Aeronautics and Space Report

of the President

Fiscal Year

2010 Activities
Aeronautics

and

Space Report

of the 

President

Fiscal Year

2010

Activities
Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 

directed the annual Aeronautics and Space Report 

to include a “comprehensive description of the 

programmed activities and the accomplishments 

of all agencies of the United States in the field of 

aeronautics and space activities during the preceding 

calendar year.” In recent years, the reports have 

been prepared on a fiscal-year basis, consistent 

with the budgetary period now used in programs of 

the Federal Government. This year’s report covers 

activities that took place from October 1, 2009, 

through September 30, 2010.
Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Table of ConTenTs

National Aeronautics and Space Administration 1

• Exploration Systems Mission Directorate 1

Space Operations Mission Directorate 7

Science Mission Directorate 14

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate 21

• 

• 

• 

Department of Defense 35

Federal Aviation Administration 41

Department of Commerce 51

Department of the Interior 83

Federal Communications Commission 99

U S Department of Agriculture 103

National Science Foundation 115

Department of State 123

Department of Energy 127

Smithsonian Institution 133

Appendices 145

• A-1 U S Government Spacecraft Record 146

A-2 World Record of Space Launches Successful in 

Attaining Earth Orbit or Beyond 147

B Successful Launches to Orbit on U S Vehicles 148

C Human Spaceflights 150

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

Authority in Millions of Real-Year Dollars 151

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

Authority in Millions of Inflation-Adjusted FY 10 Dollars 152

D-2 Federal Space Activities Budget 153

D-3 Federal Aeronautics Activities Budget 154

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Acronyms 155
.
1Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

naTional aeronauTiCs and

spaCe adminisTraTion

NASA

Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

Fiscal year 2010 (FY 10) was a year of transition for the National Aeronautics 

and Space Administration’s (NASA) Exploration Systems Mission Directorate 

(ESMD) as NASA continued the development of the next generation of space 

vehicles to support human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO). The FY 10 

President’s Budget articulated a transition from activities that focused on developing capabilities to explore the moon. As a result, during 2010 NASA pursued 

options to leverage ESMD’s achievements for new exploration programs as directed 

by Congress and the President.

Advanced Capabilities Division

The Advanced Capabilities Division (ACD) is responsible for pursuing innovative knowledge and technology to reduce operational risks and costs associated 

with NASA’s current and future exploration systems. ACD manages three programs: the Human Research Program, the Exploration Technology Development 

Program, and the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. These programs focus on 

high-priority activities, such as conducting basic research in life and physical sciences, meeting technology requirements for long-duration spaceflight, and developing robotic missions as precursors for future human missions.
2Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Human Research Program

The Human Research Program (HRP) supported NASA’s exploration goals by 

investigating and mitigating risks to astronaut health and performance during explo-

ration missions. HRP’s goal is to develop the knowledge and technologies to enable 

safe and productive human space exploration, as well as to support compliance with 

NASA’s medical, environmental, and human factors standards. 

In FY 10, the IntraVenous Fluid GENeration (IVGEN) project tested a system for 

producing United States Pharmacopeia (USP)–grade IV fluid using in-orbit resources. 

This is important for future exploration missions because IV fluid has a finite shelf 

life and International Space Station (ISS) missions require roughly 12 liters of IV 

fluid, with missions beyond LEO potentially requiring more. After IVGEN hardware 

was launched to the ISS in April 2010, ISS astronauts successfully produced two 

1.5-liter bags of 0.9 percent normal saline solution, both of which were returned to 

Earth for testing at a USP-certified laboratory. The IVGEN-produced IV fluid passed 

all USP requirements, except for the saline concentration, which was slightly outside 

of the expected range but within the limits tolerated by the body.

After returning to Earth in December 2009, U.S. and Japanese astronauts of the 

Soyuz 21 mission were transported directly from Kazakhstan to the United States, 

reaching NASA facilities in Houston within 24 hours of their descent from space. 

This differed from standard procedures, which delay crew return for several days, 

thereby complicating post-flight data collection. This first-ever instance of Direct 

Crew Return was successful in several respects: it enabled a full schedule of postflight medical and science testing, reduced the need to transport NASA scientists 

and hardware to Russia, and allowed the crew more rest time. Direct Crew Return 

was used for the Soyuz 22 mission and is planned for subsequent landings.

The Mission Medical Information Systems (MMIS) is a ground-based system for 

managing medical data from ISS missions. In FY 10, the system was expanded to 

facilitate the electronic dissemination of, and access to, ISS medical data; MMIS 

now allows laboratories directly receiving and analyzing ISS medical data to submit 

their reports to end users, namely, crew flight surgeons and epidemiologists, in a 

secure and rapid manner. The completion of MMIS was a significant milestone 

for more efficient and effective management and application of crew health and 

performance data for human spaceflight.
3Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Also in FY 10, NASA completed the largest systematic, subjective assessment to 

date of Shuttle astronauts’ sleep behavior and quality. Results indicated a large variability in the overall quality of sleep during flight but also showed that most crewmembers have difficulty sleeping in orbit, with a significant relationship between 

difficulty of falling asleep on Earth and sleep disruptions in flight. These findings 

will inform strategies for astronauts, medical personnel, and habitat designers for 

future ISS and space exploration missions.

Exploration Technology Development Program

The Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) was responsible 

for developing new technologies to enable NASA to conduct future exploration 

missions in a safe and cost-effective manner. ETDP accomplished this by maturing 

new technologies in the early stages of their associated programs, in time to support Preliminary Design Reviews, thereby reducing both cost and risk in NASA’s 

exploration initiatives.

The Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor (VCAM) is an instrument used on 

the ISS for identifying the presence of minute quantities of harmful gases in the 

air. Because the closed environment on the ISS magnifies the impact of pollutants 

on crew health, instruments like VCAM are critical to crew safety on the station. 

To date, VCAM has operated successfully. Future long-duration exploration missions could utilize instruments like VCAM to help protect astronaut health aboard 

transport systems such as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

Lunar Precursor Robotic Program

NASA created the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) to execute precursor robotic missions to support planned human missions to the moon, making the program critical to the Constellation System’s efforts. The goal of these 

robotic missions is to gather data essential for reducing risks to astronauts, identify 

resources and landing sites, and refine the requirements for lunar surface hardware.

LPRP’s first mission was the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Launched 

in June 2009, LRO operated flawlessly throughout FY 10, contributing to a range 

of discoveries that enhanced researchers’ understanding of the moon. The LRO 

spacecraft provided data for high-resolution mapping of the moon, conducted 
4Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

investigations on lunar radiation and thermal environments, and identified 

lunar resource availability. In October 2009, the Lunar CRater Observation and 

Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), a spacecraft comanifested with LRO, impacted a 

permanently shadowed crater at the lunar pole to investigate the possible pres-

ence of water and other volatiles. LRO imagery has provided unprecedented 

high-resolution topography of the moon, while LCROSS data identified the pres-

ence of water and a variety of volatiles on the lunar surface. After completing a 

one-year exploration phase, LRO was handed over to NASA’s Science Mission 

Directorate at the end of FY 10.

Another key component of LPRP was the Lunar Mapping and Modeling 

Project (LMMP), an initiative to ensure that the results of precursor robotic 

missions are accessible to lunar exploration planners. LMMP data are accessed 

through a single, common NASA portal designed for the convenient dissemina-

tion of lunar mapping and modeling data, products, and tools. A beta version of 

LMMP software was released for limited distribution in December 2009, with 

public release scheduled for FY 11.

Constellation Systems Division

1

Within the ESMD, the Constellation Systems Division consists of two compo-

nents: the Constellation Program and the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program 

Office. Together, these initiatives focus on developing the capabilities for safe, 

sustainable, and affordable crew and cargo transportation to LEO and beyond.

Constellation Program (CxP)

The Constellation Program (CxP) focused on developing the next generation 

of NASA launch vehicles and spacecraft for human space exploration beyond 

LEO. Its key systems included the Orion crew exploration vehicle, Ares I crew 

launch vehicle, and Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle. Additionally, CxP’s 

1. President Barack Obama’s FY 11 budget request, announced in February 2010, cancelled the 

Constellation Program. However, the FY 10 Consolidated Appropriations Act prohibited the cancellation 

of Constellation while the 2010 NASA Authorization Act directed NASA to develop a new approach to 

human spaceflight. Constellation program elements continued into the development of the new program, 

but please note that this report reflects a historical approach to the data available at the time.
Program Integration and Operations covered the necessary systems to support 5

ground and mission operations, extravehicular activity, and lunar lander and 

surface systems.

In FY 10, ESMD continued to move forward on existing CxP initiatives, focusing primarily on Orion and Ares I. While uncertainty surrounded CxP work for 

most of the year due to the program’s proposed transition following the release 

of the FY 11 President’s budget submission in early 2010, CxP developments 

during FY 10 provided valuable insights and capabilities to support new human 

spaceflight initiatives.

Orion is the crew exploration vehicle designed to ferry astronauts to and from the 

ISS, serve as a crew rescue vehicle while docked at the ISS, or to link up with another 

spacecraft in orbit to explore beyond LEO. Work continued on the Orion capsule 

throughout FY 10. Most notably, the two halves of the Orion crew capsule—the 

bulkhead and nosecone—were fused together using a new technology, friction stir 

welding. The activities culminated in a successful Pad Abort-1 test in May 2010. 

NASA will explore options for using versions of the Orion capsule, as well as associated work carried out in areas such as autonomous landing and advanced robotics, in 

new exploration initiatives directed by Congress and the President.

During FY 10, the development of the launch vehicle, Ares I, designed to transport the crew vehicle (Orion) into LEO to enable missions beyond Earth orbit, 

achieved several major milestones. Ares I was designed to provide transportation 

for crew and cargo to and from the ISS after the retirement of the Space Shuttle. 

Project achievements during FY 10 included a successful Ares I-X test flight from 

the Kennedy Space Center in October 2009, which produced a number of lessons learned that can be applied to future American space launch vehicles. Other 

notable accomplishments from the Ares I project in FY 10 included the second 

Ares I First Stage Development Motor (DM-2) test firing, as well as the completion 

of the first stage avionics and upper stage roll control systems.

Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office

The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (C3PO) encourages domestic, 

private-sector development of safe, reliable, and cost-effective space transportation 
6 capabilities that could serve the ISS after Space Shuttle retirement. In FY 10, the 

Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and the newer Commercial 

Crew Development (CCDev) activities achieved substantial progress.

The goal of COTS is to facilitate the development of commercial vehicles for providing cargo to low-Earth orbit, encouraging the successful growth of a competitive 

market that could potentially provide ISS resupply services. CCDev activities focused 

on stimulating efforts within the private sector for the development and demonstration of safe, reliable, and cost-effective human space transportation capabilities.

The COTS program featured two funded Space Act Agreements (SAA), one 

with the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) and one with the 

Orbital Sciences Corporation (Orbital). Both SpaceX and Orbital have experienced 

delays common to aerospace development programs. However, both companies continued to make good progress with their COTS agreements in FY 10 by completing 

several agreed-upon milestones.

In June 2010, SpaceX performed the successful maiden test flight of the Falcon 9 

launch vehicle, which lifted off from Kennedy Space Center. This test was in anticipation of SpaceX’s first COTS demonstration flight, which took place in early FY 11 

and included a Dragon spacecraft aboard the Falcon 9, which successfully entered 

low-Earth orbit, performed several orbits of Earth, safely re-entered the atmosphere, 

and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.

In November 2009, Orbital passed the ISS phase-2 safety review in accordance 

with the Space Station safety review process. Achievement of the COTS Critical 

Design Review, demonstrating completion of the design phase, followed in March 

2010. In August 2010, Orbital completed the assembly of its Service Module structure in preparation for structure testing. Orbital has selected the Wallops Flight 

Facility for launching its COTS demonstration flight, which is planned for late 2011 

or early 2012.

The CCDev activities were funded by $50 million of American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds. Through a competitive process, these funds were 

awarded to five corporations that focused on developing a range of technologies to 

ensure safe and affordable human exploration. These five companies (Paragon, Blue 

Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and United Launch Alliance) successfully met all 

their milestones, and those agreements were concluded in April 2011.
Space Operations Mission Directorate 7

Space Shuttle/International Space Station

For the past 12 years, NASA has applied the full capabilities of the Space Shuttle 

to the mission for which this unique vehicle was originally conceived—the assembly of a large, advanced research station in low-Earth orbit, one that can serve as 

a critical international way station for further missions beyond low-Earth orbit. In 

FY 10 alone, the Space Shuttle deployed nearly 120,000 pounds of hardware, equipment, and supplies to the ISS and hosted 12 spacewalks over four highly successful 

missions at the ISS.

