Ames Research Center (ARC) 

Center Assets: Located in the Moffett Field, CA, ARC employs over 1,200 civil servants, 

consisting mainly of professional engineers and scientists in aeronautics and aerospace systems, 

biotechnology, information technology research, nanotechnology, fundamental space biology, 

earth and space sciences, and human factors research. Center capabilities that will be tapped in 

the President’s new program include their expertise in aeronautics and aerospace systems, 

information and nanotechnology research, and biotechnology. Specific new activities include 

the following. 

Exploration Scouts, Program Office: This new program will support small, competed robotic 

precursor missions to the Moon, Mars and its moons, Lagrange points, and nearby asteroids to 

scout targets for future human activities, and identify the hazards and resources that will 

determine the future course of the expansion of human civilization into space. This Program will 

focus on rapid, small, innovative satellite approaches to these destinations. As the Program 

Office, ARC will coordinate and manage these projects with other NASA Centers, academia, and 

private-sector partnerships and activities. 

Small Satellite Subsystem Technology (SSST), Program Office: Technologies that enable small 

satellites to provide game-changing capabilities for the government and commercial sectors will 

be supported in this program. These "push" technologies may include formation flying, long life 

power systems, miniaturized remote sensors, deployable apertures, autonomous swarm 

Highlights*:

 Exploration Scouts:  New Program Office as part of Exploration’s Precursor Robotic Missions effort

to manage approximately $20 million in FY 2011 and $400 million over five years allocated to

scout locations for eventual human visits with a focus on small, competed robotic missions.    

 Small Satellite Subsystem Technology:  New Program Office to manage $6 million in FY 2011 and

$126 million over five years in research and development in this important technology area.    

 Edison Small Satellite Demonstrations:  New Program Office to manage $10 million in FY 2011 and

$90 million over five years to demonstrate key small satellite capabilities.    

 Aeronautics Research:  The FY 2011 funding augmentation will be used to increase research

activities into green aviation and Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen)

capabilities.

*   Proposals regarding Program Office assignments will be implemented following Congressional approval of the FY 2011

budget; and funding amounts include the cost of civil service labor.

  
operations, and other technology enablers. Architectures, proximity operations, robotics, spaceto-space power transmission and other system interoperability such as that being developed for 

standardization in small spacecraft will also be advanced. 

Edison Small Satellite Demonstrations, Program Office: This program will develop and operate a 

series of NASA-focused small satellite demonstration missions. Science objectives for these 

missions will focus on the life and physical sciences, including fundamental biology as well as 

other NASA needs. Technology objectives could include formation flying, autonomous 

operations, collaborative observations, and approaches enabling payload recovery. NASA will 

pursue these missions in collaboration with academia and small business in close coordination 

with other relevant government programs. Through collaborative efforts, university students will 

gain hands-on experience within project activities. In addition, this program seeks to serve the 

small satellite community by improving the affordability of small payload launch through 

secondary payload process improvements and other development efforts. 

Aeronautics Research Augmentation: 

ARC will support the Aviation Safety Program in the verification and validation of flight critical 

systems that will be required in order to successfully realize NextGen. This support will include 

the development of improved verification and validation tools to ensure that new NextGen 

concepts satisfy flight critical safety requirements, especially needed considering the trend for 

increasingly software-intense automation, and the complex interactions between humans and 

automation. 

ARC will support the Integrated Systems Research Program, addressing operational and safety 

issues related to the integration of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace by 

providing expertise in air traffic management concepts and algorithms for automated separation 

assurance and conflict detection and resolution, NextGen modeling and simulation of airspace 

operations, and intelligent contingency management planning. 

ARC, along with the other NASA research centers, will support the augmented research and 

development efforts, including grants and cooperative agreements, to support NASA’s 

environmentally responsible aviation project. These research plans, which are currently being 

developed, will include design and feasibility studies, high-fidelity simulations, flight 

demonstrations, design competitions and prize challenges.