that are more precise and accurate than using standard 

avionics and ground-based navigation aids. The types of routes and procedures an 

aircraft can fly depend on equipment performance level and pilot training.

The FAA has published more than 9,300 PBN departure, arrival, and approach 

procedures as well as low- and high-altitude PBN routes. These procedures provide precise flight paths across the United States that are much more direct than 
95Federal Aviation Administration

the legacy flight paths they replace, which zigzag over ground-based navigation 

aids. The PBN NAS Navigation Strategy 2016 (http://www.faa.gov/nextgen/media/

PBN_NAS_NAV.pdf) outlines the FAA’s plans for moving to a PBN-centric NAS.

PBN benefits include the following:

• Increased safety through repeatable and predictable flight paths, when 

accessing airspace near obstacles and terrain, and with vertical guidance 

for more-stable approaches.

• Improved airport and airspace access in all weather conditions.

• Reduced delays at airports and in certain congested airspace by using new 

parallel routes, newly enabled ingress/egress points around busy terminal 

areas, and improved flight rerouting capabilities that make better use of 

closely spaced procedures and airspace.

• Improved efficiency through more direct routes, especially at lower flight 

altitudes.

PBN’s Area Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 

provide environmental benefits through reduced fuel consumption and emissions. 

The FAA estimates that since airlines started flying new RNAV approaches into 

Minneapolis in March 2015, PBN saved more than 5.8 million gallons of fuel and 

prevented more than 57,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. In Denver, RNP approaches save Southwest, United, and Frontier airlines 

more than 100 gallons of fuel per flight.

System Wide Information Management

To function smoothly, NAS users must share an increasing amount of flight and 

weather data. The System Wide Information Management (SWIM) information 

network provides the infrastructure for the exchange of digital data for aviation 

stakeholders. The digital data delivery platform provides the foundation for fully 

implementing many NextGen operational improvements.

SWIM replaces many stand-alone computer interfaces that connected pointto-point. SWIM offers a modern, universally recognized data exchange through 

a single connection. The data format has been harmonized with domestic and 

international aviation communities. SWIM provides registered users with 
96Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

unprecedented access to data products with improved bandwidth and enhanced 

security. SWIM plays a critical role in the successful implementation of TBO.

Decision Support Systems

Controllers and traffic managers use decision support systems to help solve airspace, weather, and other constraints and optimize traffic flow across the NAS.

The primary tools for strategic flow, en route flow, and airport terminal/surface 

flow are Traffic Flow Management System (TFMS), Time Based Flow Management 

(TBFM), and Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM). These systems are often 

referred to as the “3Ts.”

Controllers and traffic managers use decision support systems to help solve constraints and optimize traffic flow across the NAS. A trio of major decision support 

systems work together to provide these functions.

The first of these systems, TBFM, uses time-based metering to better utilize NAS 

capacity by improving traffic flow management of aircraft approaching and departing congested airspace and airports. TBFM is operational at 20 air route traffic 

control centers and adapted for many major airports served by those centers. TBFM 

is a vital part of the NAS and enhances air traffic operations by reducing delays 

and increasing the efficiency of airline operations. Departure scheduling and en 

route metering functions of TBFM are in use across the NAS today and are being 

expanded with additional deployments. Expansion of time-based management 

tools to terminal facilities is planned over the coming years, with the development 

and deployment of Terminal Sequencing and Spacing (TSAS).

TFMS supports the FAA’s Traffic Management personnel in providing 

efficiency-critical NAS services. Each day, Traffic Managers use TFMS to maintain 

near-real-time situational awareness and predict geographic areas that may experience congestion due to capacity reductions or unusual demand increase. TFMS is 

used to facilitate collaborative planning and decision making to proactively plan 

impact mitigation strategies between the Air Traffic Control System Command 

Center, Traffic Management Units at all major air traffic control facilities (80 sites), 

and flight operators. In addition to the air traffic control facilities, there are an 

additional 89 remote sites located at other FAA, military, and civilian Government 
97Federal Aviation Administration

installations. The FAA is working on TFMS enhancements to provide traffic managers with further advanced decision support as we move toward TBO.

TFDM is in development to deliver decision support capabilities, including 

a surface metering capability, for use by tower air traffic controllers and traffic 

managers. TFDM will integrate flight, surface surveillance, and traffic management information. TFDM will implement electronic flight strips and automate 

manual flight data processes to enable enhanced data sharing between the tower, 

en route, approach control, traffic flow management, and flight/airline operations 

centers. The FAA completed early implementation of portions of TFDM, including 

Advanced Electronic Flight Strips (AEFS). AEFS converts paper strips to electronic 

strips displayed to the controller. AEFS prototypes are working at Phoenix, Arizona; 

Cleveland, Ohio; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Full TFDM deployment will begin 

in 2020. The FAA plans to deploy TFDM at 89 towers across the country.

Together, TBFM, TFMS, TFDM, and forthcoming enhancements to these systems are key to the delivery of TBO.

Interagency Collaboration

Besides the NAC, the FAA promotes the acceptance and adoption of NextGen 

technologies and procedures through cooperation with industry and Federal partner agencies.

Made up of senior executives from NextGen Federal partner agencies, the 

NextGen Executive Board is one of two bodies that guide interagency NextGen 

activities. The NextGen Management Board provides oversight of NextGen initiatives, including objectives, policy implications, and operational aspects of implementation. It approves new capabilities and makes recommendations to terminate 

or amend concepts.

The NextGen Executive Weather Panel allows the FAA, NASA, and the 

departments of Defense and Commerce to collaborate on weather-related research 

and development, policy, and implementation activities.
98Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

UAS

Just as NextGen is transforming the NAS, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 

are bringing unprecedented new opportunities for business and recreation. The 

number of UAS pilots in the NAS has grown dramatically. The challenge is to 

ensure that these new aircraft are integrated with crewed aircraft without compromising safety to people and property on the ground or in the air.

The FAA is working with NASA and other Federal and industry partners to 

safely integrate UAS into the NAS. Since the FAA implemented a new rule to permit small UAS operations in U.S. airspace in August 2016, nearly 400,000 individual drones have been registered for various commercial and Government purposes.

In the second quarter of 2017, the FAA launched a prototype version of the Low 

Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), which provides 

drones with access to controlled airspace near airports through near-real-time processing of authorization requests. LAANC is an innovative partnership between 

industry and the FAA in which the FAA supplies the source data and technical 

requirements and industry builds apps (many of which are compatible with smartphones) for commercial drone operators to plan their flights and access controlled 

airspace. The FAA developed the internal application that displays the authorizations to air traffic managers to provide awareness for authorized drone flights. Prior 

to LAANC, the manually processed authorizations had drone operators waiting 

more than 100 days. Since its 2017 launch at ten facilities, LAANC has expanded 

to include 400 facilities covering nearly 600 airports. To date, LAANC has processed over 100,000 authorization requests, and it processes nearly 90 percent of all 

authorization requests to fly in controlled airspace. LAANC has vastly decreased 

the wait time for UAS pilots to obtain authorizations. LAANC signals a new way 

that the FAA is doing business with industry to solve new challenges.

The introduction of UAS affects existing and future aviation requirements from 

aircraft certification to how the FAA manages airspace. NASA and the FAA 

established a UAS Traffic Management Research Transition Team to define and 

develop requirements and standards that will be necessary for safe and efficient 

integration of UAS.
99Federal Aviation Administration

Additional information about the FAA Office of NextGen, updates, reports, and 

other documents can be found at https://www.faa.gov/nextgen.

Commercial Space Transportation

In FY 2018, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) 

licensed 35 commercial space operations, including three licensed reentries, five 

cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, and the first launch of 

humans to space from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. 

Additionally, AST issued nine new launch licenses, including a Reusable Launch 

Operator license to Blue Origin for suborbital launches of its New Shepard launch 

vehicle, and 14 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)–related environmental documents. AST’s safety inspectors conducted 543 inspections to ensure that 

launch and reentry operations did not jeopardize public safety.

In FY 2018, the FAA completed a number of successful demonstrations of the 

agency’s Space Data Integrator (SDI) proof of concept, including demonstrations 

featuring the first integration of live data from a vehicle in orbit and during reentry and the first integration of live launch vehicle data, integration of a complete 

suborbital trajectory, and integration of data for multiple launch vehicle elements 

(booster and capsule). The FAA’s Air Traffic Organization is leading the development of an SDI to support launch and reentry operations in a way that will 

allow the FAA to reduce the amount of airspace required to be closed in advance 

of a mission, effectively respond to off-nominal scenarios in a timelier manner, 

and quickly release airspace back to the National Airspace System as the mission 

progresses. This technology is a building block for future technologies that will 

allow the FAA to move away from accommodating commercial space operations 

in the NAS to integrating them with other airspace users. Additional information 

about the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, regulations, reports, 

and other documents can be found online at https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/

headquarters_offices/ast/.

101 Department of Commerce

Department of Comm

DOC

During FY 2018, the Department of Commerce (DOC) took significant steps to 

advance the U.S. commercial space industry while continuing its important role as 

a leading civilian operational space agency.

In January 2018, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross identified space commerce 

as his top priority for DOC in his strategic plan for 2018–22. The plan includes 

guidance for DOC to expand and elevate the Office of Space Commerce, to 

actively participate in the National Space Council in advancing American leadership in commercial space activities, and to support American companies operating 

in space.

Consistent with this guidance, Secretary Ross attended all three FY 2018 meetings of the National Space Council, submitted a package of regulatory reform 

recommendations to the Council Chairman, and began completing multiple 

tasks issued by President Donald Trump in Space Policy Directives (SPD) 2 and 

3. SPD-2 directs DOC to review and revise its remote sensing regulations; consolidate DOC’s regulation of commercial spaceflight activities within the Office 

of the Secretary; provide a report on improving the global competitiveness of 

the U.S. space sector through spectrum policies, regulation, and activities at the 

International Telecommunications Union; and participate in a review of export 

licensing regulations affecting commercial spaceflight activity. SPD-3 designates 

DOC as the lead civil agency for the provision of Space Situational Awareness 

(SSA) data and Space Traffic Management (STM) services; it directs DOC to lead 

or participate in seven lines of effort related to SSA and STM.

To implement its SPD-2 tasks, DOC submitted a proposal to Congress in 

May 2018 to consolidate and elevate the Office of Space Commerce and the 
102Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) Office into the Office 

of the Secretary. DOC further transmitted to Congress a legislative proposal 

that would permanently elevate the Office of Space Commerce to a bureau that 

would provide mission authorization to proposed commercial space activities. In 

June 2018, CRSRA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the 

licensing of private remote sensing systems and collected public comments in preparation for a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to be issued in early FY 2019. DOC 

also prepared recommendations on space export control reform for interagency 

consideration and will release a Notice of Inquiry soliciting further industry input 

for future regulatory changes.

To implement its SPD-3 tasks, DOC engaged with DOD, the Department of 

Transportation (DOT), NASA, and other interagency partners to gain a full 

understanding of the existing SSA/STM processes and develop a plan for transitioning the customer service interface for commercial space users from DOD to 

DOC over the coming years. DOD transmitted the transition plan to the National 

Space Council and continues to work with DOC in executing other SPD-3 tasks.

In March 2018, DOC supported the public release of the National Space 

Strategy, which DOC had helped formulate during FY 2017. The Strategy puts 

forward a reinvigorated, whole-of-Government approach to ensuring U.S. leadership and success in space. Among other things, the Strategy prioritizes regulatory reforms to unshackle American industry and ensure that the United States 

remains the leading global provider of space services and technology.

In November 2017, DOC’s Office of Space Commerce and the FAA Office 

of Commercial Space Transportation published the second edition of their 

Introduction to U.S. Export Controls for the Commercial Space Industry. The guidebook provides basic information to help commercial space organizations, especially 

emerging entrepreneurial firms, considering business in the international market.

During FY 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

(NOAA) continued to support the development of a commercial market for satellitebased weather data. In September 2018, NOAA announced radio occultation 

data buys from three commercial satellite firms under Round 2 of its Commercial 

Weather Data Pilot (CWDP). NOAA will use CWDP Round 2 to evaluate the 

impact of the commercial data on NOAA’s numerical weather prediction models 
103 Department of Commerce

that will further support the demonstration of radio occultation data; NOAA will 

also develop internal infrastructure needed to pursue the procurement of commercial radio occultation data operationally.

During FY 2018, DOC continued to participate in the national management 

of the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a member of the National Executive 

Committee for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, the senior body 

that advises and coordinates Federal agencies on GPS matters. DOC’s Office of 

Space Commerce continued to host the physical offices of the committee as well 

as the https://www.gps.gov Web site, which remained the leading source of online 

information about GPS.

During FY 2018, DOC participated in various dialogues on satellite navigation 

and space cooperation with Europe and individual nations, including Japan, the 

United Kingdom, Canada, and China. The Office of Space Commerce convened 

a meeting with the European Union (EU) to discuss U.S. industry concerns 

about EU regulations and access to technical information on Galileo, the EU 

satellite navigation system. The Office of Space Commerce also participated in 

continued negotiations with the EU on possible U.S. access to Galileo’s Public 

Regulated Service.

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, known as the 

GOES-R Series, provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of 

Earth’s Western Hemisphere, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved 

monitoring of solar activity and space weather. The currently operational GOES 

satellites (GOES-15 and GOES-16) continuously monitor the Western Hemisphere 

by circling Earth in a geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above the equator, meaning they remain over one position on Earth by orbiting at a speed matching Earth’s 

rotation. GOES imagery and data provide meteorologists with information to 

forecast weather in the short term, track severe storms, and estimate precipitation 

levels for issuing possible winter storm warnings and spring snow-melt advisories.

In FY 2018, the second satellite of the GOES-R series, GOES-17 (formerly 

GOES-S), successfully launched at 5:02 p.m. eastern time on March 1, 2018. Once 

it becomes operational (expected by December 2018), GOES-17 will become GOES 

West and will capture real-time imagery of Earth’s Western Hemisphere, from the 

West Coast of the United States all the way across the Pacific Ocean to New 
104Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Zealand. Together, GOES-17 and GOES-16, the first satellite in the GOES-R series, 

will continue 40 years of GOES coverage. These satellites are more advanced than 

any other weather satellite of their kind and provide more detailed and accurate 

data for forecasters.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

In FY 2018, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) 

satellites remained as critical as ever, monitoring the wildfires in the western 

United States and Canada; hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and 

Pacific oceans; and one of the hottest years on record. Twenty-four-hour global 

coverage from NOAA’s satellites provides the public and partners, such as the 

National Weather Service, with a continuous stream of information and data used 

in preparation for events impacting our weather, oceans, and climate. NOAA 

manages and operates four primary types of environmental satellites: geostationary 

environmental satellites, polar-orbiting environmental satellites, ocean altimetry 

satellites, and a deep space satellite for space weather monitoring and forecasting.

Polar-Orbiting Satellites

On May 30, 2018, the first satellite in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System 

(JPSS) passed rigorous testing and became operational. Launched on November 

18, 2017, as JPSS-1 and designated as NOAA-20 once it reached orbit, the satellite 

features the latest and best technology NOAA has ever flown in a polar orbit to 

capture more precise observations of the world’s atmosphere, land, and waters. Data 

collected by the satellite’s advanced instruments (which can be found at https://

www.jpss.noaa.gov/mission_and_instruments.html) helps to improve the accuracy of 

three- to seven-day forecasts.

NOAA’s primary polar-orbiting environmental satellites, NOAA-20 and Suomi 

National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), orbit Earth at an altitude 

of approximately 517 miles, passing close to both poles and providing complete 

views of weather around the world. NOAA-20 provides full global coverage 

with advanced sensors for weather and climate data, collecting information on 
105 Department of Commerce

temperature, atmospheric conditions, wind speed, cloud formation, and drought 

conditions over the entire Earth. All major numerical weather prediction (NWP) 

centers around the world use this information as the basis of nearly every mediumterm weather forecast.

The Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 

(COSMIC) constellation provides precision radio occultation (RO) soundings to 

support improved numerical weather-prediction model forecasts. The project is 

a partnership between the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan and 

the United States. Over its lifetime, COSMIC has proven to be an extremely 

cost-effective way to gather an abundance of atmospheric data, including threedimensional profiles of temperature, humidity, and pressure. Due to the success 

of the COSMIC program, the follow-on advanced COSMIC-2/FORMOSAT-7 

mission is being developed between the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and 

the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States 

(TECRO), for which NOAA is AIT’s designated representative and NSPO is 

TECRO’s designated representative. During 2018, the teams continued preparing 

the six COSMIC-2/FORMOSAT-7 satellites for launch into an equatorial orbit 

as part of the U.S. Air Force Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission in 2019. The 

NOAA ground system is ready to support data acquisition. Processing the advanced 

technology of COSMIC-2/FORMOSAT-7 is expected to improve forecasts of tropical winds.

Ocean Altimetry Satellite

Jason-3, an international satellite mission jointly led by NOAA, the European 

Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), 

NASA, and the French space agency (Centre National d’Études Spatiales [CNES]), 

is the fourth in a series of U.S.-European satellite altimeter missions designed to 

measure the sea surface height variability of the global ocean. Initially, the satellite 

flew in tandem with its predecessor, Jason-2, 830 miles above Earth’s surface, collecting comparable measurements of sea surface height down to the subcentimeter 

level. Then, in mid-October 2016, Jason-2 was moved so that its ground track now 

“interleaves” with that of Jason-3. The result is a doubling of the Jason satellites’ 
106Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

observations of the ocean. Now, with twice the coverage, the Jason mission is providing more accurate coverage of ocean conditions and will improve the intensity 

forecasts during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.

In June 2018, Jason-2 marked its tenth year in orbit. The satellite has completed 

just over 47,000 trips around Earth since it was launched into space on June 20, 

2010. Originally designed for a three- to five-year mission, the Jason-2 satellite has 

now spent a decade collecting valuable information about Earth’s oceans, such 

as mapping the ocean floor and providing scientists with observations to study 

global climate phenomena like El Niño and La Niña (see information at https://

oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html), as well as monitoring the long-term rise 

in global sea level. In July 2017, Jason-2 began a new science mission when it was 

maneuvered into a slightly lower orbit. Jason-2 began measuring the height of the 

sea surface, wave heights, and ocean wind speeds along a series of very closely 

spaced ground tracks (just five miles apart). Scientists are using these new sea surface measurements to improve maps of the shape and depth of the ocean floor. 

Only about 15 percent of the world’s ocean depths have been directly measured at a 

high resolution (100 meters or more), while 50 percent of the world’s coastal waters 

remain completely unsurveyed. The data collected during these mapping missions 

have several societal and strategic benefits. For example, real-time information 

about ocean currents is important for marine, fishing, and naval operations. In 

addition, accurate measurements of ocean heat content can help weather forecasters better predict the intensity of hurricanes and tropical storms and improve 

global climate forecasts.

Space Weather Satellites

Launched in February 2015, the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) 

mission is NOAA’s first operational deep space mission. The satellite has 

become America’s primary warning system for solar magnetic storms and solar 

wind data while giving Earth scientists a unique vantage point for studies of the 

planet’s atmosphere and climate. Without timely and accurate warnings, space 

weather events, like the geomagnetic storms caused by changes in solar wind, 

have the potential to disrupt nearly every major public infrastructure system, 
107 Department of Commerce

including power grids, telecommunications, aviation, and GPS. DSCOVR succeeded NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer’s (ACE) role in supporting solar 

wind alerts and warnings from the L1 orbit, the neutral gravity point between 

Earth and the Sun approximately one million miles from Earth. NOAA’s Space 

Weather Follow On (SWFO) program is exploring options to ensure the continuity of space weather observations beyond the current generation of missions. 

In 2017, NOAA started developing a flight compact coronagraph (CCOR) to 

continue to obtain Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) imagery, which is required to 

forecast space weather warnings.

Additional Space-Based Capabilities

NOAA, together with international partners, flew two other types of instruments on some of its satellites. Argos is a data collection and location relay system 

administered under an agreement between NOAA and CNES initiated in 1974. 

CNES provides sensors that collect a wide variety of in situ measurements, including data on atmospheric pressure, sea temperature, ocean-current velocity, animal 

migration patterns, and river water levels. The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided 

Tracking system (COSPAS-SARSAT) is an international system that uses satellites 

to locate emergency beacons carried by ships, aircraft, or individuals and communicate location information to search-and-rescue authorities. NOAA provides space 

on its polar-orbiting satellites for the French processor and Canadian receiver. The 

system has rescued over 43,000 people worldwide since 1982. The total number of 

SARSAT rescues in FY 2018 was 334.

Another capability lies in NOAA’s partnership with the Japan Aerospace 

Exploration Agency (JAXA) on the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 

(AMSR). The AMSR2 onboard the JAXA Global Change Observation Mission–

Water (GCOM-W) satellite is a remote sensing instrument for measuring weak 

microwave emission from the surface and the atmosphere of Earth. NOAA provides 

ground data acquisition for GCOM-W in exchange for access to AMSR2 data. 

From about 700 kilometers above Earth, AMSR2 provides us with highly accurate 

measurements of the intensity of microwave emission and scattering. The antenna 

of AMSR2 rotates once per 1.5 seconds and obtains data over a 1,450-kilometer 
108Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

swath. This conical scan mechanism enables AMSR2 to acquire a set of daytime 

and nighttime data with more than 99 percent coverage of Earth every two days.

International Activities

In 2018, NOAA continued to work with users of NOAA’s GOES satellite data in 

North, Central, and South America to ensure a smooth transition to the new generation of ground receiving stations—the GOES Rebroadcast (GRB) stations—and 

to promote the use of GEONETCast Americas (GNC-A), a cost-effective satellitebased dissemination system. NOAA coordinated trainings in North, Central, and 

South America and the Caribbean on the use of data from the GOES-R series 

satellites. NOAA continued to strengthen collaboration with Europe, signing an 

updated Copernicus Technical Operating Arrangement with the European Space 

Agency to include cooperation on Sentinel-5P Loose Flying Formation, and signing a Framework Science Cooperation Agreement with EUMETSAT.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

In FY 2018, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continued to provide wide-ranging contributions to the aerospace industry, academia, 

and Federal agencies with the research, standards, products, services, and guidance 

needed to advance the President’s aeronautics and space agenda.

NIST’s primary contributions came in the forms of calibrations, technology 

development, and standards development. These contributions are grouped into 

six main categories: 1) advanced manufacturing for aerospace applications, 2) aerospace systems and supplies, 3) aerospace communications, 4) calibrations and sensor development for satellites, 5) support for terrestrial research, and 6) support for 

extraterrestrial research.

Advanced Manufacturing for Aerospace Applications

In FY 2018, NIST used measurement expertise in mass, force, networking, and 

other areas to partner with Boeing, Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, 
109 Department of Commerce

Northrop Grumman, General Electric Aviation, Rolls-Royce, United Technologies 

Aerospace, and others. In addition to providing calibration support, NIST’s broad 

portfolio in advanced manufacturing helped aerospace manufacturing companies 

address needs in many sectors, including additive manufacturing, collaborative 

robotics, smart manufacturing, cybersecurity in manufacturing environments, 

supply-chain logistics, and large-scale manufacturing.

NIST continued to provide the tools, methodologies, standards, and measurement services needed by aerospace parts manufacturers, assemblers, and NASA to 

maintain their accurate and traceable use of the International System of Units (SI) 

units of length, mass, and time, as well as their derived units (force, acceleration, 

sound pressure, and ultrasonic power). For instance, NIST provided calibrations 

of length standards for U.S. aerospace companies to ensure that the dimensions 

of their manufactured parts conformed to design specifications. Separate load 

cell calibrations provided manufacturers with a traceable means to analyze the 

integrity of airplane wing box structures. Other NIST calibration-related services 

included the use of NIST-calibrated weights to support wind tunnel applications; 

the weighing of airplanes; and torque, pressure, and force measurements.

In developing metrology to support advanced manufacturing, NIST worked 

with DOD, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and others on methods to quantify the 

performance of laser scanning, a key new technology for advanced manufacturing 

that offers potential cost savings, increased measurement throughput, and high 

data densities. The technology is especially suited for the manufacture of large 

structures such as aircraft components. In December 2017, ASTM published a 

documentary standard for the performance evaluation of laser scanners, led by 

NIST and supported by leading manufacturers of laser scanners, such as FARO, 

Surphaser, Leica, Trimble, and Riegl.

NIST continued its program in laser materials processing to implement inline 

process monitoring and offline characterization in laser welding to reduce development and operating costs and expand markets for laser-welding applications. In collaboration with Haynes International, NIST developed weld ability tests, performing 

hardness and strain mapping, and carried out fatigue testing of high-temperature, 

corrosion-resistant nickel-based alloys, which are used in engines, pumps, compressors, and other high-temperature applications within the aerospace industry.
110Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes are proving to be key processing 

technologies with great potential in aerospace applications. In FY 2018, NIST 

partnered with Government agencies such as NASA, the FAA, and DOD to help 

overcome challenges in the qualification and certification of AM materials, processes, and parts. For instance, NIST collaborated with members of the Additive 

Manufacturing Consortium (AMC) to conduct round-robin testing and determine 

the mechanical properties of parts made from the Inconel 625 aerospace alloy. 

NIST also collaborated with researchers from the Air Force Academy to characterize residual stresses in aluminum alloy samples originating during supersonic 

particle deposition (SPD), a characteristic of the Cold Spray Process (CSP) that 

is well suited for the repair and restoration of nonstructural aircraft components.

NIST continued to provide leadership and contributions to support the widespread adoption of AM processes. Specific events included the following:

• In June 2018, NIST hosted the AMBench Conference (https://www.nist.

gov/ambench), the first in a series of meetings on the creation of benchmarks for additive manufacturing and the validation and verification of 

process, microstructure, and property models, thereby improving the quality and consistency of additive processed parts and enabling qualification 

and certification of these parts for aerospace applications.

• NIST attended the FAA-sponsored workshop and training on the methodology and related software for probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) 

held in San Antonio, Texas, in March 2018 for potential application to 

analysis of high-criticality additive manufacturing parts used by the aerospace industry.

• NIST participated in the Advisory Council for Aviation Research and 

innovation in Europe (ACARE) meeting at the FAA to explore areas of 

collaboration between EU and U.S. aviation industries.

NIST continued to provide leadership and contributions to the standardsdevelopment organizations, such as ASTM, the American Society of Mechanical 

Engineers (ASME), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), that provide 

specifications and best practices to the aerospace industry. For instance, NIST 

continued efforts to support the development of model-based representations for 

use across aerospace manufacturing and business enterprises. These efforts include 
111 Department of Commerce

hosting the annual Model-Based Enterprise Summit, garnering the largest participation to date, and playing a leading role in the late-2017 draft publication of 

ASME Y14.46 Product Definition for Additive Manufacturing.

Much of NIST’s support for the aerospace supply chain came with interactions through the suppliers themselves. In the first three quarters of FY 2018, the 

Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) National Network engaged 

in 206 projects with 131 individual manufacturing clients designated with an aerospace North American Industry Classification System number (NAICS 3364). The 

MEP post-project, follow-up survey of aerospace NAICS companies revealed that 

MEP services resulted in the creation or retention of 4,166 aerospace jobs, over 

$76 million in new sales, over $201 million in retained sales, over $44 million in 

new investment, and over $60 million in cost savings.

Table 1. NIST MEP Aerospace Impact.

Total Sales $278,195,505.00

Total Cost Savings $60,441,013.00

Total Investment (Policy and Procedures [P&P], 

Physical and Environmental [P&E], 

Information Technology [IT], Workforce, Other)

$44,558,346.00

Total Jobs 4,166

Aerospace Systems and Supplies

NIST’s contributions to the manufacturing sector were complemented with support for the design, development, and calibration of aerospace systems and supplies. 

Contributions included collaborative robotics, material development for advanced 

applications, fuel development, weapons calibrations, and thrust calibrations. In 

FY 2018, NIST also served on a National Academies committee responsible for a 

report on Microbiomes of the Built Environment, an effort cosponsored by NASA.

In support of materials development and selection, NIST provided technical 

input to manufacturers (airframe, chemical, and fire-suppression equipment) on 

new blends to replace current materials used for aircraft cargo-bay fire suppression. 
112Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

NIST also worked with NASA researchers to develop ASTM test methods to 

evaluate the performance of thermal insulating materials for spacecraft.

In support of equipment development, NIST performed advanced measurements 

and characterizations of high-efficiency solar cells deployed for space and terrestrial power applications in collaboration with the space solar cell manufacturer 

Hamadani. NIST worked with SolAero Technologies Corporation to “spacequalify” their solar cells. SolAero sent batches of solar cells for irradiation by an 

electron beam from the NIST Van de Graaff accelerator, where exposure experienced by a satellite over several decades in Earth orbit may be delivered in less than 

one hour.

NIST, members of the aerospace field (Thermacore, Marshall Space Flight 

Center, and the Air Force Academy), and members of academia (the University of 

Tennessee, the University of Missouri, and Michigan Technology University) used 

the NIST neutron facility resources to perform unique measurements on several 

aerospace-related systems, including the following:

• Performed thermal measurements on a working, prototype lithium-cooled 

niobium heat pipe that cools the leading edge of hypersonic aircraft.

• Tested for foreign object debris (FOD) in a relief valve that is an intrinsic 

component of spacesuits used by International Space Station (ISS) crewmembers, ensuring safe operation of the valve.

• Studied the water distribution in fuel-cell flow fields and gas diffusion 

layers.

• Studied the conservation of cryogenic fuels, to help improve the storage 

and transfer of these cryogens in space, by measuring the evaporation and 

condensation coefficients of cryogenic propellants.

NIST continued efforts to simplify spacecraft cryogenic requirements through 

on-chip electrical cooling of cryogenic detectors, providing a final on-chip stage 

able to cool from 0.3 kelvin to 0.1 kelvin, well matched to cryogenic detectors for 

future NASA missions.

Airspeed, hydrocarbon liquid flow, and gas flow measurements supported equipment and supply development in the aerospace sector. The airspeed calibration 

service performed calibrations of anemometers used at airports, on aircraft, and 

in wind tunnels used for testing new aircraft. The hydrocarbon liquid calibration 
113 Department of Commerce

service calibrated flow meters that are used to meter jet fuel, for example, turbine 

meters used to evaluate jet engine performance on test stands. The Laser Power 

and Energy Meter Calibrations project provided 30–70 calibrations to aerospace 

industry and DOD customers, supporting both laser weapons systems and target 

designation systems. NIST’s Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer (MDXR) performed measurements for several space simulation chambers at Raytheon Missile 

Systems, Inc., and at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for 

the calibration of infrared remote sensing systems for the Missile Defense Agency.

Aerospace Communications

NIST contributed to the measurement and development of multiple technologies associated with aerospace communications, including advancements in highprecision clocks used in communication.

In FY 2018, NIST collaborated with NASA JPL on the development of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs), for use in space communications and various quantum information experiments. NIST and JPL were 

able to improve small arrays of SNSPDs to increase the device area, an important 

development for future usage in laser communication systems. Additional efforts by 

NIST and JPL to improve SNSPDs included optimizing ultraviolet light detection 

and exploring the use of a new material in SNSPD development.

The Air Force is leveraging NIST in its development of a test system to explore 

the use of the comb-based time transfer for future optically cross-linked GPS satellites. In support of these efforts, NIST transferred a low-power, hybrid fiber/waveguide comb design to Honeywell and to Vescent Photonics to help advance future 

space-based optical clocks. NIST also transferred its comb-based optical two-way 

time-frequency transfer technology to the Air Force and its contractors.

NIST participated in the NASA’s support of the European Space Agency’s 

(ESA) Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space (ACES) program and the Space Optical 

Clock (SOC) program, as a high-precision atomic clock for the ISS will support 

tests of fundamental physics and provide high-accuracy global intercomparisons of 

ground clocks. In support of these efforts, NIST researched, developed and evaluated an ytterbium (Yb) optical lattice clock as a candidate for the Space Optical 
114Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Clock program and reached previously unachieved levels of certainty and reproducibility. NIST also finished its research, development, and evaluation of a highly 

miniaturized femtosecond laser frequency comb for potential future applications 

in the Space Optical Clock program. NIST research pushed the state of the art 

significantly, and the high-performance optical microcomb could be used in space 

for direct comparisons of optical and microwave clocks, for referencing microwave 

time and frequency signals directly to optical standards, and other applications.

Calibrations and Sensor Development for Satellites

NIST’s contributions to satellite and other space hardware came in both technology development and measurement calibration.

NIST continued to develop and characterize measurement methods for 

advanced optics used in aerospace and space applications, essential components 

of air- and space-borne imaging systems and telescopes. In collaboration with 

NASA, NIST developed a new mirror-based method to assess the capabilities of 

inspection equipment used to measure fine surface features on optical surfaces. 

Furthermore, NIST collaborated with NASA to develop a new method to measure the form errors of mandrels used in the fabrication of x-ray mirrors. The new 

method, based on computer-generated holograms, has the potential to meet currently unattainable metrology requirements for the next generation of x-ray mirrors 

for future space-borne x-ray telescopes. NIST continued to work with researchers 

from the University of Texas at Austin on a NASA-funded project to improve the 

performance of space-based and ground-based spectrometers used in the analysis of 

remote stars, interstellar gases, and extrasolar planets.

NASA’s next-generation suborbital and satellite observatories require new detectors with improved sensitivity and scalability. With NASA funding, NIST developed two types of sensors: superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESes) and 

microwave kinetic-inductance detectors (MKIDs). These technologies supported 

the following NASA projects: the Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter 

Telescope–The Next Generation (BLAST-TNG), SPIDER, LiteBIRD, and other 

next-generation satellites. These sensor technologies offer new capabilities for 

the detection of electromagnetic signals, from millimeter waves like the cosmic 
115 Department of Commerce

microwave background (CMB) through x-rays, and can help research aspects 

of star formation. Improvements to TES technology enabled a number of new 

ground-based instruments, including a large x-ray spectrometer to be sited at Linac 

Coherent Light Source (LCLS)–2 and the very large CMB detector arrays for 

Simons Observatory.

With NASA funding, NIST continued the development of superconducting 

quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) and SQUID-based multiplexers to read 

out large arrays of TES detectors in a manageable number of output channels. 