FY 10 began aggressively with the first of six Russian Progress spacecraft flights 

to the ISS launched on October 14, 2009. Launched on October 18, 2009, from 

the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and carrying 2,600 kilograms of food, 

spare parts, propellant, and scientific experiments, the Progress 35P resupply mission successfully docked with the ISS. This mission readied the ISS for the final 

surge in U.S. and Russian assembly missions needed to complete the basic ISS 

configuration on cost and schedule as planned for FY 10.

The Progress 5R assembly mission launched on schedule on November 20, 2009. 

This flight delivered the Russian assembly element “Poisk,” or “Search,” which is 

a mini-research module providing further capability for extravehicular activity 

(EVA) using Russian Orlan spacesuits. Additionally, Poisk provided systems for 

servicing and refurbishing the Orlan spacesuits and a zenith port needed for docking additional Soyuz and Progress spacecraft as the pace of visiting vehicle traffic 

continued to increase.

The crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis flew the first Shuttle mission of the fiscal 

year with the launch of STS-129 to the ISS on November 16, 2009. STS-129, the 

31st Space Shuttle flight to the ISS, was a logistics mission. Atlantis carried nearly 

30,000 pounds of spare hardware packed into two ExPRESS Logistics Carriers 

(ELC). (ExPRESS stands for Expedite the PRocessing of Experiments to the Space 

Station.) The ELCs carried two Control Moment Gyroscopes; tanks for ammonia, 

nitrogen, and oxygen; pump modules; a Latching End Effector for the ISS; a reel 

assembly for the ISS mobile transporter; and spare equipment for the ISS electrical 
8 power system. Whereas many missions include spacewalks that are focused on the 

installation and checkout of a single large piece of hardware, the three extravehicular activities for STS-129 included over a dozen different primary tasks, each of 

which was essential to ensuring the full operability of all ISS systems. The STS-129 

crew enjoyed a full Thanksgiving dinner, courtesy of the ISS Expedition 21 crew, 

before landing at the Kennedy Space Center on November 27, 2009.

Three of the Expedition 21–22 crew, O. Kotov, T.J. Creamer, and S. Noguchi, 

were launched December 20, 2009, on the Soyuz 21S mission. This mission was 

followed quickly by Progress 36P, which sustained ISS operations through resupply 

of another 2,600 kilograms of mission-critical cargo when it docked on February 5, 

2010. The heads of the ISS agencies from Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the 

United States then met in Tokyo, Japan, on March 11, 2010, to review ISS cooperation. They agreed that there were no identified technical constraints to continuing 

ISS operations beyond the current planning horizon of 2015 to at least 2020 and 

that the partnership should continue working to certify on-orbit elements through 

2028. They recognized that the U.S. fiscal year 2011 President’s budget request 

would allow the U.S. to support the continuation of ISS operations and utilization 

activities to at least 2020 and emphasized their common intent to undertake the 

necessary procedures within their respective governments to reach consensus on 

continuation of the ISS through the next decade.

The STS-130 astronauts delivered the two new ISS pieces, the final components 

of the U.S. segment of the ISS, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour during the second 

mission of the fiscal year on February 8, 2010. The 27,000-pound Node 3 module 

provides additional room for crewmembers as well as important new life support 

and environmental control hardware to augment the ISS crew support capabilities. 

Node 3 was renamed Tranquility prior to launch, the result of an online NASA 

naming event that attracted over 190,000 submissions. The Cupola, built for the 

European Space Agency by Alenia Spazio in Turin, Italy, provided full, panoramic 

views for supporting EVAs and robotic and docking operations at the ISS. Three 

EVAs during STS-130 were dedicated to installing and outfitting Tranquility and 

the Cupola. Environmental control and life support racks were also installed, 

including the Urine Processor Assembly’s replacement distillation assembly, the 

Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, racks 1 and 2 of the Water Recovery System, a 
Waste and Hygiene Compartment, and the Oxygen Generation System. Endeavour 9

touched down for a nighttime landing at Kennedy Space Center on February 21, 

2010, after completing all primary mission objectives.

On April 2, 2010, the Soyuz 22S crew rotation mission launched Expedition 

23–24 crewmembers A. Skvortsov, M. Kornienko, and T. Caldwell-Dyson to the 

ISS in time for President Obama’s April 15, 2010, conference at Kennedy Space 

Center. The conference focused on charting a bold new course for NASA and 

the future of U.S. leadership in human spaceflight. A diverse group of senior 

officials, space leaders, academic experts, industry leaders, and others who have 

specific expertise or interests related to spaceflight attended the conference and 

participated in four concurrent sessions on different aspects of the President’s new 

direction for NASA.

The predawn launch of Space Shuttle Discovery and its crew for STS-131 on 

April 5, 2010, proceeded without incident. Like STS-129, the mission was a logistics and outfitting run, with Discovery carrying over 17,000 pounds of cargo in 

the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module Leonardo and with three scheduled EVAs to 

continue maintenance and experiment activities outside the ISS. There were several technical issues that the on-orbit crews and ground teams had to work around, 

including issues with Discovery’s high-data-rate Ku-band system, stuck bolts on 

external hardware, and a malfunctioning nitrogen tank assembly valve. Despite 

these issues, the crews completed all primary mission objectives, including transfer 

of 16 experimental and operations racks from Leonardo to the ISS. Leonardo’s 

next and final journey to the ISS was scheduled to be a one-way trip, when it 

will be attached and left on the ISS during the STS-133 mission. Weather forced 

a wave-off and one-day delay to landing at the Kennedy Space Center, but both 

Discovery and its crew touched down safely at Shuttle Landing Facility Runway 33 

on April 20, 2010. Another Progress cargo resupply flight, designated mission 37P, 

was then launched on April 28, 2010, and docked with 2,600 kilograms of supplies 

on May 1, 2010.

For STS-132, the crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis focused on the delivery and 

installation of the Russian-built Mini Research Module, or “Rassvet,” meaning 

“dawn.” Nearly 20 feet long and weighing more than 17,700 pounds, including 

its cargo, the module features eight workstations designed for a variety of science 
10 experiments and educational research. Launch from the Kennedy Space Center 

was at 2:20 p.m. on May 14, 2010. After overcoming a snagged cable on the Orbiter 

Boom Sensor System (OBSS), which impacted the survey of Atlantis’s thermal 

protection system on flight day 2, the Shuttle docked with the ISS and began 

preparations for outfitting Rassvet, transferring external cargo on the Integrated 

Cargo Carrier–Vertical Light Deployable 2 (ICC-VLD2), and conducting a series of 

three EVAs. Over the course of 18 hours spent outside the ISS, Shuttle crewmembers Steve Bowen, Garrett Reisman, and Michael Good configured the Rassvet, 

installed a new antenna on the ISS Z1 truss segment, removed and replaced six 

batteries on the ISS P6 truss, and dislodged the snagged cable from the sensor 

package on the OBSS. After completing all primary mission objectives, Atlantis 

and its crew landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center on May 26, 2010.

Expedition 24–25 crew F. Yurchikhin, D. Wheelock, and S. Walker were 

launched to the ISS on the Soyuz 23S mission on June 15, 2010. In the subsequent 

months, two Progress resupply missions were conducted to sustain ISS operations 

through the end of FY 10. Progress 38P arrived at the ISS on July 2, 2010, delivering 

2,230 kilograms of needed supplies; Progress 39P arrived on September 12, 2010, 

delivering another 2,290 kilograms.

FY 10 was also an important year for Space Shuttle transition and retirement 

activities. NASA’s first priority continued to be a focus on maintaining the capabilities 

needed to safely complete the Space Shuttle manifest. The last set of major flight hardware was shipped to the Kennedy Space Center, including the last set of Space Shuttle 

Reusable Solid Rocket Motor segments (RSRM-114), the last two External Tanks (ET138 and ET-122), and the last Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME-2062). The former 

Space Shuttle and Apollo launch pad at LC-39B was the stage for the launch of the 

Ares I-X test flight, which utilized not only Space Shuttle hardware but also personnel 

and processing facilities. In addition, NASA continued to focus on the critical role 

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

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

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

performing regular surveys of the Space Shuttle civil servant workforce and line management to identify and address emerging workforce issues. Over 2,200 members of the 

Space Shuttle prime contractor workforce were affected by reductions in FY 10.
During the course of FY 10, a total of four Space Shuttle missions, three Soyuz 11

crew rotation missions, and six Progress cargo delivery missions were successfully 

conducted. These 13 spaceflight missions allowed the ISS to maintain the full 

complement of six crewmembers on board and complete the assembly of the basic 

ISS configuration on plan within cost and schedule. Thus, by the closure of FY 10, 

the ISS was positioned to enter into the era of full utilization with Canadian, 

European, Japanese, and Russian partners all working in concert to ensure a highly 

productive decade of research and development.

Space Communications and Navigation

In FY 10, NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program 

Office focused on the critical sustainability and development of the ground and 

space components of the networks that provide space communications for NASA’s 

missions. The three networks—the Near Earth Network, the Space Network’s 

(SN) Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), and the Deep Space 

Network (DSN)—continued to meet the space communications needs, such as 

Earth monitoring and support of deep space exploration missions, of a wide range 

of customers, both internal and external to NASA.

A major accomplishment in FY 10 was the contract award for the Space Network 

Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) project to General Dynamics C4 Systems. 

Its mission is to implement a flexible and extensible ground segment that will allow 

the SN to maintain the high level of service and accommodate new users and 

capabilities while reducing the effort required to operate and maintain the system. 

The TDRSS hardware and software at these stations, first implemented in 1983, 

are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain and maintain. This poses substantial 

risks to maintaining the highly reliable service that has been provided for over two 

decades. SGSS will update this national resource with a new architecture and system, providing even more reliable service to its valued customers, while continuing 

to attract new high-class, high-data-rate customers. SGSS will also ensure uninterrupted service to current customers during the transition to the new architecture.

In December 2010, NASA took the next step toward a new generation of 

Deep Space Network antennas by awarding General Dynamics SATCOM 
12 Technologies, of San Jose, California, a contract for the implementation of additional 34-meter (112-foot) antennas in Canberra, Australia. This was part of the 

Phase-I implementation to eventually retire the network’s aging 70-meter-wide 

(230-foot-wide) antennas.

The Deep Space Network consists of three communications complexes: 

Goldstone, California; Madrid, Spain; and Canberra, Australia. The 70-meter 

antennas are more than 40 years old and are showing signs of surface deterioration 

from constant use. Additional 34-meter antennas are being installed in Canberra 

in the first phase; subsequent phases will install additional 34-meter antennas in 

Goldstone and Madrid.

These 34-meter beam wave-guide antennas are essential to keeping communications flowing smoothly as NASA’s fleet of spacecraft continues to expand. In 

addition, the 34-meter antennas provide easier access for maintenance and future 

upgrades because their sensitive electronics are housed in a below-ground pedestal 

equipment room instead of in the center of the dish.

NASA expects to complete the building of the first two 34-meter antennas 

in Canberra by 2016. They will be named Deep Space Stations 35 and 36. Deep 

Space Station 35 is scheduled to be online in 2014, and Deep Space Station 36 is 

expected to follow in 2016.

SCaN continued its technology development program in FY 10, including its 

pursuit of a Software-Defined Radio demonstration on board the ISS and a Lunar 

Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) on board the Lunar Atmosphere 

and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) mission. The LLCD will demonstrate 

a data rate from the moon that is higher by a factor of six than the current Lunar 

Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which has transmitted more data than all prior 

planetary missions combined.

SCAN has also worked closely with NASA’s international partners on developing a demonstration of the Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) technology, which 

is aimed towards automating current space mission operations and beginning the 

transition to “Internet-like” communication across the solar system.

As NASA’s representative in the Interagency Operations Advisory Group 

(IOAG), SCaN proactively sought cooperation with our international partners in 

a variety of new areas related to space communications interoperability, including 
mission support and optical communication. The reinvigorated IOAG is actively 13

pursuing international cooperation on these key issues in order to ensure better 

international cooperation and cross support among space agencies and better usage 

of national assets.

Launch Services

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

missions on expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) during FY 10. The first was the 

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), which launched from the West Coast’s 

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on December 14, 2009, aboard a Delta II. 

The second was the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which launched from the 

East Coast’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Florida, on February 11, 

2010, aboard an Atlas V. Additionally, LSP provided advisory services to the 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary 

Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)-P, which launched from CCAFS on 

March 4, 2010, aboard a Delta IV. To find out more about these and other NASA 

science missions, see the Science Mission Directorate section in this report.

Also in FY 10, the NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contracts were awarded to 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC), 

Space Exploration Technologies, and United Launch Services, LLC. Under these 

contracts, the program will acquire services associated with launches of Athena, 

Pegasus, Taurus, Falcon, and Atlas launch vehicles. Services are provided on a 

multiple-award, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity basis, spanning a ten-year 

period. Missions not presently under contract are competed among existing NLS II 

contractors through the use of a launch service task order mechanism. In addition 

to NLS II, 13 remaining missions will fly out under the terms of NLS I between 

FY 11 and FY 15.