NIST provided SQUID systems to researchers at NASA Centers (Goddard Space 

Flight Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and at institutions working on 

NASA-funded projects (California Polytechnic Institute; Stanford University; 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of California, Berkeley; 

Princeton University; Cornell University; and others). SQUID technology was 

incorporated into the recently launched sounding rocket Micro-X and into the 

focal-plane demonstration system for the Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy 

Astrophysics (ATHENA), a European Space Agency x-ray satellite mission. NIST 

also used SQUID expertise to assist NASA Goddard in the development of new 

magnetic micro-calorimeters.

In support of satellite and related missions, NIST provided calibration services 

and research to enable the aerospace industry and Government agencies to obtain 

temperature, pressure, vacuum, humidity, and leak thermodynamic measurements 

traceable to international standards. Calibrations provided traceability to maintain quality systems, for process control, and to qualify instrumentation for flight 

and space travel. NIST provided calibration support to NASA Langley Research 

Center and the Harris Corporation for the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) 

that is part of the NASA/NOAA Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). NIST’s 

Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility (SURF) III provided a source of soft 

x-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light to calibrate mirrors, filters, detectors, 

and spectrometers used in NASA and NOAA spacecraft.
116Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Support for Terrestrial Research

NIST measurement science provided support to the development and calibration 

of instrumentation used in researching Earth’s surface and atmosphere.

NASA and NOAA contractors heavily used NIST’s SURF III in FY 2018, amassing over 700 hours of beam usage. Calibrations enabled by SURF III helped to 

maintain the accuracy of the instrumentation for the EUV Variability Experiment 

(EVE) aboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory; the EUV and X-ray Irradiance 

Sensor (EXIS) for NOAA’s GOES-S, T, and U satellite missions; and the Miniature 

X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) nanosatellite. These instruments are used to 

study soft x-ray and EUV solar irradiance and its variability. The NASA EVE 

measurements are important for tracking the solar storms that impact space-based 

communications and navigation technologies, and the NOAA EXIS measurements 

provide NOAA with data important to climate modeling.

In support of research of Earth’s surface and atmosphere, NIST continued its 

collaboration with NOAA on the calibration of the Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) 

used in the calibration of ocean-color measurements provided by satellite sensors. 

NIST’s participation in the MOBY Refresh effort will help reduce overall measurement uncertainties and allow the current system to be retired. In FY 2018, NIST 

also assisted JPL in developing calibration procedures for the Orbiting Carbon 

Observatory III, equipment installed on the ISS to observe the complex dynamics 

of Earth’s atmospheric carbon cycle.

NIST collaborated with the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric 

and Space Physics (LASP) and NASA’s Earth Science Technology Office to 

develop and fabricate a Carbon Nano-tube Electrical Substitution Radiometer 

(CNT ESR) for the Compact Solar Irradiance Monitor (CSIM) instrument, able 

to measure solar power that serves as a baseline for climate change measurements. 

The collaboration also developed and fabricated the Carbon Absolute Electrical 

Substitution Radiometer (CAESR). Mounted on a NASA CubeSat platform, 

CAESR is able to perform absolute measurements of total broadband solar power 

to support climate change monitoring. The teams extended the technologies used 

in the CSIM and CAESR flight instruments into a Broadband Absolute Bolometer 

Array (BABAR). The BABAR aims to improve accuracy and decrease instrument 
117 Department of Commerce

size (therefore reducing cost) for solar science, fire detection from space- and airborne platforms, severe weather monitoring from space- and airborne platforms, 

and Earth radiation budget measurements.

Support for Extraterrestrial Research

NIST’s support for extraterrestrial research included providing support and measurements for extraterrestrial bodies, providing support and measurement for the 

equipment used to observe them, and providing the data from which measurements 

were made.

NIST designed and assembled three standards, based on carbon nanotubes, 

for NASA JPL to support their development and calibration of a water-ice sensor 

designed to survey various bodies in the solar system with reduced measurement 

uncertainty. An ongoing collaboration with a group of researchers from JPL studied 

the penetration of high-energy electron beams into the ice of Europa’s surface to 

assess damage to organic molecules. This work will help determine the necessary 

ice depths at which microbes could survive on Europa’s surface.

NIST worked with Johns Hopkins University and NASA to measure the optical 

constants (n and k) of iron and nickel, fundamental parameters that govern the 

reflectance (and transmission) of light from a material. Iron metal is a key component of many planetary surfaces and can be used to measure the effects of space 

weathering (which includes solar wind sputtering and micrometeoroid impact melting and vaporization).

NIST, in partnership with NASA and the University of Maryland Baltimore 

County, made the most accurate measurements ever of the spectral irradiance from 

the Moon in the visible-to-near infrared from a NASA ER-2 high-altitude aircraft, 

with the goal of enabling the Moon to serve as a calibration source for satellite sensors in space. The team integrated a specialized instrument, Air–LUnar Spectral 

Irradiance (LUSI), into a wing-pod of the ER-2 aircraft to track the Moon and 

measure lunar irradiance during flight.

NIST, with partial funding from NASA, provided quality assessment of the 

atomic data used by astronomers who are interpreting observations from NASA’s 

land- and space-based missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the 
118Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, and the 

Spitzer Infrared Observatory. In 2018, NIST provided results for atomic carbon, 

copper, vanadium, lanthanum, cerium, and other elements of particularly strong 

current interest and disseminated them publicly through a new release of its online 

Atomic Spectra Database, v.5.5 (http://physics.nist.gov/asd). NIST also developed 

and released a new interface for Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) 

that is used, for instance, on the Mars rover Curiosity.

NIST worked with the Space Science Laboratory and Sensor Sciences, LLC, 

to develop large-area, high-resolution plate detectors used to help x-ray telescopes 

peer into space. With support from NASA and the NSF, NIST worked to develop 

frequency combs that support the detection of Earth-like planets around distant 

stars. These unique frequency combs, with spectral bandwidth spanning 500 to 

1,000 nanometers and 30-gigahertz mode spacing, serve as a set of reference markers for high-precision astronomical spectrographs. The team completed proof-ofconcept experiments at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility and the Keck-II 

Telescope. In the past year, NIST also completed, delivered, and installed a new 

30-gigahertz “astro-comb” at the Hobby-Eberly telescope, which is located at the 

McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains of Texas. This infrared-based system is now being used for exoplanet searches around M-dwarfs (the most common 

type of star in our galaxy).

International Trade Administration

Industry and Trade Policy

The Office of Transportation and Machinery (OTM) continues to pursue 

multiple paths to promote exports of products and services that support the Next 

Generation Air Transportation System. OTM created and published an online 

NextGen Solutions Vendors Guide to help foreign customers identify U.S. companies who can provide products that meet the requirements of the International 

Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Aviation System Block Upgrade (ASBU) 

technology roadmaps. The Guide currently is being transferred to the Salesforce 

platform, which will enable a more customer-friendly interface and provide 
119 Department of Commerce

end-to-end tracking and communication between vendors, customers, and relevant 

International Trade Administration (ITA) staff. Moreover, this new NextGen 

ATM Toolkit will allow U.S. companies to indicate, if they so choose, that they 

are current contractors with the FAA.

OTM participates in the World Air Traffic Management Congress in Madrid, 

Spain, and has worked with the FAA, industry, and the Air Traffic Control 

Association (ATCA) to emphasize U.S. technical capabilities to the global audience 

that attends. The Congress represents an opportunity to learn about the specific 

air navigation procurement needs of specific countries, to counsel individual companies on NextGen-related prospects as well as Commerce services, and to recruit 

participants for the NextGen Solutions Vendors Guide and potential applicants 

to the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Aerospace Equipment (ITAC 1). 

Following consultation with ATCA’s president and chief executive officer (CEO), 

ITA organized a panel on U.S. Government (USG) Trade Facilitation Services for 

ATCA’s 2018 Annual Conference and Exhibition in National Harbor, Maryland.

OTM participates in multiple fora regarding the operations and industry development of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). OTM represents ITA on the UAS 

Executive Committee (UAS EXCOM)—the interagency Committee that addresses 

UAS policy writ large across the USG. OTM also serves on the UAS Senior 

Steering Group (UAS SSG), which carries out policy initiatives derived from the 

UAS EXCOM. On the SSG, OTM provides industry perspective through the SSG 

and related activities and chairs a working group to address data security concerns 

regarding foreign-made UAS operated by the USG. OTM also represents ITA on 

the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standards Collaborative (UASSC) hosted by the 

American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The UASSC coordinates development of standards and conformity assessment programs needed to facilitate the 

safe integration of UAS into the National Airspace System (NAS) of the United 

States. On the UASSC, OTM participates in the UASSC Critical Infrastructure 

and Environment Working Group, with a focus on wide-area inspection, and works 

with the UASSC to promote international coordination and adaptability in order 

to foster the growth of the UAS market worldwide.

Throughout the year, OTM organized and led four meetings of ITAC 1. 

The committee provides advice to the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade 
120Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Representative on aerospace-related trade policy issues. This year, the Committee 

provided an advisory opinion to the Secretary of Commerce and the U.S. Trade 

Representative with respect to negotiating objectives for the U.S.-Mexico free trade 

agreement and decisional draft statutory report on NAFTA and the trade agreement with Mexico.

ITA continues to support the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on issues 

relating to the enforcement of U.S. rights under the World Trade Organization 

concerning trade in civil aircraft. In particular, OTM provided support in the 

ongoing U.S.-EU trade dispute over subsidies to manufacturers of large civil aircraft, providing industry expertise in areas relating to changes in the market and 

actions of the major stakeholders.

ITA’s OTM and Office of Finance and Insurance Industries (OFII) continued 

to participate in the Group on the Sector Understanding on Export Credits for 

Civil Aircraft (the “Aircraft Sector Understanding” or ASU) at the Organization 

for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The governments of almost 

all countries with major aircraft manufacturers are signatories to the ASU, an 

annex to the OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, which 

establishes rules for export credit agencies. The OECD rules aim to ensure that 

government-provided export financing is not a competitive factor in civil-aircraft 

sales competitions. Industry feedback and available data on usage of the latest 

version of the ASU, which was finalized in 2011 and is scheduled for review in 

2019, suggest that the agreement is working as intended, although financing levels declined significantly due to unrelated disruptions in both U.S. and European 

export credit support for aircraft exports. Notably, this included the Export-Import 

Bank’s (EXIM) inability to approve large (over $10 million) transactions due to 

its continued lack of a quorum on its Board of Directors. As a member of the U.S. 

delegation, ITA helped ensure that the interests of industry were addressed as the 

2011 ASU was negotiated, continues to monitor implementation, and will participate in any review. In FY 2018, ITA helped draft a successful U.S. proposal that 

enabled EXIM to provide enhanced financing support to a small U.S. manufacturer 

for its export of small agricultural aircraft. ITA also closely monitored conditions 

in the aircraft finance market and provided advice on the importance of restoring 

EXIM to full functionality to the aerospace industry and its supply chain.
121 Department of Commerce

ITA and NOAA continued their active participation in the implementation of 

the current National Space Council and related policies, which include industrial 

base and competitiveness issues. In order to ensure that commercial interests continue to be adequately addressed, ITA and NOAA continued to ensure that all of 

the policies’ implementation actions will improve U.S. industry’s competitiveness, 

stimulate the American economy, increase exports, and create U.S. jobs.

ITA continued to play an important role in promoting U.S. aerospace trade 

interests as the industry faced mounting competition from abroad. ITA participated 

in and organized trade events and provided advocacy to support U.S. companies 

in international aerospace competitions, including commercial sales for aircraft, 

helicopters, airport construction, communications, remote sensing satellites, commercial projects, and air traffic management projects. At the close of FY 2018, 

ITA’s Advocacy Center had 400 active cases in the aerospace and defense sector. In 

total, the project value of those active cases equaled approximately $336.5 billion 

with $319.7 billion in expected U.S. export content. During FY 2018, the Advocacy 

Center had 32 wins in the aerospace and defense sector. Of those wins, 13 were 

in the aviation sector, 11 were in the defense equipment sector, and four were in 

the space sector. The total project value of those wins equaled $40 billion, with 

approximately $34.3 billion in U.S. export content.

In July 2018, ITA organized and supported the Commerce Department’s participation in the Farnborough International Air Show and arranged senior-level meetings for the Assistant Secretary for Industry and Analysis and the Acting Assistant 

Secretary for Global Markets with foreign government and industry officials as 

well as U.S. industry executives. ITA/OTM met with numerous U.S. and foreign 

government and industry officials to discuss ongoing policy issues impacting the 

competitiveness of U.S. industry.

Industry and Trade Promotion

ITA’s Global Aerospace and Defense Team recorded approximately 216 Written 

Impact Narratives (WIN) in FY 2018, slightly exceeding the number in FY 2017. 

A WIN is an organizational metric that showcases ITA’s contribution to a company’s success. These include ITA and particularly Commercial Service (CS) 
122Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

personnel-impacted deals with small- and medium-sized companies, as well as 

larger corporations such as Bell Helicopter, Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed 

Martin, and United Technologies Corporation.

The Global Team held over 3,944 counseling sessions with approximately 1,877 

U.S. aerospace companies, helping them to resolve international trade issues, identify new export markets, and develop strategies for entering those markets.

The Global Team participated in over 35 domestic and international aerospace 

trade events at which team members supported U.S. industry with one-on-one 

counseling sessions, arranged individualized business-to-business meetings with 

international business partners, and provided additional export counseling services. ITA trade show support generated hundreds of trade leads for participating 

companies, allowing them to enter or expand their exports to international markets. These international trade events included the Farnborough Air Show, the 

Singapore Air Show, Eurosatory, the Dubai Air Show, HeliExpo, and the Seoul 

International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition, among others.

Bureau of Industry and Security

During this fiscal year, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) worked 

with industry and the interagency Space Working Group on identifying needed 

changes to the current regulations on spacecraft and related items. Updates to 

the Commerce regulations covering controls on satellite thrusters became final in 

August 2018. These updates were in response to industry requests. BIS also provided 

input to the Department in support of the National Space Council–directed activities. This information included inputs into the Department’s Plan for Maintaining 

U.S. Leadership in Space Commerce as well as participating more formally with the 

Office of Space Commerce. BIS also participated in the Transportation Technical 

Advisory Committee discussions, which include aerospace-related topics.
123 Department of the Interior

Department of the In

DOI

Remotely sensed data and derived information contribute significantly to 

mission-critical work across the Department of the Interior (DOI). This DOI section highlights a sample of DOI remote sensing applications and illustrates a range 

of technology, platforms, and specialized sensors employed.

U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is both a user and a provider of remotely 

sensed data. The USGS manages the Landsat satellite series and a Web-enabled 

archive of global Landsat imagery dating back to 1972. Landsat represents the 

world’s longest continuously acquired collection of space-based moderate-resolution 

land remote sensing data, and the entire archive became available for download 

at no charge in December 2008. The USGS also distributes aerial photography 

through The National Map, and it archives and distributes historical aerial photography; light detection and ranging (lidar) data; declassified imagery; hyperspectral imagery; data collected by Unmanned Aircraft Systems; and imagery from a 

variety of Government, foreign, and commercial satellites. These data are used for 

a wide variety of applications, such as mineral resource development; monitoring 

the health of U.S. and global ecosystems; land-use change; emergency response; 

and assessments of natural hazards such as fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, droughts, 

and floods.
124Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

DOI Unmanned Aircraft System Kīlauea Eruption Response

The 2018 eruption of the Kīlauea volcano in the Hawaiian islands is historically 

unprecedented in many ways, with explosions and repetitive large-scale collapse 

events at the volcano’s summit and voluminous lava output in the Lower East Rift 

Zone (LERZ) that has strongly impacted communities in the lower district of Puna. 

Additionally, it marks the Federal Government’s first UAS response to a volcanic 

eruption. The success of the UAS response relied on rapid and safe integration 

of UAS operations into temporary flight restriction areas, which required close 

operational coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, emergency 

managers, land owners, and local operators. Once effective airspace coordination 

was achieved, researchers were able to provide a stream of quick-turnaround data 

products to scientists for quantitative use and to emergency managers for situational 

awareness. Integrating new gas sensors permitted volcanic gas emission measurements from inaccessible or hazardous areas, and live video streaming to emergency 

operations centers in Hilo and Honolulu supported the management of emergent 

public safety situations.

An assortment of rotor and fixed-wing UASes and sensors were used to monitor 

the eruption at both the summit and LERZ. UASes were equipped with gas sensors 

to monitor emission rates and concentrations, and visual and thermal cameras 

were used to provide videos for situational awareness. Repeat nadir videos were 

captured over sections of the lava channel to support eruption rate estimates, 

and photogrammetry surveys were conducted to create very-high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthophotos. These data were used to monitor 

flow advance rates and erupted volume and provided updated topography for flow 

inundation modeling in the LERZ. A time series of DEMs of the summit captured 

caldera growth, including rate and volume of collapse, and orthophotos were used 

to map out fractures and ballistic fall fields. The remarkable datasets derived from 

these UAS surveys provided unprecedented monitoring data and truly show the 

utility of UASes for volcano monitoring.
125 Department of the Interior

Famine Early Warning Systems—Climate Outlook Analysis

The GeoCLIM climate analysis tool and the Climate Hazards Group Infrared 

Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) rainfall dataset were developed to support a request from the U.S. Agency for International Development Famine 

Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). In May 2018, Kenya experienced 

extremely hazardous torrential rains. As climate models began to indicate that 

the development of an El Niño appeared likely, FEWS NET analysts became concerned about more flooding during the next rainy season (October–December). El 

Niño events are historically associated with above-normal rains in Kenya during 

this time period. A complicating factor, however, is that East African rains are 

also influenced by variations in the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), a measure of the 

east-to-west difference in Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures. Strong positive 

IOD events are associated with warm waters in the western Indian Ocean and 

above-normal rains in East Africa.

Would an El Niño alone be sufficient to produce extreme East African rains? 

Scientists at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

and the University of California, Santa Barbara, developed the GeoCLIM tool so 

that scientists in developing countries can answer these types of questions. Using 

the GeoCLIM, two FEWS NET scientists (Gideon Galu and Laura Harrison) 

produced CHIRPS rainfall composites for previous El Niño October-to-December 

seasons that were not IOD events (1986, 1987, 2004, 2009, and 2014). Surprisingly, 

the rainfall outlook under these conditions tended toward slightly below normal. 

Galu also produced a composite for years that were both El Niño and positive 

IOD events (1982, 1991, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2006, and 2015). In this case, there is 

a strong propensity for above-normal rainfall. The results of this work indicate 

that El Niño alone is not typically sufficient to produce extreme rainfall during October–December. When El Niño and the IOD combine to produce large 

increases in onshore moisture transports and uplift, the risk of flooding is substantially increased. Because the state of the Indian Ocean evolves more rapidly than 

that of the equatorial Pacific, FEWS NET analysts may need to wait to see how 

it evolves.
126Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

October–December rainfall anomaly for El Niño years (A). October–December rainfall anomaly for 

years that were both El Niño and positive IOD events (B).

Integrated Remote Sensing and Modeling for Managing Wetland 

Wildlife Habitat

Approximately 90 percent of the naturally occurring wetlands in California’s 

Central Valley (including the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta) have been lost due 

to land-use change, yet the area remains a critical landscape for migratory waterbirds through a complex system of managed wetlands and post-harvest flooded 

agriculture. USGS researchers are working with the Nature Conservancy, the 

California Landscape Conservation Cooperative, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service to prioritize the timing and location of water allocation to Central Valley 

croplands and wetlands to optimize habitat for migratory birds and the giant garter 

snake. As part of this project, the team is generating Central Valley–wide Landsatbased time-series maps (2007–17) of waterfowl food resource (moist soil seed) 

extents and relative productivity derived from Normalized Difference Vegetation 

Index (NDVI) greenness metrics. Valley-wide estimates of waterfowl food resources 

are needed to run bioenergetics models that support conservation planning. Given 

the extreme fluctuations in water availability, maps will also provide an annual 

record of how wetlands were managed.
127 Department of the Interior

Landsat Burned Area Products

Scientists at the USGS Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center 

in Denver, Colorado, have led the development and validation of the Landsat 

Burned Area products. The algorithm producing the products identifies burned 

areas in Landsat images that have a spatial resolution of 30 meters and a temporal 

resolution of 16 days or more, depending on cloud cover. Fires are frequently unreported; consequently, existing fire databases are often incomplete. Furthermore, 

these databases often have location errors and records may be duplicated.

The Landsat Burned Area products (https://www.usgs.gov/land-resources/nli/

landsat/landsat-burned-area) provide new and unique information about spatial and 

temporal patterns of fire occurrence that existing fire databases may lack, especially 

in areas such as the shrub and grassland ecosystems in the Great Plains and in the 

western and southeastern United States. In 2017, version 1 of the Landsat Burned 

Area path/row products was produced for 1984–2015 for the conterminous United 

States (CONUS) and released online (https://doi.org/10.5066/F73B5X76). In 2018, 

the USGS research team developed version 2 based on the Landsat Analysis Ready 

Data (ARD) for 1984–2017, and the version 2 products will be delivered through 

EarthExplorer (https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/). Routine processing and delivery of 

2018+ Landsat Burned Area products are expected to begin in the fall of 2018.

Landsat-Based Water-Use Mapping on a Cloud Computing Platform

Innovative cloud computing resources for remote sensing science have enabled 

advanced capabilities and analysis for solving complex large-scale data gap challenges within the USGS Water Availability and Use Science Program. With a 

vision for water budget estimation for the entire Nation, this research program 

integrates big data research and development into model applications, evaluation, 

and results.

Scientists at the USGS EROS Center collaborate with members from the Desert 

Research Institute using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform to create nationwide quantitative evapotranspiration (ET) estimates with freely available Landsat thermal (infrared) imagery and weather data using the Operational 
128Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model. Multi-year nationwide results 

are supporting the National Water Census through field-level ET information 

across broad scales and timeframes.

Leveraging the power of GEE for model implementation, the team combined 

30-meter Landsat data with state-of-the-art science and technology to quickly 

and efficiently map ET for water resource assessment, development, and management at the field and basin level. These developments demonstrate collaborative 

efforts to apply cloud computing for ET mapping at unprecedented scales so that 

results can be used to more accurately and efficiently inform water-use and water 

census programs.

The EROS Center develops and shares these ET products with USGS Water 

Science Centers, which are responsible for compiling water-use information every 

five years. This research and data integration also supports invested efforts of the 

Bureau of Reclamation to address water resource challenges facing the Nation.

Louisiana Barrier Island Habitat Mapping and Change Assessment

Barrier islands provide numerous invaluable ecosystem services, including 

storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marsh, recreation, 

and tourism. These islands are dynamic environments due to their position at 

the land-sea interface. Storms, wave energy, tides, currents, and relative sea-level 

rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island geomorphology and habitats. To 

better inform both present and future management decisions, coastal resource 

managers require products developed from remote sensing, such as habitat maps, 

for insights into how these dynamic islands are changing over time. The Barrier 

Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) program was developed by Louisiana’s 

Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) and is implemented as a 

component of the System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP). 

The BICM program uses both historical and contemporary data collections to 

assess and monitor changes in the aerial and subaqueous extent of islands, habitat 

types, sediment texture and geotechnical properties, environmental processes, and 

vegetation composition.
129 Department of the Interior

The USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center provides geospatial support 

to the BICM program for mapping barrier island habitats and assessing habitat 

change over time. For this effort, habitat maps are being generated from highresolution orthophotography and lidar data using object-based analyses in Trimble 

eCognition 9.3 for 2008 and 2015–16 for numerous coastal reaches in Louisiana. 

This software allows for a variety of data, such as aerial imagery and elevation data, 

to be integrated into a habitat-mapping process. The BICM program has developed 

two habitat classification schemes, which include a detailed 15-class and a general 

eight-class habitat scheme. The detailed scheme was developed specifically for this 

habitat-mapping effort and builds off the general scheme used in previous BICM 

habitat-mapping efforts. The additional classes developed in the detailed scheme 

are primarily used to further delineate various dune habitats, separate marsh and 

mangrove, and distinguish between beach and unvegetated barrier flat habitats. 

Spatial change analyses will be conducted between previously developed BICM 

habitat maps from 2005 and the 2015–16 habitat maps produced through this 

effort. The habitat maps and change assessment products developed through this 

project are being published as regional products and USGS data releases.

Mars Water Ice Resource Mapping

The USGS has been working with the High Resolution Imaging Science 

Experiment (HiRISE) team to locate the most promising deposits of water ice 

for future human colonies on Mars. By carefully targeting and analyzing the 

25-centimeter/pixel images, the team discovered 100-meter-tall cliffs of almost 

pure water ice in locations that should be accessible to Mars landers (not too far 

from the equator and not too high in elevation). Both NASA and SpaceX have 

expressed interest in this information.

National Land Imaging Program Requirements, Capabilities and 

Analysis Activities

The USGS National Land Imaging Program (NLIP) has built a long-term capacity to collect and analyze land-imaging user requirements to advance the Nation’s 
130Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

operational and science objectives and better serve the land-imaging community. 

The USGS documents the land-imaging requirements of U.S. Federal, state/local, 

academic, industry, and international users to promote needs-driven, prioritized 

investment decisions for land-imaging systems, products, and services. Requirements 

are collected in a technology-agnostic format focused on spatial, spectral, and temporal needs, and they can be readily compared to U.S. Government, commercial, 

and international capabilities to identify technology solutions, data gaps, or collaborative opportunities. The USGS has also collected information from Earth 

science subject matter experts about their current use of Earth observation (EO) 

technologies, which is useful for understanding the utility of specific EO systems 

across and within communities of use. These data have been used to evaluate the 

relative impact of USGS ground-based, aerial, and satellite data within the USGS 

Mission Areas and across the Federal and non-Federal user communities, and to 

promote USGS and Department of the Interior participation and inclusion in a 

wide range of activities. Some examples are the broad representation of the USGS 

in the National Earth Observation Assessments, greater USGS participation in 

and user needs identification for the planned joint NASA–Indian Space Research 

Organization (NASA-ISRO) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Mission (NISAR), 

and greater participation in other Federal imagery program development. NLIP has 

also provided the primary set of user needs and analysis tools for early formulation 

of the Landsat 10 mission. The importance of USGS user requirements activities 

Example image from NLIP gallery showing flooding from Hurricane Florence. These images are centered near Conway, South Carolina, and are 35 miles wide with north oriented to the top. Hurricane 

Florence hit the Carolina coast on September 14, 2018, but it took much longer for the full impact to 

emerge. Remotely sensed images show the slow devastation that 13 trillion gallons of rain can bring 

as it moves back toward the sea, with before (left) and after (right) images depicting water as black. 

Conway saw some of its most severe flooding nearly two weeks after the storm made landfall. The 

Landsat 8 image from September 26 (right) shows the Waccamaw and Little Pee Dee Rivers swollen 

on either side of the city.
131 Department of the Interior

continues to increase with the demand for smarter investments in land-imaging 

technology to support vital societal needs in agriculture, water quality and availability, disaster mitigation, land resource management, and economic development.

Patterns in the Landscape–Analyses of Cause and Effect

The USGS project Patterns in the Landscape–Analyses of Cause and Effect 

(PLACE) is leveraging improvements in image-processing capabilities to advance 

understanding of the driving forces and impacts of landscape change over time. 

PLACE researchers are synthesizing Landsat 30-meter imagery and ancillary 

products within a high-performance cloud-computing environment (Google Earth 

Engine) to monitor and assess flood hazards in the western United States from 

1985 to 2015. The primary objective of the project is to investigate how climate 

processes influence the timing, location, and scale of flooding events in areas that 

are vulnerable to costly and dangerous repeat inundations. The project combines 

USGS streamgage station records with 30-meter-resolution maps of surface-water 

coverage produced by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) 

and the USGS Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) project. Maps will be 

coupled with historical climate records, chronologies of extreme weather, and 

hydrogeomorphic information to help quantify the causes of inland flooding.

Resulting flood maps will also be intersected with annual maps of human land 

use (rural, urban, agricultural, etc.) to investigate how humans might either affect 

or be affected by floods. By understanding the causes and patterns of floods, USGS 

researchers can improve flood predictions and assist planners and first responders 

in anticipating future flood risks to human populations. PLACE will help fulfill 

goals set forth in the DOI Strategic Plan 2018–22 by better informing land-use 

planning with mapping and by monitoring and assessing natural-hazard risks for 

improved response planning.

Satellite-Based Tools for Invasive Buffelgrass Management

Invasive buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) spreads easily in the Sonoran Desert 

ecosystem, where it forms a continuous fuel layer that carries fire across the 
132Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

landscape, threatening native flora and fauna species. Current management of 

buffelgrass in Saguaro National Park (SNP) includes the targeted application of 

herbicide, which is most effective when the grass is photosynthetically active. 

The erratic, localized rain events characteristic of the Sonoran Desert complicate 

treatment by making it difficult to predict when buffelgrass will be green and 

therefore suited to treatment.

In collaboration with National Park Service (NPS) ecologists, USGS scientists 

are assisting buffelgrass eradication efforts by developing remote sensing–based 

strategies to identify infestation locations and optimal timing of herbicide treatment. A prototype Web-based application analyzes recent precipitation data to 

highlight when and where buffelgrass green-up thresholds have been reached. It 

also displays satellite-detected changes in greenness via Normalized Difference 

Vegetation Index values to show where vegetation green-up has occurred. To 

map where invasive buffelgrass is present, Climate Landscape Response (CLaRe) 

metrics, which leverage the correlation between precipitation amounts and 

NDVI, are used in classification algorithms. Nascent buffelgrass populations are 

detected by analyzing temporal patterns of climate-normalized CLaRe metrics 

across years.

Local partners and land managers involved in buffelgrass control efforts 

are providing feedback to guide the development of the application’s design 

and content. The most useful features will be assimilated into the USA-NPN 

(National Phenology Network) suite of online phenological tools, which provide regional- to national-scale information to help guide science-based resource 

management actions.

The USGS 3D Elevation Program

The goal of the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is to complete nationwide coverage of lidar data for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and the 

U.S. territories and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IfSAR) for Alaska by 

2023, contingent upon sufficient funding. 3DEP is a cooperative program designed 

to meet the needs of a broad range of stakeholders and leverage substantial data 
133 Department of the Interior

investments and contributions through Federal, state, tribal, and private-sector 

partnerships. 3DEP relies on the expertise and capacity of private-sector mapping 

firms to acquire the data. High-resolution elevation data are essential to a broad 

range of applications, including infrastructure development, flood risk management, critical minerals assessment, emergency planning, energy development, 

precision agriculture, natural resources management, and more.

The USGS is responsible for the quality control, management, and delivery of 

3DEP data, including lidar point clouds, digital elevation models (DEMs) at multiple resolutions (including one meter), and IfSAR orthorectified intensity images. 

As of May 2018, 3DEP-quality elevation data are available or in production for 

48 percent of the Nation, including 96 percent of IfSAR data in progress or available for Alaska. 3DEP data are collected, quality-controlled, and delivered to meet 

community-accepted USGS specifications, enabling a broad range of applications 

that rely on consistent foundational data. 3DEP lidar and IfSAR data are publicly 

available free of charge at http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/basic/.

Status of 3DEP quality data as of July 2018.
134Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

United States, Canada, and Mexico Publish First-Ever 30-Meter Land Cover 

for North America

The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and collaborative agencies in Canada and Mexico have published the first-ever 30-meterresolution consistent land-cover product for all of North America. This tri-national 

effort was completed under the umbrella of the North American Land Change 

Monitoring System (NALCMS), a collaboration between the governments 

of the United States, Canada, and Mexico coordinated by the Commission for 

Environmental Cooperation (CEC). NALCMS has previously delivered 250-meterresolution land-cover and land-cover-change products for North America. The 

new 30-meter product was generated using Landsat imagery divided into 19 landcover classes and will provide users with a better understanding of the dynamics 

and continental-scale patterns of North America’s land cover at a scale that will 

facilitate regional and local analysis. NALCMS intends to produce this 30-meter 

product every five years to update the changing land cover of North America and 

to quantify change. This product is available for download from the CEC Web site 

at http://www.cec.org/tools-and-resources/map-files/land-cover-2010-landsat-30m.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in concert with its international, 

Federal, tribal, state, local, and nongovernmental organization partners, uses a 

large number of remote sensing technologies to find optimal solutions to monitor and manage fish and wildlife populations, habitats, waters, wetlands, and 

landscapes. The FWS utilizes acoustic geographic positioning systems, as well as 

radio telemetry sensors on fish and wildlife for time and location information tied 

to a variety of remote sensing image products, such as aerial and satellite optical 

imagery, thermal imagery, radar imagery, sonar imagery, and lidar imagery. This 

time and geospatial system of imagery and location is used to map habitats, find 

invasive plants, determine flight paths of birds and bats, conduct fish and wildlife 

inventories, watch over refuge lands, and monitor trust species.
135 Department of the Interior

Comprehensive Invasive Phragmites Management Planning

The Comprehensive Invasive Phragmites Management Planning project was 

completed to create an adaptive management plan for invasive phragmites control 

in the Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron, Michigan. Phragmites is a tall grass that chokes 

shorelines, limiting access for recreation activities, displacing fish and native vegetation, and creating a fire hazard. The FWS research team integrated local and 

regional knowledge, high-resolution maps from remote sensing data, and modeling 

of nitrogen (N) loading and hydrological connectivity to identify the best phragmites treatment and monitoring strategies. The outputs of this grant are products of 

multi-disciplinary integrative efforts between Michigan Technological University, 

the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Texas A&M, the 

University of Northern Iowa, the U.S. FWS, the Michigan Department of Natural 

Resources, and the Saginaw Bay Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area.

Remotely sensed data informed this project, including a review of historical 

(1938 to present) aerial imagery of four sites to determine pre-invasion ecosystem 

type (wetland, beach, open water, etc.). WorldView-2 (WV2) submeter satellite 

imagery is being used to map pre- and post-treatment conditions, allowing managers to quantify the effectiveness of various treatments, including herbicide and 

cutting/burning. For pre-treatment, in August 2016, the entire coastal area of 

Saginaw Bay and the Saginaw River (including all treatment areas) were mapped at 

a minimum mapping unit of 0.5 acre using interpreted WV2 data (http://geodjango.

mtri.org/coastal-wetlands/). Post-treatment maps for summer 2017 were incomplete 

due to cloudy conditions, and 2017 imagery was available for only one of the four 

treatment areas (see figure). Imagery from the summer of 2018 will be downloaded 

for the four sites. Peak growing season post-treatment imagery provides needed 

information on the distribution of phragmites killed, standing dead, and mowed 

vegetation, as well as missed phragmites and regrowing vegetation. This detailed 

site-level information is important for adaptive management; such a bird’s-eye view 

is particularly valuable for large areas that are impassable by foot and those requiring large amounts of staff time to complete.
136Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Radar View of Fall Avian Migration in Cleveland, Ohio

Documenting bird and bat migration is challenging because migration activity 

is sporadic, and nocturnal migrants (most aerial vertebrate migrants) are difficult 

to observe. FWS uses mobile avian radars to study the timing, duration, and activity patterns of birds and bats as they move through the Great Lakes (https://www.

fws.gov/radar). Each radar unit has a horizontal antenna that scans 360 degrees 

just above the horizon to monitor flight directions, as well as a vertical antenna 

that scans a vertical slice of the sky to measure passage rates and altitudes. In the 

fall of 2017, the FWS team deployed a radar unit along Lake Erie in Cleveland, 

Ohio, to study how migrants move through an urban setting, use the lake shoreline, and traverse (or avoid) Lake Erie. Understanding the paths and timing 

of migration and how birds and bats use airspace along Great Lakes coastlines 

informs risk assessment for coastal development and allows managers to prioritize 

conservation efforts.

Seasonal Drought in Sage-Grouse Habitat Influences Resource Availability 

and Population Dynamics

The North American semiarid sagebrush biome exhibits considerable climatic 

complexity driving dynamic spatiotemporal shifts in primary productivity. Greater 

and Gunnison sage-grouse are adapted to patterns of resource intermittence and 

rely on stable adult survival supplemented by occasional recruitment pulses when 

climatic conditions are favorable.

Predictions of intensifying water scarcity raise concerns over new demographic 

bottlenecks impacting sage-grouse populations in drought-sensitive landscapes.

FWS researchers estimated biome-wide mesic resource productivity from 1984 

to 2016 using remote sensing to identify patterns of food availability influencing selective pressures on sage-grouse. Productivity was linked to abiotic factors 

to examine effects of seasonal drought across time, space, and land tenure, with 

findings partitioned along gradients of ecosystem water balance within the Great 

Basin, Rocky Mountains, and Great Plains regions. Precipitation was the driver of 

mesic resource abundance, explaining ≥70 percent of variance in drought-limited 
137 Department of the Interior

vegetative productivity. Spatiotemporal shifts in vegetation abundance were 

apparent given biome-wide climatic trends that reduced precipitation below threequarters of normal in 20 percent of the years. Drought sensitivity structured grouse 

populations wherein landscapes with the greatest uncertainty in mesic abundance 

and distribution supported the fewest grouse. Privately owned lands encompassed 

40 percent of sage-grouse range but contained a disproportional 68 percent of mesic 

resources, shifting in part the perception of the species’ reliance on public lands.

Regional drought sensitivity acted as ecological minimums to influence differences in landscape carrying capacity across sage-grouse range. The model depictions likely reflect a new normal in water scarcity that could compound impacts 

of demographic bottlenecks in the Great Basin and Great Plains. Long-term 

population maintenance depends on a diversity of drought-resistant mesic resources 

that offset climate-driven variability in vegetative productivity. A holistic publicprivate lands approach to mesic restoration is needed to offset a deepening risk of 

water scarcity.

Tree Canopy Mapping Across the Golden-Cheeked Warbler Breeding Range

A key vegetation parameter important to maintaining golden-cheeked warbler 

(hereafter warbler) breeding habitat is the amount of broadleaf versus Ashe juniper tree cover on a site. Mixed composition woodlands with mature Ashe juniper 

trees provide enhanced foraging opportunities through high arthropod diversity 

and supply juniper bark used for nesting. FWS scientists sought to map broadleaf 

and juniper tree canopy at 1-meter scale across the entire 85,500-square-kilometer 

breeding area in central Texas to model warbler density from point count data. 

High spatial resolution (0.5-meter to 1.0-meter pixels) leaf-on (2016) and leaf-off 

(2014 to 2015) digital color infrared aerial photography is periodically collected 

for Texas through the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) and Texas 

Orthoimagery Program (TOP).

The FWS team used Random Forest (RF) classification tree models optimized 

with Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) to select a subset of important predictor variables from seasonal images. Spectral features included blue, green, red, 

and near-infrared bands; the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index; and the 
138Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

difference between leaf-on and leaf-off NDVI values (dNDVI). Total, Ashe juniper, and broadleaf percent tree cover estimated at 1-hectare spatial scale showed a 

strong positive relationship (r2 = 0.93, r2 = 0.83, r2 = 0.73, respectively), with independent canopy intercept data collected within 100-meter by 100-meter field plots 

at a 10-meter spacing with a moosehorn densitometer. Field plots (n = 98) collected 

in 2012 were limited to Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge, Texas. 

The FWS team is collecting additional data from across the warbler’s breeding 

range to evaluate and refine digital tree canopy data that will be used to estimate 

warbler density.

Mapped tree cover and warbler density data will help prioritize critical habitat 

areas for conservation and habitat improvement efforts in central Texas.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) Environmental Studies 

Program (ESP) develops, funds, and manages rigorous scientific research specifically 

to inform policy decisions on the development of energy and mineral resources on 

the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). BOEM uses remote sensing to inform its 

research covering physical oceanography, atmospheric sciences, biology, protected 

species, social sciences and economics, submerged cultural resources, and environmental fates and effects. Mandated by Section 20 of the Outer Continental Shelf 

Lands Act, the ESP is an indispensable requirement informing BOEM’s decisions 

on offshore oil and gas, offshore renewable energy, and the marine minerals program for coastal restoration. Through its ESP, BOEM has provided over $1 billion 

for research to this end since its inception in 1973.

Satellite Data for Offshore Air Quality Applications

BOEM is working with the NASA Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics 

Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center to assess the probability of using 

satellite data for air-quality applications, specifically through the estimation and 

monitoring of offshore ground-level concentrations of pollutants and through 
139 Department of the Interior

improvements and validations of BOEM’s existing emissions inventories and photochemical modeling. BOEM is required to analyze OCS oil and gas activities’ air 

quality impacts to the states as mandated by the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

Act (OCSLA). These assessments are used by BOEM in National Environmental 

Policy Act (NEPA) Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact 

Statements (EISes). This study seeks to improve and add to the data for these 

assessments in support of BOEM’s air quality regulations and NEPA analyses.

The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

(USEPA) to set the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 

atmospheric pollutants; USEPA has set standards for six criteria pollutants: carbon 

monoxide (CO), lead (Pb), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter 

(PM2.5 and PM10), and sulfur dioxide (SO2).

The OCSLA requires BOEM to ensure compliance with the NAAQS to the 

extent that OCS oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities 

can greatly impact the air quality of any state. Satellites have become increasingly 

capable of identifying and measuring the quantity of certain criteria NAAQS and 

their precursors, as well as assessing the impact of pollution on visibility. Although 

this capability has been identified, it has not previously been employed in the offshore environment.

In this study, NASA is improving the operational satellite NO2 data product, 

addressing several issues that will likely improve the use of the data over open 

water. With an improved NO2 product, the study will 1) estimate NO2 concentrations around offshore facilities, 2) determine the contribution of onshore emissions 

(such as specific refineries, power plants, and cities) to offshore air quality and vice 

versa by analyzing wind flow patterns and daily NO2 data, and 3) derive long-term 

trends over the last decade.

Additionally, a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico is planned as part of this 

study to validate the remotely sensed data using NASA equipment to measure 

near sea level the same constituents observed by satellite. A Web site—Satellite 

Continental and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment (SCOAPE)—is 

under development to share this project’s goals and progress.
140Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Bureau of Land Management

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) leverages ground, airborne, and spaceborne remote sensing technologies to support its mission to sustain the health, 

diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present 

and future generations. These technologies include aerial and close-range photography; multispectral, hyperspectral, and thermal infrared camera/imaging systems; radar; and light detection and ranging (lidar). The BLM also utilizes passive 

and active imaging system information collected by Unmanned Aircraft Systems 

(UAS). Remote sensing data and products are being used to address a host of BLM 

monitoring requirements, including energy development, mine production verification, assessment of land-cover condition through time, and wildfire response and 

mitigation. Finally, the BLM requires field-based measurements to support management decisions covering vast expanses of land. By integrating remote sensing into 

the BLM’s Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring strategy, field-based data are 

used to generate information and maps that would otherwise be too expensive to 

produce. The BLM is leveraging remote sensing to provide an integrated, quantitative monitoring approach to efficiently and effectively document the impacts from 

authorized and unauthorized disturbance and land-treatment activities at local and 

regional scales.

Post-Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Imagery Support

The BLM National Operations Center (NOC) provides remotely sensed geospatial data products to support fire management officials conducting Emergency 

Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ESR) activities on wildfire-affected BLM lands. 

The ESR program is implemented to lessen postfire effects such as erosion and to 

restore affected habitats. Remote sensing products assist management officials in 

completing key objectives, including monitoring vegetation treatments and reforestation and rehabilitating land cover. To support 2018 ESR efforts, the NOC is 

providing products derived from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 system 

to requesting officials. The products include pre- and post-event Sentinel-2 visibleto-shortwave-infrared (VSWIR) imagery, which have been spatially subset to the 
141 Department of the Interior

fire-affected area to reduce file storage space. Normalized Difference Vegetation 

Index (NDVI), Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), Delta NDVI (dNDVI), and Delta 

NBR (dNBR) products are also derived and disseminated. Finally, the NOC provides 

a classification product identifying burned and unburned cover. These data and 

maps provide managers with timely information on the impact of fire in their landscapes and are accessible via download and as Web-based image and map services.

Tracking BLM Energy Development in the Permian Basin

The Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas is a leading source of oil production for the United States and is experiencing rapid energy development. The 

BLM holds millions of acres of mineral estate—including within the Permian 

Basin—which must be administered. Upon request from the Carlsbad Field Office 

(CFO), the National Operations Center (NOC) and the New Mexico State Office 

(NMSO) have partnered in a pilot project to use remote sensing products to easily 

and efficiently identify energy development within their region. To support this 

effort, the NOC is providing multi-date Sentinel-2 imagery to the CFO. The data 

have been spectrally subset from 13 to 10 bands (visible to shortwave-infrared) and 

have been spatially subset to the Permian region to reduce file storage space. With 

a revisit period of five days or less, Sentinel-2’s temporal resolution dramatically 

increases the ability of land-management officials to delineate rapid land-cover 

changes. These data will be made available to BLM officials as Web-based image 

services for ease of access and use. Other custom products that can assist the analyst in identifying cover trends between dates—such as NDVI, (NBR), dNDVI, 

and dNBR—can also be derived. Finally, the NOC is investigating techniques to 

efficiently map wellpad development, and associated transportation infrastructure, 

using multi-temporal imagery and object-oriented classification software.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) uses Landsat data to help monitor consumptive water use throughout the western United States. BOR analysts use Landsat 

imagery to map irrigated crops for estimating water demand and to monitor 
142Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

interstate and inter-basin water compact compliance. The BOR is also involved in 

ecological restoration of a number of rivers in the West. Lidar, multispectral aerial 

imagery, and sonar data are used to generate maps of topography, vegetation, and 

river channel bathymetry, which help guide restoration activities.

Estimates of Evapotranspiration and Evaporation

The Colorado River is the principal source of water for agriculture and riparian 

vegetation in Arizona, southern California, and southern Nevada. To account for 

water use by each state or individual and to verify lands fallowed for conservation programs and other water management needs, BOR routinely monitors more 

than 3.5 million acres of agricultural land and riparian vegetation along the Lower 

Colorado River, from Hoover Dam south to the international border with Mexico. 

Multispectral satellite and aerial images are analyzed in combination with other 

spatial data in a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) environment to generate 

information regarding crop and riparian types, acreages, and water-use estimates.

The BOR uses remote sensing and GIS processes to map crop and riparian vegetation groups and to 

estimate the evapotranspiration associated with these groups. Above are examples of the Riparian 

database at Laguna Dam in Arizona (left) and agricultural database near Coachella, California (right).
143 Department of the Interior

These data and information assist the BOR in meeting its U.S. Supreme Court 

mandate to provide detailed and accurate records of diversions, return flows, and 

consumptive use estimates of water diverted from the mainstream of the Lower 

Colorado River. This program is an example of implementing remote-sensing-based 

methodologies to routinely meet BOR’s water management needs.

Rapid Canal and Levee Seepage Detection

In the United States alone, there are currently over 100,000 miles of canal 

and levee embankments and approximately 79,000 earthen dams on the national 

inventory list. Many of these structures are reaching or have surpassed their initial 

design life. Most earthen embankment structures are over 50 years old, and many 

are greater than 80 years old. Development and urban encroachment along this 

aging infrastructure increase risk associated with seepage and internal erosioncaused failures. Additionally, water conveyance systems are known to lose large 

quantities of water due to distributed seepage along embankments. As a result, 

there is a need for proactive yet efficient characterization of these vast infrastructural systems by means of rapid reconnaissance surveying technologies.

To address these issues, researchers at the BOR are working with three area 

offices (Provo Area Office, Lahontan Basin Area Office, and Western Colorado 

Area Office) to develop new approaches for rapid earthen canal and levee seepage 

detection and characterization. One new approach uses remote sensing data, including NDVI images, combined with frequency-domain electromagnetic (FDEM) and 

magnetic gradiometry profiling surveys conducted along canal embankments using 

a vehicle-towed non-magnetic/non-metallic cart platform. This approach to field 

data collection allows for tens of miles of detailed geophysical profiling data to be 

collected per day.

The research team has been funded through the BOR’s Science and Technology 

Program and is working toward developing semiautomated and robust workflows for 

combining and interpreting these various data types, including data fusion, attributes analysis, and machine learning, to better identify and differentiate between 

anomalies related to seepage, unauthorized penetrations, or other unhealthy conditions. Implementation of rapid reconnaissance tools of this sort could provide a 
144Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

list of “hot spots” that could be prioritized in terms of more-focused investigation 

efforts (e.g., using higher-resolution geophysical methods or geotechnical investigation techniques at locations of elevated concern). This approach to identifying 

abnormal seepage or saturation levels within canal levees (based on electrical 

conductivity signatures/anomalies/trends) will help save a considerable amount of 

resources being spent on embankment assessment, will help reduce risk associated 

with embankment failures, and can help to identify and address unwanted water 

conveyance seepage losses.

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) has a substantial investment in and a long history of using aerial and spaceborne remote sensing and Global Positioning System 

(GPS) technologies. The NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program conducts baseline inventories for more than 270 parks across the Nation. Remote sensing data 

are a critical source of information regarding geology, soils, vegetation, and infrastructure. Aerial photography and satellite imagery have been utilized to compile 

vegetation maps—a monumental task, given that the agency has responsibility 

for over 80 million acres. These data are particularly critical for NPS activities in 

Alaska because of its remote and vast expanses of public land and the fact that the 

Arctic is warming rapidly in response to climate change. The NPS takes advantage 

of the free Landsat archive to quantify decadal changes in glacier ice cover and 

document land-cover change in national park units. Using the Landsat archive, 

the NPS has been a beneficiary of and a partner in interagency efforts to map all 

large wildland and prescribed fires as part of the DOI Monitoring Trends in Burn 

Severity project. GPS supports field data collection, navigation, and search-andrescue operations conducted by the agency.

Detection of Rain-on-Snow Events Across Alaska

Snowmelt and rain-on-snow (ROS) events enhance the liquid water content of 

a snowpack, which affects snow properties such as depth, density, grain size, and 

extent. These changes are associated with transfers of latent and sensible heat 
145 Department of the Interior

and create a positive feedback that accelerates snowmelt processes. Wet snow can 

affect high-latitude ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales, impacting 

the hydrology, carbon cycle, wildlife, and human interactions.

Our knowledge of the spatiotemporal patterns in ROS events and their response 

to climatic variability is limited by the sparse network of in situ climate observations and landscape heterogeneity in Alaska.

With this analysis, NPS researchers inform this knowledge gap by combining 

observations from overlapping satellite optical-infrared and microwave sensors 

to improve understanding of the timing and distribution of ROS events across 

Alaska. The NPS team utilized vertically and horizontally polarized daily brightness temperature images at six kilometers from the 19- and 37-gigahertz bands 

of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometers and integrated them with 

the 500-meter snow-cover extent product derived from the Moderate Resolution 

Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to determine the timing and distribution of 

wintertime (November–March) ROS events during water years 2003–16.

Results revealed markedly higher ROS frequency in the southwest and central 

portions of Alaska relative to other regions. Timing of the events was most prominent in November and December, coinciding with warm temperature anomalies. 

ROS events in Alaska’s North Slope were rare during the winter months and typically occurred during periods of above-normal temperatures.

Furthermore, findings determined that as the Arctic amplification of global temperatures continues, wintertime ROS events will likely become more prominent in 

Alaska’s southwest and interior regions. The ROS record created from this work is 

publicly available to contribute to Alaska’s monitoring of snow-cover properties, as 

it will influence regional transportation, infrastructure, and wildlife populations 

moving into the future.

Vegetation Mapping of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress 

National Preserve

The Everglades National Park (EVER) and Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) 

vegetation-mapping project is a component of the Comprehensive Everglades 

Restoration Plan (CERP). The CERP is a cooperative effort between the South 
146Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), 

and the NPS Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP), with funding provided by the 

NPS VIP and the USACE. The goal of the project is to produce a spatially and thematically accurate vegetation map of EVER and BICY that will serve as baseline 

conditions to 1) document changes to the spatial extent, pattern, and proportion 

of plant communities as they respond to management-driven hydrologic modifications resulting from the implementation of the CERP and the Western Everglades 

Restoration Project and 2) provide vegetation and land-cover information to NPS 

park managers and scientists for use in park management, resource management, 

research, and monitoring.

The project covers an area of approximately 7,400 square kilometers (1.84 million acres) and consists of seven mapping regions: four regions in EVER, 1 

through 4; and three regions in BICY, 5 through 7. Photo-interpretation is performed by superimposing a 50- by 50-meter (1⁄4-hectare) grid cell vector matrix

over stereoscopic, 0.30-centimeter spatial resolution, color infrared aerial imagery 

on a digital photogrammetric workstation. Photo-interpreters identify the dominant community in each cell by applying majority-rule algorithms, recognizing 

community-specific spectral signatures, and referencing an extensive groundtruth database.

Approximately 78 percent of the entire project area is mapped. EVER is 73 percent complete, while BICY is 92 percent complete. Regions 2, 3, and 7 are mapped. 

The Region 2 vegetation map has a thematic accuracy of 88.6 percent with a lower 

90th percentile confidence level of 84.6 percent and is available for download 

(https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2243281). The thematic accuracy 

of the Region 3 vegetation map is 89.4 percent with a lower 90th percentile confidence level of 85.6 percent.

This map will be available for download in fall 2018 (https://irma.nps.gov). The 

thematic accuracy of the Region 7 vegetation map is 85 percent with a lower 90th 

percentile confidence level of 82 percent. The final report for Region 7 is pending 

peer review.
147 Department of the Interior

Footprint of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National 

Preserve vegetation-mapping project showing mapping regions and progress to date.

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) remote 

sensing program provides OSMRE offices, states, and tribes with the necessary 

tools to use remote sensing technologies to support Titles IV (Abandoned Mine 

Lands) and V (Regulation of Current Mining) of the Surface Mining Control and 

Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA). As part of this support, the OSMRE remote 

sensing program provides high-resolution satellite imagery, aerial photography, and 

lidar data to conduct analyses of terrain, vegetation, and hydrologic function on 

active mine sites to ensure that reclamation is consistent with the approved mining 

permit. These data are also used to support inventory, monitoring, and assessment 
148Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

of abandoned mine land features to ensure that there is no threat to the environment or to health and human safety.

Cottonwood-Wilberg Mine, Emery County, Utah, Reclamation

The OSMRE Western Region worked with the State of Utah Division of Oil, 

Gas, and Mining to monitor reclamation efforts at Cottonwood-Wilberg Mine 

in Emery County, Utah, using remote sensing change detection of historical 

photography and land-use records. OSMRE purchased high-resolution lidar and 

orthophotography from Juniper Unmanned of the site before major earthwork 

commenced in September 2017. OSMRE used Digital Globe, the European Space 

Agency Sentinels, and Planet Labs satellite imaging to monitor the in-progress reclamation work. The state inspectors shared monthly photographs of the site with 

OSMRE to verify observations made with remote sensing images. Upon completion of the reclamation work, OSMRE and Utah state personnel collected terrestrial lidar and photography in May 2018. In June 2018, the Trail Mountain Fire 

started and burned more than 17,000 acres north of the site. OSMRE is continuing to monitor the reclamation area for possible flooding impacts using synthetic 

aperture radar and high-temporal-resolution imaging. Having historical imagery 

from 1936 forward helped understand the dynamics of the natural landscape and 

provides context for ongoing monitoring.
149 Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communicati

Commission

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formulates rules to facilitate 

the provision of commercial satellite services in the United States. It also issues 

licenses for the deployment and operation of all nongovernmental U.S. satellites. 

Internationally, the FCC coordinates satellite radio-frequency usage with other 

countries. The FCC’s activities in FY 2018 related primarily to commercial communications satellites and Earth observation satellites, as well as experimental satellites.

The FCC took several significant actions in administrative and rule-making 

proceedings in FY 2018, among them these:

• On April 17, 2018, the FCC proposed rules to create a streamlined application process for a category of satellites often referred to as “small satellites.” Geared primarily toward commercial small satellites and small 

satellite systems, the FCC’s proposals would create a path for streamlined 

processing for small satellite systems meeting certain characteristics, such 

as having a low number of satellites, a relatively short satellite on-orbit 

lifetime, and the ability to share radio-frequency use with other operators. 

As proposed, applicants with systems meeting these characteristics would 

be able to take advantage of faster processing times and lower fees.

• On June 18, 2018, as part of its ongoing “Spectrum Frontiers” proceeding, 

the FCC proposed rules to permit the licensing of individual fixed-satellite 

service earth stations in the 50.4- to 51.4-gigahertz frequency band. The 

FCC proposed sharing criteria between earth stations and the Upper 

Microwave Flexible Use Service (UMFUS), as well as constraints on the 
150Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

number of permitted earth stations on both a per-county and per–partial 

economic area (PEA) basis.

• On September 27, 2018, the FCC adopted new rules applicable to earth 

stations in motion (ESIMs), which are earth stations located aboard ships, 

aircraft, and vehicles. This action simplified the FCC’s rules and made 

additional frequency bands available for use by these types of earth stations. In addition, the FCC proposed to make available even more frequencies for communications with ESIMs.

During FY 2018, the FCC issued rulings facilitating the deployment and operations of a number of nongeostationary satellite systems designed to provide communications services, including high-speed broadband. These rulings included 

the following:

• On November 3, 2017, the FCC issued a ruling outlining the conditions 

under which Telesat Canada can obtain a license for earth stations in 

the United States for use with its system, which will operate under the 

authority of Canada. The system will consist of up to 117 satellites operating at approximate altitudes of 1,000 kilometers and 1,250 kilometers and 

utilizing frequencies in the Ka-band. The satellites are designed to provide 

broadband connectivity in the United States and throughout the world.

• On November 3, 2017, the FCC issued a ruling outlining the conditions 

under which Space Norway AS can obtain a license for earth stations in 

the United States for use with its satellite system, which will operate under 

the authority of Norway. The system will consist of up to two satellites, 

operating in an orbit with an apogee of approximately 43,500 kilometers 

and a perigee of approximately 8,000 kilometers and utilizing frequencies in the Ku- and Ka-bands. This satellite system is designed to provide 

broadband connectivity in high-latitude regions around the world, including Alaska.

• On March 6, 2018, the FCC issued a ruling modifying the existing earth 

station licenses of Iridium Carrier Services, LLC, and Iridium Satellite, 

LLC, to enable the operations of new user terminals that can take advantage of the capabilities of the second-generation satellites in the Iridium 

satellite system, operating in the mobile-satellite service.
151 Federal Communications Commission

• On March 29, 2018, the FCC authorized Space Exploration Holdings, 

LLC (SpaceX), to construct, deploy, and operate a satellite system consisting of 4,425 satellites operating at approximate altitudes of 1,100–1,300 

kilometers and utilizing the Ku- and Ka-bands. This large, nongeostationary satellite constellation is designed to provide broadband connectivity 

in the United States and throughout the world.

• On June 6, 2018, the FCC granted a request from O3b Limited concerning 

proposed modifications to its satellite system, operating under the authority of the United Kingdom, with earth stations in the United States. As 

modified, the system would include up to 42 satellites, operating at an 

approximate altitude of 8,000 kilometers and utilizing frequencies in the 

Ka- and V-bands. This nongeostationary satellite constellation is designed 

to provide broadband connectivity in the United States and throughout 

the world.

• On June 6, 2018, the FCC authorized Audacy Corporation to construct, 

deploy, and operate a satellite system consisting of up to three satellites 

operating at an approximate altitude of 13,900 kilometers and utilizing the Ka- and V-bands. This satellite system is designed to provide 

commercial tracking and data relay services for other nongeostationary 

satellites.

• On August 16, 2018, the FCC authorized Karousel Satellite, LLC, to construct, deploy, and operate a satellite system consisting of up to 12 satellites 

operating in an orbit with an apogee of approximately 40,000 kilometers 

and a perigee of approximately 31,500 kilometers and utilizing the Ku- and 

Ka-bands. This nongeostationary satellite constellation is designed to distribute video and data to consumers in the United States and throughout 

the world.

The FCC also granted authority to Planet Labs, Inc., and Astro Digital US to 

deploy and operate nongeostationary small satellites in low-Earth orbit, primarily 

for remote sensing activities, specifically:

• December 8, 2017: To Planet Labs, Inc., to construct, deploy, and operate 

three satellites for the purpose of a propulsion system demonstration, to 

be deployed to orbital apogee altitudes of approximately 550 kilometers.
152Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

• December 14, 2017: To Astro Digital US, Inc., to construct, deploy, and 

operate one Landmapper-BC satellite at orbital altitudes between 475 and 

625 kilometers.

• August 1, 2018: To Astro Digital US, Inc., to construct, deploy, and operate four additional Landmapper-BC satellites at orbital altitudes between 

475 and 625 kilometers.

In addition, on December 5, 2017, the FCC granted authority to Space Logistics, 

LLC, to construct, deploy, and conduct telemetry, tracking, and command functions for a satellite servicing vehicle to be used to extend the mission lifetime of 

client geostationary satellites. The authorization includes operations following 

deployment from the launch vehicle, during orbit-raising maneuvers, and during 

rendezvous and docking with the Intelsat-901 satellite in an orbit several hundred 

kilometers above the geostationary arc. Additional operations are contemplated 

and will require authorization as plans are finalized.

In FY 2018, the FCC authorized a number of other commercial communication 

satellite deployments and operations. These authorizations included the following:

• March 8, 2018: To SES Americom, Inc., to operate a C-band satellite, to 

be located at the longitude 139.0° west orbit location.

• March 20, 2018: To Hughes Network Systems, LLC, to construct, deploy, 

and operate a Ka- and V-band satellite to be located at the longitude 95.2° 

west orbit location.

• April 25, 2018: To ES 172, LLC, to operate a C- and Ku-band replacement 

satellite located at the longitude 172° east orbit location.

• May 10, 2018: To Intelsat License, LLC, to construct, deploy, and operate 

a C-, Ku-, and Ka-band satellite to be located at the longitude 133.0° west 

orbit location.

• June 26, 2018: To Intelsat License, LLC, to construct, deploy, and operate 

a C- and Ku-band satellite to be located at the longitude 62.0° east orbit 

location.

• July 12, 2018: To Intelsat Licensee LLC, to construct, deploy, and operate 

a C- and Ku-band satellite to be located at the longitude 169.0° east orbit 

location.
153 Federal Communications Commission

In addition to these commercial operations, the FCC continued to grant applications for experimental operations by nongovernmental small satellites. Many of the 

experimental grants by the FCC for small satellite operations were to universities 

and institutions conducting research and developing new spacecraft technologies. 

The satellites’ missions included activities ranging from remote sensing missions, 

such as collecting data on the atmosphere and oceans and measuring solar radiation, to missions testing the performance of certain technologies in space, such as 

radio equipment, satellite propulsion systems, and batteries, as well as the development of remote sensing platforms and testing of satellite relay communications for 

future commercial use. The FCC also granted experimental licenses in FY 2018 for 

inter-satellite communications between existing nongeostationary satellite constellations and experimental small satellites. Other experimental grants by the FCC 

included grants for communications associated with launch vehicles and for the 

testing of new telecommunications satellites.

On April 12, 2018, the FCC released an enforcement advisory regarding compliance with the requirement that satellite system operators obtain an FCC authorization for space station and earth station operations. The enforcement advisory 

reminded satellite system operators that the FCC had previously provided guidance 

concerning licensing of nongovernmental small satellites and that compliance 

with requirements for the licensing of satellite communications is not optional. 

Among other things, the advisory described why a license is needed, cautioned 

satellite operators not to provide a satellite that does not have an FCC license to a 

launch service provider for integration into a deployment device or launch vehicle, 

and detailed potential risks for launch service providers regarding the integration 

of satellites that do not have a current FCC authorization.

The FCC granted a number of license modifications and Special Temporary 

Authorizations for satellite networks. Many involved routine testing or redeployment of satellites with a multi-satellite system. Several of these actions, however, 

warrant particular mention:

• October 16, 2017: The FCC granted Intelsat License, LLC, special temporary authority to drift the Intelsat 16 satellite to the longitude 76.2° west 

orbit location and operate the satellite at that location in order to assist a 

customer in responding to the damage caused by Hurricane Maria to the 
154Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

communications networks in Puerto Rico. The FCC granted extensions 

of this special temporary authority on November 17, 2017; November 30, 

2017; and July 5, 2018. The FCC granted a license modification for these 

operations on July 26, 2018.

• November 2, 2017: The FCC granted SES Americom, Inc., special temporary authority to continue to conduct operations in connection with 

maneuvering the AMC-9 satellite to a disposal orbit. The satellite had 

previously suffered a significant anomaly. The FCC granted an extension 

of this special temporary authority on December 6, 2017. The satellite 

ultimately was disposed of at an altitude that meets international guidelines, with a perigee of 277 kilometers above the geostationary arc and an 

apogee of 430 kilometers above the geostationary arc.

• On November 9, 2017: The FCC granted Hughes Network Systems, LLC, 

special temporary authority to extend the service coverage area of the 

JUPITER 2 satellite at the longitude 97.1° west orbit location to the U.S. 

Virgin Islands to support recovery operations in the Caribbean following 

Hurricane Maria. The FCC subsequently granted a license modification 

for these operations on January 18, 2018.

• February 14, 2018: The FCC granted the request of ES 172, LLC, to 

relocate the EUTELSAT 172A satellite to the longitude 174.0° east orbit 

location, where it will operate in accordance with the International 

Telecommunications Union filings of Cyprus.

• May 24, 2018: The FCC granted the request of Planet Labs, Inc., to revise 

certain identified earth station locations and permit three of the satellites in its nongeostationary satellite orbit system to add an Automatic 

Identification System (AIS) receiver system for the purpose of demonstrating additional satellite capabilities.

• July 19, 2018: The FCC granted the request of Planet Labs, Inc., to 

permit up to 120 of the satellites in its nongeostationary satellite orbit 

system to operate at altitudes greater than 550 kilometers, rather than 

500 kilometers.

The FCC also added a non-U.S.-licensed space station to its permitted list to 

allow the space station to provide domestic and international satellite service 
155 Federal Communications Commission

to U.S. earth stations that have routine technical parameters. In particular, on 

August 16, 2018, the FCC added Eutelsat S.A.’s EUTELSAT 133WA satellite to 

the permitted list, operating under the authority of France and using the Ku-band 

at the longitude 132.85° west orbit location.

During FY 2018, the operator of the FCC-licensed Iridium constellation con-

tinued the process of launching new satellites, begun in FY 2017, to replace the 

aging satellites in its 66-satellite constellation. As part of that process, in FY 2018 

the operator removed 45 satellites from their operational orbits for purposes of 

disposal. At the end of the fiscal year, 33 of those satellites had reentered Earth’s 

atmosphere. The remaining 12 of those satellites were in orbits from which they 

can be expected to reenter within 25 years, and most by 2020.

157

U.S. Department of Agricultu

U.S. Departme

Agricult

USDA

Remotely sensed data and derived information support mission-critical work of 

the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). A wide variety of data and technology, including aerial and satellite imagery and ground-based collections validated 

with GPS, are used in daily operations. Business requirements that inform specifications in USDA image acquisition contracts continue to result in heavy reliance 

on crewed aircraft–based imagery collection.

Farm Service Agency

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) administers farm commodity, credit, conservation, disaster, and loan programs as laid out by Congress through a network 

of Federal, state, and county offices. Land-based information has always played a 

fundamental role in daily operations and administration of those programs. FSA 

used a diverse set of remotely sensed data, typically from traditional aerial images, 

to support a wide variety of agency activities. Just a few of those applications are 

recording producer-reported crop plantings and supporting conservation, commodity, and agriculture-based lending programs.

FSA did not directly operate any crewed aircraft or Unmanned Aerial Systems 

(UAS) this past reporting period; however, it did issue several remote sensing contracts to acquire airborne imagery that required the use of the National 

Airspace System (NAS). The main contracts were to support orthorectified imagery collection for the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). NAIP is a 
158Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

multi-department-funded program that provides current high-resolution imagery 

of the contiguous United States (CONUS) into the public domain. The NAIP 

imagery is collected every two years and is used by nearly all civilian Federal agencies as a base layer in their Geographic Information System (GIS) to support a wide 

variety of activities, such conservation and land management. Complete border-toborder CONUS coverage under NAIP requires broad access to restricted and other 

special-use airspace. Data from several military areas are not typically collected due 

to national security concerns. Areas whose imagery was not collected in 2018 were 

Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland; Edwards Air Force Base (AFB), California; 

Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and Vandenberg AFB, California.