In 2010, the Rocket Propulsion Test (RPT) Program continued to facilitate the 

Agency’s ability to safely test rocket propulsion systems for NASA and the Nation 

by focusing its energies and limited resources on key needs. To ensure that the 

appropriate rocket test capabilities were understood, the RPT Program maintained 

close coordination with the Space Shuttle Program, the Exploration Systems 
14 Mission Directorate, and the Department of Defense. Additionally, the Stennis 

Space Center’s Test Operations Contract (TOC) completed its final contract 

period in August 2010. To accommodate the competitive process and cover the 

transition from the old to a new TOC contract, a six-month extension was granted 

through the end of February 2011.

Science Mission Directorate

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) has five program divisions: 

Astrophysics, Planetary Science, Heliophysics, Earth Science, and Joint Agency 

Satellite. In FY 10, SMD successfully launched three new space and Earth science 

missions designed to improve our understanding of solar processes, Earth system 

change, the nature of the universe, and the history of the solar system.

On December 14, 2009, NASA launched the Wide-field Infrared Survey 

Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. From a vantage point 500 kilometers above Earth’s 

surface, WISE surveyed the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, creating a cosmic 

clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects that will be catalogued. This will 

provide a vast storehouse of knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way, and 

the universe. By the end of its six-month mission, WISE acquired nearly 1,500,000 

images covering the entire sky. The mission uncovered objects never seen before, 

including the coolest stars, near-Earth asteroids, and comets. Its vast catalogs will 

be studied for years to come to help answer fundamental questions about the origins of planets, stars, and galaxies. WISE data will also reveal new information 

about the composition of near-Earth objects and asteroids—are they fluffy like 

snow or hard like rocks, or both? WISE is an Astrophysics Division mission.

On January 5, 2010, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope’s new infrared camera, the 

Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), broke the distance limit for galaxies and uncovered 

a primordial population of compact and ultra-blue galaxies never seen before. The 

deeper Hubble looks into space, the farther back in time it looks, because light 

takes billions of years to cross the observable universe. This makes Hubble a powerful “time machine” that allows astronomers to see the most distant galaxies as 

they were 13 billion years ago, just 600 million to 800 million years after the Big 

Bang. The existence of these newly found galaxies pushes back the time when 
galaxies began to form. The deep observations also demonstrate the progressive 15

buildup of galaxies and provide further support for the hierarchical model of galaxy 

assembly in which small objects accrete mass, or merge, to form bigger objects over 

a smooth and steady but dramatic process of collision and agglomeration. This is 

analogous to streams merging into tributaries and then into a bay. The Hubble 

Space Telescope is an Astrophysics Division mission.

On January 28, 2010, the Cassini spacecraft made its 67th flyby of Titan, Saturn’s 

largest moon. Titan’s peculiar surface includes lakes of liquid hydrocarbons and 

other features that puzzle planetary scientists. In this flyby, Cassini spacecraft 

passed over the surface at an altitude of about 7,490 kilometers (4,654 miles); by 

contrast, other flights brought it as close as a few hundred miles. The relatively 

long-distance flyby between the Cassini spacecraft and Titan gave Cassini’s instruments the ability to observe the context of specific features seen on closer passes. 

The Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 and entered Saturn’s orbit in 2004. 

Since then, the spacecraft has been providing scientists with groundbreaking 

discoveries about the gas giant and its many moons. The spacecraft has helped 

shape our understanding of the various influences that the entire Saturnian system exerts within itself. Hence, the correlations between the planet, its moons, 

and the rings also became clearer. The Planetary Science Division manages the 

Cassini spacecraft.

On February 11, 2010, NASA launched the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) 

spacecraft. SDO is revealing the processes inside the sun, on the sun’s surface, and 

in its corona that result in solar variability. This variability, when experienced on 

Earth, is called space weather. Space weather affects not only our lives on Earth, 

but also Earth itself and everything outside its atmosphere—astronauts and satellites out in space and even the other planets. By better understanding the sun and 

how it works, scientists are better able to predict and forecast the “weather out in 

space,” providing earlier warnings to protect our astronauts and satellites in their 

journeys through space. SDO is designed to operate for five years. It collects huge 

amounts of data every day and produces enough data to fill a single CD every 36 

seconds. Because SDO has no recording system and collects so much information, 

the SDO mission uses a dedicated ground station. SDO is in a geosynchronous 

orbit so that the SDO spacecraft revolves around Earth at the same rate as Earth 
16 rotates and is thus always directly above and in constant communication with its 

ground station in New Mexico. SDO is a Heliophysics Division mission.

On March 3, 2010, the Cassini spacecraft did a targeted flyby and made its 

closest approach of the mission to Helene (a moon) at about 1,800 kilometers 

(1,131 miles). (A “targeted flyby” refers to the times when the navigation team is 

anchoring the trajectory design to the flyby—tweaking the spacecraft’s path to take 

full advantage of the opportunity. Usually targeted flybys are closer and, therefore, 

reveal greater surface detail.) Helene, a small moon, is referred to as a Trojan moon 

because it is gravitationally tied to the much larger moon, Dione. On approach to 

the small moon, the Cassini’s Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) 

took measurements that may help scientists analyze Helene’s surface composition 

and understand if it is coated with particles from the E ring. Then, using a “skeet 

shoot”-style observation due to quickly changing geometries, the Cassini’s Imaging 

Science Subsystem captured close-ups of the moon. Scientists anticipate that these 

new views may reveal clues about Helene’s past, including how it was gravitationally captured by the larger moon, Dione, and whether a collision was part of its 

past. The Planetary Science Division manages the Cassini spacecraft.

On March 4, 2010, NASA launched the GOES-P satellite. Once the GOES-P 

reached geostationary orbit, it joined the fleet of satellites necessary to predict 

weather in North America. GOES-P will provide more accurate prediction and 

tracking of severe storms and other weather phenomena, resulting in earlier and 

more precise warnings to the public. The GOES program, started in 1974, is a 

program of NOAA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NOAA 

funds and manages the program and determines the need for satellite replacement. NASA acts as NOAA’s acquisition agent to design, develop, and launch 

GOES satellites. After a satellite is launched and checked out by NASA, the 

spacecraft is turned over to NOAA for its operation. GOES-P stands ready as the 

most advanced multi-mission weather and Earth-observation satellite ever built 

for NOAA geosynchronous operations. It supports NOAA and NASA scientists’ 

collection and analysis of real-time environmental data, as well as the U.S. Coast 

Guard’s searches of the open seas. In addition, GOES-P will provide enhanced 

weather monitoring and prediction capability, communications subsystems to 

rebroadcast data, and space environmental monitoring instruments and sensors 
from an operational orbital slot of 75° or 135° west. Within NASA, the Joint 17

Agency Satellite Division manages the GOES program.

In April 2010, the Global Hawk Pacific (GloPac) 2010 mission was the first environmental science mission of NASA’s Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system. 

The flights in April 2010 ranged over the Pacific Ocean south to the equator, west 

past Hawaii, and north into the Arctic. Ten instruments on the aircraft collected 

a wide range of atmospheric data.

On April 28, 2010, the Cassini spacecraft’s Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) tracked 

Enceladus, another Saturn moon, through a close pass to determine the nature of 

the interior beneath its south polar hot spot. Traveling at 6.5 kilometers per second 

(14,540 miles per hour), Cassini flew past Enceladus for a targeted flyby; the spacecraft’s 

closest approach occurred at an altitude of 100 kilometers (60 miles). This spacecraft 

flyby featured a high-priority RSS gravity experiment to look for mass anomalies associated with the Enceladus plume. The flyby segment began with an RSS observation 

of a Saturn-solar occultation, both ingress and egress, which was followed by gravity 

observations that continued as Cassini traveled under the South Pole through the 

plume. These back-to-back observations required almost 30 hours of continuous Deep 

Space Network (DSN) support provided sequentially by all three of DSN’s facilities. 

These observations will be used to look for anomalies indicating the presence or 

absence of mass concentrations at the south polar region of Enceladus, which may in 

turn provide insight into the source material for the plume. After passing Enceladus, 

RSS continued to monitor the spacecraft trajectory as a baseline for comparison with 

the flyby results. The Planetary Science Division manages the Cassini spacecraft.

In late April 2010, NASA aided the United States’ response to the Deepwater 

Horizon oil spill. Advanced remote-sensing instruments on NASA Earth-observing 

satellites and aircraft collected observations of the spill and its impact on ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico. Several NASA satellites took regular observations 

primarily to detect the locations, extent, and varying concentrations of the oil 

spill. NASA data were distributed to the many Federal and state agencies and organizations working to contain the spill and develop recovery efforts. NASA also 

sent several research aircraft to make targeted observations that will assist Federal 

and state agencies in documenting changes in the marshes, swamps, bayous, and 

beaches along the Gulf coast.
18 On May 25, 2010, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 

(SOFIA), a joint project of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches 

Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt—DLR), completed an important milestone by 

achieving “first flight” when it performed its first observations during the night. 

SOFIA is the only airborne observatory in the world. The observatory carried out 

observations of astronomical objects at infrared wavelengths in flight. During an 

eight-hour first flight that reached 11,000 meters in altitude, the 18-person crew of 

scientists, engineers, and technicians tested the telescope’s performance to its limits and took the first infrared images of test objects in the night sky. The crowning 

achievement of the night: scientists recorded images of the Messier 82 galaxy and 

of Jupiter at wavelengths unobservable by ground- or space-based telescopes. The 

composite image of Jupiter showed heat pouring out of the planet’s interior through 

holes in its clouds. In the infrared image of Messier 82, it is possible to look through 

the galaxy’s interstellar dust clouds to see several “starburst” knots in which stars 

are forming by the tens of thousands. SOFIA is an Astrophysics Division mission.

On May 26, 2010, data from NASA’s Swift satellite helped astronomers solve a 

decade-long mystery about why a small percentage of black holes emit vast amounts 

of energy. Only about one percent of super-massive black holes exhibit this behavior. The new findings confirm that black holes “light up” when galaxies collide. 

The data may offer insight into the future behavior of the black hole in our own 

Milky Way galaxy. The intense emission from galaxy centers, or nuclei, arises near 

a super-massive black hole containing between a million and a billion times the 

sun’s mass. Giving off as much as 10 billion times the sun’s energy, some of these 

active galactic nuclei (AGN) are the most luminous objects in the universe. They 

include quasars and blazars. Until Swift’s hard x-ray survey, astronomers were never 

sure they had counted the majority of the AGN. Thick clouds of dust and gas 

surround the black hole in an active galaxy, which can block ultraviolet, optical, 

and low-energy (soft x-ray) light. Infrared radiation from warm dust near the black 

hole can pass through the material, but it can be confused with emissions from 

the galaxy’s star-forming regions. Hard x-rays can help scientists directly detect 

the energetic black hole. Since 2004, the Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) aboard the 

Swift spacecraft has mapped the sky using hard x-rays. The survey, sensitive to 
AGN as far as 650 million light-years away, uncovered dozens of previously unrec- 19

ognized systems. Swift is an Astrophysics Division mission.

On June 3, 2010, rocks examined by NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit 

indicated evidence of a wet, non-acidic ancient environment that may have been 

favorable for life. Confirming this mineral clue took four years of analysis by several 

scientists. An outcrop that Spirit examined in late 2005 revealed high concentrations of carbonate, which originates in wet, near-neutral conditions but dissolves 

in acid. The ancient water indicated by this finding was not acidic. Laboratory 

tests helped confirm the carbonate justification. Massive carbonate deposits on 

Mars have been sought for years without much success. Numerous channels apparently carved by flows of liquid water on ancient Mars suggest that the planet was 

formerly warmer, thanks to greenhouse warming from a thicker atmosphere than 

exists now. The ancient, dense Martian atmosphere was probably rich in carbon 

dioxide because that gas makes up nearly all the modern, very thin atmosphere. 

Spirit is a Planetary Science Division mission.