FSA also uses remotely sensed data collected from space-based systems, such 

as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), the Advanced 

Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), and other high-resolution satellite imagery, to support disaster recovery programs, including Emergency Loan and Emergency 

Conservation Programs, on an ad hoc basis. In addition to the civilian-managed 

space-based systems, FSA received imagery from the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) through DigitalGlobe’s Enhanced View Web Hosting 

Service (EVWHS) during 2018. FSA does not directly manage any space-based 

systems and acquires all remote sensing data from other Federal agencies and commercial vendors.

Foreign Agriculture Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service’s (FAS) Office of Global Analysis (FAS/

OGA) serves as a major source of objective and reliable global agricultural production information to the USDA’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and 

Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, the primary source of the USDA’s global 

commodity outlook. The monthly WASDE report provides public access to 

information affecting world food security and is crucial to decisions affecting 

U.S. agriculture, trade policy, and food aid. FAS/OGA uses satellite imagery at 

regional, national, and subnational scales to operationally monitor and analyze 

monthly changes in global crop production. FAS archives and displays global 

monthly crop production, supply, and distribution (PSD) data from the USDA’s 
159

U.S. Department of Agricultu

WASDE report on the FAS PSD Web site: https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/app/

index.html#/app/home.

During 2018, the International Production Assessment Division (IPAD) operated 

the remote sensing program at FAS/OGA. IPAD is an operational user of remotely 

sensed imagery and processed multiple U.S. and international sources of global 

imagery and satellite-derived weather information. Landsat 7 and 8 and Sentinel 

2A and 2B served as the primary satellites used by FAS/OGA/IPAD for mapping crop area and crop type for numerous countries worldwide, whereas NASA’s 

MODIS sensor, on board the Aqua and Terra satellites, is used by IPAD to monitor 

crop conditions and relative crop yields. The USDA–NASA Global Agricultural 

Monitoring (GLAM) Web system displayed and archived historical MODIS-Terra 

(i.e., 2000–present) and MODIS-Aqua (i.e., 2002–present) Normalized Difference 

Vegetation Index (NDVI) imagery, and the GLAM-NDVI-MODIS Web interface 

easily allowed public users to analyze and compare current crop conditions with 

past years’ crop conditions (http://glam1.gsfc.nasa.gov/). FAS/OGA plans to utilize 

NDVI time-series data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) 

sensor as a replacement for the NDVI-MODIS (Terra and Aqua) data streams that 

will end after 2020.

FAS/OGA also maintained several public global agricultural datasets by processing, archiving, and displaying a variety of satellite imagery products on the Web. 

The FAS/OGA Crop Explorer Web system allows the user to monitor, analyze, and 

display rainfall, temperature, soil moisture, and vegetation conditions by utilizing 

satellite imagery from NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM), NOAA’s 

Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites (POES), and the European 

Space Agency’s Proba-V, as well as satellite-derived weather information from the 

U.S. Air Force’s 557th Weather Wing. In addition, the Global Reservoir and Lake 

Monitor (G-REALM) monitored and displayed reservoir and lake water heights by 

utilizing satellite radar altimeter data from NASA’s Ocean Topography Experiment 

(TOPEX)/Poseidon, Jason-1, Jason-2, and Jason-3 satellites. (See http://www.pecad.

fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer/.)

FAS/OGA was part of the early-adopter program for Soil Moisture Active 

Passive (SMAP), and the USDA’s global crop production monitoring system 

was enhanced by the SMAP two-layer soil moisture products processed by the 
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USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and NASA researchers. The SMAP 

two-layer soil moisture product currently operates at 25-kilometer resolution, 

and it is expected that the SMAP two-layer soil moisture product will operate at 

10-kilometer resolution by 2020.

FAS/OGA managed the USDA’s Satellite Imagery Archive (SIA) program and 

displayed all moderate-resolution satellite imagery archived via SIA’s Archive 

Explorer (AE). In 2000, the USDA’s Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee 

(RSCC) established the SIA program, which is chaired by the USDA’s Remote 

Sensing Advisor. During 2018, the USDA/FAS purchased satellite imagery with 

22-meter spatial resolution from the Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 and archived at 

SIA’s AE. FAS/OGA/SIA also provided funding to collect AWiFS (56-kilometer) 

and Linear Imaging Self Scanning (LISS)–III Sensor (24-kilometer) imagery from 

the Indian Resourcesat–2 (IRS-2) satellite, and the IRS-2 imagery is now available 

for download through the USGS Earth Explorer Web site at https://earthexplorer.

usgs.gov/. The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service used Deimos-1, 

UK-DMC2, and IRS-2 satellite imagery covering the lower 48 states to map crop 

type for the 2018 United States crop season.

Forest Service

As the primary forestry agency of the United States and the largest agency in 

the USDA, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) continues to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the Nation’s forests and grasslands. This work encompasses 

partnerships with states, tribes, and other Federal agencies to address forestry and 

natural resource issues; the administration and management of 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands collectively known as the National Forest System 

(NFS) lands, totaling 193 million acres; and assistance to private land owners and 

state, tribal, and community forestry agencies in the stewardship of approximately 

500 million acres of non-Federal forest lands.

In FY 2018, the USFS collaborated with NASA, NOAA, the USGS, and other 

agencies to apply operational satellite and airborne imagery and the most advanced 

remote sensing and geospatial technologies. Specific accomplishments included 

the following:
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• USFS collected comprehensive Earth Observing System (EOS), MODIS, 

and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible 

Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) direct-broadcast data and 

Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data via the USGS’s Earth 

Resources Observation and Science (EROS) for the United States and 

Canada. Provided operational processing and disseminate near-real-time 

fire-mapping and geospatial data products to fire managers and the general public, including all science-sanctioned fire detection algorithms 

for MODIS (1-kilometer), VIIRS (750-meter and 375-meter) and Landsat 

(30-meter). (See https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/afm/.) More than 5.65 million users 

accessed the Active Fire Mapping Web site in FY 2018.

• USFS continued activities with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s 

Direct Readout Laboratory under a USFS-NASA interagency agreement 

to test and operationally implement direct-readout technologies, including land-, atmospheric-, and ocean science–processing algorithms for EOS 

and Suomi NPP sensors, to support evolving resource management and 

operational information needs. (See https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/directreadout/.)

• USFS continued operational processing and analysis of MODIS and 

Landsat imagery for systematic detection of damage and changing health 

conditions in Federal, state, and private forested lands throughout the 

continental United States. Monitoring data products provide early warning information to Forest Health Protection staff of forest areas potentially affected by pests/pathogens and support targeted monitoring and 

suppression activities. Also initiated efforts to leverage operational VIIRS 

imagery for comprehensive forest monitoring and ensure future continuity 

with current MODIS-based monitoring approaches. (See http://foresthealth.

fs.usda.gov/portal/Flex/FDM?dL=0.)

• USFS utilized MODIS imagery to conduct coarse-level forest damage 

assessments for large geographic areas of the continental United States 

in the immediate aftermath of several 2018 hurricane events (Florence 

and Michael). This strategic information supports the agency in targeting 

areas for fuels management activities and/or areas where higher-resolution 

forest damage assessments are required.
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• USFS continued to maintain and distribute 250-meter forest attribute

data surfaces derived from MODIS imagery and other geospatial predictor

data using nearest neighbor imputation methods. (See http://data.fs.usda.

gov/geodata/rastergateway/forest_type/index.php.)

• USFS continued to maintain and distribute 250-meter forest carbon estimates derived from MODIS imagery and other geospatial predictor data

using nearest neighbor imputation methods. (See http://data.fs.usda.gov/

geodata/rastergateway/biomass/index.php.)

• USFS continued coordination with NASA Ames Research Center to

upgrade Autonomous Modular Sensor (AMS) electronics and sensor components and further develop the AMS firmware and software for onboard

processing system capabilities and user interface to support operational

integration flights on USFS aircraft.

• USFS operationally applied Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper

(ETM) and Landsat 8 OLI imagery to respond to 114 requests to map

the location, extent, and severity of large wildfires amounting to more

than 3.3 million acres in FY 2018. These rapid-response products support

post-fire emergency stabilization/hazard mitigation activities conducted by

Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams. (See

https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/baer/.)

• USFS operationally applied Landsat 7 ETM and Landsat 8 OLI imagery

to respond to map and estimate post-fire basal area loss and canopy cover

loss for 191 large wildfires totaling nearly 4.2 million acres in FY 2018.

These products support forest restoration planning management activities

and efficient use of resources to support those activities. (See https://fsapps.

nwcg.gov/ravg/.)

• USFS continued to operationally apply Landsat 4/5 Thematic Mapper

(TM), Landsat 7 ETM, and Landsat 8 OLI imagery to inventory, map,

and characterize historical large fires to assess the effectiveness of

national fire management policies as part of the Monitoring Trends

in Burn Severity (MTBS) project. MTBS mapping activities through

FY 2018 included the completion of an additional 832 fires, increasing

the extent of historical MTBS data records to include 21,673 fires
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covering more than 162 million acres of burned lands. (See https://

www.mtbs.gov.)

• USFS coordinated with the University of Maryland, NASA, and the 

USGS under the auspices of a NASA Research Opportunities in Space 

and Earth Sciences (ROSES) A35 Wildfires Project to execute Landsat 8 

active fire detection algorithm, refine as needed, and provide output products to support USFS operational fire support activities. FY 2018 efforts also 

included advancements on extending the Landsat 8 algorithm to support 

the development of an active fire detection algorithm for Sentinel 2A/2B.

• USFS continued technology transfer activities between the USFS and 

Ames Research Center regarding Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) 

and related technologies under the auspices of the NASA-USFS Wildfire 

Research Applications Partnership and a USFS-NASA interagency agreement. (See http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/sge/WRAP/index.html.) The effort also 

included the transfer and implementation of relevant information and 

NASA-developed technologies to support crewed and uncrewed airborne 

remote sensing activities in the USFS through the Tactical Fire Remote 

Sensing Advisory Committee (TFRSAC).

• USFS used imagery from Landsat 8 OLI and NAIP to initiate, complete, 

and update mid-level vegetation-mapping products for national forest lands 

and adjacent land areas throughout the country. Mapped areas included 

five National Forests encompassing more than eight million acres.

• USFS successfully completed the Tree Canopy Cover (TCC) data for 2016 

updates for the continental United States using imagery from Landsat 8 

OLI and NAIP as part of the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics 

Consortium (MRLC) National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016.

• USFS used Landsat TM/ETM/OLI and NAIP imagery in conjunction 

with other core geospatial datasets to conduct ecological land-type associations and soil-type mapping on NFS lands in the northeast and western 

United States, which the USFS, Natural Resources Conservation Service 

(NRCS), and other agencies apply to resource management, planning, 

and decision making. (See http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/programs/teui/

about.html.)
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• USFS continued progression toward a comprehensive and consistent landcover/land-use monitoring system, the Landscape Change Monitoring

System (LCMS), for the continental United States. LCMS utilized

Landsat TM/ETM/OLI time-series stacks within Google Earth Engine to

detect and monitor land-cover/land-use change from the mid-1980s to the

present across all administrative ownerships. Efforts included the development of an annual CONUS change product spanning 1984 to 2017.

This effort is being conducted in collaboration with several Federal and

academic partners. (See http://larse.forestry.oregonstate.edu/lcms-landscapechange-monitoring-system and http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/?p=10868.)

• USFS continued to develop and refine standards and practices for integrating light detection and ranging (lidar) into forest and resource management (e.g., defining acquisition specifications, data-quality assessment,

analysis/modeling procedures for forest parameters, etc.).

• USFS continued to expand USFS involvement in the USGS 3D Elevation

Program to ensure consistent acquisition specifications and to minimize

redundant collections by partnering with other state and Federal entities

on data acquisitions.

• USFS continued to provide operational Web mapping and data services

for NAIP imagery and selected moderate-resolution imagery from NASA

satellite assets for consumption/use by Forest Service and Bureau of Land

Management staff. The nearly 1-PB data archive that provides the source

data for these services provides spatially and temporally comprehensive

coverage for the United States and is essential for daily Forest Service

operational business information needs.

• Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) staff continued to utilize CONUS

and outside CONUS (OCONUS) Landsat 8, MODIS, and NAIP imagery products to support inventory and monitoring of the Nation’s forests,

including mapping and use in post-stratification to improve forest attribute estimates.

• FIA continues to use NASA Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal

Imager (G-LiHT) data with NAIP imagery in Florida to assess and monitor post-hurricane damage to coastal mangroves. Additionally, FIA works
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with NASA scientists to use G-LiHT data to support forest inventory of 

interior Alaska.

National Agricultural Statistics Service

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) used remote sensing data 

to construct and sample area frames for agricultural statistical surveys, estimate 

crop area and yield, visualize crop condition and crop area via data-visualization 

applications, provide geospatial data products for decision support to assess the 

flooding from Hurricanes Florence and Michael, and implement a survey-based 

geospatial imputation process. Additionally, NASS published papers describing 

operational agricultural flood monitoring with Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture 

Radar (SAR) and an evaluation of Sentinel-1A C-band SAR for citrus crop classification in Florida.

NASS used Landsat imagery, digital NAIP imagery, and other remotely sensed 

inputs for the contiguous United States and Puerto Rico to select the yearly areabased samples for the June Area Survey and the 2017 Census of Agriculture. In 

addition, NASS finished updating a new area-based sampling frame for Texas.

The remote sensing acreage estimation program used satellite imagery from the 

Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and Resourcesat-2 

to produce crop acreage estimates for crops at state, agricultural statistics district 

(ASD), and county levels. Remote sensing–based acreage indications were derived 

from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) for all market-sensitive crops and states. The 

DMC imagery was provided by the Foreign Agricultural Service Satellite Imagery 

Archive, which provided growing-season coverage with DMC imagery through a 

cooperative partnership. The NASS Agricultural Statistics Board (ASB) utilized 

the remote sensing acreage indications as independent input for setting official 

estimates for monthly crop production reports. In addition, NASS distributed the 

CDL for 48 states to stakeholders for the previous 2017 crop season via the USDA 

Geospatial Data Gateway and the CropScape data-visualization application at 

https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape.

The NASS online geospatial GIS application CropScape continued to provide data users with access to a variety of geospatial resources and information, 
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including all historical CDL data and derivative cultivated data-layer and cropfrequency data-layer products. This application offers advanced tools such as 

interactive visualization, Web-based data dissemination, geospatial queries, and 

automated data delivery to systems such as Google Earth. It delivers crop-specific 

land-cover data and visualization tools directly to the agricultural community 

without needing specialized expertise, GIS software, or high-end computers. This 

information can be used for addressing issues related to agricultural sustainability, 

land-cover monitoring, biodiversity, and extreme events such as flooding, drought, 

and hailstorm assessment.

NASS continued to utilize a new geospatial CDL-based automated stratification 

method for area sampling frame operations, resulting in ten updated state area 

frames built at reduced cost with improved objectivity, efficiency, and a 29 percent 

improvement in accuracy. The CDL data are used as the basis for the objective 

stratification of NASS area frame primary sampling units rather than visual interpretation of aerial photography or satellite data.

The CDL data and the CropScape Web application were used for the first time 

for June Area Survey imputation. The CDL data, which has an 11-year record of 

planting information for every field for the contiguous 48 states, is a reliable alternative and independent data source for imputation. Moreover, CropScape can be 

used for accessing, navigating, visualizing, and summarizing the CDL data within 

selected areas of interest. This readily available tool and CDL data are used operationally to help NASS statisticians estimate acreage information missing from nonrespondent and inaccessible farmers in the editing and imputation process.

Geospatial decision support data products were delivered for rapid hurricane 

responses, including Florence and Michael assessments of flooding and potential 

crop and livestock losses. The products included crop- and pastureland inundated areas, estimated precipitation totals, CDL crop area maps, and wind swaths 

or surface winds overlaid onto crop areas identified from the CDL product over 

impacted areas and posted on https://www.nass.usda.gov/Research_and_Science/

Disaster-Analysis/. The Sentinel-1 SAR satellite was used to provide a see-throughthe-clouds opportunity to capture real-time storm inundation over crop- and 

pasturelands, providing flooding assessments and sharing of critical data for both 

USDA and FEMA usage.
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NASS utilized NASA MODIS NDVI and Land Surface Temperature (LST) 

products for modeling corn and soybean yield indications over the 12 largest production states. In 2018, six new states were added to the corn yield program, providing coverage of up to 80 percent of U.S. corn production. Updated yield estimates 

were delivered operationally to the ASB as an independent indication for setting 

official August, September, and October yield estimates by state, ASD, and county.

The Web-based national vegetation condition geospatial portal VegScape 

(https://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/VegScape) continued to deliver timely crop condition 

vegetation indices based on MODIS daily, weekly, and biweekly products throughout the growing season. VegScape showed crop condition/vegetation greenness and 

drought anomaly assessments. NASS continued monitoring the ongoing California 

drought, providing monthly growing-season CDL-based fallowed land estimates for 

California water resource stakeholders.

NASS is continuing to collaborate with George Mason University, the USDA/

Risk Management Agency, and the University of Colorado in developing a remote 

sensing–based flood disaster crop loss assessment system. The proposed system will 

provide the capability of flood disaster crop acreage loss and crop yield loss assessments using NASA remote sensing data and science results.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRCS helps America’s farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners conserve the 

Nation’s soil, water, air, and other natural resources. To fulfill this mission, NRCS 

assesses, acquires, develops, interprets, analyzes, and delivers natural-resource data 

and information to enable knowledge-based natural-resource planning and decision making at all landscape levels. Various types of geospatial systems, data, and 

information are crucial to successful delivery of NRCS services.

Orthoimagery, elevation data, and Global Positioning Systems are essential 

geospatial data integrated into NRCS program applications, service centers, 

state offices, and national centers. Since the 1930s, NRCS (formerly the Soil 

Conservation Service) used aerial photography and orthoimagery for conservation 

and soil survey purposes. Today, NRCS offices use geospatial data daily to support 

conservation programs.
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NRCS coordinates acquisitions of orthoimagery and digital elevation data with 

other Federal and state agencies through interagency committees like the National 

Digital Orthoimagery Program (NDOP) and the USGS 3D Elevation Program 

(3DEP). Participation in NDOP and 3DEP assists NRCS in maximizing geospatial 

investments and avoiding duplication of acquisitions for orthoimagery and digital 

elevation datasets.

Aerial Imagery

The Rural Development Act of 1972, Section 302, directed the Secretary of 

Agriculture to put in place a land inventory and monitoring program that would, 

among other things, study and survey damage from soil erosion and sedimentation; 

floodplain identification and use; land-use change; and potential environmental 

damages resulting from the misuse of soil, water, and related natural resources. 

This program, which became the National Resources Inventory (NRI), results in 

the publication of a land inventory report at not less than five-year intervals on 

the condition of the Nation’s soil, water, and related natural resources. In FY 2018, 

through an interagency agreement, NRCS used the Farm Service Agency’s Aerial 

Photography Field Office to acquire high-resolution aerial photography (4-inch 

ground-resolving distance) and scans of over 70,500 sites in the contiguous United 

States, 470 sites in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and 340 sites in Hawaii. 

All the sites possess confidential location information. NRCS continued to use 

natural-color negative film for these collections. Despite the known advantages 

of direct digital imagery, film continued to be the least costly method to acquire 

high-spatial-resolution imagery for the NRI. The scanned film imagery is georeferenced and interpreted at one of NRCS’s three Remote Sensing Labs. The resulting 

data were sent to the Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology at Iowa State 

University for statistical analysis. (See https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/

main/national/technical/nra/nri/.)

Through the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), NRCS 

holds title to or enforcement rights to approximately 17,800 Stewardship Land easements, providing protection to more than 3.4 million acres nationally. Stewardship 

land easements are easements that the agency (as NRCS, the Soil Conservation 
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Service [SCS], or the Commodity Credit Corporation [CCC]) acquired on behalf 

of the United States as a holder or for which it has other responsibilities outlined 

in the easement deed. Annual monitoring of these easements is critical to ensure 

that the objectives of each easement program and relevant easement authorities, 

as well as legal requirements, are being met on the enrolled lands. Additionally, 

NRCS is required to report the condition of its easements as part of its annual 

financial accountability reporting. Starting in FY 2014, the NRCS conducted a 

pilot project using high-resolution direct digital imagery to test the efficiency of 

having imagery available to state offices early in the fiscal year for monitoring 

activities. In FY 2017, NRCS continued the pilot project and used the USDA Small 

Area Aerial Photography Contract to acquire imagery for monitoring purposes. 

The collection was divided into 1) 24,679 high-resolution, natural-color negative 

film aerial photos and (2) 582,161 acres of direct digital, 15-centimeter-resolution, 

4-band, orthorectified imagery in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, 

North Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, and West Virginia. Information on 

easement programs can be found at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/

national/programs/easements/.

The National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) is a high-resolution imagery program that usually collects during leaf-on time periods during the summer 

months. This dataset is the foundation layer for geospatial data used in USDA 

offices and our cooperators. NRCS; USFS; USGS-DOI; and NAIP Leader, FSA, 

have successfully funded and supported NAIP since the program’s inception in 

2003. NAIP orthoimagery is used extensively within NRCS and is used in most 

NRCS offices in the continental United States. NAIP orthoimagery is delivered 

to NRCS at a one-meter or higher ground resolution and with four multispectral 

bands (Natural Color and Color Infrared [CIR]). NRCS makes use of NAIP in 

many programs, such as the Web Soil Survey (https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.

gov/App/HomePage.htm) and Conservation Planning (https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/

wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/cp/), and it is used as the base imagery for 

NRI for orthorectification. NRCS makes NAIP data available to the general public 

via compressed county imagery mosaics on the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway 

at https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/. NAIP is collected on a two- to three-year cycle 

for CONUS. In FY 2018, NAIP collected 25 states’ worth of imagery. All were 
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collected at 0.6 meter and in four multispectral bands (Natural Color and CIR). 

NAIP collects all areas of the United States, including agricultural land, public 

lands (Federal, state, and local), and urban areas.

Satellite Imagery

NRCS responds to geospatial imagery needs from all states and territories, 

including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Commonwealth 

of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, and parts of Micronesia. 

NRCS requires high-resolution imagery at one meter or higher for most agency 

programs. Acquisition of imagery in non-CONUS areas is challenging because 

of remoteness and weather. NRCS uses satellite imagery from the DigitalGlobe 

EnhancedView Web Hosting Service (https://evwhs.digitalglobe.com) and purchases 

imagery from commercial sources for areas such as these and over-restricted airspace. DigitalGlobe imagery is also used for pre- and post-event disaster response 

and in cases where other imagery is outdated.

Elevation

NRCS has national requirements for high-quality elevation data, and the agency 

has a national strategy to acquire, integrate, and deliver high-quality digital elevation data that meet the agency’s geospatial requirements. High-quality digital 

elevation data support the agency’s business activities by improving employee 

effectiveness and efficiency in providing assistance to our customers.

NRCS participates in the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) to acquire highquality 3D elevation data through remote sensing. (See https://nationalmap.gov/3DEP/.)

Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including the design, 

implementation, and management of natural resources conservation practices; 

agriculture; precision farming; engineering; forest resources management; wildlife 

and habitat management; the determination of highly erodible lands; flood risk 

management; resource assessment; water supply and quality; and other business uses. 

This map depicts areas of actual lidar topographic acquisition projects that NRCS 

and 3DEP partners awarded in FY 2018. This area represents 583,427 square miles.
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In FY 2018, 3DEP and its partners funded data acquisition for 16 percent of 

the Nation’s area, resulting in a cumulative total of 53 percent of the Nation with 

3DEP-quality data available or in progress. The goal of 3DEP is to complete the 

acquisition of nationwide lidar (IfSAR in Alaska) in eight years to provide the 

first-ever national baseline of consistent high-resolution elevation data—both bareearth and 3D point clouds—collected in a timeframe of less than a decade.

Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Signals from Space

NRCS utilizes signals broadcast from the GPS constellation of satellites to provide Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services that support the NRCS 

mission of “Helping People Help the Land.”

Employees of NRCS, located in over 2,000 Field Service Centers across the 

country, performed the following activities while using Space Based GPS PNT 

services in FY 2018:

• NRCS technical specialists and contractors used GPS as an aid for the 

collection of NRI information in 49 states on 2,350 sample areas known 

as area segments. In addition, the NRI collected data in 2018 for the 
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Bureau of Land Management on 1,000 area segments located on Federal 

land in 13 states. Most area segments contain three individual sample 

points. Each sample point represents a physical location on Earth’s surface. NRCS and contract personnel used GPS to navigate to two of the 

three sample points and perform location validation upon arrival at the 

points. Accurate navigation to sample sites was essential for statistically 

valid data collection. Results of the data collection were analyzed and 

utilized to produce the “NRI Rangeland Resource Assessment” report as 

well as the “NRI Pastureland Assessment Report.” Both documents were 

released in June 2018. Please see https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/

main/national/technical/nra/nri/ for further information.

• The National Resources Inventory contracts the collection of aerial imagery on nearly 72,000 area segments each year. NRCS analysts housed in 

the three Remote Sensing Labs require consistently accurate location of 

the segments captured in the imagery. Repeated collection of data from 

accurately located area segments is used for trend analysis and is published in the NRI reports that support the 1976 Resource Conservation 

and Recovery Act. Use of space-based GPS and GPS corrections enables 

contractors to collect in-flight data for precision registration of images. 

Please see https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/technical/

nra/nri/ for further information.

• Multiple NRCS states utilize GPS Space Based PNT services to navigate 

to and document the condition of conservation easements under the 

authority of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). 

The ACEP provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve 

agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits. The ACEP, 

preceded by the Wetlands Reserve and other conservation easement 

programs, is funded through the current Farm Bill. Iowa, Kansas, and 

Vermont are among the states utilizing GPS and GNSS PNT services 

along with smart devices to collect monitoring information on thousands 

of easements across the country. The collected data, as well as supporting photos and notes, were uploaded into an enterprise content management system and were used to support the analysis of easements. Aerial 
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imagery was flown over segments, and the acquiring aircraft utilized 

Space Based PNT to collect image registration information. Periodic onground and airborne monitoring was used to assess the performance of 

the easements and to ensure that the easements conformed to the terms 

of the easement contracts. Private-sector Registered Land Surveyors used 

survey-grade GPS/GNSS equipment to establish and record boundaries 

of new agricultural easements and validate the boundaries of existing 

easements.

• NRCS soil scientists used Space Based GPS PNT to routinely navigate to 

soil-sampling sites to conduct follow-up investigation and to provide soil 

survey technical services to farm and ranch operators.

• The NRCS Water and Climate Center utilized Space Based GPS PNT 

to map locations of instrumentation and provide timing for telemetry 

signals. The coordination and delivery of data from 867 Snow Survey 

Telemetry (SNOTEL) stations and 226 Soil Climate (SCAN) stations 

require nanosecond precision that timing signals from GPS provide. The 

Water Climate Center also utilized the NOAA Geostationary Operational 

Environmental Satellite (GOES) network to provide telemetry services 

for remote monitoring sites at more than 25 locations. Telemetry data 

services have also been procured for Iridium satellite commercial communications on nearly 100 locations. Most of the stations utilizing Iridium 

are in Alaska.

• In FY  2018, the NRCS and cooperating partners utilized GPS, along 

with other geospatial data, to put conservation practices on the ground. 

GPS positions marked the locations of resource concerns on the landscape. Agency personnel and cooperating partners transferred resource 

concern position information from GPS receivers to a USDA Enterprise 

Geographic Information System (GIS) application called Conservation 

Toolkit. Planners used the Toolkit to prepare conservation and alternative 

plan maps. The plan maps are used by farm and ranch owner/operators to 

choose conservation practices that address the identified concerns. GPS 

was also used to verify measurements and document installed practices for 

contract cost-sharing payments.
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• NRCS engineers utilized Space Based GPS PNT to perform detailed topographic surveys of farms to support conservation planning. Additional 

GPS surveying was performed to design and lay out conservation practices 

that managed or controlled the flow of water across the landscape. Many 

NRCS contractors utilized GPS through all phases of conservation practice and structural construction projects.

• During FY 2018, NRCS-California assisted Napa, Sonoma, Ventura, and 

Santa Barbara counties in evaluating the erosion hazards associated with 

the Thomas and Tubbs Fires. NRCS visited hundreds of sites, meeting 

with landowners and reviewing areas of concern. During the typical site 

visit, NRCS often used Space Based GPS PNT to mark coordinates that 

could later be loaded into GIS to produce maps for further analysis.

Bryan and Chelsea Phipps have worked on conservation planning on their ranch with Sue Fitzgerald, 

NRCS district conservationist, in Jordan, Montana. Increased soil cover leads to cooler soil temperatures. Please see https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Cascade/index.html?appid=f5fa1f4046b64640ae31eb6

9db5f1071 for additional information. (Photos courtesy of USDA NRCS)

Risk Management Agency

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), created in 1996, serves 

America’s agricultural producers through effective, market-based risk management tools to strengthen the economic stability of agricultural producers and rural 

communities. RMA manages the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) to 

provide innovative crop insurance products to America’s farmers and ranchers. 

Geospatial systems and data, including space-based remote sensing systems, have 

played a fundamental role in RMA’s program delivery, particularly in the compliance and oversight program areas.
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Through crop insurance, RMA provided assistance to farmers and ranchers impacted by natural disasters, including hurricanes and fires. In 2018, RMA 

used remote sensing data, such as Landsat, Sentinel-2, Disaster Monitoring 

Constellation (DMC), MODIS, and high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery. 

Many of these imagery products were collected as a result of the USDA’s interagency coordination.

RMA incorporated many different geospatial decision-support products that 

have been provided to the USDA and RMA leadership for situational awareness. 

These products help mitigate many natural disasters that have significant impacts 

to agricultural areas that use crop insurance. The products included impacted 

program estimates, estimated precipitation, and natural-disaster extents with such 

things as flooding, hurricanes, and wildfires. Orthoimagery, elevation data, and 

GPS information were essential geospatial data integrated into RMA program 

applications. RMA offices used geospatial data on a daily basis to support crop 

insurance.

RMA staff were active participants in Science Teams, such as the USGS-NASA 

Landsat Science Team and the USDA Soil Moisture Working Group that focuses 

on the use of data from the NASA SMAP mission. As an operational user of 

remote sensing products, RMA’s participation in these work groups provided 

insight to scientists in developing applications that benefit crop insurance delivery 

and oversight, as well as farmers and ranchers across America.

In addition, RMA often partnered with scientists and researchers to develop 

products to meet agency business needs, including Oregon State University–

Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM); George 

Mason University and USDA NASS on developing an agricultural flood-loss estimation system; and Tarleton State University–Center for Agribusiness Excellence 

(CAE) on integrating satellite imagery for enhancing program integrity models.

177 National Science Foundation

National Sc

Foundati

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) continued to serve as the lead Federal 

agency for the support of ground-based astronomy and space science. Through the 

divisions of Astronomical Sciences, Physics, Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, 

and Polar Programs, the NSF sponsored a broad base of observational, theoretical, 

and laboratory research aimed at understanding the states of matter and physical 

processes in the universe. Areas of research ranged from the most distant reaches 

of the universe and the earliest moments of its existence to nearby stars and planets—including our own Sun and planetary system—as well as Earth’s atmosphere 

and space environment.

Division of Astronomical Sciences

The Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) within the Mathematics and 

Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate supported the development of advanced 

technologies and instrumentation for astronomical sciences, in addition to providing core support for the optical and radio observatories with state-of-the-art 

instrumentation and observing capabilities accessible to the community on the 

basis of scientific merit. The NSF’s national astronomical facilities included the 

National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the Arecibo Observatory (AO), 

the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), and the National Solar 

Observatory (NSO). The NSF also served as the executive agency for the Gemini 

Observatory—an international partnership operating optical/infrared telescopes 
178Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres—providing the United States’ 

share of support for the program.

During FY 2018, AST, in partnership with the European Union, Canada, Japan, 

the Republic of Korea, and Taiwan, continued science operations of the Atacama 

Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), an interferometric array located 

near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. ALMA received over 1,800 observing proposals, the most for any observatory on the ground or in space. Early in FY 2019, for 

the first time, ALMA will make observations with all 66 antennas. Capabilities 

offered to the community included simultaneous observations with arrays of 12- 

and seven-meter-diameter antennas, observations with antenna separations of up 

to 16 kilometers, and observations at frequencies of up to 900 gigahertz. ALMA 

continues to provide unique insights across a broad range of topics, including planets and planet formation, proto-stellar and debris disks, low- and high-mass star 

formation, stellar evolution, normal galaxies, galactic centers, and galaxy formation 

and evolution.

Construction of the NSF’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) continued 

through FY 2018. DKIST is the result of a collaboration of scientists from more 

than 20 institutions representing a broad segment of the U.S. solar physics community, and it had previously earned the strong recommendation of the National 

Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. When completed in 2020, 

DKIST will be the world’s flagship ground-based telescope designed specifically for 

the study of solar magnetic fields on scales as small as 30 kilometers. The baseline 

cost for the DKIST project is $344.13 million. The project is approximately 89 percent complete and is both on budget and on schedule. In FY 2018, the sixth of 

eight Level-1 milestones was achieved with the completion of the telescope mount 

assembly (TMA). Also in FY  2018, the primary mirror (M1) and the M1 Cell 

Assembly were successfully transported to the DKIST site on Maui. The M1 Cell 

Assembly successfully underwent site acceptance testing. The M1 was integrated 

into the Cell Assembly and the entire package installed on the TMA for initial 

alignment. In early FY 2019, the project entered the critical Integration, Testing 

and Commissioning (IT&C) phase of construction, which will continue through 

the remainder of the project.
179 National Science Foundation

The National Solar Observatory (NSO) is the lead organization for the construction of DKIST. NSO will also operate the facility under a ten-year cooperative 

agreement. Funding for DKIST operations is in the final year of a five-year ramp 

to a steady-state level of approximately $16.5 million per year for FY 2019. NSO 

is currently building a new Data Center at its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. 