On August 15, 2010, the Global Hawk took part in NASA’s Genesis and Rapid 

Intensification Processes (GRIP) airborne campaign to study how hurricanes and 

tropical cyclones form and strengthen. For the first time (and for up to 20 hours 

straight), the campaign used several NASA research aircraft to study these storms 

and the conditions that produce them. One of the major challenges in tropical 

cyclone forecasting is knowing when a tropical cyclone is going to form. Scientists 

analyzed the data from the field mission to better understand how tropical storms 

form and develop into major hurricanes. Three NASA satellites played an important role in supplying data about tropical cyclones during the field mission. The 

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) provided rainfall estimates and 

helped pinpoint the locations of “hot towers” or powerhouse thunderstorms in 

tropical cyclones. The CloudSat spacecraft provided cloud profiles of storms; the 

profiles included altitude, temperatures, and rainfall intensity. Several instruments 

on board NASA’s Aqua satellite provided infrared, visible, and microwave data that 

revealed such factors as temperature, air pressure, precipitation, cloud ice content, 

convection, and sea surface temperatures. The Earth Sciences Division manages all 

three NASA satellites. The GRIP campaign is an Earth Sciences Division mission.
20 On August 26, 2010, NASA’s Kepler team announced the discovery of the first 

confirmed planetary system with more than one planet crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star. The transit signatures of two distinct planets were seen in the 

data for the sun-like star designated Kepler-9. The planets were named Kepler-9b 

and -9c. The discovery incorporates seven months of observations. By observing 

several transits by each planet over the seven months of data, the team analyzed 

successive transits to confirm the presence, number, size, and orbit period of the 

planets in this distant solar system. The observations show that Kepler-9b is the 

larger of the two planets and both have masses similar to, but less than, that of 

Saturn. Kepler-9b lies closest to the star, with an orbit of about 19 days, while 

Kepler-9c has an orbit of about 38 days. Kepler is making multi-year observations of 

more than 156,000 stars as part of an ongoing search for Earth-sized planets outside 

our solar system. Kepler is an Astrophysics Division mission.

On September 9, 2010, data from NASA’s Phoenix Mars Polar Lander suggested 

that liquid water has interacted with the Martian surface throughout the planet’s history and into modern times. The research also provided new evidence that volcanic 

activity persisted on the Red Planet into geologically recent times, several million 

years ago. Although the Lander, which arrived on Mars on May 25, 2008, is no longer 

operating, NASA scientists continue to analyze data gathered from that mission. 

These recent findings are based on data about the planet’s carbon dioxide, which 

makes up about 95 percent of the Martian atmosphere. Phoenix precisely measured 

isotopes of carbon and oxygen in the carbon dioxide of the Martian atmosphere. 

Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights. This chemical signature suggests that liquid water primarily existed at temperatures near freezing 

and that hydrothermal systems similar to Yellowstone’s hot springs have been rare 

throughout the planet’s past. Measurements concerning carbon dioxide showed that 

Mars is a much more active planet than previously thought. The results imply that 

Mars has replenished its atmospheric carbon dioxide relatively recently and that the 

carbon dioxide has reacted with liquid water present on the surface. The Phoenix 

Mars Lander is a Planetary Science Division mission.

On September 29, 2010, NASA and the National Science Foundation sponsored 

a team of planet hunters from the University of California Santa Cruz and the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington to find a very Earth-like exoplanet. The team 
announced the discovery of a planet with three times the mass of Earth orbiting a 21

nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the middle of the star’s “habitable 

zone.” The discovery was the result of more than a decade of observations using 

the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, one of the world’s largest optical telescopes. 

The research placed the planet in an area where liquid water could exist on the 

planet’s surface. If confirmed, this would be the most Earth-like exoplanet yet discovered and the first strong case for a potentially habitable one. To astronomers, 

a “potentially habitable” planet is one that could sustain life, not necessarily one 

where humans would thrive. Habitability depends on many factors, but having 

liquid water and an atmosphere is among the most important.

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

As an industry, aviation contributes $1.3 trillion to the Nation’s economy and 

employs over one million people. Airlines in the U.S. transport over one million 

people daily, but during peak travel times, the air traffic and airport systems in the 

U.S. are stretched to capacity. Environmental concerns, such as aircraft noise and 

emissions, limit increased operations and the expansion of airports and runways. 

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) works to solve these 

critical challenges while maximizing aviation safety. As an example of the realization of a technology addressing these challenges, NASA ARMD shepherded the 

development of chevron nozzles that are now making a difference in the noise 

impact from commercial jet engines. Chevrons are the serrated edges on the jet 

engine nozzles. They promote noise reduction for the high-speed jet of air that 

exits an aircraft engine. Chevron research started at NASA in the mid-1990s as 

basic research on jet mixing and has proceeded with the help of industry partners 

to become an operational reality. Chevrons are now featured on Boeing’s latest two 

wide-body aircraft—the Boeing 787 and the Boeing 747-8.

In FY 10, ARMD’s programs continued to address specific aeronautical research 

needs while taking an integrated systems approach to the above-mentioned challenges. ARMD also conducted research on technology approaches for advanced 

aircraft that could one day change the face of air transportation. By focusing on 

these challenges and future technologies, ARMD ensures that its fundamental 
22

This early design of chevron nozzles—with the sawtooth edges—was installed on a NASA Learjet in 

2001 to test how far the chevron edges could penetrate the airflow to reduce the most noise without 

reducing engine thrust beyond an acceptable level. A later design of the nozzles, which reduced engine 

noise up to three decibels, has since been included on engines for the Boeing 747-8 and 787 aircraft. 

Image credit: NASA

research portfolio not only supports NASA’s strategic goals but is also well aligned 

with the principles, goals, and objectives of the National Aeronautics Research and 

Development (R&D) Policy and Plan and directly supports the development of the 

Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen).

Fundamental Aeronautics Program

The goal of the Fundamental Aeronautics Program is to enable a future in which a 

variety of advanced aircraft exist that improve the flexibility, efficiency, and environmental impact of air travel. As the Nation transitions to the NextGen, the Program 

helps develop the tools, advanced technologies, and scientific knowledge necessary for 

the design of new types of vehicles. The Fundamental Aeronautics Program conducts 

research on topics such as advanced configurations and concepts, lighter and stronger 

materials and structures, improved propulsion systems, advanced concepts for increasing lift and reducing drag, and advanced computational tools and models for design.

The Subsonic Fixed Wing (SFW) Project is developing technologies for quieter 

and cleaner aircraft that will meet the stringent noise and emissions requirements 
of the future and reduce fuel burn. In FY 10, the SFW Project completed an 23

18-month study to develop advanced, high-payoff technology concepts for commercial subsonic transports that may enter service in the 2030–35 timeframe. The 

results of the study, conducted with four different industry and university teams, 

revealed a range of promising technologies and advanced vehicle architectures 

capable of meeting the stringent performance requirements in fuel burn, noise, 

and emissions reductions of this timeframe. There emerged unique configurations 

and concepts that offer potential solutions to a variety of future aviation challenges. Two examples are the “SUGAR Volt,” a Boeing truss-braced wing concept 

with very long, slender wings and a hybrid electric propulsion system, and the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) “double bubble,” with a double-wide 

fuselage that provides significant lift and is powered by a boundary layer ingesting propulsion system. Vehicle performance trends that emerged from the study 

included significant use of laminar flow technologies, advanced lightweight materials, use of alternative fuels to significantly reduce emissions, and lower cruise 

speeds at higher altitude. These studies, and the resulting advanced concepts and 

technologies, serve as guidance for future NASA research investment and inspire 

both industry and academia to continue to think innovatively and long-term.

The Subsonic Rotary Wing (SRW) Project addressed the technical challenges 

that limit rotorcraft from becoming more effective contributors to the national 

civil aviation system. The unique ability of rotorcraft, such as a future large civil 

tiltrotors, to operate independent of a runway could contribute to the NextGen 

vision by enhancing airspace capacity and efficiency and expanding access to air 

travel. This project invested in technologies that benefit a variety of rotary wing 

vehicles, as well as the development of large rotorcraft. Large civil rotorcraft could 

have the potential to increase passenger “block speed” (reducing the time it takes 

the passenger to get from one place to another) to something comparable to or 

better than current turboprops and regional jets for trips of up to 600 nautical 

miles. Research and technology investments in this project will help enable future 

higher speed rotorcraft, which can cruise at about 350 knots and which will also be 

efficient and lower in noise, vibration, and emissions.

The SRW Project completed a full-scale wind tunnel test of the UH-60A rotor in 

May 2010. The dataset resulting from this test is expected to set the international 
24 standard for rotor validation data for at least the next decade. The full-scale rotor 

used was the most fully instrumented rotor configuration ever tested in the National 

Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (NFAC) wind tunnel. The test included the firstever simultaneous use of several different laser-based experimental data measurement techniques. The results were detailed, high-quality, integrated data (including 

rotor performance, aeromechanical loads, wake characteristics, and rotating blade 

shape and deflection) that will be used to identify physical phenomena necessary 

for advanced rotor behavior prediction and design. The UH-60A rotor test research 

team received the American Helicopter Society’s Howard Hughes Award for outstanding improvement to fundamental helicopter technology.

The Supersonics Project conducts research to address the efficiency, environmental, 

and performance barriers that prevent practical supersonic cruising over land. In FY 

10, the Project completed a number of activities that contributed to the development 

of new capabilities to design and analyze supersonic vehicles with low sonic boom and 

high fuel efficiency. Among those activities was a set of advanced concepts and technology studies conducted in partnership with industry and academia to better define 

advanced airframe and propulsion concepts and enabling technologies. These address 

the many challenges for commercial supersonic aircraft that could enter service in 

2025 or beyond. Two teams assessed the technology needs and sonic boom mitigation 

concepts for future supersonic transports. The studies revealed slender, highly integrated configurations with unique shapes can practically eliminate sonic boom. The 

configurations and associated advanced technologies will enable overland supersonic 

flight, a potential breakthrough for a number of different classes of future supersonic 

commercial aircraft. These detailed studies helped identify critical technology needs 

such as slender, flexible, highly integrated airframes and low-emissions engines with 

the capability to operate efficiently at cruise and operate quietly for landing and takeoff. These results continued to provide guidance for NASA research investments.

The Hypersonics Project focuses on the development of high-fidelity tools, 

advanced technologies, and capabilities through foundational research and technology development to advance the state of the art in air-breathing access to space. In FY 

10, the Hypersonics Project, in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory, 

completed a rigorous assessment and comparison of two different air-breathing, twostage-to-orbit (TSTO) concepts—a NASA turbine-based combined cycle and the 
Air Force’s rocket-based combined cycle vehicle engine. This partnership estab- 25

lished a national understanding of the state of the art of hypersonic vehicle and 

propulsion system design and performance prediction. It also identified challenges 

associated with designing space vehicles that could inform strategic investment 

decisions for eventually developing an air-breathing TSTO hypersonic vehicle.

Aviation Safety Program

The extremely high safety record of the National Airspace System (NAS) is a 

credit to the ongoing vigilance of operators, manufacturers, and regulators. But 

even with very low accident rates, the desire for continuous improvement is a given. 

Innovation is required to meet the remaining safety challenges. The Aviation 

Safety Program addresses key aviation safety challenges by developing innovative 

algorithms, tools, concepts, and technologies that will improve the safety attributes 

of current and future aircraft operating in the NAS, identify and control emerging 

hazards, and overcome aircraft safety–related barriers that could impede full realization of NextGen.

During FY 10, the Aviation Safety Program consisted of four projects that were 

each configured to provide solutions to these challenges. The Aircraft Aging and 

Durability (AAD) Project addressed the need for ensuring long-term vehicle health 

and airworthiness by improving the operational resiliency of future aircraft materials 

and structures throughout their projected lifetimes. The Integrated Intelligent Flight 

Deck (IIFD) Project conducted research to support sound decision making and situational awareness in all operating conditions by ensuring the proper integration of 

the human operator in a highly automated and complex operational environment. 

The Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control (IRAC) Project sought to prevent loss-ofcontrol incidents through adaptive control methods and better modeling of upset 

flight conditions from a variety of causes, including icing and structural degradation. The Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project used a prognostic 

approach to vehicle health management and effectively discovered incident precursors within the large amounts of data contained in highly integrated and complex 

flight-critical systems.
26 All four projects helped address these challenges in FY 10. Recognizing the 

increased role of composite materials in new aircraft designs, the AAD Project 

developed an innovative, atomistically based methodology for modeling the effects 

of long-term water ingression on the surface of epoxy resin–based structural materials. Our greater understanding of how moisture ingression affects the adhesion 

characteristics of a bonded joint can aid in the development of new epoxy chemistries and surface treatments that resist the negative effects of moisture ingression. 

These moisture-tolerant materials will lead to more durable and reliable bonded 

aircraft structural assemblies. Since most aircraft stay in service for more than 

20 years, the benefits of the new materials and associated repair practices will benefit the community for many years to come.

Future NextGen operational concepts will likely require more complex flight 

deck automation. The IIFD Project used flight deck simulators for human-in-theloop studies to replicate the complex, advanced automation technology expected 

in the future. Maintenance of safety margins and improved performance were 

observed and documented. In addition to publishing flight deck guidelines and 

display requirements that meet projected NextGen operational concept needs, 

project personnel participated in aviation industry-wide and Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA)–sponsored technical committees to disseminate their 

results. The studies contributed to operational and certification standards for 

NextGen technologies and procedures.

One potential means of preventing loss-of-control incidents is through modifications to the aircraft flight control systems. Such modified systems must themselves be 

proven safe and reliable. Therefore, the IRAC Project developed a unique software tool 

suite that can determine the flight envelope failure points of an adaptive control system responding to an adverse event. The new suite is an integrated package designed 

to efficiently analyze any dynamic system, such as aircraft controls, that is subject to 

uncertainty. Results demonstrated confidence levels as good as those achieved with 

conventional analysis techniques, but with 10 times less computing time. Since this 

software suite is also ideally suited for effectively evaluating the robustness of any 

nonlinear control systems, it can be widely applied to a variety of applications.

Detection of failures and prediction of the future state of a system are essential 

elements of health management systems. To address a portion of this challenge, 
the IVHM Project developed an advanced hybrid diagnostic system for electrome- 27

chanical actuators (EMA) that covers a wide variety of typical faults. The system 

combines both model-based and data-driven diagnostic approaches to achieve low 

false positive/false negative detection rates and thus a high diagnostic accuracy 

output. Validation experiments were conducted with 320 nominal and fault scenarios; the results showed over 95 percent diagnostic accuracy. As EMAs become 

increasingly applied to critical aircraft roles such as control surface actuation, having a reliable diagnostic system for EMA health management systems is essential.

In addition to these specific achievements, researchers throughout the Aviation 

Safety Program were very active in the aviation safety research community. During 

FY 10, they presented over 325 conference papers and published over 75 peerreviewed journal papers and books. Program researchers also filed six invention 

disclosures and were awarded one patent. Work done under the Program resulted 

in the Agency’s signing of 14 software licenses and usage agreements.

Airspace Systems Program

The Airspace Systems Program, in collaboration with its partners in the FAA, 

industry, and academia, addresses the fundamental air traffic management research 

needs of increasing capacity and efficiency of NextGen. The Program directly benefits the flying public by moving key concepts and technologies from the laboratory 

into the field. Its goal is to make air travel as efficient as possible by reducing aircraft 

fuel consumption, noise, and emissions. Concept simulations and field trials in real 

flight environments of NASA-developed technologies have demonstrated tens of 

millions of dollars in annual savings through reductions in flight delays and fuel 

usage. Its two projects—NextGen Concepts and Technology Development (CTD) 

and NextGen Systems Analysis, Integration, and Evaluation (SAIE)—made major 

contributions to future air traffic needs by developing advanced technologies and 

solutions for increased fuel efficiency with reduced noise and emissions. Because 

CTD focuses on foundational research, and SAIE on maturing and integrating these 

concepts, both projects are highly integrated, much like the airspace system itself.

During FY 10, the CTD Project developed concepts in priority technical challenge areas, such as surface operations, dynamic airspace configuration, traffic flow 
28 management, and super-density operations, and then refined models to evaluate 

those concepts and performed initial benefits assessments. Evaluation continued 

in the area of traffic flow management of a capability developed under a NASA 

Research Announcement award, in conjunction with the FAA, to reduce fogrelated delays in arrivals at San Francisco International Airport. This technology 

improved scheduling by using fog dissipation probabilities and predictions as well as 

advanced optimization algorithms. Engineering trials were completed in the summer of 2010 in partnership with the National Weather Service (NWS), the FAA, 

MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, and industry. Benefit assessments indicated a potential 

19 percent reduction in delayed flights worth an annual savings to the aviation 

industry of over $10 million. The safety assessment has been completed, and, following a shadow evaluation, the capability will undergo operational evaluation 

during the summer fog season of 2011.

The SAIE Project meets program technological challenges by utilizing its 

system-wide analysis expertise to evaluate the benefits achievable through the 

integration of selected CTD concepts. It then further develops these integrated 

concepts through high-fidelity simulation and demonstration in relevant flight 

environments. The SAIE Project evaluates the impact of technologies within the 

Airspace Systems Program portfolio and identifies areas that benefit from new concepts developed by the project.

The Efficient Descent Advisor (EDA) continued its development under the 

SAIE Project as an integration of concepts for fuel-efficient descents, arrival scheduling, and the merging and spacing of arrival traffic. EDA is the core technology 

in a joint effort between the FAA, NASA, and Boeing to develop a ground-based 

automation capability that will generate fuel-efficient, conflict-free trajectories. It 

represents an initial implementation of trajectory-based operations, a key component of NextGen. Flight trials in San Francisco have indicated fuel savings of up 

to 3,000 pounds (a 10,000-pound reduction in carbon dioxide) per flight for large 

aircraft employing EDA capabilities during peak traffic conditions. In addition, 

United Parcel Service (UPS) claims that merging and spacing operations with 

continuous descent arrivals will enable savings of 1 million gallons of fuel per year. 

In FY 10, the EDA team conducted two human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations of 

the decision support tool to verify the algorithm’s core performance and to ensure 
that enhancements to the algorithm issue a secondary clearance should a potential 29

conflict emerge.

The Future Air Traffic Management (ATM) Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) 

was named the 2010 Government Invention of the Year. FACET is a flexible software 

tool capable of quickly generating and analyzing thousands of aircraft trajectories. 

It provides researchers with a simulation environment for preliminary testing of 

advanced ATM concepts. FACET is also used by the FAA for real-time operational 

planning. Its graphical displays have been showcased by the National Air and Space 

Museum to educate students and the public. This software made a significant contribution to making our airspace safer, increasing fuel efficiency, and minimizing 

airplane emissions.

Integrated Systems Research Program

In FY 10, ARMD initiated the Integrated Systems Research Program (ISRP) 

to conduct research in integrated system-level approaches to reduce the environmental impact of aviation (in terms of local and global emissions, local air quality, 

and noise) in the area of air-vehicle technologies. The ISRP goal is to accelerate 

the transition of aeronautics research and development results, including NextGen 

technologies, to industry and Government. Research is coordinated with ARMD’s 

fundamental research programs and with relevant efforts by other Federal agencies 

and industry.

The first project within ISRP is the Environmentally Responsible Aviation 

(ERA) Project, a “green aircraft initiative,” to conduct system research and experiments of promising vehicle concepts and technologies that will simultaneously 

reduce fuel burn, noise, and emissions. Progress was made toward this goal in FY 10 

with the completion of the first phase of the X-48B Blended Wing Body (BWB) 

Low Speed Flight Test Program. Hybrid wing body aircraft configurations, such as 

the BWB, are promising candidates to reduce the environmental impact associated 

with aviation. Wind tunnel testing and a series of 80 free-flight demonstrations 

of an 8.5 percent scale aircraft confirmed its stability and control. The first phase 

began on July 20, 2007, and ended with the 80th flight on March 19, 2010. NASA 

system studies have shown that the BWB configuration has the potential to reduce 
30 the amount of fuel burned by 20 to 30 percent compared to an equivalent tubeand-wing vehicle design.

In addition, the ERA Project, in collaboration with General Electric, completed 

a low-speed, open-rotor jet engine test campaign in the 8- by 6-Foot and 9- by 

15-Foot wind tunnels at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. The Project investigated open-rotor propulsion systems to improve fuel efficiency over that of current jet engines. The tests explored the design space for achieving lower noise 

while maintaining high propulsive efficiency from a counter-rotating rotor system. 

Additionally, these tests utilized new acoustic measurement techniques that 

provide an unprecedented ability to define noise sources. Diagnostic testing was 

completed in September 2010 and provided a comprehensive dataset for open-rotor 

propulsion systems that are of particular interest to our industry partners.

During FY 10, the ERA Project utilized $30 million in American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding to kick-start some investigative areas of the 

ERA Project portfolio. Propulsion system injector technology and hardware were 

designed and fabricated to lower the landing and take-off emissions of current 

aircraft. In addition, the design and preliminary fabrication of a damage-tolerant 

light-weight composite material test article were completed. The specific concept 

explored is the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS), 

a stitched resin-infused composite material structure that can be used for noncircular fuselage sections required for a non-tube-and-wing-configuration aircraft 

such as a hybrid/blended wing body.

As air quality around airports continues to be an increasing concern, the ERA 

Project is maturing promising technologies to reduce nitrogen oxides emissions to 

75 percent below existing standards. The engine technologies investigated in FY 10 

included those with innovative fuel/air mixtures, active combustion control, and 

engines with higher pressure and bypass ratios.

Aeronautics Test Program

The Aeronautics Test Program (ATP) ensures the continuous availability of a 

portfolio of NASA-owned ground and flight test capabilities important to meeting 

national aerospace program goals and requirements. The Aeronautics Ground Test 
Facilities Project provides facility operations support to ensure facility and staff 31

availability, complete maintenance and upgrades, and test technology development 

for both ground and flight test capabilities.

The Program continued to support ground and flight test operations with the 

successful development of five test capability investment projects across three 

Centers totaling $46.9 million. These projects, funded through the ARRA, help 

to ensure maximum value to customers using NASA test facilities. Together, they 

represent the largest single NASA aeronautics test capabilities investment in many 

years. The five projects will enable the Aeronautics Test Program to create a return 

on investment in three strategic areas: enabling new research, enhancing existing 

asset performance, and improving the portfolio’s overall reliability and availability.

At the Ames Research Center, ATP executed a project to reactivate a large, 

high-speed air compressor that can supply or evacuate air for the Unitary Plan 

Wind Tunnel circuit, one of the busiest wind tunnels in the Nation. Improvements 

in compressor reliability will help ensure continued facility availability and reduce 

the risk of test article damage during high-speed operations. Gains in facility 

operational efficiency will result in savings in wind tunnel drive power costs of up 

to 10 percent for test customers.

Modifications at Glenn Research Center’s Propulsion Systems Laboratory will 

result in a new high-altitude, jet engine icing research capability. This will enable 

NASA and industry to address high-altitude ice crystal ingestion by commercial 

aircraft. Also, at the Glenn Research Center, ATP executed a project for a new 

refrigeration system for the Icing Research Tunnel, replacing a 60-year-old system 

that had been operating at significantly diminished capability and efficiency. The 

new high-performance, energy-efficient refrigeration system will position the tunnel for current and future icing research for NASA and the Department of Defense 

(DOD) and will support FAA certification testing for industry.

Projects at the Langley Research Center include modifications to the National 

Transonic Facility (NTF) and the 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel (14 × 22). 

Facility enhancements at the NTF focused on modernizing the facility’s data 

and control systems, wind tunnel flow measurement evaluation, wind tunnel 

modeling and simulation tools, and wind tunnel performance validation testing. 

The NTF project will address long-standing facility performance and reliability 
32 issues and provide improved flexibility for individual customer needs and access. 

Modifications at the 14 × 22 will directly support critical research testing by the 

ARMD Integrated Systems Research Program by providing a unique test bed with 

an advanced acoustic measurement capability to address the technical challenge 

associated with community noise or aircraft noise in areas surrounding airports.

Partnerships with Government and Industry

ARMD’s commitment to technical excellence and strong partnerships is critical 

to our ability to expand the boundaries of aeronautical knowledge. These partnerships with industry, academia, and other Federal agencies foster a collaborative 

research environment in which ideas and knowledge are exchanged across all 

communities to ensure the future competitiveness of the Nation’s aviation industry. For example, in spring 2010, the X-48B flight test campaign, described in the 

ISRP paragraphs of this section, was the product of a multi-government agency 

and industry collaboration between NASA, the Air Force Research Laboratory, 

Boeing, and Cranfield Airspace. Similarly, several of the other highlights in the 

report were enabled through strong public-private partnerships.

NASA engages partners through many mechanisms, including industry working groups and technical interchange meetings at the program and project levels, SAAs for cooperative partnerships with industry, and the NASA Research 

Announcement (NRA) process, which provides full and open competition for the 

best and most promising research ideas. During FY 10, ARMD had 276 active 

NRA research efforts funded at over $105 million and 86 SAAs in place across all 

programs with different members of the aerospace industry and, in some situations, 

with consortia of industrial participants. These collaborative opportunities and 

partnerships provide the ability to leverage resources across stakeholders. This has 

produced very significant research results at the system level, where the expertise of 

industry and ARMD come together to integrate technologies that can eventually 

be incorporated into the Nation’s aircraft fleet.

ARMD recognizes the importance of close coordination with its partners in 

other Government agencies as well. For example, ARMD utilizes NASA/FAA/

Joint Program Development Office (JPDO) Research Transition Teams (RTT) to 
conduct joint research and field trials to speed the acceptance of new air traffic 33

management procedures. In FY 10, NASA conducted the final of three MultiSector Planner (MSP) simulations. ARMD managed these investigations under 

the Flow-Based Trajectory Management RTT. The MSP concept was developed as 

a practical way to reroute in-flight aircraft to maintain efficient operations across 

multiple airspace sectors in the face of changing air traffic conditions. Results of 

the simulations have shown that integrated tools, such as MSP, can manage traffic 

levels 30 percent greater than today’s, helping to increase the capacity needed to 

support NextGen. Final delivery of these results will be completed in FY 11.