This Data Center will process the ten to 12 terabytes of data per day expected 

from DKIST.

The importance of the potential impacts of space weather on the Nation’s 

critical infrastructure has raised the level of awareness of space weather within 

the Federal Government. Personnel from MPS-AST, along with colleagues from 

the Directorate for Geosciences’ Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences 

(GEO-AGS), participated in the National Science and Technology Council’s 

(NSTC) Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation (SWORM) multiagency task force. The NSTC tasked SWORM with developing a National Space 

Weather Strategy (NSWS) and an associated National Space Weather Action 

Plan (NSWAP). NSO’s Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) provides 

detailed synoptic solar data crucial to operational space weather forecasting. In 

FY 2016, the NSF received a one-time increase of $2.5 million to refurbish GONG 

and make it operationally robust. Refurbishment activities for GONG continued 

through FY 2018. Operations of the GONG facility are jointly funded through a 

five-year Interagency Agreement between the NSF and the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration.

Construction of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) project continued 

in FY 2018, with realized risks remaining well within the originally assigned cost 

and schedule contingencies. Construction is over 62 percent complete. Major components are being shipped and will arrive at the summit soon, and “first light” is 

on schedule for 2020. After two years of commissioning to tune all of the complex 

interrelated operating systems, full science observing will start on October 1, 2022. 

In LSST’s planned ten-year prime mission, imaging the entire accessible sky many 

hundreds of times, the multicolor survey will populate a science-ready database of 

unprecedented size, enabling breakthrough research in dark energy and dark matter, in galactic structure, and in solar system astronomy. The relentless, repeated 

observations will also open up the time domain and revolutionize the study of 
180Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

transient events. The Federal partners, the NSF and the Department of Energy 

(DOE), expect this survey to generate 30–40 terabytes of data every night, night 

after night, throughout its operational life. DOE is funding the camera in a project 

led by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. NSF is funding the telescope, 

building, site, network and software pipelining, and data management systems that 

allow specialized access separately for research and for education and public outreach. Private, non-Federal funding provided long-lead-time items and technology 

development essential for mitigating early risks. The NSF and DOE will support 

installation and commissioning together. Operations support has been requested 

from both agencies and will be augmented by negotiated non-Federal and international contributions. The NSF awarded initial pre-operations ramp-up support in 

FY 2018, and activity begins in FY 2019.

In FY 2018, AST’s Mid-Scale Innovations Program (MSIP) supported 18 programs, with five-year project costs in the range of $3–10 million. There were 

numerous new projects awarded funding in FY 2018: The Keck All-Sky Precision 

Adaptive Optics system (KAPA) for use at the two Keck Observatory telescopes 

on Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) Adaptive optics 

exoPlanet characterization System (MAPS), to be used at the MMT Observatory 

on Mt. Hopkins, Arizona; the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), 

for observations with the MSIP-funded low-frequency radio telescope array 

(240 14-meter antennas) in the Karoo Desert of South Africa, to observe the 

21-centimeter emission signal of neutral hydrogen from the Epoch of Reionization 

in the early universe; Large Lenslet Array Magellan Spectrograph (LLAMAS), 

a facility integral field spectrograph for the Magellan Telescopes in Chile; 

Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP) Array Stage 

3, a program, in collaboration with the Office of Polar Programs, to develop and 

observe CMB polarization at the South Pole with new telescope instrumentation; 

the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), a Fast Radio Burst (FRB) localization machine 

consisting of 110 five-meter radio antennas to be built at the Owens Valley Radio 

Observatory in Central California; the Advanced Cryogenic L-band Phased Array 

Camera for Arecibo (ALPACA), for the Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico; GBT 

Metrology, a program for correcting surface deformations at the Green Bank 

Telescope in West Virginia, to support high-resolution three-millimeter molecular 
181 National Science Foundation

imaging for the U.S. community; and operations support for the Long Wavelength 

Array (LWA) in New Mexico, in exchange for observing opportunities for the 

general astronomical public at this unique observatory.

Active MSIP awards from previous years included the Cosmic Large Angular 

Scale Survey (CLASS), a pair of telescopes being built at 5,200 meters (17,000 feet) 

on Cerro Toco near the ALMA site on the Atacama Plateau in Chile, designed 

to measure so-called “B-mode” polarization of the cosmic microwave background 

(CMB, the radiation at microwave wavelengths that is a remnant of the Big Bang); 

TolTech, a 3,000-pixel millimeter-wavelength camera for observing our galaxy and 

distant dusty galaxies, to be installed on the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico; 

and the Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts (SuMIRE), a camera and 

observing program developed by Princeton University for use on the Japanese 

Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii to conduct a very deep optical survey 

of distant galaxies.

Other active MSIP programs supported in FY 2018 included the Zwicky 

Transient Facility (ZTF), a telescope/camera combination at Mount Palomar in 

California dedicated to high-cadence optical surveys and a pathfinder for the 

LSST; the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), a six-meter-diameter millimeterwave telescope; and POLARBEAR, a 3.5-meter-diameter millimeter telescope. The 

last two are both, like CLASS, sited on Cerro Toco and are designed to measure 

minute variations in the intensity and polarization of the CMB. POLARBEAR 

is funded in partnership with the Simons Foundation. Also ongoing is an award 

for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), designed to measure, at extremely high 

resolution, radio emissions originating from the near environs of the black hole at 

the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

MSIP also provided the U.S. astronomical community with observing time at 

the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) optical interferometer on Mount Wilson in California and at the Las Cumbres Observatory, a 

network of 18 optical telescopes at eight sites around the world working together 

as a single instrument.

Damage to the Arecibo Observatory (AO) resulting from Hurricane Maria, 

which hit the island of Puerto Rico in September 2017, was assessed and partially 

repaired during FY 2018. The observatory was closed for a short time but has since 
182Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

resumed operations, albeit with some systems still disabled. A 29-meter-long line 

feed for use at 430 megahertz was torn from its moorings above the antenna and 

plunged into the surface of the dish, while the lower sections of the dish were 

flooded with water. Fortunately, none of the staff were injured. In the aftermath of 

the storm, the observatory was used as a command center for emergency activity 

in the surrounding countryside. Funds in the amount of $12.3 million for repairs to 

AO infrastructure and instrumentation were appropriated by Congress in FY 2018. 

FY 2018 also saw a change in management for Arecibo to a consortium led by the 

University of Central Florida, which will allow the NSF to reduce its contribution 

toward Arecibo’s operating costs from $8 million to $2 million by FY 2022, with 

the shortfall to be made up by the consortium partners. NSF support for AO was 

shared between AST and the Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences in 

the GEO Directorate.

Division of Physics

The Division of Physics (PHY) continued to operate its Laser Interferometer 

Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), which underwent commissioning work 

during this calendar year in preparation for the third observational run to be 

started in April 2019.

Complementing LIGO, the Division of Physics, in partnership with AST, 

continued its funding of a Physics Frontiers Center for the study of gravitational 

radiation, called the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational 

Waves (NANOGrav). NANOGrav uses large radio telescopes to study the arriving 

clocklike signals from over 50 rapidly spinning pulsars to search for deviations in 

the timing that could indicate the passage of a single gravitational wave through 

our galaxy or the presence of a stochastic background of many gravitational 

wave sources throughout the universe. A typical source of gravitational waves for 

NANOGrav would be a black hole pair with millions of times the mass of the 

Sun, in contrast to LIGO’s tens of times, and the wave itself would have a period 

of several years.

For a description of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, partially supported by 

PHY, see the Division of Polar Programs section below.
183 National Science Foundation

Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

During FY 2018, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) reorganized the Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation (SWORM) activity 

as a Working Group under the Space Weather, Security, and Hazards (SWSH) subcommittee within the Committee for Homeland and National Security (CHNS). 

The Space Weather Action plan, monitored by the SWORM subcommittee, 

encourages the NSF to support fundamental research linked to societal needs 

for space weather information and to work with other agencies specifically “to 

develop models, observation systems, technologies, and approaches that inform and 

enhance national preparedness for the effects of space weather events.” The NSF is 

fulfilling this goal through its science programs in the Atmospheric and Geospace 

Science Division (AGS), the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences 

(MPS), and the Directorate of Geosciences program Prediction and Resilience 

against Extreme Events (PREEVENTS). Additional support comes through interagency collaborations such as the joint sponsoring of the Community Coordinated 

Modeling Center located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the NSFDOE plasma partnership.

The NSF, through AGS and MPS participation, remained active in SWORM 

activities. Representatives from the NSF participated in the NSTC efforts to revise 

and update the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan. In addition, 

NSF/AGS has a leading role in the efforts to improve the initial space weather 

benchmarks that were published in FY 2017. This effort has been focused on developing a process for obtaining worldwide community input. NSF/AGS also led an 

action (Goal 5.5.1 from the action plan) to identify space weather research priorities, including obtaining input from the scientific community via an RFI. A report 

documenting these priorities was submitted to the SWORM for approval.

The Geospace Section (GS) within AGS supported a wide variety of research 

programs in space science in FY 2018. 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 

GS-funded activities in FY 2018 included the Geospace Facilities (GF) program; the 
184Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Space Weather Research (SWR) program; the Solar-Terrestrial Research (STR) program; the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions (CEDAR) 

program; and the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program.

The Geospace Section runs the Faculty Development in Space Sciences (FDSS) 

Program to ensure the health and vitality of solar and space sciences within university teaching faculties; it offers five-year awards for the creation of new tenuretrack faculty positions within the intellectual disciplines that compose the space 

sciences. In FY 2018, the GS continued to support the hires resulting from the most 

recent competition.

In FY 2018, the GS continued to support its program for CubeSat-based smallsatellite science missions for geospace and atmospheric research and education. 

During FY 2018, one project continued to operate successfully in space and one 

new mission was launched. The analysis of high-quality observations from many of 

the previous missions continued to deliver scientific findings and results throughout FY 2018, including an article in Nature addressing the origin of electrons in 

the inner zone of Earth’s radiation belts. In addition to the active projects, the GS 

section solicited new CubeSat mission proposals. Evaluation of these proposals was 

conducted, and awards are expected to be made early in FY 2019.

In FY 2018, the GS continued to support the satellite-based Active 

Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE), 

which is now in its second implementation phase, AMPERE-II. AMPERE utilized 

the 66 networked satellites of the existing Iridium constellation to create a new 

facility for collecting geomagnetic field data. The AMPERE facility continued to 

provide the first-ever global observations of the electric currents that link Earth’s 

magnetosphere and ionosphere and the first-ever continuous global observations 

for tracking geomagnetic storm-time dynamics. Geomagnetic storms occur when 

charged particles emitted by solar eruptions interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. 

Large geomagnetic storms can cause major disruptions of power and high-frequency 

(HF) communications systems on the ground and degrade the accuracy of satellitebased navigation services. During FY 2018, the data collection for AMPERE continued and the data remained freely available to researchers.

Research facilities remained as the key component of GS efforts. The Geospace 

Facilities program in FY 2017 continued to enable basic research on the structure 
185 National Science Foundation

and dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere. In particular, the CEDAR and GEM 

programs conducted research efforts utilizing these facilities. Throughout FY 2017, 

observations made by the Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar (AMISR) 

at Poker Flat, Alaska, examined the ionospheric effects of auroral particle precipitation in three dimensions. AMISR is ideally situated to observe the properties of 

the ionosphere in the polar cap, a region that is characterized by high ionospheric 

variability that often causes disruption of important navigation and communication systems. In collaboration with the Division of Astronomy, the GS awarded a 

five-year cooperative agreement to a consortium led by the University of Central 

Florida to operate the radar facility at Arecibo. In addition to the cooperative 

agreement award, the NSF has made an initial award of $2 million to repair damages caused by Hurricane Maria.

In FY 2018, the AGS’s Atmosphere Section (AS) continued to support the 

Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate 

(COSMIC). The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) 

and its collaborator, Taiwan’s National Space Organization, designed and built 

the COSMIC six-satellite constellation, which launched on April 14, 2006, with 

the support and assistance of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program. Shortly 

thereafter, data became available from the three payloads: the special space-based 

GPS radio occultation (RO) receivers, the so-called Tiny Ionosphere Photometers, 

and the Tri-Band Beacons. These data have been provided freely to the world 

scientific community.

COSMIC radio occultation data have been assimilated at many operational 

weather prediction centers, including the U.S. National Centers for Environmental 

Prediction (NCEP), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 

(ECMWF), Météo France, the United Kingdom’s Met Office, the Meteorological 

Service of Canada, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau, and others. All of these 

centers have reported that RO data had a significant positive impact on numerical weather forecasts. In ionospheric studies, COSMIC RO data accelerated the 

development of physical models for space weather prediction by providing dense, 

accurate, and global electron-density measurements used for model testing and 

initialization, including the response of the global ionosphere to the impact of 

solar storms.
186Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

During FY 2018, only one COSMIC satellite was still reporting (well beyond the 

expected three-year life span) and produced about 250 occultations per day. The 

reduction in COSMIC coverage has been somewhat mitigated through the use 

of missions of opportunity, including the Korean Kompsat5 satellite, and UCAR 

is working with NOAA to obtain these data in near-real time. Approximately 

90 percent of real-time processed COSMIC data are available for the users and 

operational weather forecasting centers within three hours. COSMIC supported 

more than 1,100 registered users from 52 countries. In collaboration with UCAR’s 

Unidata, COSMIC soundings have been provided in real time to support the university community. UCAR also reprocessed data to provide consistent records for 

the duration of the mission and produced post-processed and reprocessed data from 

several GPS radio occultation (GPSRO) missions of opportunity. The NSF and 

NASA are jointly funding the COSMIC mission for the duration of its expected 

life span.

The NSF continued to collaborate with NOAA, the USAF, Taiwan, and UCAR 

to ensure the success of the follow-on COSMIC-2 mission. COSMIC-2 now consists of a six-satellite constellation to be launched into low-inclination orbits to 

provide dense coverage of the tropics. (A second polar constellation was planned 

but has now been cancelled.)

Office of Polar Programs

For FY 2018, the primary activities of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in 

ground-based space science and astronomy included continued full-scale observations at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station with the ten-meter off-axis 

radio South Pole Telescope (SPT); the battery of five small-aperture (50-centimeter) 

telescopes called the Small Polarimeter Upgrade for Degree Angular Scale 

Interferometer (SPUD) array; and another, stand-alone Background Imaging of 

Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization (BICEP3) telescope—a wide-field cryogenic 

refractor with a 55-centimeter aperture and fast optics that achieves an order 

of magnitude increase in throughput. The High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz 

(HEAT) robotic telescope, deployed since 2011 at the highest point of the Eastern 

Antarctic Plateau (Ridge A), has completed successful operation through 2017; 
187 National Science Foundation

however, its removal from the Antarctic Plateau was delayed until January 2019. 

Scientific data collected through the lifetime of this project are now published, and 

all observational data are shared with the scientific community.

The SPT continued observations with the new, third-generation receiver 

SPT-3G, which has wide-field optics to measure the CMB polarization at high 

sensitivity. Both the SPT and BICEP research groups are currently focusing on 

measurements of the CMB polarization anisotropy. They target measurements of 

the B-mode polarization where primordial gravitational waves have their imprint, 

as well as on the B-mode signal caused by the gravitational lensing of the intrinsic 

CMB’s E-mode polarization signal. Polarization measurements on smaller angular 

scales measured with the SPT are being used to increase the precision of the CMBlensing determination of projected mass maps of the sky.

The SPT-3G camera has three observing bands (centered at 95, 150, and 

220 gigahertz) and represents a fundamental step forward in CMB polarization 

measurements. In 2018, the SPT-3G’s focal plane was ungraded to 16,000 detectors. 

Recent SPT results for delensing the CMB polarization signal from gravitational 

effects of galaxy clusters are helping with better understanding of foregrounds at 

the degree-scale anisotropies in the CMB.

Recent scientific results from the BICEP Collaboration include deep multifrequency (95-, 150-, 220-, and 270-gigahertz) maps of degree-scale B-mode polarization that measure gravitational lensing and foregrounds to unprecedented 

precision. This project also produced the deepest-ever maps of CMB polarization at 

four different frequencies, or colors, of light. The constraints that BICEP telescopes 

have produced on primordial gravitational waves continue to improve, leading the 

way in probing models of inflation that operate near grand-unified theory (GUT) 

energy scales.

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO, jointly operated at the South Pole 

by the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs and Division of Physics) has now collected 

data for eight full years of operation from a complete array of 86 strings of optical 

photodetectors deployed in the ice under the South Pole Station in Antarctica 

at depths between 1.4 and 2.4 kilometers. The existing detector is capable of 

observing cosmogenic neutrinos with energies of 100 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) to 

ten petaelectronvolts (PeV). The NSF has recently funded a moderate upgrade of 
188Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

the detector, adding seven new strings to the existing six-string DeepCore array. 

This will boost significantly the detector’s performance at the 5- to 10-GeV energy 

scale, yielding over an order of magnitude more statistics than current samples and 

enabling the world’s best measurement of the tau neutrino. The upgrade will lead 

to the most stringent testing of unitarity in the tau sector of the Pontecorvo-MakiNakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) matrix that describes all known neutrino oscillation 

behavior. Any deviations from unitarity would be evidence for new physics.

The ICNO has produced the world’s best limit on the flux of cosmogenic neutrinos, which places very strong constraints on the sources of ultra-high-energy 

cosmic rays. The PeV neutrinos observed by IceCube have a thousand times the 

energy of the highest-energy neutrinos produced with earthbound accelerators and 

a billion times the energy of the neutrinos detected from supernova SN1987 in 

the Large Magellanic Cloud, the only neutrinos that had been detected on Earth 

from outside the solar system prior to IceCube’s breakthrough. However, the most 

surprising property of these cosmic neutrinos is their large flux rather than their 

high energy or their origination outside our galaxy.

Observations made by researchers using the IceCube detector at the South Pole 

and verified by ground- and space-based telescopes have produced the first evidence of one source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos. These ghostly subatomic 

particles can travel unhindered for billions of light-years, journeying to Earth from 

some of the most extreme environments in the universe. Data gathered by the 

NSF’s IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Foundation’s Amundsen-Scott South 

Pole Station in Antarctica are helping to answer a more-than-century-old riddle 

about the origins of high-energy cosmic rays.

The group of international researchers traced a path of the single neutrino 

detected by IceCube on September 22, 2017, to a previously known but little-studied 

blazar, TXS 0506+056, the nucleus of a giant galaxy that fires off particles in massive jets of elementary particles, powered by a supermassive black hole at its core. 

The ICNO results opened a new window to the universe, providing novel insights 

into the engines that power active galactic nuclei and generate high-energy cosmic 

rays, gamma-ray bursts, and other violent and energetic astrophysical processes. 

ICNO exploration of scientific frontiers has already changed and expanded understanding of the universe.
189 National Science Foundation

“The era of multi-messenger astrophysics is here,” said NSF Director France 

Córdova in the NSF’s Press Release 18-050 (July 2018). “Each messenger—from 

electromagnetic radiation, gravitational waves and now neutrinos—gives us a 

more complete understanding of the universe, and important new insights into 

the most powerful objects and events in the sky. Such breakthroughs are only pos-

sible through a long-term commitment to fundamental research and investment in 

superb research facilities.”

The NSF’s Division of Polar Programs also supports NASA’s Long Duration 

Balloon Program in the Antarctic. McMurdo Station provides the necessary logis-

tics for astrophysics payload assembly and final testing and then helps launch the 

balloons and support payload recovery after the flights in various regions of the 

Antarctic continent.

191 Department of State

Department of

DOS

The Department of State (DOS) carries out diplomatic and public diplomacy 

efforts to strengthen American leadership in space exploration, applications, and 

commercialization by increasing understanding of, and support for, U.S. national 

space policies and programs and to encourage the foreign use of U.S. space capabilities, systems, and services. The Office of Space and Advanced Technology within 

the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs 

(OES/SAT) directly supports this mission through the negotiation of bilateral and 

multilateral engagement with partner countries and by leading U.S. participation 

in numerous international space and technological activities and international 

organizations.

Bilateral Dialogues

The United States held productive and frank discussions with Japan on 

Space Policy Directives 1–3 and the National Strategy for Space at the fifth 

Comprehensive Dialogue held in Tokyo on July 20, 2018. Japan welcomed an invitation from NASA to participate in its lunar space exploration program, including the lunar orbiting platform known as Gateway. Japan also expressed support 

for expanding commercial activity in low-Earth orbit to include the International 

Space Station. Scott Pace, Executive Secretary for National Space Council (NSC), 

and Bill Liquori, Director of Space Policy at NSC, cochaired the meeting for the 

United States. Ambassador Kansuke Nagaoka, Deputy Assistant Minister at Japan’s 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), and Shuzo Takada, Director General for the 

Cabinet-Level National Space Policy Office, cochaired the meeting for Japan. OES/
192Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

SAT led discussions pertaining to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the 

Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), space resource utilization, cooperation 

with other spacefaring nations, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and 

space weather. The dialogue emphasized a whole-of-government approach to civil, 

commercial, and national security space activities and cooperation.

Another important bilateral space dialogue that the Department of State facilitated during 2018 was with the European Commission (EC), which has a space 

agenda that continues to grow in both breadth and depth. On January 18, 2018, 

the Department hosted in Washington, DC, the ninth meeting of the U.S.–EU 

Dialogue on Space Cooperation to move forward this important dialogue on security and civil space activities between the two sides. More than 50 officials from 

both sides attended the meeting, including representation from more than ten U.S. 

Federal agencies. The U.S. side was led by officials from two State Department 

Bureaus: Oceans, Environment and Science (OES) and Arms Control, Verification 

and Compliance (AVC). The European side was led by the Special Envoy on Space 

from the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EC’s Directorate 

General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small Medium 

Enterprise (DG-GROW). The civil dimension of the meeting was dominated by 

detailed discussions on U.S.–EU cooperation on two major European space systems: the Galileo program on Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and the 

Copernicus Earth observation program. Both programs continue to receive growing financial investments from the European Commission. Most important, they 

continue to offer unique opportunities for transatlantic collaboration between the 

United States and the European Commission. For instance, Europe’s Copernicus 

constellation of Sentinel satellites provides free access to satellite data for FEMA’s 

emergency response during the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season and to the U.S. 

Coast Guard for its operational responsibilities to monitor and track icebergs 

threatening the safety of U.S. and international shipping in the North Atlantic. 

One of the outcomes of this annual bilateral meeting on space is a short work plan, 

with specific action items which grow in number and breadth, bringing notable 

value for both civil and security needs of the U.S.-EU transatlantic space agenda. 

The next meeting of this dialogue is planned for January 2019 and will be hosted 

by the European Commission in Brussels.
193 Department of State

Working-level discussions with the EU on GNSS also continued in FY 2018 

through working groups formed by the 2004 U.S.-EU GPS-Galileo Cooperation 

Agreement, administered for the United States by State-OES/SAT. The working 

group on next-generation GNSS applications and its three subgroups, Service 

Evolution, Resiliency, and Service Provision Coordination, met in April 2018. The 

working group on trade and civil applications also met in July 2018. In FY 2018, 

the United States also held discussions with the EU on potential U.S. access 

to the Galileo encrypted Public Regulated Service (PRS), with an emphasis on 

increased resiliency.

U.S. bilateral space cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region was very active 

and successful in 2018. From April 16 to 18, in collaboration with the Space 

Foundation, OES/SAT implemented and conducted the first Asia-Pacific panel 

discussion on space policy and international cooperation at the annual Space 

Symposium with four nations: Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand. The 

forum accomplished three central objectives: 1) provided the U.S. space community with an understanding of these countries’ space policy decision-making 

process and key goals, 2) provided U.S. space industries and agencies unique access 

to policy makers in these key spacefaring nations, and 3) raised the importance of 

international space collaboration in the region.

The third U.S.-Vietnam Civil Maritime Domain Awareness (CMDA) workshop 

was held from May 3 to 10 to lay the groundwork for the creation of a space-based 

data collection center, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. With the commitment of the government of Vietnam and technical assistance from the United 

States, the Center will act as the central data warehouse and analytic center for 

supporting Vietnam’s whole government decision-making process, which will 

address the safety, security, economy, and environment of the country.

During the week of October 31, on the margins of the 25th Asia Pacific Regional 

Space Agency Forum in Singapore, Boeing sponsored a three-day workshop for 

the Asia-Pacific “space generation” young professionals, following two years of collaborative work with the Department’s Office of Space and Advanced Technology. 

Over 100 students and young professionals from 23 nations across the Pacific participated in the workshop focusing on emerging space issues such as the rise of 

small satellites and how the Internet of Things will shape the area’s economy.
194Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

In November 2017, the State Department led a U.S. delegation to Beijing for 

the third bilateral U.S.-China Civil Space Dialogue. This included discussions on 

Earth and space science cooperation, space exploration, space debris, and the longterm sustainability of outer space. The result of this dialogue led to a follow-up 

Expert Exchange on Space Flight Safety, which was held in April 2018 on the 

margins of the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

The State Department continued to lead productive bilateral GNSS meetings 

with China in FY 2018, including a plenary-level dialogue and meetings of the three 

subgroups—Compatibility and Interoperability, Satellite Based Augmentation 

Systems, and Civil Service Provision—which took place in May 2018. Prior to 

that, in November 2017, the United States and China signed a nonbinding Joint 

Statement on GNSS Compatibility and Interoperability, highlighting an agreement on signal designs that ensures compatibility and improved interoperability 

between GPS and the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.

The United States held a bilateral GNSS and Space Weather Dialogue with 

the government of Canada in November 2017. OES/SAT chaired the meeting on 

the U.S. side, and the meeting focused on improving coordination on operational 

issues and increasing collaboration in specific areas of interest to both countries.

Multilateral Activities

In December 2017, State Department led the U.S. delegation to the 12th 

meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG) in Kyoto, Japan. This 

meeting brought together more than 200 experts and government officials representing 20 countries and organizations to discuss GNSS service provision and 

use in a multilateral forum. The four working groups of the ICG include Systems, 

Signals and Services; Enhancement of GNSS Services Performance; Information 

Dissemination and Capacity Building; and Reference Frames, Timing and 

Applications. All four working groups met and developed four new recommendations that were adopted by the full ICG, with a focus on improving GNSS compatibility and interoperability as well as improving outreach to the user community.

In FY 2018, OES/SAT continued its long-standing efforts to lead the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space 
195 Department of State

(COPUOS) and supported its Legal Subcommittee (LSC) and Scientific and 

Technical Subcommittee (STSC). State also continued to lead the participation of 

both U.S. Government and private-industry participation in the Working Group 

on Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities (LTS). In 2018, the working 

group completed eight years of work that resulted in 21 voluntary guidelines for 

ensuring the long-term sustainability of outer space activities through best practices 

focused on enhancing the safety of space operations. The United States played a 

leading role in the development of these guidelines, which take into account the 

needs of governmental space programs and the growing commercial space industry. The United States will continue to report on the domestic implementation of 

these guidelines through COPUOS and encourages all spacefaring nations to do 

the same.

In June 2018, COPUOS celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first United 

Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space 

(UNISPACE+50), and the United States, led by DOS, made contributions to the 

agenda of this event as well as seven thematic priorities that will guide the work of 

the committee through 2030. Additionally, DOS continued co-leading an action 

team to develop a plan of activities to be approved in 2018, highlighting the importance of international cooperation in global space exploration efforts.

Science Envoy for Space

Under the State Department’s Science Envoy Program, OES/SAT had the opportunity to manage several highly productive overseas trips for the Department’s first 

Space Envoy, Charles Bolden, former NASA Administrator and former Space 

Shuttle commander and astronaut. In October 2018, OES/SAT scheduled a robust 

trip for the Space Envoy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan to promote space exploration and commercialization of space. In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, 

Envoy Bolden participated in public events chosen to promote U.S. leadership in 

space, including speaking engagements at multiple primary schools; two public 

film screenings of Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow; participation 

in a Q&A session moderated by Alia Al-Mansoori, a teenage Emirati aspiring 

astronaut; a visit to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center to discuss the Mars 
196Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Mission; meetings with the Minister of Advanced Sciences and UAE’s Youth 

Council; and multiple interviews. In Jordan, through OES/SAT coordination with 

Embassy Abu Dhabi’s public relations officer, Envoy Bolden’s delegation and four 

students who won an online contest camped in the desert in Wadi Rum. Envoy 

Bolden also attended a high-level dinner, whose participants included Princess 

Sumaya and prominent members of the Jordanian business and scientific community. Additionally, he gave the keynote address at the 2018 American Chamber 

MENA (Middle East North Africa) Regional Council Conference. He also engaged 

with over 750 students and faculty during three separate outreach events arranged 

by OES/SAT in coordination with the embassy’s public diplomacy office. Toward 

the end of the fiscal year, OES/SAT continued to orchestrate other space exploration and STEM outreach trips for Envoy Bolden to Ethiopia and South Africa, as 

well as future countries to be announced.
197 Department of Energy

Department of En

DOE

The Department of Energy (DOE) participates in the national effort to further 

U.S. interests in space. Organizations within DOE that provide this capability 

are the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the DOE Office of 

Science (SC), and the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).

Mission Contributions Within the National Nuclear 

Security Administration

Planetary Defense: NNSA has worked with NASA and the interagency community relative to U.S. interests in space. NNSA participated in the Detecting 

and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-Bound Near-Earth Objects (DAMIEN) initiative and as part of the Mission Executive Council initiative to develop a strategic 

framework for space protection, primarily focusing on satellites. The DAMIEN 

initiative developed the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and 

Action Plan to help improve our Nation’s preparedness to address the hazard of 

near-Earth object (NEO) impacts. This plan had five strategic goals. The two pertaining to NNSA include improving NEO modeling, predictions, and information 

integration and developing technologies for NEO deflection and disruption missions. The actions of these two strategic goals are being fulfilled by the Interagency 

Agreement regarding planetary defense between NNSA and NASA.

NASA leverages NNSA-unique engineering, scientific, and computing capabilities for analyzing asteroids and planetary defense scenarios. This work helps 

to develop and exercise capabilities that are relevant to the weapons program, 
198Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

including two- and three-dimensional simulations, weapon effects, system engineering, and weapon component design.

The NNSA-NASA interagency agreement involves collaborating to

• characterize the potentially hazardous asteroid target sets, define mission 

requirements, and identify capability gaps;

• examine the effects of either a kinetic impactor and/or a nuclear detonation, either at the surface or at a standoff distance from a model asteroid, 

using simulations from petascale computers at the National Laboratories;

• define additional development and system engineering requirements 

addressing technical gaps such as arming, fusing, and firing a deflection 

device;

• participate in Planetary Defense tabletop exercises and technical interchange meetings; and

• advise on risk-assessment analysis and the effectiveness of mitigation 

approaches.

Strategic Partnership Projects: NNSA supports Strategic Partnership Projects, 

funded by NASA, with the following capabilities:

• Providing metrology support with calibration on standards and measuring test equipment supporting metrology areas at NASA’s White Sands 

Test Facility.

• Monitoring satellite visible-light sensor data for bolide occurrences worldwide and generating reports detailing bolide parameters.

• Modeling asteroid entry, airburst, and surface impact effects.

• Enabling joint exploration of sounding rocket technologies at NASA’s 

test ranges.

Small Fission Power Systems: NASA recently employed NNSA assets to 

develop and test a prototypic reactor and power system that may enable NASA 

to potentially provide stationary surface power capability. A technology demonstration project, referred to as Kilowatt Reactor, using Stirling Technology, was 

completed in 2018 utilizing expertise from Los Alamos National Laboratory 

(LANL), the Y-12 National Security Complex, and the Nevada National Security 

Site to demonstrate heat transfer and conversion principles utilizing a subcritical 

experimental reactor as the basis for driving the nuclear reaction. This project 
199 Department of Energy

provided insight to NASA as to whether the reactor design concept is suitable for 

future flight development. NNSA retained the fissile material, which is available to 

perform a variety of radiation test object and nuclear data experiments supporting 

safety, security, and other NNSA missions.

Radioisotope Power Systems (RPS) Launch: NNSA and NASA work collaboratively during the preparation for and execution of the RPS launch at Kennedy 

Space Center (KSC).

• During the preparation phase, NNSA and NASA review and update procedures and conduct training, drills, and exercises with the state, tribal, 

and local emergency management organizations and agencies to validate 

the ability to manage the consequences of a launch anomaly that may 

result in an uncontrolled release of radiological materials into the atmosphere and surrounding environment.

• During the execution phase, NNSA stages technical specialists and sensors in the vicinity of the launch site to be prepared to respond immediately in the unlikely event of a launch anomaly. NNSA personnel would 

be assigned to the KSC Primary Agency Representative Management 

Group, the Radiological Control Center, and the Joint Information 

Center to provide real-time data assessment and risk-communication support to KSC and coordinate with the NNSA Consequence Management 

Home Team should an NNSA-led Federal Radiological Monitoring and 

Assessment Center be established offsite following a launch anomaly.

NASA’s Environmental Continuous Air Monitors: NNSA maintains the 

Environmental Continuous Air Monitors (ECAMS) that NASA owns for deployment around the launch site in advance of a launch to provide indication of a 

release, should one occur. NASA has agreed to loan these sensors to NNSA for use 

in support of NNSA’s nuclear incident response mission when those devices are 

not being used for mission launch support. These devices have been upgraded to 

provide real-time associated data telemetry systems and will be interoperable with 

NNSA’s existing data telemetry capability.

Global Nuclear Monitoring: NNSA builds the Nation’s operational sensors 

to monitor the entire planet from space in order to detect and report surface, 

atmospheric, or space nuclear detonations. NNSA provides much of the Nation’s 
200Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

capability to detect, report, locate, and identify nuclear explosions using orbiting satellites. NNSA develops, builds, and delivers these satellite payloads to meet 

interagency performance and schedule commitments and provides launch and onorbit operational support for the current generation of the U.S. Nuclear Detonation 

Detection System (USNDS).

Since the 1960s, beginning with the Vela satellite program, NNSA and its 

predecessors have provided the underlying science and technology capability for 

space-based detection of foreign nuclear weapon detonations to meet Test Ban 

Treaty monitoring needs. This fiscal year, NNSA continued full-scale production 

and delivery of sensor payloads as needed to meet national security requirements. 