The Agency is also coordinating the management and operation of the Federal 

Government’s large aeronautics ground test infrastructure through the National 

Partnership for Aeronautics Testing (NPAT). In FY 10, through NPAT, ARMD’s 

Aeronautics Test Program initiated a collaborative assessment of national hypersonic wind tunnel capabilities to identify facilities that are critical to the Nation 

and that will require continued sustainment and capability investment by NASA 

and/or DOD. The study is scheduled for completion in FY 11.

Aeronautics Research Relevance and Benefits to the Public

Throughout FY 10, ARMD used innovative communication and outreach activities 

to engage the public through events, informational materials, and education. Its goals 

were to 1) utilize media and general interest in “green” issues to promote environmental 

benefits of NASA’s aeronautics research; 2) take advantage of new technologies and 

social media to expand reach, leverage products, and invite interaction; and 3) engage, 

in particular, youth of high school age and higher to communicate opportunities in 

aeronautics engineering. Following are a few examples of these activities.

ARMD produced a live NASA TV broadcast of The Leading Edge on the topic 

of green aviation. Panelists from the FAA and NASA talked about new approaches 

to flight operations and aircraft design that can improve performance. NASA 

expanded the reach of the program by conducting a live, post-program NASA Web 

chat. The one-hour program had more than 3,500 views through post-broadcast 

downloads and video streaming from www.nasa.gov.
34 Later in FY 10, ARMD hosted the Green Aviation Summit at NASA’s Ames 

Research Center. The Summit, which included a keynote speech by NASA 

Administrator Charlie Bolden, addressed the technical challenges of achieving 

green aviation and presented some of the groundbreaking solutions NASA is 

developing. The audience included participants from Government, industry, and 

academia interested in specific research and development activities for mitigating 

the environmental impact of aviation.

ARMD pioneered the availability of NASA publications as e-Books with the 

release of the Agency’s first e-Book: X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight. The innovative e-reader format has proven to be an effective way to reach much higher numbers 

of users than traditional methods. To date, aeronautics e-Books have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. ARMD researchers in FY 10 also updated the 

unique public Web site called DASHlink (DASH stands for Discovery in Aeronautics 

Systems Health). DASHlink allows researchers, whether inside or outside NASA, 

who are working on improving aircraft systems health to share software applications 

they have written, test each other’s work, and openly discuss the results.

In addition to public outreach, fostering new generations of highly skilled scientists and engineers is critically important to the aeronautics community. In FY 10, 

ARMD used various activities to advance science, technology, engineering, and 

math (STEM) education. ARMD helped develop the interactive Smart Skies program, which teaches students how air traffic controllers use distance, rate, and time 

calculations to safely merge and separate approaching aircraft to ensure safe landings. ARMD advanced STEM education resources by developing the new Museum 

in a Box activity, a comprehensive curriculum product designed for elementary, 

middle, and high school students in the classroom or in informal settings such as 

museums and science centers. Finally, in FY 10, ARMD completed its third year of 

motivating and inspiring the next-generation workforce through the Aeronautics 

Scholarship Program. The program funded 20 new two-year undergraduate and five 

three-year graduate scholarships and provided opportunities for university students 

to work at research centers as interns to gain real-world experience while contributing directly to the advancement of NASA research objectives.
35Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

deparTmenT of defense

DOD

In FY 10, the Department of Defense’s (DOD) space systems performed numerous critical missions for the Nation. As a result of the successful string of launches 

of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), the Department continued to 

upgrade and modernize space capabilities in order to support our Nation’s military 

operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and around the world.

DOD continued its close relationship with NASA to further our Nation’s civil 

space program. In FY 10, DOD supported four Space Shuttle launches and four 

NASA unmanned spacecraft launches, including the Falcon 9 launch of the 

Dragon spacecraft test unit. All of these missions were successfully launched from 

Air Force–operated space launch ranges. DOD also supported NASA’s launch of 

the Ares 1-X test flight from the Kennedy Space Center.

The EELV program continued its successful record of placing satellites in orbit. 

In addition to two NASA launches and the commercial launch of the Intelsat 14 

communications satellite, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) conducted six successful EELV launches, including the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s 

F18 on October 18, 2009; the third Wideband Global Satellite Communications 

(SATCOM) spacecraft on December 6, 2009; X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1) 

on April 22, 2010; and NROL-41 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on 

September 21, 2010. The remaining two EELV launches were first-of-a-kind spacecraft for the Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) and protected military satellite 

communications missions and are discussed below.

The Intelsat 14 spacecraft carries the Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) hosted 

payload, which extends the same Internet protocol (IP)–based technology used 

to build the World Wide Web into space. DOD is evaluating the reduced latency, 
36Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

improved throughput, and increased flexibility provided by IRIS via a Joint 

Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD). The long-term goal is to route 

voice, data, and video traffic between satellites over a single IP network in ways 

that are more efficient, flexible, and cost effective than is possible over today’s 

fragmented satellite communications networks.

In addition to the EELV launches, ULA launched two Delta II rockets in FY 10. 

These included the civil launch of NASA’s WISE mission and the commercial 

launch of DigitalGlobe’s Worldview-2 remote sensing satellite.

The Air Force’s first X-37B, Orbital Test Vehicle 1, demonstrated technologies for 

a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform to operate experiments that can 

be returned to Earth. It is designed for vertical launch to low-Earth orbit altitudes, 

where it can perform long-duration space technology experimentation and testing 

and then autonomously re-enter the atmosphere, descend, and land horizontally 

on a runway.

Significant upgrades and modernization of DOD space capabilities occurred in 

several mission areas in FY 10. The first Block IIF satellite of the Global Positioning 

System (GPS) constellation was launched on May 27, 2010, by a Delta-IV from 

Cape Canaveral. GPS IIF satellites will provide improved signals that will enhance 

the precise global PNT services supporting both the warfighter and the growing 

civilian needs of the global economy. The GPS constellation remains the most 

robust and capable system in the history of space.

In February 2010, a contract was awarded for the Next Generation Operational 

Control System (OCX). OCX will replace the current GPS Operational Control 

System, maintaining backwards compatibility with the Block IIR and IIR-M 

constellation; providing command and control of the new GPS IIF and GPS III 

families of satellites; and enabling new, modernized signal capabilities. OCX will 

allow Air Force Space Command to effectively and efficiently plan and control 

full-spectrum precision PNT information for all GPS user communities. OCX will 

achieve this vision by implementing an incremental development approach that 

supports the evolving military operational environment while enabling civil and 

international users who are employing GPS in innovative applications.

The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satel-

lite was launched on August 14, 2010, by an Atlas-V from Cape Canaveral. Shortly 
37Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

after the launch, the orbit raising plan was modified as a result of an anomaly with 

the bi-propellant propulsion system, which was intended to place the spacecraft 

near its operational orbit. The modified plan entailed two phases: the first phase 

used hydrazine thrusters, and the other used the Hall Current Thruster (HCT) 

electrical propulsion system. The satellite, which operated as planned, reached its 

final orbit in October 2011. AEHF-1 will provide a significant enhancement to our 

Nation’s survivable communications infrastructure by extending the capabilities of 

the operational Milstar satellite constellation with an order of magnitude increase 

in protected communications capability.

Another improvement in communications came about on November 22, 2009, 

with the implementation of the first phase of a system modification to increase 

Global Broadcast Service (GBS) full-motion video feeds to the U.S. Central 

Command’s area of responsibility. The GBS is an extension of the Global 

Information Grid that provides high-capacity, one-way satellite transmission of 

video, high-quality imagery, data, and other information to warfighting forces. GBS 

supports the Nation’s command centers and joint combat forces while in garrison, 

while in transit, and while deployed within global combat zones.

Modernization is also continuing for the environmental monitoring mission. On 

August 13, 2010, a plan for the new Defense Weather Satellite System (DWSS) 

was approved. The DWSS satellites will feature two instrument packages originally planned for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite 

System (NPOESS): the Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite and the Space 

Environmental Monitoring sensor. The system may also carry a to-be-determined 

microwave sensor.

For the space control mission, an important new capability will be provided by 

the first Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite, which was launched by 

a Minotaur 4 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 26, 2010. This was 

the first orbital launch of the Minotaur 4, which uses refurbished U.S. strategic 

missile hardware for its first three stages with a commercial fourth-stage motor. 

The SBSS spacecraft will provide timely detection, collection, identification, and 

tracking of man-made space objects from deep space to low-Earth orbit without 

being constrained by weather, the atmosphere, or time of day. It is essential to the 

DOD space situational awareness architecture for the near future and beyond. By 
38Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

making our space assets safer and more secure, it will help keep America at the 

forefront of space.

The Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) achieved a milestone on May 11, 

2010, when the National System for Geospatial Intelligence (NSG) announced 

the operational acceptance of the second SBIRS Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO-2) 

payload and associated ground system for the Technical Intelligence (TI) mission. 

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), on behalf of the NSG, vali-

dated that SBIRS met the TI community’s need for accurate, timely, reliable, and 

unambiguous TI data for use in intelligence production.

A further effort to develop new capabilities in the Overhead Persistent Infrared 

(OPIR) arena is the innovative Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload (CHIRP) 

program. The CHIRP flight development program is intended to reduce risks in 

the development of wide field-of-view staring infrared sensors to meet future DOD 

needs. The sensor was delivered to the satellite manufacturer for integration onto a 

commercial communications satellite on August 4, 2010, and launched in the fall 

of 2011.

The transition of Tactical Satellite-3 (TacSat-3), launched in May 2009, from 

an experimental demonstration to an operational asset on June 12, 2010, was a 

groundbreaking milestone for the Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) concept, 

which seeks to address the military’s requirements for rapid, flexible, and costeffective systems. The small satellite, built using plug-and-play technology, and its 

primary payload, the Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging 

Spectrometer (ARTEMIS), demonstrated the utility of hyperspectral information 

for the warfighter. The high-quality, information-rich data from this satellite con-

tinue to be exploited for a wide range of applications.

On June 28, 2010, the White House announced a new national space policy. The 

policy states that the United States remains committed to the use of space systems 

in support of its national and homeland security. It calls for the United States to 

invest in space situational awareness capabilities and launch vehicle technologies; 

develop the means to ensure mission-essential functions enabled by space; enhance 

our ability to identify and characterize threats; and deter, defend, and, if necessary, 

defeat efforts to interfere with or attack U.S. or allied space systems. In addition, 
the policy emphasizes cooperation in space, including commercial and interna- 39

tional partnerships.

The Department’s FY 10 activities discussed above indicate that DOD made 

significant investments in activities that will help implement the Nation’s space 

policy. DOD looks forward to furthering this commitment and keeping the United 

States the world’s premier spacefaring nation.
.
41Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

federal aviaTion 

adminisTraTion

FAA

In 2010, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) furthered its NextGen 

goals. NextGen is a comprehensive overhaul of the entire National Airspace 

System (NAS) to make air travel more convenient and dependable while ensuring that flights remain as safe, secure, and hassle-free as possible. In a continuous 

roll-out of improvements and upgrades, the FAA is building the capability to guide 

and track air traffic more precisely and efficiently, to save fuel, and to reduce noise 

and pollution.

An important step forward in 2010 was the FAA’s decision to approve the nationwide use of a new satellite-based aircraft tracking system, Automatic Dependent 

Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B). The agency successfully integrated ADS-B into 

all four air traffic control automation platforms at key sites across the country, 

clearing the way to begin integrating ADS-B into FAA air traffic control facilities 

nationwide and to train its workforce.

Equally significant was the release of a final rule requiring that by January 1, 

2020, aircraft operating in most controlled airspace be equipped to broadcast their 

position to the ADS-B network. This rule allows manufacturers to start massproducing certified ADS-B avionics, which the FAA believes will drive prices 

down, thus addressing a key concern of operators.

The FAA has also been working to reduce airport delays and improve the 

environment with NextGen initiatives that help curb fuel burn and emissions 

by improving surface efficiencies. Airspace improvements including Performance 

Based Navigation are already reducing fuel burn and emissions. A new, 
42Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

cleaner-burning biofuel is expected to be approved for use by commercial aircraft 

in FY 11.

With input from domestic and international stakeholders, the FAA continued 

developing a systematic Aviation Noise Research Framework to add to the scien-

tific knowledge base of the extent of impact of aviation noise and to develop appro-

priate mitigation below historically defined significant noise levels. To develop the 

noise research framework, the FAA convened an international forum in Ottawa, 

Canada, in 2009, as well as two public workshops in Washington, DC, in 2009 

and in San Diego, California, in 2010, to focus on the effects of aircraft noise 

on sleep disturbance and annoyance to the public. These discussions identified 

research activities to address aviation’s global capability and knowledge gaps; some 

of these activities have since started. Together with noise-related studies con-

ducted by the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction 

(PARTNER) through the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) and 

the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Volpe Center, under the FAA Air 

Tour Management Plan, the FAA’s more recently initiated research activities form 

a complement of work that seeks to advance scientific knowledge to better address 

the impacts of aviation noise on society.