To ensure that the technologies and capabilities developed for the program support 

stakeholder needs, NNSA actively engaged in intergovernmental working groups 

to reduce duplication of effort, refine user requirements, and improve the quality of 

relevant technologies across funding agencies.

The NNSA weapons laboratories—specifically LANL, Sandia National 

Laboratories (SNL), and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)—supply 

the science, technology, and engineering required for USNDS. LANL and SNL 

lead the production of sensor-laden payloads, and LLNL contributes to the end-toend modeling of USNDS. These laboratories have a unique and comprehensive 

understanding of nuclear weapons, as well as the observables associated with nuclear 

detonations and the propagation of signals to sensors. Moreover, these laboratories 

have extensive capabilities in the design, construction, calibration, deployment, and 

operation of satellite-based instruments, along with detailed modeling and analysis. 

To support continuous global monitoring, the operations communities routinely 

receive analysis, insights, and computer codes based on this research.

Two payload suites built at the NNSA laboratories accomplish the nuclear detonation reporting mission: the Global Burst Detector (GBD) and the Space and 

Atmospheric Burst Reporting System (SABRS). The GBD is hosted on all GPS 

satellites, and SABRS is carried on satellite hosts in geosynchronous orbit. In order 

to maintain a vital capability to design and implement these systems, NNSA supported demonstration-validation payloads both to explore new technologies and 

new sensing modalities and to increase the Technology Readiness Level for parts 

that might be used in future payload designs.
201 Department of Energy

Research Sponsored by the DOE Office of Science

In FY 2018, SC supported several activities that contribute to a broad range 

of space interests. These activities included SC fundamental research that is of 

mutual interest to the NASA mission, NASA researchers, SC program offices, and 

SC-sponsored scientists; collaborative research efforts with NASA; and the operation of SC scientific facilities that are available to NASA and the broader scientific 

community for space-related research.

SC supports frontier plasma science research that contributes to SC-NASA 

mutual interests in the knowledge of heliospheric and astrophysical systems. 

Some of the research supported by SC’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) 

enables the development of a comprehensive understanding of heliospheric and 

astrophysical magnetized plasma processes, including magnetic reconnection, particle energization, and turbulent cascade processes in the solar corona and Earth’s 

magnetosphere; Alfvén wave acceleration of auroral electrons; eruptive instabilities leading to solar flares and coronal mass ejections; plasmoid instability in fast 

reconnection; collisional and collisionless shock; magneto rotational instability in 

generating turbulence in accretion disks; and dynamo processes creating planetary/

galactic magnetic field structures.

Specific examples of FES-supported activities in FY 2018 include 1) the Large 

Plasma Device at the Basic Plasma Science Facility at the University of California, 

Los Angeles, which enables controlled studies of Alfvén waves that carry energy and 

momentum from the Sun to Earth and throughout the universe; 2) the Magnetic 

Reconnection Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, which permits laboratory studies of magnetic reconnection and particle-energization processes 

in the solar corona and Earth’s magnetosphere; 3) the Big Red Plasma Ball and 

Madison Symmetric Torus experiments at the Wisconsin Plasma Physics Laboratory 

at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which allow comprehensive experiments, 

isolating the key effects of magnetic reconnection, dynamo, turbulence, and particleenergization processes with high fidelity; and 4) the Max-Planck-Princeton Center 

for Plasma Physics, established in 2012 in partnership with the Max Planck Society 

in Germany, which specifically explores the application of plasma science to solar 

and astrophysical problems and their connections to fusion science.
202Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

In addition, FES sponsored unmagnetized plasma and high-energy-density laboratory plasma research, focused on areas such as increased understanding of the role 

of dusty plasmas in planetary rings and interstellar media, understanding the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, the study of nuclear astrophysics, and the properties 

of warm dense matter similar to that found in planetary cores. Over the past three 

years, SC has been engaged in a number of strategic planning efforts, including an 

FES-sponsored a series of community-led research opportunities workshops to identify 

compelling scientific challenges at the frontiers of plasma physics and fusion science, 

which identified research opportunities for the next decade. Plasma science governing 

space weather, an area of broad mutual interest to NASA and FES, was highlighted in 

the workshops. Furthering the study of laboratory plasmas for growing our understanding of astrophysical plasma phenomena was also a focus. A number of these NASArelevant research areas were supported as part of several FES funding-opportunity 

announcements for universities and DOE national laboratories in FY 2018.

SC also funds the development of experimental techniques and instrumentation for use on NASA space missions to study fundamental physics and investigate high-priority national science objectives through SC’s Office of High Energy 

Physics. Examples of these efforts include the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer 

(AMS) and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST). The AMS is a 

particle physics experiment supported by DOE and international partners, who 

designed and built the AMS-02 detector and associated systems. Launched on 

Space Shuttle Endeavour on Space Transportation System (STS) mission STS134 in May 2011 and mounted on the International Space Station (ISS), AMS 

searches for various types of unusual matter in the cosmos through its exquisite 

accuracy in the measurement of cosmic rays. AMS science goals include a search 

for evidence of dark matter and cosmic domains of antimatter, as well as for novel 

features in cosmic-ray spectra. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed 

between DOE and NASA defined NASA’s responsibilities to include provision of 

power, data handling, and other services on the ISS, while DOE’s responsibilities 

include experimental operations and data analysis. As of 2018, more than 100 billion cosmic-ray events have been collected, with data-taking continuing to enable 

precision measurements of the abundance and spectra of cosmic-ray antimatter, 

which can give information about dark matter, and to search for heavy antimatter.
203 Department of Energy

The Large Area Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument on NASA’s FGST, 

is a particle physics detector in space to study the gamma-ray sky for high-energy 

acceleration mechanisms generated by supermassive black holes and supernovae 

and to search for dark matter. It monitors the entire sky in high-energy gamma 

rays and enables searches for transient phenomena over a wide range of timescales. 

SC managed the LAT fabrication and now operates the LAT Instrument Science 

Operations Center. In 2018, the LAT published competitive limits on the evaporation of primordial black holes and limits on a dark-matter annihilation signal in 

electrons based on the very high statistics for cosmic-ray electrons in LAT data.

SC also made crucial contributions to the European Space Agency–NASA 

Planck Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) mission, which took data from 

2009 to 2013. Planck measures the CMB, which allows studies of the inflationary epoch in the early universe as well as dark energy, dark matter, and neutrino 

properties. A NASA and DOE MOU enabled dedicated DOE National Energy 

Research Supercomputing Center (NERSC) supercomputing resources for the 

Planck mission. NERSC resources have made it possible to understand and mitigate systematic effects to the exquisite precision needed for the data analysis. Final 

results describing the cosmological legacy of Planck were published in 2018 and 

provided the strongest constraints on parameters of the universe, including models 

of the early universe and large-scale structure. The results also include precision 

measurements of dark energy and the neutrino mass scale. The resources provided 

by NERSC are especially important since the science available from the all-sky 

and high-frequency CMB observations in space is not likely to be surpassed for at 

least a decade.

SC also engaged in many collaborative research efforts with NASA through 

SC’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research in the areas of atmospheric 

science and terrestrial ecology. During FY 2018, SC’s Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement Research Facility (ARM) and Terrestrial Ecosystem Science (TES) 

activities supported measurements of atmospheric trace gases in Oklahoma to 

improve understanding of the influence of atmospheric and terrestrial processes 

on atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. ARM provided support for groundbased measurements of carbon dioxide in Oklahoma as part of the Total Column 

Carbon Observing Network (TCCON); these measurements are being used to 
204Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

validate NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite. SC’s ARM 

user facility also supported the launch of dedicated radiosonde observations during satellite overpasses at three sites (Southern Great Plains, Oklahoma; Graciosa 

Island, Azores; and Barrow, Alaska) to obtain profiles of temperature and moisture 

for the validation of algorithms for the Cross-track Infrared Sounder and Advanced 

Technology Microwave Sounder on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership 

satellite and Joint Polar Satellite System satellites.

The SC TES activity supports the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment 

(NGEE)-Arctic, which has collaborated with the NASA Arctic-Boreal 

Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) study to couple real-time ground-based and 

airborne-based measurements of soil moisture, temperature, carbon dioxide, and 

methane flux over Barrow and Council, Alaska. A Memorandum of Agreement 

(MOA) between the two activities enables the leveraging of complementary expertise, such as the generation of high-resolution lidar and elevation data products, as 

well as including representatives on each project’s science team to provide coordination of data and modeling efforts. NASA Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and 

Thermal (G-LiHT) airborne imager is being used to characterize tropical forest 

dynamics across a range of edaphic, climatic, and land-use gradients (both prior 

to and following Hurricane Maria) in Puerto Rico to support SC’s NGEE-Tropics 

activity. Through interagency agreements, SC’s Atmospheric System Research 

activity also supported collaboration with NASA scientists on studies using ARM 

and NASA observations to investigate aerosol and cloud processes and their role 

in Earth’s energy balance.

SC has been working with NASA in several areas to help support NASA’s mission interests, providing scientific user facilities, including particle accelerators and 

ion beams, for biological and electronic systems radiation studies. The NASA Space 

Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), a leading facility for radiobiology studies in the 

United States, was established at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to 

study the effects of cosmic radiation exposure on astronauts. The NSRL uses beams 

of heavy ions extracted from BNL’s Booster accelerator (these are also produced for 

SC’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider [RHIC] facility) to increase our understanding of the link between ionizing radiation and cell damage, leading to safer space 

exploration for astronauts. An upgrade mutually beneficial to and jointly funded 
205 Department of Energy

by NSRL (NASA) and RHIC (SC) was the construction of the Electron Beam Ion 

Source (EBIS), supported by SC’s Office of Nuclear Physics (NP), which expanded 

the range of ion species available for both radiological effects research and fundamental nuclear science; EBIS was fully commissioned in 2015. The “Extended 

EBIS” upgrade, initiated by BNL in 2016 with shared funding from SC and NASA 

and continued in FY 2018, benefits NSRL with increased ion beam intensities for 

gaseous elements, including light ions such as hydrogen and helium. Recently, the 

Galactic Cosmic Ray Simulator mode of operation at NSRL has been developed 

to provide many different ion beams in a short period of time. SC also supports 

fundamental research on nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest, contributing 

to SC-NASA mutual interests in the knowledge of stellar evolution, neutron star 

mergers, gamma-ray bursts, and the composition of interstellar space.

Lastly, electronics space-radiation effects testing that is necessary for mission 

assurance occurs at several DOE accelerator facilities, including BNL and the 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s 88-inch cyclotron. SC’s NP and NASA 

are supporting the 88-inch cyclotron operations to accomplish their respective 

missions. SC and other stakeholders are initiating research and development that 

could lead to enhanced capabilities for radiation effects testing at the 88-inch 

cyclotron. A 2018 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study supported by SC, 

NASA, and other agency stakeholders, Testing at the Speed of Light: The State of 

U.S. Electronic Parts Space Radiation Testing Infrastructure (available at https://www.

nap.edu/catalog/24993/testing-at-the-speed-of-light-the-state-of-us), focused on a comprehensive assessment of the future needs of the electronics space-radiation effects 

testing program in the United States. Among other findings, the NAS report recommended the creation of a joint coordination body, to include DOE and NASA, 

which would “define the usage needs for parts radiation testing and assure the 

adequacy and viability of radiation test facilities out to 2030.”

Capabilities Developed via DOE Office of Nuclear 

Energy Sponsorship

NE supports NASA’s planetary science and human exploration programs by 

maintaining capabilities to develop, produce, and deliver radioisotope power 
206Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

systems (RPSs) for Federal user agencies, such as NASA. The RPS infrastructure 

capabilities, funded by NASA and managed by NE, support NE’s production of 

RPSs for current space mission applications. NE and its predecessors have provided RPSs that have safely enabled deep space exploration and national security missions for over five decades. The RPSs convert the heat from the natural 

radioactive decay of plutonium (Pu)-238 into electricity. RPSs reliably operate for 

decades under the harsh conditions encountered in deep space or on the surfaces 

of other planets.

In FY 2018, NE continued to support the next RPS-powered mission, Mars 2020, 

completing a number of major milestones. Early in the second quarter, LANL successfully manufactured 28 fueled clads, providing 20 flight-quality fueled clads for 

the Mars 2020 mission and eight spare fueled clads. Within this inventory, six 

fueled clads contained some of the newly produced plutonium-238 from Oak Ridge 

National Laboratory (ORNL), demonstrating DOE’s progress to re-establish domestic Pu-238 production capabilities. Early in the third quarter, Aerojet Rocketdyne 

Holdings, Inc. (AR), successfully completed the fabrication of two Multi-Mission 

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) Flight Units. In the fourth 

quarter, the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), with the support of AR, developed 

power predictions for MMRTG Flight Units 2 and 3 to support the Mars 2020 

Project in its flight unit selection. Also in the fourth quarter, INL completed fueling of the 16 graphite impact shell (GIS) assemblies required for the Mars 2020 

mission. The GIS assemblies contain 20 new fueled clads recently manufactured 

at LANL for the Mars 2020 mission, along with 12 fueled clads from the existing 

inventory. Additionally, NE continued to work with Sandia National Laboratory to 

prepare the Mars 2020 Safety Analysis Report to support the Presidential Directive/

National Security Council nuclear launch approval processes.

With NASA funding support, NE continues to invest in current RPS production infrastructure through an approach called constant-rate production (CRP). 

Beginning in FY 2018, the CRP strategy addresses NASA’s needs by positioning 

the RPS infrastructure to support a level of sustained production of certain components. This strategy focuses on long-lead-time components that would support the 

production of Pu-238 heat-source material, heat source (fueled clads), specialized 

materials that support the production of heat sources (iridium clad vent sets and 
207 Department of Energy

carbon-bonded carbon-fiber sets) and the placement of the heat sources into a 

stable configuration for storage (up to several years). The CRP goals are

1. producing 1,500 grams of heat-source Pu-238 oxide annually by FY 2025 

and

2. manufacturing 10–15 fueled clads a year by FY 2020.

The outcome of the CRP strategy is an underlying base of shelf-ready, flightquality components that are readily available once NASA selects a nuclear-enabled 

mission, thus reducing overall mission schedule risks. This approach also has a 

net positive effect to the NASA mission of reducing the mission-specific cost for 

utilizing an RPS since the support for CRP would eliminate the costly, cyclical 

approach to stand-up and stand-down fuel production activities. DOE national laboratories have already demonstrated results toward achieving the CRP goals. Since 

2015, ORNL has produced approximately 350 grams of heat-source plutonium-238 

oxide over three campaigns at High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and initiated 

a fourth campaign in the fall of 2018 that is expected to provide 350 grams of 

material. In FY 2019, the plan is for production to ramp up to 400 grams of heatsource plutonium-238 oxide per year and, by 2024, that production will increase to 

1.5 kilograms of material per year to meet future NASA mission needs. Efforts are 

under way to optimize the HFIR beryllium reflector for Pu-238 production and to 

certify the Advanced Test Reactor at INL for production in the early 2020s, utilizing a standard neptunium target. Additionally, LANL successfully manufactured 

22 fueled clads in a 12-month period in support of the Mars 2020 mission, demonstrating the ability to sustain CRP fueled-clad goals into the future.

NE, through the DOE national laboratories, provided technical expertise, procurement coordination, and review planning and support to NASA in conducting 

basic and applied energy conversion research and development to advance stateof-the-art performance in heat-to-electrical-energy conversion. Both static and 

dynamic energy conversion projects are under way at this time; however, dynamic 

conversion, which can achieve higher efficiency, has not been developed to flightworthy status as yet. The goal of these investments is to provide higher conversion 

efficiency and improve mission performance over design life through robustness. 

Increased efficiency would benefit the program by extending the effective use of 

the Pu-238 supply.
208Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

Finally, NE, through the DOE national laboratories, provides technical support 

for the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system development led and funded by 

NASA. In the fourth quarter of FY 2018, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center 

provided funding to DOE/INL to continue efforts on NTP. NASA has renewed its 

efforts to design, develop, and deploy a nuclear thermal propulsion system to power 

crewed deep space missions by 2030, which has support from Congress. The collaborative effort, which also involves LANL, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and 

Babcock and Wilcox Technologies, Inc., will involve new work for the Transient 

Reactor Test Facility to support NASA experimental-fuel needs and includes 

technical project oversight, ground-test trade studies, reactor conceptual design, 

fuel/fuel element fabrication technology development and testing, and project 

support activities. The current project builds on previous efforts by NASA, DOE, 

and industry, including the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application engine 

development that ended in 1972.
209 Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Insti

The Smithsonian Institution continued to contribute to national aerospace 

goals through a variety of activities in FY 2018. The Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory (SAO) and the Harvard College Observatory jointly form the Center 

for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Through this organization, more than 300 scientists engage in a broad program 

of research in astronomy, astrophysics, Earth and space sciences, and science 

education during the year. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum 

(NASM) and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) in 

Washington, DC, also contributed to reaching national aerospace goals through 

research and education activities.

Three widely reported stories featured SAO astronomers in FY 2018. The first 

was the discovery of a population of intermediate-mass black holes by scientists 

using the Chandra X-ray Observatory among other facilities. (SAO runs the 

Chandra mission for NASA.) Black holes are among the most amazing and bizarre 

predictions of Einstein’s theory of gravity, point-like in dimension but surrounded 

by imaginary edges (“event horizons”) within which anything that ventures 

becomes lost forever to the rest of the universe. Despite being implacable sinks for 

matter and energy, the regions around black holes are often sources of powerful 

emissions that have allowed thousands of black holes to be discovered, most of 

them large, with more than a million solar-masses. The new paper has discovered, 

for the first time, a population that is only between hundreds to tens of thousands 

of solar-masses. The second widely reported item was the successful launch of 

the Parker Solar Probe, reported in Nature, which will “fly into the sun” to probe 

its upper atmosphere, the corona. SAO built the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas 

and Protons (SWEAP) experiment onboard. The third item is the measurement 
210Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

of ‘Oumuamua—the mysterious, elongated, visiting interstellar asteroid—by the 

Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer spacecraft; SAO scientists led the 

development of IRAC and its observations of ‘Oumuamua.

Illustration of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun. (Image credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins 

Applied Physics Laboratory [APL]/Steve Gribben)

The Chandra X-ray Observatory (a NASA “Great Observatory”) is an orbiting 

telescope for precision x-ray astronomy for which SAO played a key design and 

development role. SAO also runs the Operations Control Center in Cambridge. 

Chandra, with its unrivaled ability to obtain high-resolution x-ray images, plays a 

pivotal role in the exploration of the universe, enabling astronomers to investigate 

phenomena as diverse as comets, black holes, supernova remnants, galaxy clusters, 

dark matter, and dark energy. Chandra operates at a high efficiency, carrying out 

observations for teams from all over the world with a high productivity rate averaging about 450 publications per year. In 2018, Chandra discoveries included nuclear 

outbursts in radio galaxies, a galaxy-scale fountain of gas pumped by a black hole, 

newborn stars without protoplanetary disks, and some exotic binary stars.

NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, now in its 15th year of operation and 251 million kilometers away from Earth, has continued to produce exciting new views of 

the universe at infrared wavelengths. Spitzer is the fourth and final space telescope in NASA’s Great Observatory series. Spitzer’s IRAC was developed at SAO 

with Giovanni Fazio as Principal Investigator, and it was constructed at NASA’s 

Goddard Space Flight Center. IRAC has been the only instrument operating since 
211 Smithsonian Institution

Spitzer ran out of cryogens nearly ten years ago; IRAC has now been on continuously for a remarkable 1,100 days. In 2018, IRAC discoveries included dust in exoplanetary atmospheres, flares from the black hole at the center of the Milky Way 

Galaxy, and dramatic emissions from a spectacular gravitational wave source—a 

binary neutron star merger. (The gold on Earth is thought to be a product from 

these exotic mergers, which until now have never been directly detected.)

An artist’s conception of ‘Oumuamua, the first known interstellar object to visit the solar system. 

(Image credit: NASA/JPL)

The Solar Dynamics Observatory provides better-than-high-definition-quality 

images of the Sun’s surface and outer atmosphere, measuring physical conditions 

that help scientists model the stellar wind and its influence as “space weather” 

around Earth. SAO is a major partner in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly 

(AIA)—a group of four telescopes that photograph the Sun in ten different wavelength bands, or colors, once every 12 seconds, producing the most spectacular 

images ever recorded of the active surface of the Sun. NASA’s Interface Region 

Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite offers a unique view of the Sun’s mysterious 

chromosphere and transition regions. SAO built the telescope feed and has an 

active role in IRIS operations, calibration, and science. IRIS is providing information on particle acceleration in hot coronal loops, providing better understanding 

of the physical processes in solar flares. During 2018, SAO scientists continued 

their involvement in other solar satellites, including Hinode and the Deep Space 

Climate Observer.
212Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

FY 2018 marked continued progress for the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), 

on which SAO is a team leader. The GMT is a facility for optical and infrared 

observations that will combine seven huge mirrors to create the world’s largest 

telescope. It will address key questions in cosmology, astrophysics, and the study of 

planets outside our solar system. NASA’s space-based James Webb Space Telescope 

and the GMT will provide access to complementary biomarkers from exoplanet 

atmospheres. Four of the seven eight-meter-diameter mirror segments have now 

been fabricated, and one has been polished and prepared for shipment to the site 

in Chile.

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is a developing facility that unites telescopes around the world to study the event horizon of the supermassive black hole 

at the center of the Milky Way. SAO’s Greenland Telescope is now a part of the 

EHT consortium. In 2018, the EHT team used the Submillimeter Array (SMA, 

jointly built and operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the 

Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics), together with eight 

other facilities around the world, to examine the black hole and activity going on 

around it. SAO scientists are exploring the possibility of adding a space-based telescope to improve the spatial resolution of the EHT. SAO scientists also combined 

SMA observations of flaring of the black hole (produced as the black hole accretes 

material) with simultaneous measurements taken by the Chandra and Spitzer space 

telescopes. In separate research, SAO scientists used the SMA to probe an unexpected outburst in a newly forming star, thought to be due to accretion, and to 

analyze the structures of galaxies in the very early universe.

The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution (TEMPO) mission has made 

excellent progress in 2018 and is nearing completion of the instrument construction, with launch scheduled in 2019. The mission will study the constituents of 

the atmosphere in more detail and precision than ever before, compiling a new 

dataset of atmospheric chemistry as measured from space. TEMPO will be the first 

space-based instrument to monitor major air pollutants across the North American 

continent every daylight hour at high spatial resolution. SAO’s Arcus mission was 

selected in 2017 by NASA to compete in a final down-select for the next MediumClass Explorer (MIDEX) mission, and that selection is still under way. Arcus is 

a high-resolution x-ray grating spectrometer telescope mission. SAO is a team 
213 Smithsonian Institution

member of a second competing MIDEX selection: SPHEREx, a telescope that will 

conduct four all-sky infrared spectral surveys. SAO manages the Science Center 

for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is engaged in a 

two-year mission to discover transiting exoplanets with an all-sky survey. Optical 

follow-up observations of exoplanet candidates found with TESS rely on SAO’s 

facilities in Arizona and Chile to confirm an exoplanet classification.

SAO pursues a wide variety of nationwide STEM education and outreach 

initiatives, many of which are aimed at broadening public participation in and 

maximizing the societal benefits of the astrophysics research efforts of the institution. The MicroObservatory is a robotic network of telescopes operated by the 

CfA for research and public outreach purposes. In 2018, more than 50,000 U.S. 

students, teachers, members of the public, and amateur astronomers used the 

MicroObservatory facilities to investigate the Moon, solar system objects, stars and 

nebulae, galaxies, exoplanets, and other astronomical phenomena. SAO continued 

its popular monthly Observatory Night lectures and observing sessions. Begun by 

observatory director Harlow Shapley in 1930, these public nights offer the local 

community an opportunity to learn about the latest advances in astronomy and 

to view the Moon, stars, and planets through a variety of telescopes. Observatory 

Night talks also reach worldwide audiences via YouTube. “The Dynamic Sun,” an 

exhibit conceived, designed, and built by SAO researchers, features a giant sevenby six-foot video wall intended to create a visceral impact and show visitors how an 

ever-changing Sun affects Earth. The “Dynamic Sun” at NASM in Washington, 

DC, continues to be seen by millions of visitors each year.

In FY 2018, NASM continued to educate and inspire the public through exhibits, research, and education programs, including discovery stations, lecture series, 

family educational events, STEM Webcasts, and intern training. The museum 

announced and continued preparations for the extensive seven-year project to 

revitalize the building’s aging infrastructure and transform all exhibit spaces. The 

traveling exhibition “Destination Moon: The Apollo 11 Mission” brought the 

iconic Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia to three cities across the country: 

Houston, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. The exhibition includes historic artifacts from 

the mission and a 3D interactive unit, based on high-resolution digital scans, that 

allows visitors to explore the Columbia inside and out. Seattle’s Museum of Flight 
214Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

will host the exhibition next year on the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, and planning has begun for anniversary events and activities to be held at NASM on the 

National Mall. Work was completed on the book Apollo to the Moon: A History in 

Fifty Objects authored by NASM curator Teasel Muir-Harmony.

In 2018, the museum completed its four-year observance of the centenary of 

World War I. The program included a wide range of education and outreach programs, concerts, and a film series. The centerpiece of the NASM WWI centenary 

program was the exhibition “Artist Soldiers: Artistic Expression in the First World 

War,” which featured rarely seen artworks created by soldiers in WWI. In July, the 

museum acquired the high-performance aircraft Oracle Challenger III. The aircraft 

was built with the latest technologies for aerobatics. Oracle Challenger III will 

be displayed in “We All Fly,” a future exhibition dedicated to the many fields of 

general aviation. The museum provided new opportunities promoting STEM education. The She Can summer camp is a free program made available to low-income 

students in the DC metropolitan area. In this program, 6th- to 8th-grade girls 

participated in aviation-related activities, including flight lessons on a simulator, 

discovery flights, and indoor skydiving. Thirty teachers from across the country 

participated in the Teacher Innovator Institute, which invited educators to develop 

lessons for their classrooms based on the wide variety of resources the museum has 

to offer.

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 Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 

mission that is currently operating on Mars. He is a chair of the MER Science 

Operations Working Group, and in that capacity he leads day-to-day science 

planning for the Opportunity rover. In addition, he is cochair of the Mars 2020 

Landing Site Steering Committee. CEPS staff are also on the science teams for 

the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface 

and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) instrument on Mars Express, both the High 

Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Shallow Subsurface Radar 

(SHARAD) instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), InSight, 

the radar sounder on ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), the Lunar 

Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Dawn, and the Europa Clipper. CEPS continued 
215 Smithsonian Institution

its active research program in planetary and terrestrial geology and geophysics with 

research on such topics as comparative planetology; Martian aeolian, climate, and 

impact studies; lunar tectonics; planetary volcanism and cryovolcanism; and radar 

studies of Martian subsurface ice.

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) continued, 

through the Department of Mineral Sciences and the Offices of Education and 

Exhibits, its mission of education, research, and curation related to space exploration. Approximately one million people per year visit the Moon, Meteorites and 

Solar System Gallery of the Geology, Gems and Meteorites Hall, where they can 

see one of the finest displays of meteorites anywhere in the world, ranging from 

presolar diamonds separated from the Allende meteorite, to the carbonate-bearing 

Allan Hills 84001 meteorite, which spurred the debate about past microbial life on 

Mars, to impactites including a square-meter section of the Cretaceous–Tertiary 

(K–T) boundary.

The collections of the Division of Meteorites continue to grow. Notably, 

the Smithsonian’s partnership with the NSF and NASA in the U.S. Antarctic 

Meteorite Program surpassed 27,000 individual meteorites collected in Antarctica, 

including samples from Mars, the Moon, and numerous poorly known asteroids. 

Provided free of charge to qualified scientists, these samples have addressed fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of our solar system. Scientists in 

the Department of Mineral Sciences remain engaged in the study of meteorites and 

asteroids to unravel their origin in the early solar nebula, their evolution on asteroids, the differentiation of asteroids in the early history of the solar system, and the 

geologic evolution of Mars. Glenn MacPherson continues his work on understanding processes in the solar nebula and linking observations made in the laboratory 

with those made from astronomical observations. Catherine Corrigan continues 

her studies of fragments of meteorites formed during melting caused by collisions. 

Age-dating these samples is key to understanding the extent and duration of the 

intense impact history of the early solar system. NMNH scientists remain actively 

engaged in spacecraft missions, with Tim McCoy serving as Co-Investigator on 

the OSIRIS-REx mission and Psyche missions. OSIRIS-REx has arrived at asteroid 

Bennu. In 2019, the spacecraft will sample the surface and return samples to Earth 

for study in 2023. McCoy is leading efforts to map the geology of the asteroid and 
216Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

will study the mineralogy and origin of the samples when they return to Earth in 

2023. He will lead efforts to exhibit a sample of Bennu at NMNH. The Psyche mission, which was selected as one of the newest Discovery missions this year, will visit 

the asteroid of the same name, which is a 200-kilometer-diameter asteroid thought 

to be composed of metallic iron, similar to Earth’s metallic core. McCoy will lead 

efforts to study the role of oxidation and reduction in the formation of this asteroid. 

Public outreach beyond the exhibit continues to be a focus of our efforts, with 

numerous “Scientist Is In” presentations in the Q?rius learning center at NMNH 

and outreach efforts beyond the National Mall, including digital outreach through 

our Web site.
Appendices

217

Appendic
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

218

Appendix A-1

U.S. Government Spacecr

(Includes spacecraft from cooperating countries launched by U.S. launch vehicles.)

Calendar 

Year

Earth Orbita Earth Escapeb

Success Failure Success Failure

1957 0 1 0 0

1958 5 8 0 4

1959 9 9 1 2

1960 16 12 1 2

1961 35 12 0 2

1962 55 12 4 1

1963 62 11 0 0

1964 69 8 4 0

1965 93 7 4 1

1966 94 12 7 1b

1967 78 4 10 0

1968 61 15 3 0

1969 58 1 8 1

1970 36 1 3 0

1971 45 2 8 1

1972 33 2 8 0

1973 23 2 3 0

1974 27 2 1 0

1975 30 4 4 0

1976 33 0 1 0

1977 27 2 2 0

1978 34 2 7 0

1979 18 0 0 0

1980 16 4 0 0

1981 20 1 0 0

1982 21 0 0 0

1983 31 0 0 0

1984 35 3 0 0

1985 37 1 0 0

1986 11 4 0 0

1987 9 1 0 0

1988 16 1 0 0

Calendar 

Year

Earth Orbita Earth Escapeb

Success Failure Success Failure

1989 24 0 2 0

1990 40 0 1 0

1991 32c 0 0 0

1992 26c 0 1 0

1993 28c 1 1 0

1994 31c 1 1 0

1995 24c, d 2 1 0

1996 30 1 3 0

1997 22e 0 1 0

1998 23 0 2 0

1999 35 4 2 0

2000 31f 0 0 0

2001 23 0 3 0

2002 18 0 0 1b

2003 28c, f 0 2 0

2004 8c 0 1 0

2005 10 0 2 0

2006 20d 0 2 0

2007 16 2 2 0

2008 22f 0 0 0

2009 24f 1 0 0

2010 15 0 0 0

2011 16 1 3 0

2012 13 0 0 0

2013 18 0 1 0

2014 22 1 0 0

2015 12 1 1 0

2016 27 3 2 0

2017 20 1 0 0

2018* 33 0 3 0

* (through September 30, 2018)

TOTAL 1,828 163 116 16

a. The criterion of success or failure used is attainment of Earth orbit or Earth escape rather than judgment of mission success. “Escape” flights 

include all that were intended to go to at least an altitude equal to lunar distance from Earth.

b. This Earth-escape failure did attain Earth orbit and, therefore, is included in the Earth-orbit success totals.

c. This excludes commercial satellites. It counts separately spacecraft launched by the same launch vehicle.

d. This counts various sets of microsatellites as a single payload. 

e. This includes the Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) Lewis spacecraft that began spinning out of control shortly after it achieved Earth orbit.

f. This includes American spacecraft not launched in the United States.
Appendices

219

Appendix A-2

World Record of Space Launches S

in Attaining Earth Orbit o

(Enumerates launches rather than spacecraft; some launches orbited multiple spacecraft.)a

Calendar 

Year

United

Statesb

USSR/

CIS Francec Italyc Japan

People’s 

Republic

of China Australia

United

Kingdomc

European 

Space

Agency India Israel Iran

North

Korea

South

Korea

New 

Zealand

1957 2

1958 5 1

1959 10 3

1960 16 3

1961 29 6

1962 52 20

1963 38 17

1964 57 30

1965 63 48 1

1966 73 44 1

1967 57 66 2 1 1

1968 45 74

1969 40 70

1970 28 81 2 1 1 1

1971 30 83 1 2 2 1 1

1972 30 74 1 1

1973 23 86

1974 22 81 2 1

1975 27 89 3 1 2 3

1976 26 99 1 2

1977 24 98 2

1978 32 88 3 1

1979 16 87 2 1

1980 13 89 2 1

1981 18 98 3 1 2 1

1982 18 101 1 1

1983 22 98 3 1 2 1

1984 22 97 3 3 4

1985 17 98 2 1 3

1986 6 91 2 2 2

1987 8 95 3 2 2

1988 12 90 2 4 7

1989 17 74 2 7 1

1990 27 75 3 5 5 1

1991 20 62 2 1 9 1

1992 31 55 2 3 7 2

1993 24 45 1 1 7

1994 26 49 2 5 6 2

1995 27 33 1 2 12 1

1996 32 25 1 3 10 1

1997 37 28 2 6 12 1

1998 34 24 2 6 11

1999 32 26 4 10 1

2000 30 34 5 12

2001 23 23 1 1 8 2

2002 18 23 3 4 11 1 1

2003 26 21 2 6 4 2

2004 19 22 8 3 1

2005 16 26 2 5 5 1

2006 15 16 5 3 5

2007 25 33 3 13 8 3 1

2008d 19 26 1 11 7 3

2009 25 29 3 4 9 4 1

2010 15 30 2 15 6 1 1

2011 17 33 3 18 7 3 1

2012 13 27 2 19 10 2 1 1

2013e 19 29 3 14 7 3 1

2014e 22 31 4 16 10 4 1

2015 13 16 3 9 8 4 1

2016 29 25 5 32 14 8 1 1

2017 20 13 4 8 9 5

2018* 36 12 7 34 8 4 1

*(through September 30, 2018)

TOTAL 1,586 3,072 10 8 107 284 1 1 270 62 8 4 2 1 1

a. This includes commercial expendable launches and launches of the Space Shuttle as well as launches to useless orbit.

b. Launches from U.S.-Russia joint platform are included in U.S. totals.

c. Since 1979, all launches for ESA member countries have been joint and are listed under ESA.

d. Since 2008, the ESA statistics include the Soyuz launches from Guiana Space Centre.

e. The data published in the FY 2014 report reflect incorrect totals and have been adjusted.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

220

Appendix B

Successful Launches to Orbit on U

October 1, 2017–September 30, 2018

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

October 9, 2017

Iridium NEXT 3

2017-061A-H,JK

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 626.9

610

97.02

86.6

Next generation expected to last to 2030.

October 11, 2017

EchoStar 105/SES 11

2017-063A 

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,799

35,787

1,436

0

SES will control the 24 C-band transponders; EchoStar 

the 24 Ku-band transponders.

October 15, 2017

NROL 52

2017-066A

Atlas 5-421

Data Relay 35,802

35,786

1,436.10

4.9

October 30, 2017

Koreasat 5A

2017-067A

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,787

35,799

1,436

0

Carries 36 Ku-band transponders, providing Internet 

access, television broadcast, and other multimedia services in Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Guam, Southeast 

Asia, and South Asia.

October 31, 2017

6xSkySat/4xDove

2017-068A-F, J-L

Minotaur-C

Optical Imaging 525

500

94.83

97.3

November 12, 2017

Cygnus OA-8

2017-071A

Antares 230

International Space Station ISS Cargo resupply.

November 18, 2017

JPSS 1/NOAA 20

2017-073A-E

Delta 2-7920

Earth Science and 

Meteorology 

818

528

97.4

97.6

First in NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System.

Calibrate over-the-horizon radars used by the Australian 

military and put Australia back into space.

Compact atmospheric sensing nanosatellite from 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will measure 

temperature, water vapor, and cloud ice in the atmosphere for severe weather monitoring and the study of 

cyclone structure.

Determine the best polymer for 3D printing future 

spacecraft.

Monitor ionizing radiation effects in a memory integrated 

circuit.

Became known as NOAA 20 on orbit.

December 15, 2017

Dragon 8.2/CRS-13

2017-080A

Falcon 9 v1.2

International Space Station ISS Cargo resupply.

December 23, 2017

Iridium NEXT 4

2017-083A-H, JK

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 625

609

97

86.7

January 8, 2018

Zuma

018-001A

Falcon 9 v1.2

n/a Spacecraft lost after achieving low orbit.

January 12, 2018

NROL 47

Delta 4M+5,2

Radar imaging 1,057

1,047

106.2

106

* U.N. Committee on Space Research
Appendices

221

Appendix B (cont.)

Successful Launches to Orbit on U

October 1, 2017–September 30, 2018

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

January 20, 2018

SBIRS GEO 4 

2018-009A

Atlas 5-411

Infrared Imaging 35,758

35,815

1,436.10

6.3

January 31, 2018

Govsat 1

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,766

35,807

1,436.10

0

February 6, 2018

Demo Mission 

n/a 

Falcon Heavy

n/a n/a 

February 22, 2018

Paz/Microsat 2a/b

2018-20B,C

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 499.5

515.5

94.7

97.4

March 1, 2018

GOES S 

2018-022A

Atlas 5-541

Earth Science/Meteorology 35,795

35,778

1,436.09

0

March 6, 2018

Hispasat 30W-6 

2018-023A

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications n/a 

March 30, 2018

Iridium Next 5

2018-30A-H, JK

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 626

607

97

86.6

April 2, 2018

Dragon 10.2/CRS-14

2018-032A

Falcon 9 v1.2

International Space Station ISS Cargo resupply.

April 14, 2018

AFSPC 11

2018-36A,B, E, F

Atlas 5-551

Communications 35,651.50

35,647.50

1,431.40

0

Air Force’s Continuous Broadcast Augmenting 

SATCOM.

Pathfinder for future missions, demonstrating a maneuverable satellite design.

April 18, 2018

TESS 

2018-038A

Falcon 9 v1.2

Earth Science 268,488

258

8,758

29.6

May 5, 2018

InSight

2018-042A

Atlas 5-401

Mars Mission n/a

May 11, 2018

Bangabandhu 1 

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,793

35,778

1,436.06

0

May 20, 2018

Cygnus OA-9

2018-046A

Antares 230

International Space Station ISS Cargo resupply.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

222

Appendix B (cont.)

Successful Launches to Orbit on U

October 1, 2017–September 30, 2018

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

May 22, 2018

Iridium 6/GRACE-FO

2018-047A-B

Falcon 9 v1.2

Earth Science 654.14

488.43

96.28

87.3

June 4, 2018

SES 12

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,785

35,785

1,436

0

Carries plasma thrusters mounted to articulating robotic 

arms for nearly all its in-orbit maneuvers, eliminating the 

need for large conventional liquid-propellant tanks.

June 29, 2018

Dragon 11.2/CRS 15

2018-055B

Falcon 9 v1.2

International Space Station ISS Cargo resupply.

July 22, 2018

Telstar 19V

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,792

35,780

1,436.1

0.05

Mix of Ka- and Ku-band capacity. Will serve the far north 

of Canada as well as other regions.

July 25, 2018

Iridium Next 7

2018-061A-H,JK

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 608

622.8

97

86.6

August 7, 2018

Merah Putih 

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,797

35,789

1,436.10

0

August 12, 2018

Parker Solar Probe

2018-065A

Delta 4H/Star

Science n/a

September 10, 2018

Telstar 18V 

Falcon 9 v1.2

Communications 35,795

35,777

1,436.09

0.04

APT Satellite will use 57.5 percent of capacity.

September 15, 2018

ICESat 2

2018-070A

Delta 2-7420

Laser Imaging 468

455

93.8

93.02

Will measure depth of ice with lasers from space.
Appendices

223

Appendix C

Human Spacefli

October 1, 2017–September 30, 2018

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew

Flight Time 

(d:h:min) Highlights

Soyuz MS-07

Expedition 54

December 17, 2017 Anton Shkaplerov

Scott D. Tingle

Norishige Kanai

168:05:18 Replaced EVA Socket. 

Finished removal and replacement of Latching End Effector 

on POA.

Progress MS-8 docked to the ISS on February 15, 2018.

Installed Ground Strap on Canadarm2.

Soyuz MS-08

Expedition 55

March 21, 2018 A.J. “Drew” Feustel

Ricky Arnold

Oleg Artemyev

196:18:01 Installed two Wi-Fi antennas on the Node 3 module in preparation for the arrival of ECOSTRESS.

Replaced camera and lights used to film NASA TV.

SpaceX CRS-14 docked to the ISS on April 4, 2019.

Cygnus CRS OA-9E docked on May 24, 2018.

Soyuz MS-09 

Expedition 56

June 6, 2018 Serena M. 

Auñón-Chancellor

Alexander Gerst

Sergei Prokopyev

196:17:50 Andrew Feustel achieved the third-place ranking for total 

cumulative time spent spacewalking, with a total of 61 hours 

and 48 minutes.

SpaceX CRS-15 docked with the ISS on July 2, 2018, carrying ECOSTRESS.

Manually deployed 4 CubeSats.

Installed Icarus Experiment.

Progress MS-09 docked with the ISS on July 10, 2018.

Kounotori 7 docked with the ISS on September 27, 2018.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

224

Appendix D-1A

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of real-year dollars)

FY

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1959 331 261 490 34 34 785

1960 524 462 561 43 43 1,066

1961 964 926 814 68 68 1,808

1962 1,825 1,797 1,298 199 148 51 3,294

1963 3,673 3,626 1,550 257 214 43 5,433

1964 5,100 5,016 1,599 213 210 3 6,828

1965 5,250 5,138 1,574 241 229 12 6,953

1966 5,175 5,065 1,689 214 187 27 6,968

1967 4,966 4,830 1,664 213 184 29 6,707

1968 4,587 4,430 1,922 174 145 28 0.2 1 6,526

1969 3,991 3,822 2,013 170 118 20 0.2 1 31 6,005

1970 3,746 3,547 1,678 141 103 8 1 1 28 5,366

1971 3,311 3,101 1,512 162 95 27 2 1 37 4,775

1972 3,307 3,071 1,407 133 55 31 6 2 39 4,611

1973 3,406 3,093 1,623 147 54 40 10 2 41 4,863

1974 3,037 2,759 1,766 158 42 60 9 3 44 4,683

1975 3,229 2,915 1,892 158 30 64 8 2 54 4,965

1976 3,550 3,225 1,983 168 23 72 10 4 59 5,376

TQ* 932 849 460 43 5 22 3 1 12 1,352

1977 3,818 3,440 2,412 194 22 91 10 6 65 6,046

1978 4,060 3,623 2,738 226 34 103 10 8 71 6,587

1979 4,596 4,030 3,036 248 59 98 10 8 73 7,314

1980 5,240 4,680 3,848 231 40 93 12 14 72 8,759

1981 5,518 4,992 4,828 234 41 87 12 16 78 10,054

1982 6,044 5,528 6,679 313 61 145 12 15 80 12,520

1983 6,875 6,328 9,019 327 39 178 5 20 85 15,674

1984 7,458 6,858 10,195 395 34 236 3 19 103 17,448

1985 7,573 6,925 12,768 584 34 423 2 15 110 20,277

1986 7,807 7,165 14,126 477 35 309 2 23 108 21,768

1987 10,923 9,809 16,287 466 48 278 8 19 112 1 26,562

1988 9,062 8,322 17,679 741 241 352 14 18 115 1 26,742

1989 10,969 10,097 17,906 560 97 301 17 21 121 3 28,563

1990 12,324 11,460 15,616 506 79 243 31 25 124 4 27,582

1991 14,016 13,046 14,181 772 251 251 29 26 211 4 27,999

1992 14,317 13,199 15,023 798 223 327 34 29 181 4 29,020

1993 14,310 13,064 14,106 731 165 324 33 25 180 4 27,901

1994 14,570 13,022 13,166 632 74 312 31 31 179 5 26,820

1995 13,854 12,543 10,644 759 60 352 31 32 278 6 23,946

1996 13,884 12,569 11,514 828 46 472 36 37 231 6 24,911

1997 13,709 12,457 11,727 789 35 448 42 39 219 6 24,973

1998 13,648 12,321 12,359 839 103 435 43 39 213 6 25,519

1999 13,653 12,459 13,203 982 105 575 59 37 200 6 26,644

2000 13,601 12,521 12,941 1,056 164 575 60 44 207 6 26,518

2001 14,230 13,304 14,326 1,062 145 577 60 36 232 12 28,692

2002 14,868 13,871 15,740 1,180 166 644 64 28 266 12 30,791

2003 15,364 14,360 19,388 1,305 191 649 74 42 337 12 35,053

2004 15,379 14,322 19,115 1,464 209 745 71 61 366 12 34,901

2005 16,198 15,234 19,690 1,551 229 807 70 73 360 12 36,475

2006 16,623 15,765 22,114 1,647 245 860 82 84 364 12 39,526

2007 16,285 15,568 22,418 1,680 200 912 87 65 404 12 39,666

2008 17,117 16,502 24,795 1,698 195 862 90 59 479 13 42,995

2009 17,775 17,275 26,528 1,868 200 1,078 64 27 485 14 45,671

2010 18,725 18,228 26,463 2,057 203 1,261 67 27 484 15 46,748

2011 18,432 17,898 27,234 2,186 229 1,444 66 20 412 15 47,318

2012 17,773 17,203 26,677 2,580 199 1,876 76 7 406 16 46,460

2013 17,395 16,865 10,818 2,578 185 1,865 84 20 409 15 30,261

2014 17,647 17,081 10,400 2,839 174 2,087 82 19 461 16 30,320

2015 18,010 17,359 10,325 3,010 182 2,223 83 19 485 18 30,694

2016 19,285 18,645 6,967 3,159 178 2,346 87 19 508 22 28,771

2017 19,653 18,993 10,316 2,995 172 2,214 85 20 480 24 32,305

2018 20,736 19,976 7,861 2,953 175 2,099 79 16 556 29 30,790

a. DOD reported that improvements to the estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated budget authority and outlays starting in FY 2013.

b. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total 

column because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as space. For the years 1989–97, this Other column also includes small 

figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as $2.1 billion for the replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

c. DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

d. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
Appendices

225

Appendix D-1B

Space Activities of the U.S.

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 2018 dollars)

FY

Inflation 

Factors

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DODa Otherb DOEc DOC DOI USDA NSFd DOT Total Space

1959 6.591 2,182 1,720 3,230 224 224 5,174

1960 6.500 3,406 3,003 3,646 279 279 6,929

1961 6.415 6,184 5,940 5,222 436 436 11,598

1962 6.351 11,590 11,412 8,243 1,264 940 324 20,919

1963 6.277 23,054 22,759 9,729 1,613 1,343 270 34,102

1964 6.197 31,607 31,087 9,910 1,320 1,301 19 42,316

1965 6.093 31,986 31,304 9,590 1,468 1,395 73 42,362

1966 5.965 30,867 30,211 10,074 1,276 1,115 161 41,562

1967 5.789 28,747 27,960 9,632 1,233 1,065 168 38,825

1968 5.594 25,659 24,780 10,751 974 811 157 1 6 36,506

1969 5.350 21,351 20,447 10,769 912 631 107 1 5 167 32,128

1970 5.078 19,022 18,012 8,521 716 523 41 5 5 142 27,249

1971 4.833 16,001 14,986 7,307 783 459 130 10 5 179 23,075

1972 4.614 15,257 14,169 6,491 615 254 143 28 9 182 21,275

1973 4.421 15,058 13,674 7,175 651 239 177 44 9 183 21,501

1974 4.127 12,533 11,386 7,288 652 173 248 37 12 182 19,327

1975 3.741 12,079 10,904 7,078 590 112 239 30 7 201 18,572

1976 3.497 12,415 11,279 6,935 589 80 252 35 14 207 18,802

TQ* 3.395 3,164 2,882 1,562 146 17 75 10 3 41 4,590

1977 3.262 12,453 11,220 7,867 631 72 297 33 20 210 19,718

1978 3.056 12,406 11,071 8,367 691 104 315 31 24 217 20,128

1979 2.828 12,996 11,395 8,585 701 167 277 28 23 206 20,681

1980 2.601 13,628 12,172 10,008 601 104 242 31 36 187 22,781

1981 2.368 13,067 11,821 11,433 555 97 206 28 38 185 23,809

1982 2.214 13,382 12,240 14,788 692 135 321 27 33 177 27,720

1983 2.121 14,585 13,424 19,133 694 83 378 11 42 180 33,252

1984 2.048 15,275 14,046 20,881 809 70 483 6 39 210 35,736

1985 1.982 15,010 13,725 25,306 1,157 67 838 4 30 217 40,189

1986 1.939 15,135 13,890 27,385 924 68 599 4 45 209 42,199

1987 1.896 20,710 18,598 30,881 883 91 527 15 36 212 2 50,362

1988 1.837 16,644 15,285 32,471 1,361 443 647 26 33 211 2 49,117

1989 1.765 19,363 17,823 31,608 989 171 531 30 37 214 5 50,420

1990 1.703 20,986 19,515 26,592 861 135 414 53 43 211 7 46,967

1991 1.644 23,045 21,451 23,317 1,270 413 413 48 43 347 7 46,037

1992 1.604 22,967 21,173 24,099 1,280 358 525 55 47 290 6 46,552

1993 1.567 22,429 20,476 22,109 1,146 259 508 52 39 282 6 43,731

1994 1.534 22,350 19,975 20,196 970 114 479 48 48 275 8 41,141

1995 1.502 20,808 18,839 15,987 1,140 90 529 47 48 417 9 35,965

1996 1.474 20,469 18,530 16,975 1,220 68 696 53 55 340 9 36,725

1997 1.449 19,858 18,045 16,987 1,144 51 649 61 56 318 9 36,175

1998 1.431 19,526 17,628 17,682 1,201 147 622 62 56 305 9 36,511

1999 1.413 19,285 17,599 18,650 1,387 148 812 83 52 283 8 37,636

2000 1.384 18,825 17,330 17,912 1,461 227 796 83 61 286 8 36,703

2001 1.352 19,242 17,990 19,372 1,436 196 780 81 49 314 16 38,797

2002 1.331 19,787 18,460 20,948 1,570 221 857 85 37 354 16 40,979

2003 1.307 20,081 18,769 25,341 1,706 250 848 97 55 440 16 45,815

2004 1.276 19,630 18,281 24,399 1,869 267 951 91 78 467 15 44,548

2005 1.239 20,064 18,869 24,389 1,921 284 1,000 87 90 446 15 45,179

2006 1.200 19,951 18,922 26,542 1,977 294 1,032 98 101 437 14 47,440

2007 1.168 19,027 18,190 26,193 1,963 234 1,066 102 76 472 14 46,346

2008 1.145 19,594 18,890 28,384 1,944 223 987 103 68 548 15 49,218

2009 1.132 20,115 19,549 30,021 2,114 226 1,220 72 30 549 16 51,684

2010 1.122 21,010 20,452 29,692 2,308 228 1,415 75 30 543 17 52,451

2011 1.100 20,276 19,689 29,959 2,404 252 1,588 73 21 453 17 52,052

2012 1.080 19,188 18,572 28,800 2,785 215 2,025 82 7 438 17 50,158

2013 1.060 18,440 17,878 10,818 2,733 196 1,977 89 21 434 16 32,080

2014 1.040 18,352 17,081 10,400 2,839 174 2,087 82 19 461 16 31,532

2015 1.028 18,505 17,359 10,325 3,010 182 2,223 83 19 485 18 30,694

2016 1.018 19,634 18,645 6,967 3,159 178 2,346 87 19 508 22 28,771

2017 1.018 20,009 18,993 10,316 2,995 172 2,214 85 20 480 24 32,305

2018 1.000 20,736 19,976 7,861 2,953 175 2,099 79 16 556 29 30,790

a. DOD reported that improvements to the estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated budget authority and outlays starting in FY 2013.

b. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total 

column because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as space. For the years 1989–97, this Other column also includes small 

figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as $2.1 billion for the replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

c. DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

d. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

226

Appendix D-2

Federal Space Activiti

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2016

actual

2017

actual 

2018

actual

2019

est.

2016

 actual

2017

 actual

2018

 actual

2019

 est.

NASA1 18,645 18,993.30 19,976.1 20,775.0 18,225 18,074 19,109.0 20,113

DOD2, 3 9,655 10,136 7,861 10,300 10,400 9,296

DOE4, 5 178 172 175.39 187.82 180 173 165.4 167.82

DOC6 2,346 2,214 2,099.269 1,698.545 2,053 1,938 2,068.22 1,698.48

DOI 71.2 85.4 78.5 71.1 85 78.5

USDA7 18.5 20.1 15.96 16.17 17.1 18.4 16.08 9.21

DOT 21.8 24.2 28.959 36.449 21.8 24.2 28.959 36.449

NSF8 507.5 480.1 555.59 526.29 382.6 352.7 462.15 400.08

1. The FY 2019 estimate is based on the prior year’s Outlays versus Budget Authority. FY 2019 Enacted Funding Levels were not available at the time 

this report was requested. The FY 2019 Budget Authority Estimate is based on the 2019 President’s Budget Request.

2. Does not include DOD or Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) intelligence programs. DOD FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018 

figures for Budget Authority and Outlays are estimated at the time of preparing this report. Improvements to the estimating methodology resulted 

in a change in estimated Budget Authority and Outlays starting in FY 2013.

3. At the time of preparing this report, DOD submitted estimates as billions of dollars, so the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred million.

4. In prior years, the High Energy Physics program also reported Ground- and Underground-Based Astrophysics Projects. These projects and the 

associated funding are no longer included, starting in the FY 2009 report.

5. At the time of preparing this report, DOE submitted estimates, not actuals.

6. The Budget Outlays columns reflect dollars “costed” in a fiscal year specific to that same fiscal year’s appropriated dollars.

7. At the time of preparing this report, the USDA submitted FY 2018 estimates, not actuals.

8. “Actual” = actual obligations.
Appendices

227

Appendix D-3

Federal Aeronautics Activit

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2016

actual

2017

actual 

2018

actual

2019

est.

2016

 actual

2017

 actual

2018

 actual

2019

 est.

NASA1 640 660 760.0 725.0 609 629 650.0 703

USDA2, 3 37.3 38.6 42.21 41.71 36.6 70.7 47.34 25.07

DOD4, 5 50,550 53,440 51,466 33,351 33,213 55,208

DOI 30.4 35 37.7 29.5 35.1 37.5

DOT 3,004.90 3,014.9 3,420.91 3,173.09 2,733.90 2,674.90 2,696.659 2,956.3

1. The FY 2019 estimate is based on the prior year’s Outlays versus Budget Authority.

2. At the time of preparing this report, the USDA submitted estimates, not actuals.

3. FY 2017 was the first time the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) reported state expenditures for this report. FY 2017 Outlays 

represent national lidar initiatives, where NRCS spent $3 million and state offices spent another $33 million.

4. DOD FY 2016, FY 2017, and FY 2018 figures for Budget Authority and Outlays are estimated at the time of preparing this report. Improvements to 

the estimating methodology resulted in a change in estimated Budget Authority and Outlays starting in FY 2013.

5. At the time of preparing this report, DOD submitted estimates as billions of dollars, so the figures are rounded to the nearest hundred million.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

228

Appendix E-1

Space Policy Directive-2 of May 

Streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use of Space

Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the executive branch to be prudent and responsible when spending taxpayer funds, and to recognize how government actions, including Federal regulations, affect private resources. It is therefore important that regulations adopted and enforced by the executive branch 

promote economic growth; minimize uncertainty for taxpayers, investors, and private industry; protect 

national security, public-safety, and foreign policy interests; and encourage American leadership in space 

commerce.

Sec. 2. Launch and Re-entry Licensing. (a) No later than February 1, 2019, the Secretary of Transportation 

shall review regulations adopted by the Department of Transportation that provide for and govern licensing of commercial space flight launch and re-entry for consistency with the policy set forth in section 1 

of this memorandum and shall rescind or revise those regulations, or publish for notice and comment 

proposed rules rescinding or revising those regulations, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.

(b) Consistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this memorandum, the Secretary of Transportation 

shall consider the following:

(i) requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations; 

and

(ii) replacing prescriptive requirements in the commercial space flight launch and re-entry licensing 

process with performance-based criteria.

(c) In carrying out the review required by subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Transportation 

shall coordinate with the members of the National Space Council.

(d) The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Administrator of the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration shall coordinate to examine all existing U.S. Government 

requirements, standards, and policies associated with commercial space flight launch and re entry operations from Federal launch ranges and, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to minimize 

those requirements, except those necessary to protect public safety and national security, that would 

conflict with the efforts of the Secretary of Transportation in implementing the Secretary’s responsibilities under this section.

Sec. 3. Commercial Remote Sensing. (a) Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary 

of Commerce shall review the regulations adopted by the Department of Commerce under Title II of the 

Land Remote Sensing Policy Act of 1992 (51 U.S.C. 60101 et seq.) for consistency with the policy set 

forth in section 1 of this memorandum and shall rescind or revise those regulations, or publish for notice 

and comment proposed rules rescinding or revising those regulations, as appropriate and consistent with 

applicable law.

(b) In carrying out the review required by subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Commerce 

shall coordinate with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of the 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and, as appropriate, the Chairman of the Federal 

Communications Commission.

(c) Within 120 days of the date of the completion of the review required by subsection (a) of this section, 

the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense, 

shall transmit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget a legislative proposal to encourage 

expansion of the licensing of commercial remote sensing activities. That proposal shall be consistent with 

the policy set forth in section 1 of this memorandum.
Appendices

229 Sec. 4. Reorganization of the Department of Commerce. (a) To the extent permitted by law, the 

Secretary of Commerce shall consolidate in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce the responsibilities 

of the Department of Commerce with respect to the Department’s regulation of commercial space flight 

activities.

(b) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Commerce shall transmit to the 

Director of the Office of Management and Budget a legislative proposal to create within the Department 

of Commerce an entity with primary responsibility for administering the Department’s regulation of 

commercial space flight activities.

Sec. 5. Radio Frequency Spectrum. (a) The Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Director of 

the Office of Science and Technology Policy, shall work with the Federal Communications Commission 

to ensure that Federal Government activities related to radio frequency spectrum are, to the extent 

permitted by law, consistent with the policy set forth in section 1 of this memorandum.

(b) Within 120 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of Commerce and the Director 

of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal 

Communications Commission, and in coordination with the members of the National Space Council, 

shall provide to the President, through the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, a report 

on improving the global competitiveness of the United States space sector through radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation, and United States activities at the International Telecommunication Union 

and other multilateral forums.

Sec. 6. Review of Export Licensing Regulations. The Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, 

in coordination with the members of the National Space Council, shall:

(a) initiate a review of export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity;

(b) develop recommendations to revise such regulations consistent with the policy set forth in section 1 

of this memorandum and with applicable law; and

(c) submit such recommendations to the President, through the Vice President, no later than 180 days 

from the date of this memorandum.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability 

of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 

entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of Transportation is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the 

Federal Register.

Donald J. Trump

The White House,

May 24, 2018
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

230

Appendix E-2

Space Policy Directive-3 of June 1

National Space Traffic Management Policy

Section 1. Policy. For decades, the United States has effectively reaped the benefits of operating in space 

to enhance our national security, civil, and commercial sectors. Our society now depends on space technologies and space-based capabilities for communications, navigation, weather forecasting, and much 

more. Given the significance of space activities, the United States considers the continued unfettered 

access to and freedom to operate in space of vital interest to advance the security, economic prosperity, 

and scientific knowledge of the Nation.

Today, space is becoming increasingly congested and contested, and that trend presents challenges for the 

safety, stability, and sustainability of U.S. space operations. Already, the Department of Defense (DoD) 

tracks over 20,000 objects in space, and that number will increase dramatically as new, more capable 

sensors come online and are able to detect smaller objects. DoD publishes a catalog of space objects and 

makes notifications of potential conjunctions (that is, two or more objects coming together at the same or 

nearly the same point in time and space). As the number of space objects increases, however, this limited 

traffic management activity and architecture will become inadequate. At the same time, the contested 

nature of space is increasing the demand for DoD focus on protecting and defending U.S. space assets 

and interests.

The future space operating environment will also be shaped by a significant increase in the volume and 

diversity of commercial activity in space. Emerging commercial ventures such as satellite servicing, debris 

removal, in-space manufacturing, and tourism, as well as new technologies enabling small satellites and 

very large constellations of satellites, are increasingly outpacing efforts to develop and implement government policies and processes to address these new activities.

To maintain U.S. leadership in space, we must develop a new approach to space traffic management 

(STM) that addresses current and future operational risks. This new approach must set priorities for space 

situational awareness (SSA) and STM innovation in science and technology (S&T), incorporate national 

security considerations, encourage growth of the U.S. commercial space sector, establish an updated STM 

architecture, and promote space safety standards and best practices across the international community.

The United States recognizes that spaceflight safety is a global challenge and will continue to encourage 

safe and responsible behavior in space while emphasizing the need for international transparency and 

STM data sharing. Through this national policy for STM and other national space strategies and policies, 

the United States will enhance safety and ensure continued leadership, preeminence, and freedom of 

action in space.

Sec. 2. Definitions. For the purposes of this memorandum, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) Space Situational Awareness shall mean the knowledge and characterization of space objects and their 

operational environment to support safe, stable, and sustainable space activities.

(b) Space Traffic Management shall mean the planning, coordination, and on-orbit synchronization of 

activities to enhance the safety, stability, and sustainability of operations in the space environment.

(c) Orbital debris, or space debris, shall mean any human-made space object orbiting Earth that no longer 

serves any useful purpose.

Sec. 3. Principles. The United States recognizes, and encourages other nations to recognize, the following 

principles:
Appendices

231 (a) Safety, stability, and operational sustainability are foundational to space activities, including commercial, civil, and national security activities. It is a shared interest and responsibility of all spacefaring 

nations to create the conditions for a safe, stable, and operationally sustainable space environment.

(b) Timely and actionable SSA data and STM services are essential to space activities. Consistent with 

national security constraints, basic U.S. Government-derived SSA data and basic STM services should 

be available free of direct user fees.

(c) Orbital debris presents a growing threat to space operations. Debris mitigation guidelines, standards, 

and policies should be revised periodically, enforced domestically, and adopted internationally to mitigate 

the operational effects of orbital debris.

(d) A STM framework consisting of best practices, technical guidelines, safety standards, behavioral 

norms, pre-launch risk assessments, and on-orbit collision avoidance services is essential to preserve the 

space operational environment.

Sec. 4. Goals. Consistent with the principles listed in section 3 of this memorandum, the United States 

should continue to lead the world in creating the conditions for a safe, stable, and operationally sustainable space environment. Toward this end, executive departments and agencies (agencies) shall pursue the 

following goals as required in section 6 of this memorandum:

(a) Advance SSA and STM Science and Technology. The United States should continue to engage in 

and enable S&T research and development to support the practical applications of SSA and STM. These 

activities include improving fundamental knowledge of the space environment, such as the characterization of small debris, advancing the S&T of critical SSA inputs such as observational data, algorithms, 

and models necessary to improve SSA capabilities, and developing new hardware and software to support 

data processing and observations.

(b) Mitigate the effect of orbital debris on space activities. The volume and location of orbital debris are 

growing threats to space activities. It is in the interest of all to minimize new debris and mitigate effects 

of existing debris. This fact, along with increasing numbers of active satellites, highlights the need to 

update existing orbital debris mitigation guidelines and practices to enable more efficient and effective 

compliance, and establish standards that can be adopted internationally. These trends also highlight the 

need to establish satellite safety design guidelines and best practices.

(c) Encourage and facilitate U.S. commercial leadership in S&T, SSA, and STM. Fostering continued 

growth and innovation in the U.S. commercial space sector, which includes S&T, SSA, and STM activities, is in the national interest of the United States. To achieve this goal, the U.S. Government should 

streamline processes and reduce regulatory burdens that could inhibit commercial sector growth and 

innovation, enabling the U.S. commercial sector to continue to lead the world in STM-related technologies, goods, data, and services on the international market.

(d) Provide U.S. Government-supported basic SSA data and basic STM services to the public. The United 

States should continue to make available basic SSA data and basic STM services (including conjunction 

and reentry notifications) free of direct user fees while supporting new opportunities for U.S. commercial 

and non-profit SSA data and STM services.

(e) Improve SSA data interoperability and enable greater SSA data sharing. SSA data must be timely 

and accurate. It is in the national interest of the United States to improve SSA data interoperability and 

enable greater SSA data sharing among all space operators, consistent with national security constraints. 

The United States should seek to lead the world in the development of improved SSA data standards and 

information sharing.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

232 (f) Develop STM standards and best practices. As the leader in space, the United States supports the 

development of operational standards and best practices to promote safe and responsible behavior in 

space. A critical first step in carrying out that goal is to develop U.S.-led minimum safety standards and 

best practices to coordinate space traffic. U.S. regulatory agencies should, as appropriate, adopt these 

standards and best practices in domestic regulatory frameworks and use them to inform and help shape 

international consensus practices and standards.

(g) Prevent unintentional radio frequency (RF) interference. Growing orbital congestion is increasing 

the risk to U.S. space assets from unintentional RF interference. The United States should continue to 

improve policies, processes, and technologies for spectrum use (including allocations and licensing) to 

address these challenges and ensure appropriate spectrum use for current and future operations.

(h) Improve the U.S. domestic space object registry. Transparency and data sharing are essential to 

safe, stable, and sustainable space operations. Consistent with national security constraints, the United 

States should streamline the interagency process to ensure accurate and timely registration submissions 

to the United Nations (UN), in accordance with our international obligations under the Convention on 

Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space.

(i) Develop policies and regulations for future U.S. orbital operations. Increasing congestion in key 

orbits and maneuver-based missions such as servicing, survey, and assembly will drive the need for policy 

development for national security, civil, and commercial sector space activities. Consistent with U.S. 

law and international obligations, the United States should regularly assess existing guidelines for nongovernment orbital activities, and maintain a timely and responsive regulatory environment for licensing 

these activities.

Sec. 5. Guidelines. In pursuit of the principles and goals of this policy, agencies should observe the following guidelines:

(a) Managing the Integrity of the Space Operating Environment.

(i) Improving SSA coverage and accuracy. Timely, accurate, and actionable data are essential for 

effective SSA and STM. The United States should seek to minimize deficiencies in SSA capability, 

particularly coverage in regions with limited sensor availability and sensitivity in detection of small 

debris, through SSA data sharing, the purchase of SSA data, or the provision of new sensors.

New U.S. sensors are expected to reveal a substantially greater volume of debris and improve our 

understanding of space object size distributions in various regions of space. However, very small debris 

may not be sufficiently tracked to enable or justify actionable collision avoidance decisions. As a 

result, close conjunctions and even collisions with unknown objects are possible, and satellite operators often lack sufficient insight to assess their level of risk when making maneuvering decisions. The 

United States should develop better tracking capabilities, and new means to catalog such debris, and 

establish a quality threshold for actionable collision avoidance warning to minimize false alarms.

Through both Government and commercial sector S&T investment, the United States should 

advance concepts and capabilities to improve SSA in support of debris mitigation and collision avoidance decisions.