The NextGen goal to increase NAS mobility and efficiency is dependent upon 

the ability to adequately address and mitigate aviation environmental impacts 

and to deal with related energy issues. The FAA is leading the development of 

a strategic NextGen Environmental Management Systems (EMS) approach for 

integrating environmental and energy objectives into the planning, decision making, and operation of NextGen. EMS is a management framework by which an 

organization identifies environmental aspects and impacts of its operations, assesses 

current performance, and formulates targets and plans to achieve improvements. 

The NextGen EMS framework is based on industry-standard EMS principles. At 

a high level, there are four phases—plan, implement/manage, monitor/review, and 

improve/adapt. In the plan phase, significant environmental issues are identified 

and evaluated, and goals and plans to manage these issues are developed. In the 

implement/manage phase, plans are implemented to manage significant environ-

mental issues (i.e., reduce or avoid negative impacts or maximize positive impacts). 

During the monitor/review phase, the effectiveness of these implementation 
43Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

activities is monitored and key performance metrics are tracked. These data are 

then used during the improve/adapt phase to make improvements and course 

corrections. NextGen EMS focuses on addressing the environmental constraints 

to sustainable aviation growth and efficiency, recognizing that these constraints 

might change over time. The strategic nature of the NextGen EMS will drive the 

air transportation system toward the achievement of long-term goals through the 

establishment of management system elements at both the enterprise and organizational levels. It will also provide improved data and information flow that will allow 

better decision making in a timelier manner. In turn, this will enable technology, 

operational procedures, and policy to be refined and adapted to meet real operating 

conditions in a cost-effective manner.

In 2010, to advance Four-Dimensional Flight Management System TrajectoryBased Operations (4D FMS TBO), FAA researchers leveraged existing technology 

and FMS capabilities as a starting point for informing standards and requirements 

for trajectory exchange, time of arrival controls, and other building blocks needed 

to meet both the desired mid-term operations described in the NAS Enterprise 

Architecture (EA) and far-term operations described in the JPDO NextGen 

Concept of Operations (CONOPS). Various activities were completed, including 

analysis of operational data, human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations, and flight trials. During these activities, researchers provided the tools for conducting the HITL 

simulations, scenarios, and parametric studies of FMS Required Time of Arrival 

(RTA) behavior and Air Traffic Control (ATC) operational analysis to ensure the 

viability of the flight trials. Results from these activities were analyzed as they 

related to validating current standards and developing future RTA standards.

The FAA has a critical need for improving efficiency and throughput in 

high-density terminal operations. Task Force 5 recommendations called for an 

increase in capacity and throughput for converging and intersecting runway operations. Additionally, the NextGen Segment Implementation Plan contained an 

operational improvement (OI) for increased capacity and efficiency using Area 

Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP). In response 

to these recommendations, the FAA is developing terminal ATC capabilities for 

efficient high-density operations. In 2010, to support future NextGen capabilities, 

the agency demonstrated Relative Position Indicator (RPI), a future automation 
44Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

designed to aid air traffic controllers in merging and spacing terminal RNAV and 

RNP routes at two terminal sites. Researchers conducted Terminal Radar Approach 

Control (TRACON) field evaluations of the RPI capability at Southern California 

TRACON for operations at San Diego International Airport, and at Phoenix 

TRACON for operations at Phoenix/Sky Harbor International Airport. The field 

evaluations consisted of a demonstrator system of the RPI prototype on the opera-

tional floor connected to a live data feed as well as HITL simulations based on 

historic traffic. The purpose of the field evaluations was to expose controllers to the 

RPI prototype to demonstrate how RPI can assist their efforts in merging arrival 

flows. Operational insight and feedback were recorded from facilities regarding the 

functionality, computer-human interface, acceptability, and benefits of RPI use to 

manage merging arrivals. Controller questionnaires at both facilities indicated an 

increase in situational awareness, an increase in the predictability of traffic, and a 

reduction in workload. The full quantitative analysis of the field evaluations will 

be provided in FY 11.

The FAA is developing a concept for surface operations in the NextGen called 

Surface Trajectory-Based Operations (STBO). STBO introduces new automa-

tion and procedures to improve decision making, efficiency, and safety regarding 

airport configuration changes, scheduling and sequencing aircraft for departure, 

assigning runways and taxi routes, and monitoring conformance on the surface. 

In FY 10, researchers developed concepts of use for STBO decision support tools 

and began validating and refining the concepts through HITL simulations. One 

of the mid-term features of STBO, monitoring conformance to taxi routes, is a 

key research area for the FAA and its research partners. For example, researchers 

evaluated aspects of the surface conformance monitoring concept using prototype 

decision support tools. In FY 10, two HITL simulations were designed and con-

ducted to assess the feasibility and benefits of the surface conformance monitoring 

concept. In the concept of operations for this monitoring capability, automation 

provides the tower controller with suggested taxi routes for departing flights and 

then monitors conformance to the assigned taxi routes—alerting the controller 

when problems arise. Additional research areas, such as concept and prototype 

refinement, were identified and will be investigated through HITL simulation in 

FY 11 and FY 12.
In-flight icing, turbulence, convective weather, and low ceilings and visibility 45

affect both the capacity and the safety of the NAS on a daily basis. Timely and 

precise forecasts of these aviation-specific weather hazards require forecast models 

that not only are accurate and updated frequently but can be easily enhanced as 

research advancements become available. The Weather Research and Forecasting 

(WRF) Model, completed in FY 10, is an operational next-generation numerical 

weather prediction system designed to serve both operational aviation forecasting 

and atmospheric research needs. WRF Model outputs are key to reducing weather 

delays and, thus, achieving the FAA Flight Plan’s greater capacity goal as well as 

NextGen weather operational improvements. Development of the WRF Model was 

done in collaboration with the FAA, NOAA, the Air Force Weather Agency, the 

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma, and the National 

Center for Atmospheric Research. The WRF model, with a one-hour update rate, 

was transitioned to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction for 

operational implementation. Also known as the WRF–Rapid Refresh (RR), this 

version of the WRF Model provides 13-km resolution, short-range weather model 

forecasts out to 18 hours, and one-hour background forecasts for a high-frequency 

3-D objective analysis across North America. The WRF–RR data will be used 

as input for FAA-developed aviation weather applications that produce weather 

hazard forecasts.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) data indicate that in-flight icing 

causes more than 25 accidents annually, with more than half resulting in fatalities and destroyed aircraft. This equates to $100 million in injuries, fatalities, and 

aircraft damage each year. To address this problem, FAA researchers developed 

the Current Icing Product (CIP) and Forecast Icing Product (FIP), which provide 

more accurate and timely diagnoses and forecast atmospheric conditions leading 

to ice accretion on aircraft during flight. CIP and FIP (depicted graphically via the 

Aviation Digital Data Service—a Web-based dissemination system operated by the 

Aviation Weather Center) provide the probability that icing will occur along the 

planned route of flight as well as its expected severity.

As in-flight icing is a major aviation hazard in Alaska, researchers are developing CIP and FIP products for Alaska. In FY 10, the Alaskan version of CIP was 

approved to begin the test phase.
46 In-flight icing is a potential hazard to all classes of aircraft, including those with 

ice protection. The formation of even a thin coat of ice on an aircraft surface can 

seriously impact its ability to fly by increasing drag, decreasing lift, and adversely 

affecting controllability. At greatest risk are aircraft without ice protection and 

those that fly at relatively low altitudes, where they are more likely to encounter 

atmospheric conditions conducive to icing. FAA researchers have already developed CIP and FIP for the continental U.S.

In 2010, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) continued to promote U.S. commercial space transportation, licensing four orbital commercial space launches: a Delta II launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) 

in California; an Atlas V launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) 

in Florida; a Delta IV launch from CCAFS; and a Falcon 9 launch, which carried 

the Dragon capsule, by SpaceX, from CCAFS. There were no suborbital flights 

conducted under the authority of FAA experimental permits or licenses in FY 10.

Launch license renewals were granted by AST for Boeing Launch Services’ 

Delta II launch vehicle, operating from VAFB, and Orbital Sciences Corporation’s 

Taurus and Pegasus launch vehicles, both operating from VAFB. A new Launch 

Site Operator License was issued to the Jacksonville Aviation Authority to operate 

a launch site at Cecil Field Spaceport in Florida. During FY 10, AST also continued its evaluation of the first commercial reentry vehicle license application for the 

SpaceX Dragon.

AST conducted 55 safety inspections on over 22 different types of FAAregulated activities. The goal of every AST safety inspection is to ensure public 

safety by verifying FAA licensee and permittee compliance with FAA regulations 

and license/permit terms and conditions. Inspectors traveled to various locations, including Cape Canaveral, Florida; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; 

Mojave, California; Kodiak, Alaska; Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia; Upham 

and Las Cruces, New Mexico; Caddo Mills, Texas; Burns Flat, Oklahoma; and 

Jacksonville, Florida.

To support all new and renewed licenses in FY 10, AST carried out several environmental reviews including the Final Supplement Environmental Assessment 

to the September 2008 Environmental Assessment for Space Florida Launch Site 

Operator License. AST issued a Finding of No Significant Impact to support a 
potential Launch Site Operator License to Space Florida to operate Launch 47

Complex 36 at CCAFS. AST adopted NASA’s 2009 Environmental Assessment for 

the Expansion of the Wallops Flight Facility Launch Range and issued a Finding 

of No Significant Impact and Record of Decision to support medium large class 

suborbital and orbital expendable launch vehicle activities at the Mid-Atlantic 

Regional Spaceport in Virginia. AST continued to monitor the New Mexico 

Spaceport Authority’s compliance with Federal historic preservation requirements 

and other requirements related to biological resources for the development of 

Spaceport America.

In 2010, the FAA researched the use of a black box for commercial transportation systems. A black box for space systems would provide key data to designers 

and operators after an anomaly and help prevent a recurrence. Researchers analyzed current FAA aviation black box data collection, operational, survivability, 

and retrieval requirements and reviewed current flight data recorders used on the 

NASA Shuttles. Based on their extensive experience with launch vehicles, they 

then developed a list of data parameters that would be critical in reconstructing 

damage or failures of space systems. Using these results, they mapped the derived 

space systems black box requirements to analogs currently used for commercial 

aviation. They found that it is possible that current aviation black boxes can be 

used for first-generation commercial space transport systems (specifically Reusable 

Launch Vehicles—RLVs—with low maximum velocities and brief times in space) 

with relatively little modification. Results were presented in the paper “Black 

Box for Reusable Launch Vehicles—Considerations and Potential Flight Test 

Opportunities” at the International Association for the Advancement of Space 

Safety Conference in May 2010.

In 2010, the FAA selected nine universities to compose the new FAA Center 

of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation, with New Mexico State 

University designated as the Administrative Lead University. The center is a partnership of academia, industry, and Government, developed to address current and 

future challenges for commercial space transportation. The research and development efforts will include four areas: space launch operations and traffic management; launch vehicle systems, payloads, technologies, and operations; commercial 

human spaceflight; and space transportation industry viability.
48 The FAA also announced the Space Transportation Infrastructure Matching 

Grants program and awarded grants to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, 

the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, the East Kern Airport District (Mojave, 

California), and the Jacksonville Airport Authority (Florida). These grants are 

solely discretionary and are designed to fund projects that develop and expand 

commercial space transportation infrastructure. AST will administer the new 

grants program on behalf of the FAA.

Several research and development projects were completed in FY 10, principally in the areas of vehicle safety analyses and safety systems and technologies. 

Representative tasks included the investigation of operational risks and probabilityof-failure analysis, the consideration of risk from expendable launch vehicle overflight explosive impacts, and the definition of space vehicle black box requirements.

AST continued to provide real-time support to NASA during Shuttle reentries, 

using its Shuttle Hazard Area to Aircraft Calculator (SHAAC) tool. This tool predicts and identifies airspace that could contain falling debris hazardous to aircraft 

in the event of a Space Shuttle orbiter failure during reentry. AST has supported 

20 reentries since the Space Shuttle Columbia failure in 2003.