(ii) Establishing an Open Architecture SSA Data Repository. Accurate and timely tracking of objects 

orbiting Earth is essential to preserving the safety of space activities for all. Consistent with section 

2274 of title 10, United States Code, a basic level of SSA data in the form of the publicly releasable 

portion of the DoD catalog is and should continue to be provided free of direct user fees. As additional 

sources of space tracking data become available, the United States has the opportunity to incorporate 

civil, commercial, international, and other available data to allow users to enhance and refine this service. To facilitate greater data sharing with satellite operators and enable the commercial development 
Appendices

233 of enhanced space safety services, the United States must develop the standards and protocols for creation of an open architecture data repository. The essential features of this repository would include:

• Data integrity measures to ensure data accuracy and availability;

• Data standards to ensure sufficient quality from diverse sources;

• Measures to safeguard proprietary or sensitive data, including national security information;

• The inclusion of satellite owner-operator ephemerides to inform orbital location and planned 

maneuvers; and

• Standardized formats to enable development of applications to leverage the data.

To facilitate this enhanced data sharing, and in recognition of the need for DoD to focus on maintaining access to and freedom of action in space, a civil agency should, consistent with applicable law, 

be responsible for the publicly releasable portion of the DoD catalog and for administering an open 

architecture data repository. The Department of Commerce should be that civil agency.

(iii) Mitigating Orbital Debris. It is in the interest of all space operators to minimize the creation of 

new orbital debris. Rapid international expansion of space operations and greater diversity of missions 

have rendered the current U.S. Government Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) 

inadequate to control the growth of orbital debris. These standard practices should be updated to 

address current and future space operating environments.

The United States should develop a new protocol of standard practices to set broader expectations of 

safe space operations in the 21st century. This protocol should begin with updated ODMSP, but also 

incorporate sections to address operating practices for large constellations, rendezvous and proximity 

operations, small satellites, and other classes of space operations. These overarching practices will 

provide an avenue to promote efficient and effective space safety practices with U.S. industry and 

internationally.

The United States should pursue active debris removal as a necessary long-term approach to ensure 

the safety of flight operations in key orbital regimes. This effort should not detract from continuing to 

advance international protocols for debris mitigation associated with current programs.

(b) Operating in a Congested Space Environment.

(i) Minimum Safety Standards and Best Practices. The creation of minimum standards for safe operation and debris mitigation derived in part from the U.S. Government ODMSP, but incorporating 

other standards and best practices, will best ensure the safe operation of U.S. space activities. These 

safety guidelines should consider maneuverability, tracking, reliability, and disposal.

The United States should eventually incorporate appropriate standards and best practices into Federal 

law and regulation through appropriate rulemaking or licensing actions. These guidelines should 

encompass protocols for all stages of satellite operation from design through end-of-life.

Satellite and constellation owners should participate in a pre-launch certification process that should, 

at a minimum, consider the following factors:

• Coordination of orbit utilization to prevent conjunctions;

• Constellation owner-operators’ management of self-conjunctions;

• Owner-operator notification of planned maneuvers and sharing of satellite orbital location data;

• On-orbit tracking aids, including beacons or sensing enhancements, if such systems are needed;
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

234 • Encryption of satellite command and control links and data protection measures for ground site 

operations;

• Appropriate minimum reliability based on type of mission and phase of operations;

• Effect on the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States, or international 

obligations; and

• Self-disposal upon the conclusion of operational lifetime, or owner-operator provision for disposal using active debris removal methods.

(ii) On-Orbit Collision Avoidance Support Service. Timely warning of potential collisions is essential 

to preserving the safety of space activities for all. Basic collision avoidance information services are 

and should continue to be provided free of direct user fees. The imminent activation of more sensitive 

tracking sensors is expected to reveal a significantly greater population of the existing orbital debris 

background as well as provide an improved ability to track currently catalogued objects. Current and 

future satellites, including large constellations of satellites, will operate in a debris environment much 

denser than presently tracked. Preventing on-orbit collisions in this environment requires an information service that shares catalog data, predicts close approaches, and provides actionable warnings to 

satellite operators. The service should provide data to allow operators to assess proposed maneuvers to 

reduce risk. To provide on-orbit collision avoidance, the United States should:

• Provide services based on a continuously updated catalog of satellite tracking data;

• Utilize automated processes for collision avoidance;

• Provide actionable and timely conjunction assessments; and

• Provide data to operators to enable assessment of maneuver plans.

To ensure safe coordination of space traffic in this future operating environment, and in recognition 

of the need for DoD to focus on maintaining access to and freedom of action in space, a civil agency 

should be the focal point for this collision avoidance support service. The Department of Commerce 

should be that civil agency.

(c) Strategies for Space Traffic Management in a Global Context.

(i) Protocols to Prevent Orbital Conjunctions. As increased satellite operations make lower Earth 

orbits more congested, the United States should develop a set of standard techniques for mitigating 

the collision risk of increasingly congested orbits, particularly for large constellations. Appropriate 

methods, which may include licensing assigned volumes for constellation operation and establishing 

processes for satellites passing through the volumes, are needed.

The United States should explore strategies that will lead to the establishment of common global best 

practices, including:

• A common process addressing the volume of space used by a large constellation, particularly in 

close proximity to an existing constellation;

• A common process by which individual spacecraft may transit volumes used by existing satellites 

or constellations; and

• A set of best practices for the owner-operators of utilized volumes to minimize the long-term 

effects of constellation operations on the space environment (including the proper disposal of 

satellites, reliability standards, and effective collision avoidance).
Appendices

235 (ii) Radio Frequency Spectrum and Interference Protection. Space traffic and RF spectrum use have 

traditionally been independently managed processes. Increased congestion in key orbital regimes 

creates a need for improved and increasingly dynamic methods to coordinate activities in both the 

physical and spectral domains, and may introduce new interdependencies. U.S. Government efforts 

in STM should address the following spectrum management considerations:

• Where appropriate, verify consistency between policy and existing national and international 

regulations and goals regarding global access to, and operation in, the RF spectrum for space 

services;

• Investigate the advantages of addressing spectrum in conjunction with the development of STM 

systems, standards, and best practices;

• Promote flexible spectrum use and investigate emerging technologies for potential use by space 

systems; and

• Ensure spectrum-dependent STM components, such as inter-satellite safety communications and 

active debris removal systems, can successfully access the required spectrum necessary to their 

missions.

(iii) Global Engagement. In its role as a major spacefaring nation, the United States should continue 

to develop and promote a range of norms of behavior, best practices, and standards for safe operations 

in space to minimize the space debris environment and promote data sharing and coordination of 

space activities. It is essential that other spacefaring nations also adopt best practices for the common good of all spacefaring states. The United States should encourage the adoption of new norms 

of behavior and best practices for space operations by the international community through bilateral and multilateral discussions with other spacefaring nations, and through U.S. participation in 

various organizations such as the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, International 

Standards Organization, Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems, and UN Committee on 

the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

Sec. 6. Roles and Responsibilities. In furtherance of the goals described in section 4 and the guidelines described in section 5 of this memorandum, agencies shall carry out the following roles and 

responsibilities:

(a) Advance SSA and STM S&T. Members of the National Space Council, or their delegees, shall coordinate, prioritize, and advocate for S&T, SSA, and STM, as appropriate, as it relates to their respective 

missions. They should seek opportunities to engage with the commercial sector and academia in pursuit 

of this goal.

(b) Mitigate the Effect of Orbital Debris on Space Activities.

(i) The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Administrator), 

in coordination with the Secretaries of State, Defense, Commerce, and Transportation, and 

the Director of National Intelligence, and in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC), shall lead efforts to update the U.S. Orbital Debris Mitigation 

Standard Practices and establish new guidelines for satellite design and operation, as appropriate and 

consistent with applicable law.

(ii) The Secretaries of Commerce and Transportation, in consultation with the Chairman of the 

FCC, will assess the suitability of incorporating these updated standards and best practices into their 

respective licensing processes, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law.
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

236 (c) Encourage and Facilitate U.S. Commercial Leadership in S&T, SSA, and STM. The Secretary of 

Commerce, in coordination with the Secretaries of Defense and Transportation, and the NASA 

Administrator, shall lead efforts to encourage and facilitate continued U.S. commercial leadership in 

SSA, STM, and related S&T.

(d) Provide U.S. Government-Derived Basic SSA Data and Basic STM Services to the Public.

(i) The Secretaries of Defense and Commerce, in coordination with the Secretaries of State and 

Transportation, the NASA Administrator, and the Director of National Intelligence, should cooperatively develop a plan for providing basic SSA data and basic STM services either directly or through 

a partnership with industry or academia, consistent with the guidelines of sections 5(a)(ii) and 5(b)(ii) 

of this memorandum.

(ii) The Secretary of Defense shall maintain the authoritative catalog of space objects.

(iii) The Secretaries of Defense and Commerce shall assess whether statutory and regulatory changes 

are necessary to effect the plan developed under subsection (d)(i) of this section, and shall pursue such 

changes, along with any other needed changes, as appropriate.

(e) Improve SSA Data Interoperability and Enable Greater SSA Data Sharing.

(i) The Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Secretaries of State, Defense, and 

Transportation, the NASA Administrator, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall develop 

standards and protocols for creation of an open architecture data repository to improve SSA data 

interoperability and enable greater SSA data sharing.

(ii) The Secretary of Commerce shall develop options, either in-house or through partnerships with 

industry or academia, assessing both the technical and economic feasibility of establishing such a 

repository.

(iii) The Secretary of Defense shall ensure that release of data regarding national security activities to 

any person or entity with access to the repository is consistent with national security interests.

(f) Develop Space Traffic Standards and Best Practices. The Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and 

Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the NASA Administrator, and the Director 

of National Intelligence, and in consultation with the Chairman of the FCC, shall develop space traffic standards and best practices, including technical guidelines, minimum safety standards, behavioral 

norms, and orbital conjunction prevention protocols related to pre-launch risk assessment and on-orbit 

collision avoidance support services.

(g) Prevent Unintentional Radio Frequency Interference. The Secretaries of Commerce and 

Transportation, in coordination with the Secretaries of State and Defense, the NASA Administrator, 

and the Director of National Intelligence, and in consultation with the Chairman of the FCC, shall 

coordinate to mitigate the risk of harmful interference and promptly address any harmful interference 

that may occur.

(h) Improve the U.S. Domestic Space Object Registry. The Secretary of State, in coordination with the 

Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and Transportation, the NASA Administrator, and the Director of 

National Intelligence, and in consultation with the Chairman of the FCC, shall lead U.S. Government 

efforts on international engagement related to international transparency and space object registry on 

SSA and STM issues.

(i) Develop Policies and Regulations for Future U.S. Orbital Operations. The Secretaries of Defense, 

Commerce, and Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the NASA Administrator, 
Appendices

237 and the Director of National Intelligence, shall regularly evaluate emerging trends in space missions to 

recommend revisions, as appropriate and necessary, to existing SSA and STM policies and regulations.

Sec. 7. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, 

administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability 

of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or 

entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal 

Register.

Donald J. Trump

The White House,

June 18, 2018

239 c Acrony

ronyms

3DEP 3D Elevation Program

A

AARGM Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile

ABoVE Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment

ACARE Advisory Council for Aviation Research and innovation in Europe

ACE Advanced Composition Explorer

ACEP Agricultural Conservation Easement Program

ACES Atomic Clock Ensemble in Space

ACE-T-6 Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-6

ACT Atacama Cosmology Telescope

ADEPT Adaptable, Deployable Entry and Placement Technology

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast

AE Archive Explorer

AEDC Arnold Engineering Development Center

AEFS Advanced Electronic Flight Strips

AEHF Advanced Extremely High Frequency

AES Advanced Exploration Systems

AFB Air Force Base

AFRCO Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

AFSPC Air Force Space Command

AFSS Autonomous Flight Safety System

AGS Atmospheric and Geospace Science Division

AIA Atmospheric Imaging Assembly

AIS Automatic Identification System

AIT American Institute in Taiwan

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array

ALPACA Advanced Cryogenic L-band Phased Array Camera for Arecibo

AM additive manufacturing

AMC Additive Manufacturing Consortium

AMISR Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar

AMPERE Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment

AMS Autonomous Modular Sensor; Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

AMSR Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer

ANSI American National Standards Institute

AO Arecibo Observatory

AoR Area of Responsibility

APD Astrophysics Division

APKWS Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System

APL Applied Physics Laboratory

AR Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc.

ARD Analysis Ready Data

ARM Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Research Facility

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

ARPA-E Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy

ARS Agricultural Research Service

AS Atmosphere Section
240Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

ASB Agricultural Statistics Board

ASBU Aviation System Block Upgrade

ASD agricultural statistics district

ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers

AST Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA); Division of Astronomical Sciences (NSF)

ASU Group on the Sector Understanding on Export Credits for Civil Aircraft (the “Aircraft Sector 

Understanding”)

ASuW Anti-Surface Warfare

ATC Air Traffic Control

ATCA Air Traffic Control Association

ATDS Advanced Threat Detection System

ATHENA Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics

ATLAS Advanced Twin Lifting and Aerobic System

ATM air traffic management

ATom Atmospheric Tomography

AVC Arms Control, Verification and Compliance

AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor

B

BAA Broad Agency Announcement

BABAR Broadband Absolute Bolometer Array

BAER Burned Area Emergency Response

BEAM Bigelow Expandable Activity Module

BECCAL Bose-Einstein Condensate Cold Atom Laboratory

BICEP Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization

BICM Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring

BICY Big Cypress National Preserve

BIS Bureau of Industry and Security

BLAST-TNG Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope–The Next Generation

BLM Bureau of Land Management

BMC2 Battle Management Command and Control

BMG Bulk Metallic Glass

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory

BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

BOR Bureau of Reclamation

BPA Brine Processor Assembly

BPS Biological and Physical Sciences

C

C&N communication and navigation

C2 command and control

C2V2 Common Communications for Visiting Vehicles

C4I Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence

CAE Center for Agribusiness Excellence

CAESR Carbon Absolute Electrical Substitution Radiometer

CAL Cold Atom Laboratory

CAS Convergent Aeronautics Solutions

CASIS Center for the Advancement of Science in Space

CCAFS Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

CCC Commodity Credit Corporation

CCOR compact coronagraph

CCS Counter Communications System

CCSC Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities
241 Acronyms

CCSDS Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems

CDL Cropland Data Layer

CDR Critical Design Review

CEC Commission for Environmental Cooperation

CEDAR Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions

CENTCOM Central Command

CEO chief executive officer

CEPS Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

CERES FM6 Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System Flight Model 6

CERP Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan

CfA Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian

CFC chlorofluorocarbon

CFD computational fluid dynamics

CFO Carlsbad Field Office

CHARA Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy

CHIRPS Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations

CHNS Committee for Homeland and National Security

CIR Color Infrared

CIRAS Commercial Infrastructure for Robotic Assembly and Services

CLaRe Climate Landscape Response

CLASS Cosmic Large Angular Scale Survey

CLPS Commercial Lunar Payload Services

CM Crew Module

CMB cosmic microwave background

CMDA Civil Maritime Domain Awareness

CME Coronal Mass Ejection

CMS CSpOC Mission System

CMWS Common Missile Warning System

CNES Centre National d’Études Spatiales

CNT carbon nanotube

CNT ESR Carbon Nano-tube Electrical Substitution Radiometer

CO carbon monoxide

COA Course of Action

CONOPS Concept of Operations

CONUS contiguous United States

COPUOS UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

COSPAS-SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking

COWVR Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer

CPRA Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority

CrIS Cross-track Infrared Sounder

CRP constant-rate production

CRS Commercial Resupply Services

CRSRA Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs

CS Commercial Service

CSIM Compact Solar Irradiance Monitor

CSLI CubeSat Launch Initiative

CSP Cold Spray Process

CSpOC Combined Space Operations Center

CUBES Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space

CVN aircraft carrier with nuclear propulsion

CVW Carrier Air Wing

CWDP Commercial Weather Data Pilot

CYGNSS Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System
242Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

D

DAMIEN Detecting and Mitigating the Impact of Earth-Bound Near-Earth Objects

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DART Double Asteroid Redirection Test

Data Comm Data Communications

DEM digital elevation model

DG-GROW Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and Small 

Medium Enterprise

DKIST Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

DLC Descent and Landing Computer

DLR German Aerospace Center

DMC Disaster Monitoring Constellation

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

dNBR Delta NBR

dNDVI difference between leaf-on and leaf-off NDVI values

DOC Department of Commerce

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOI Department of the Interior

DopplerScatt Doppler Scatterometer

DOS Department of State

DOT Department of Transportation

DSA Deep Synoptic Array

DSAC Deep Space Atomic Clock

DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory

DSN Deep Space Network

DSP Defense Support Program

DSWE Dynamic Surface Water Extent

DTN Disruption Tolerant Networking

E

EA Environmental Assessment

EAGLE ESPA Augmented Geosynchronous Laboratory Experiment

EBIS Electron Beam Ion Source

EC European Commission

ECAMS Environmental Continuous Air Monitors

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

ECOSTRESS ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station

eCryo Evolvable Cryogenics

EDU Engineering Development Unit

EEAS European External Action Service

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle

EGS Exploration Ground Systems

EHT Event Horizon Telescope

EIS Environmental Impact Statement

ELV expendable launch vehicle

EM-1 Exploration Mission–1

EM-2 Exploration Mission–2

EO Earth observation

EOS Earth Observing System

EPS Enhanced Polar System

ERG Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace

EROS Earth Resources Observation and Science
243 Acronyms

ESA European Space Agency

ESBMC2 Enterprise Space Battle Management Command and Control

ESD Exploration Systems Development; Earth Science Division

ESIM earth station in motion

ESP Efficient Space Procurement; Environmental Studies Program

ESPA EELV Secondary Payload Adapter

ESR Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation

ET evapotranspiration

ETM Enhanced Thematic Mapper

EU European Union

EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUV extreme ultraviolet

EVA extravehicular activity

EVE EUV Variability Experiment

EVER Everglades National Park

EVWHS Enhanced View Web Hosting Service

EWS Electro-optical/infrared Weather System

EWS-G EWS-Geostationary

EXIM Export-Import Bank

EXIS EUV and X-ray Irradiance Sensor

EXPORTS Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing

F

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FabLab Fabrication Laboratory

FAB-T Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminals

FACA Federal Advisory Committee Act

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service

FAS/OGA Foreign Agricultural Service Office of Global Analysis

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FCIC Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

FDEM frequency-domain electromagnetic

FDSS Faculty Development in Space Sciences

FES Office of Fusion Energy Sciences

FEWS NET Famine Early Warning Systems Network

FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

FIA Forest Inventory and Analysis

FOC Full Operational Capability

FOD foreign object debris

FOR Flight Operations Review

FOXSI Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager

FRB Fast Radio Burst

FSA Farm Service Agency

FVL Future Vertical Lift

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service

FY fiscal year

G

GBD Global Burst Detector

GBMASH Ground Based Manufacturing and Assembly System Hardware

Gbps gigabits per second

GCD Game Changing Development

GCOM-W Global Change Observation Mission–Water
244Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

GCR Galactic Cosmic Ray

GDC Geospace Dynamics Constellation

GEE Google Earth Engine

GEM Geospace Environment Modeling

GEO Geosynchronous Earth Orbit; Directorate for Geosciences

GEO-AGS Directorate for Geosciences’ Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

GeV gigaelectronvolt

GF Geospace Facilities

GIS Geographic Information Systems; graphite impact shell

GLAM Global Agricultural Monitoring

G-LiHT Goddard’s Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal Imager

GMT Giant Magellan Telescope

GNC-A GEONETCast Americas

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite Systems

GO1 GOLauncher1

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GOLD Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk

GONG Global Oscillations Network Group

GPIM Green Propellant Infusion Mission

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement

GPS Global Positioning System

GPS IIIF GPS III Follow-on

GPSRO GPS radio occultation

GPS SAR GPS Search and Rescue

GRACE Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment

GRACE-FO Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On

GRB GOES Rebroadcast

GRC Glenn Research Center

G-REALM Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor

GS Geospace Section

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

GSSAP Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program

GUT grand-unified theory

H

HARM High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile

HEO Highly Elliptical Orbit

HERA Human Exploration Research Analog; Hybrid Electronic Radiation Assessor; Hydrogen Epoch 

of Reionization Array

HEAT High Elevation Antarctic Terahertz

HF high-frequency

HFIR High Flux Isotope Reactor

HIAD Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator

HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment

HPD Heliophysics Division

HPSC High Performance Spaceflight Computing

HRP Human Research Program

HTV H-II Transfer Vehicle

HWIL Hardware-in-the-Loop

I

I&W Indications and Warning

IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer
245 Acronyms

IC Intelligence Community

ICAO International Civil Aviation Organization

ICBM intercontinental ballistic missile

ICESat Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite

ICEX Ice Exercise

ICG International Committee on GNSS

ICNO IceCube Neutrino Observatory

ICON Ionospheric Connection Explorer

IfSAR interferometric synthetic aperture radar

IFUSI Improved Fundamental Understanding of Super Insulation

IMAP Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe

INL Idaho National Laboratory

INSCOM Intelligence and Securities Command

InSight Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport

IOAG Interagency Operations Advisory Group

IOC Initial Operational Capability

IOD Indian Ocean Dipole

IPAD International Production Assessment Division

IPTE Improved Performance Technology Engine

IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

IR infrared

IRAC Infrared Array Camera

IRIS Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

IRS-2 Indian Resourcesat–2

ISARA Integrated Solar Array Reflectarray Antenna

ISIL, ISIS Islamic State

ISM In-Space Manufacturing

ISPF In Space Propulsion Facility

ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

ISRU In-Situ Resource Utilization

ISS International Space Station

IT information technology

IT&C Integration, Testing and Commissioning

ITA International Trade Administration

ITAC 1 Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Aerospace Equipment

IXPE Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer

J

JAGM Joint Air-to-Ground Missile

JASD Joint Agency Satellite Division

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JMR-TD Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPSS Joint Polar Satellite System

JPSS-1 Joint Polar Satellite System–1

JRC Joint Research Centre

JSC Johnson Space Center

JSF Joint Strike Fighter

JSpOC Joint Space Operations Center

JUICE Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer
246Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

K

KAPA Keck All-Sky Precision Adaptive Optics

KARI Korea Aerospace Research Institute

KRUSTY Kilopower Reactor Using Stirling Technology

KSC Kennedy Space Center

K–T boundary Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary

L

LAANC Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

LASP Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

LAT Large Area Telescope

LCAAT Low Cost Attritable Aircraft Technologies

LCLS Linac Coherent Light Source

LCMS Landscape Change Monitoring System

LCRD Laser Communication Relay Demonstration

LCUSP Low-Cost Upper Stage-Class Propulsion

LEE Latching End Effector

LEO low-Earth orbit

LERZ Lower East Rift Zone

LIBS Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

lidar light detection and ranging

LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory

LISS Linear Imaging Self Scanning

LLAMAS Large Lenslet Array Magellan Spectrograph

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LOFTID LEO-based Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator

LOLA Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter

LRASM Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LSA launch service agreement

LSC Legal Subcommittee

LSP Launch Services Program

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

LST Land Surface Temperature

LTRS Launch and Test Range System

LTS Working Group on Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities

Lunar CATALYST Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown

LunIR Lunar Infrared

LUSI LUnar Spectral Irradiance

LWA Long Wavelength Array

M

M1 primary mirror (DKIST)

M3 Moon Mineralogy Mapper

MAF Michoud Assembly Facility

MANPADS Man Portable Air Defense Systems

MAPS MMT Adaptive optics exoPlanet characterization System

MARCI Mars Color Imager

MarCO Mars Cube One

MARSIS Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding

MAVEN Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution
247 Acronyms

Mb/s megabits per second

MBSE Model-Based Systems Engineering

MCS Mars Climate Sounder

MDXR Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer

MEDA Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer

MEDLI-2 Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation–2

MENA Middle East North Africa

MEO medium-Earth orbit

MEOSAR Medium Earth Orbit Search and Rescue

MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership

MER Mars Exploration Rover

Micro-X High-Resolution Microcalorimeter X-ray Imaging Rocket

MIDEX Medium-Class Explorer

MILSATCOM Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate

MinXSS Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer

MKID microwave kinetic-inductance detector

MMS Magnetospheric Multiscale

MMRTG Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

MMT Multiple Mirror Telescope

MOBY Marine Optical BuoY

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MoFA Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MOPITT Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MOXIE Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment

MPS Mathematics and Physical Sciences

MRLC Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

MRR Mission Readiness Review

MSIP Mid-Scale Innovations Program

MSL Mars Science Laboratory

MVP Multi-use Variable-g Platform

N

N nitrogen

N2 dinitrogen

NAAMES North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study

NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards

NAC NextGen Advisory Committee

NAICS North American Industry Classification System

NAIP National Agriculture Imagery Program

NALCMS North American Land Change Monitoring System

NANOGrav North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves

NAS National Academy of Sciences; Naval Air Station; National Airspace System

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA-ISRO NASA–Indian Space Research Organization

NASM National Air and Space Museum

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service

NBR Normalized Burn Ratio

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NDAA National Defense Authorization Act

NDOP National Digital Orthoimagery Program

NDS NASA Docking System

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
248Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

NE Office of Nuclear Energy

NEK Nazemnyy Eksperimental’nyy Kompleks

NEN Near Earth Network

NEO near-Earth object

NEPA National Environmental Policy Act

NERSC National Energy Research Supercomputing Center

NET No Earlier Than

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System

NextSTEP Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships

NFS National Forest System

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

NGEE Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment

NGLAW Next Generation Land Attack Weapon

NGSC Next Generation Strike Capability

NIAC NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts

NICER Neutron-star Interior Composition Explorer

NISAR NASA–Indian Space Research Organization Synthetic Aperture Radar

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NLCD National Land Cover Database

NLIP National Land Imaging Program

NMNH National Museum of Natural History

NMSO New Mexico State Office

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration

NNSS Nevada National Security Site

NO2 nitrogen dioxide

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory

NOC National Operations Center

NOx nitrogen oxide

NP Office of Nuclear Physics

NPN National Phenology Network

NPP National Polar Partnership

NPS National Park Service

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRI National Resources Inventory

NROL National Reconnaissance Office Launch

NS-10 University Nanosat Program, round 10

NSDC National Space Defense Center

NSF National Science Foundation

NSPO National Space Organization

NSO National Solar Observatory

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

NSS National Security Space

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

NSWAP National Space Weather Action Plan

NSWS National Space Weather Strategy

NTP Nuclear Thermal Propulsion

NuSTAR Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array

NWP numerical weather prediction

O

OASuW Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare

OCO-2 Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2
249 Acronyms

OCONUS Outside CONUS

OCS Outer Continental Shelf

OCSD Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration

OCSLA Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act

OCX Operational Control System

ODNI Office of the Director of National Intelligence

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OES/SAT Oceans, Environment and Science /Office of Space and Advanced Technology

OFII Office of Finance and Insurance Industries

OFT Orbital Flight Test

OGS Optical Ground Station

OLI Operational Land Imager

OMI Ozone Monitoring Instrument

OPIR Overhead Persistent Infrared

OPP Office of Polar Programs

ORNL Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ORS-6 Operationally Responsive Space-6

OSIRIS-REx Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer

OSMRE Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

OT&E Operational Testing and Evaluation

OTM Office of Transportation and Machinery

P

P&E Physical and Environmental

P&P Policy and Procedures

Pb lead

PBN Performance Based Navigation

PBS Plum Brook Station

PCM Post Certification Mission

PEA partial economic area

PeV petaelectronvolt

PFCS Pump Flow Control Subassembly

PFM probabilistic fracture mechanics

PHY Division of Physics

PL&HA Precision Landing and Hazard Avoidance

PLACE Patterns in the Landscape–Analyses of Cause and Effect

PM particulate matter

PMNS Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata

PNT Positioning, Navigation, and Timing

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellites

PPA Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly

PPE Power and Propulsion Element

PREEVENTS Prediction and Resilience against Extreme Events

PRISM Parameter-elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model

PRS Public Regulated Service

PSD Planetary Science Division; production, supply, and distribution

PSP Parker Solar Probe

PTD Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator

PTES Protected Tactical Enterprise Service

Pu plutonium

Q

QueSST Quiet Supersonic Technology
250Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

R

RAF Royal Air Force

RCF Range Communications Facility

REALM RFID-Enabled Autonomous Logistics Management

REDDI Research, Development, Demonstration, and Infusion

RF Radio Frequency; Random Forest

RFE Recursive Feature Elimination

RFI Request for Information

RFID Radio Frequency Identification

RFMG Radio Frequency Mass Gauge

RFP Request for Proposals

RHIC Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider

RMA Risk Management Agency

RNAV Area Navigation

RNP Required Navigation Performance

RO radio occultation

ROS rain-on-snow

ROSES Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences

RPS radioisotope power system

RPT Rocket Propulsion Testing

RR-7 Rodent Research-7

RRM Robotic Refueling Mission

RSCC Remote Sensing Coordinating Committee

RTL register-transfer level

S

SABRS Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System

SAE Society of Automotive Engineers

SAM Spacecraft Atmosphere Monitor

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

SAR Search and Rescue; Synthetic Aperture Radar

SATCOM Satellite Communications

SAW Spanwise Adaptive Wing

SBEM Space Based Environmental Monitoring

SBIR Small Business Innovative Research

SBIRS Space Based Infrared System

SC Office of Science

SCaN Space Communications and Navigation

SCAN Soil Climate

SCOAPE Satellite Continental and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment

SCS Soil Conservation Service

SDB II Small Diameter Bomb II

SDD System Development and Demonstration

SDI Space Data Integrator

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory

SEP Solar Electric Propulsion

SFS Space and Flight Support

SGSS SN Ground Sustainment System

ShadowOC Shadow Operations Center

SHARAD Shallow Subsurface Radar

SHIIVER Structural Heat Intercept, Insulation Vibration Evaluation Rig

SI International System of Units

SIA Satellite Imagery Archive
251 Acronyms

SLM Selective Laser Manufacturing

SLS Space Launch System

SLPSRA Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications

SMA Submillimeter Array

SMAP Soil Moisture Active Passive

SMC Space and Missile Systems Center

SMCRA Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977

SMD Science Mission Directorate

SN Space Network

SNL Sandia National Laboratories

SNOTEL Snow Survey Telemetry

SNP Saguaro National Park

SNSPD superconducting nanowire single photon detector

SO

2 sulfur dioxide

SOA service-oriented architecture

SOC Space Optical Clock

SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Space RCO Space Rapid Capabilities Office

SpaceX Space Exploration Holdings, LLC

SPD Space Policy Directives; supersonic particle deposition

SPLICE Safe and Precise Landing—Integrated Capabilities Evolution

SPT South Pole Telescope

SPUD Small Polarimeter Upgrade for Degree Angular Scale Interferometer

SQUID superconducting quantum interference device

sRLV Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle

SSA Space Situational Awareness

SSC Stennis Space Center

SSDP Space Security and Defense Program

SSEBop Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance

SSL Space Systems Loral

SSMIS Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder

SSN Space Surveillance Network

SSTI Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative

SSTP Small Spacecraft Technology Program

SSV Space Service Volume

STARS Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System

STELR Supersonic Turbine Engine for Long Range

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

STEREO-A Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory–A

STEVE Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement

STM Space Traffic Management

STMD Space Technology Mission Directorate

STP Space Test Program

STRG Space Technology Research Grants

STS Space Transportation System

STSC Scientific and Technical Subcommittee

STTR Small Business Technology Transfer

SuMIRE Subaru Measurement of Images and Redshifts

Suomi NPP Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership

SURF Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility

SW software

SWAMP System-Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program

SWEAP Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons

SWFO Space Weather Follow On

SWIM System Wide Information Management
252Aeronautics and Space Report of the President • Fiscal Year 2018 Activities

SWORM Space Weather Operations, Research, and Mitigation

SWR Space Weather Research

SWSH Space Weather, Security, and Hazards

T

TACTOM Tactical Tomahawk/Block IV

TAMR Terminal Automation Modernization and Replacement

TAP Traffic Aware Planner

TASAR Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests

TBFM Time Based Flow Management

TBO Trajectory Based Operations

TCC Tree Canopy Cover

TCCON Total Column Carbon Observing Network

TDM Technology Demonstration Mission

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellites

TECRO Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office

TEMPO Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution

TES transition-edge sensor; Terrestrial Ecosystem Science

TESS Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

TFDM Terminal Flight Data Manager

TFMS Traffic Flow Management System

TFRSAC Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee

THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms

TM Thematic Mapper

TMA telescope mount assembly

TOP Texas Orthoimagery Program

TOPEX Ocean Topography Experiment

TRACON terminal radar approach control

TRISH Translational Research Institute for Space Health

TSAS Terminal Sequencing and Spacing

TSIS Total and Spectral solar Irradiance Sensor

TT&C telemetry, tracking, and communication

TTPs Tactics, Techniques and Procedures

TUI Tethers Unlimited, Inc.

U

UAE United Arab Emirates

UAM Urban Air Mobility

UAS Unmanned Aircraft Systems; Unmanned Aerial Systems

UAS EXCOM UAS Executive Committee

UAS SSG UAS Senior Steering Group

UASSC Unmanned Aircraft Systems Standards Collaborative

UAV Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

UDOP User Defined Operational Picture

ULA United Launch Alliance

UMFUS Upper Microwave Flexible Use Service

UN United Nations

UNISPACE+50 50th anniversary of the first United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful 

Uses of Outer Space

UNP University Nanosat Program

USA United States Army

USACE U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
253 Acronyms

USAF United States Air Force

US-COMP Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

USEPA U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

USFS U.S. Forest Service

USG U.S. Government

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

USMC United States Marine Corps

USN United States Navy

USNDS U.S. Nuclear Detonation Detection System

USSTRATCOM United States Strategic Command

V

VAFB Vandenberg Air Force Base

VASIMR Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket

VCLS Venture Class Launch Services

VIIRS Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite

VIP Vegetation Inventory Program

VSWIR visible-to-shortwave-infrared

W

WASDE World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates

Webb James Webb Space Telescope

WGS Wideband Global Satellite Communications

WIN Written Impact Narratives

WMN Western-Range Modernization of Network

WSF Weather Satellite Follow-on

WSF-M WSF–Microwave

WSTF White Sands Test Facility

WV2 WorldView-2

Y

YB ytterbium

Z

ZBLAN glasses with composition ZrF4–BaF2–LaF3–AlF3–NaF

ZBOT Zero Boil-Off Tank

ZTF Zwicky Transient Facility


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