Several reports of interest to the public, the space industry, and the 

Federal Government were released by AST, including New Commercial Space 

Transportation Report: Point-to-Point Commercial Space Transportation in National 

Aviation System—Final Report; Triggered Lightning Risk Assessment for Reusable 

Launch Vehicles at Four Regional Spaceports; Aircraft Protection Standards and 

Implementation Guidelines for Range Safety; Lessons Learned in Operational Space 

and Air Traffic Management; FAA’s Approach to Ground and NAS Separation 

Distances for Commercial Rocket Launches; and Risk Considerations for the Random 

Reentry of Space Debris. Guidance was issued for the design and development of 

environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) in ECLSS for Flight Crew 

and Space Flight Participants in Suborbital Space Flight, Version 1.0.

AST continued to issue annual updates of several reports, including U.S. 

Commercial Space Transportation Developments and Concepts: Vehicles, Technologies, 

and Spaceports; The Economic Impact of Commercial Space Transportation on the 

U.S. Economy in 2009; Commercial Space Transportation: 2009 Year in Review; and 

the 2010 Commercial Space Transportation Forecasts, as well as the Semi-Annual 
49Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Launch Report. The forecasts, prepared by the industry-led Commercial Space 

Transportation Advisory Committee and the FAA, projected an average world-

wide demand of about 16 launches per year to geosynchronous orbit and about 12 

launches per year to non-geosynchronous orbits between 2010 and 2019.

Information about the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, regula-

tions, reports, and other documents can be found at http://ast.faa.gov.
.
51Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

deparTmenT of CommerCe

DOC

In FY 10, the Department of Commerce (DOC) engaged in a wide variety of 

activities related to aeronautics and space, including national policy development, 

satellite operations, technology developments, measurement and calibration, international cooperation, trade promotion, and spectrum management.

Office of Space Commercialization

The Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) played an important role in the 

development of the U.S. National Space Policy, released June 28, 2010. OSC provided input on the development of new goals and guidelines related to commercial 

space, space-based environmental observations, and international cooperation. 

OSC led or participated in several interagency activities intended to further the 

new policy’s implementation.

The Deputy Secretary of Commerce continued to participate in the national 

management of the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a member of the National 

Executive Committee for Space-Based PNT. The Department hosted the meetings 

of the committee and its Executive Steering Group, engaging in discussions of GPS 

interference and other key topics. OSC provided office space, personnel, and other 

resources to support the committee’s secretariat, the National Coordination Office 

for Space-Based PNT. The DOC representatives in the National Coordination 

Office led various outreach efforts to educate the public about GPS, including 

media interviews, speaking engagements, display booths at international conferences, and updates to the http://www.gps.gov Web site.
52Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

OSC participated in government-to-government consultations with Japan 

to support continued cooperation in the area of satellite navigation. OSC also 

continued to serve as co-chair of a bilateral working group with the European 

Commission to cooperate on satellite navigation trade issues.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

FY 10 was a year of challenging extremes—including temperature fluctuations, 

severe weather, natural disasters, and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico region. 

Space-related activities were integral to NOAA’s response to these events as well as 

to many of its programs.

As in years past, NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service (officially the National 

Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, or NESDIS) continues to 

operate both the GOES and the Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite 

(POES) systems, which provide an uninterrupted flow of global environmental information to support weather, ocean, and space environmental modeling, as well as 

tropical storm analysis and forecasting, local weather forecasting, and ecosystem and 

climate monitoring. NOAA’s weather and climate prediction numerical models used 

the global data from these satellites extensively. NOAA provided forecast support for 

NASA Space Shuttle missions before launching, during flight, and during landing. 

During the Atlantic hurricane season, NOAA’s GOES system provided a continuous 

flow of imagery that contributed significantly to the development of storm forecasts. 

These forecasts helped minimize the loss of life in the United States.

NOAA launched GOES-P from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a Delta IV Rocket 

on March 4, 2010. GOES-P, renamed GOES-15 once it reached final orbit, was 

then placed into orbital storage mode. GOES-15, the final spacecraft in the NOAA 

geostationary-N series of satellites, took its first infrared image of Earth on April 26, 

2010. Once placed into operations, GOES-15 will capture high-resolution images 

of weather patterns and atmospheric measurements that will help NOAA forecasters track life-threatening weather—from tornadoes, floods, and hurricanes to solar 

activity that can impact satellite-based electronics and the communications industry. 

High-resolution imagery allows forecasters to pinpoint the location of severe weather 

with great accuracy. GOES-15 will provide data for space and solar weather thanks 
53Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

to its Solar X-Ray Imager. GOES-15 will improve forecasts and warnings for solar 

disturbances, protecting billions of dollars of commercial and Government assets 

in space and on the ground. This vital information will also reduce the effects of 

power surges for satellite electronics and the communications industry.

A collaborative development and acquisition effort between NOAA and NASA, 

the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series R (GOES-R) 

Program is developing the Nation’s next generation of geostationary environmental 

satellites, which will provide faster, higher resolution imagery and new lightning 

mapping capabilities. This new series of spacecraft is expected to double the clarity 

of today’s satellite imagery and provide at least 20 times more atmospheric observations. GOES-R continues to make steady progress in its instrument development 

and ground system programs as it approaches the scheduled launch of its first satellite in 2015. GOES-R will improve support for the detection and observation of 

meteorological phenomena that affect public safety, protection of property, and 

the economy. The new weather products from GOES-R will significantly improve 

the ability of forecasters to more accurately predict dangerous weather and, in turn, 

warn the public to seek shelter faster.

In July 2010, NOAA selected Harris Corporation of Melbourne, Florida, to 

develop the antenna system that will support GOES-R. The GOES-R antenna 

system will be developed and operated at NOAA’s Wallops Command and Data 

Acquisition Station in Wallops, Virginia, and at NOAA’s GOES-R Remote Backup 

facility in Fairmont, West Virginia. The antenna system will be designed to ensure 

continuity of operations during severe weather and other threat scenarios, including storms as severe as a Category 2 hurricane with winds ranging from 96 to 

110 miles per hour. Four existing receive-only antennas located at the NOAA 

Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland, will also have their feed systems upgraded. The antenna system will include six new, large aperture antennas 

capable of receiving and transmitting radio signals in multiple frequencies. Harris 

Corporation will upgrade four existing antennas and integrate the entire antenna 

system into the overall GOES-R Ground System. NOAA will fund, manage, and 

operate the GOES-R satellites.

In May 2010, NESDIS repositioned the GOES-12 to a longitude of 60° west over 

South America, thus continuing critical coverage for the region. GOES-12 replaced 
54Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

GOES-10, which was launched in 1997 and decommissioned on December 1, 2009, 

because it had exhausted its fuel and surpassed its original planned five-year mission. 

Continuing cooperation in the region, NESDIS determined that once GOES-13 

replaced GOES-12 as the operational GOES East satellite, GOES-12 could be moved 

to support South America. To ensure a smooth transition, NESDIS analyzed the 

implications, developed the transition schedules so that GOES East operations would 

not be impacted, and developed and implemented plans for informing users, both 

domestically and internationally, of the satellite changes. NESDIS also developed the 

GOES-12 South America imaging schedules for the instruments.

The design of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite Series N 

(which includes GOES-13, GOES-14, and GOES-15) does not allow hemispheric 

imaging while GOES East is in rapid scan mode monitoring an extreme weather 

event within the United States. Therefore, without GOES-12 at 60° west, during 

extreme weather events in the United States, the GOES East coverage of South 

America was reduced from every 30 minutes to every three hours. Consequently, 

South Americans could not track severe weather activity in the Southern 

Hemisphere. The repositioning of GOES satellites over South America supplies 

forecasters in South America with more imagery and data to track dangerous storms, 

including the storms that can trigger potentially deadly mudslides. In addition, the 

sounders on GOES East are not used over South America, depriving the region of 

vital datasets. The reassigning of GOES-12 gives South Americans uninterrupted 

imager data every 15 minutes and sounder data that greatly improve the ability of 

South Americans to predict and track severe weather events. In addition, this information improves their normal forecasting capabilities and supports U.S. civil aviation 

and military interests in South America.

Turning from geostationary to polar-orbiting satellites, the transition from the 

NPOESS to the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), a collaborative development and 

acquisition effort between NOAA and NASA, was initiated in FY 10. On February 1, 

2010, the Executive Office of the President (EOP) announced that it was restructuring 

the NPOESS program to ensure that the United States could continue to meet its 

civil and military weather forecasting, storm-tracking, and climate-monitoring require-

ments. The NOAA portion of the restructured NPOESS program is called JPSS.
The restructured program will retain the observational requirements of the 55

NPOESS program; however, NOAA, NASA, and DOD will be responsible for 

meeting these requirements through their respective assigned orbits, as follows:

• 

• 

• 

• 

NOAA, with NASA acting as its acquisition agent, will be responsible for 

JPSS, which will fly in the afternoon orbit.

DOD will be responsible for the early morning orbit, called the Defense 

Weather Satellite System (DWSS).

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological 

Satellites (EUMETSAT) will continue to provide NOAA with observations in the mid-morning orbit through the MetOp satellite program.

The agencies will continue to partner in those areas that have been 

successful in the past, such as sharing a common ground system.

NOAA’s JPSS afternoon orbit will maintain the observations that were planned 

for NPOESS in the afternoon orbit. The JPSS Program will fly the Visible Infrared 

Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), Cross-track Infrared Sounder, Advanced 

Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite

(OMPS). The JPSS Program will also fly instruments that are being procured with 

funds from the NOAA Climate Sensor Program: Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant 

Energy System (CERES), Earth Radiation Budget Suite (ERBS), and Total and 

Spectral Irradiance Sensor (TSIS) instruments. NOAA has initiated discussions 

with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to collaborate on the 

opportunity of using the Global Change Observation missions’ planned Advanced 

Microwave Scanning Radiometer instrument to meet the requirements that would 

have been fulfilled through the Microwave Imager Sounder instrument. As is the 

case today, NOAA and DOD will share data with each other.

NOAA will maintain overall responsibility for developing, funding, and implementing the JPSS program. NOAA will provide the strategic guidance to NASA 

as it administers the JPSS program and its requirements, budget and planning, 

constellation architecture, and launch dates. Strategic direction will be conveyed 

to NASA through formal Guidance Letters. NOAA will lead the discussions with 

international partners such as EUMETSAT, JAXA, and Centre National d’Études 

Spatiales (CNES) on JPSS-related activities.
56 GOES satellites continued to provide space weather data that NOAA’s Space 

Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) and DOD tactical operational units used to 

issue forecasts and warnings that protected spacecraft and power grids, as well as 

air travelers. As the number of airline passengers traveling on cross-polar routes 

from the United States to Asia increases, so, too, does the overall concern regarding the risks of radiation exposure to travelers and flight crew. Forecasting the 

location and severity of the aurora is required by airline flight planners responsible 

for passenger and crew safety.

This year, NOAA’s National Geophysical Data Center Space Weather Team successfully collaborated with partners from SWPC and the Johns Hopkins University 

Applied Physics Laboratory to test a new predictive model of the aurora based on 

upstream solar wind measurements. The Ovation Prime Real-Time model will be 

transitioned to operations and used in conjunction with NOAA’s future solar-wind 

sentinel to forecast space weather impacts on commercial air transportation.

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig led to 

a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 180 million gallons of 

oil leaked out before the sea-floor well at Deepwater Horizon was capped on July 

15, 2010, according to the Flow Rate Technical Group, a team of scientists and 

engineers formed to estimate the extent of the spill. The disaster not only caused 

damage to the Gulf Coast’s marine and wildlife habitats and its fishing and tourism 

industries, but also created a need for quality controlled ocean data. While directing recovery efforts for the spill, government officials and emergency responders 

needed detailed, up-to-date information to make important decisions.

NOAA’s quick response to the spill was in part due to placing a pre-operational 

project into operations. In late 2008, in response to a request from the National 

Ocean Service (NOS), the Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution’s 

Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) developed the capability to observe and report the 

location and extent of oil on ocean surfaces using many sources of satellite data but 

primarily synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. In January 2010, SAB began issuing 

oil spill analysis products to the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and NOS on 

a limited, experimental basis. Minutes after the Deepwater Horizon rig began sinking, SAB began converting its pre-operational pilot project in oil detection into a 

major disaster response effort. Within five hours of the rig sinking, SAB organized 
staffing for a 20-hour-per-day oil spill response desk, issued its first Deepwater 57

Horizon oil spill analysis, and accepted the role of International Disaster Charter 

Project Manager. SAB issued regular near-real-time satellite-based analyses of surface oil location multiple times per day and a daily summary to NOS, USCG, and 

other Federal, state, and local government personnel. This information supported 

more efficient resource allocation by the responders, such as where to deploy oil 

containment booms, skimmers, and reconnaissance overflights. NOS personnel also used the analyses as input to their trajectory forecasts, further enabling 

the public and government sectors to plan more effective actions to mitigate the 

spill damage.

After several weeks, NOAA’s Center for Satellite Applications and Research 

(STAR) and NOAA’s CoastWatch program, collaborating with scientists at 

NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanography and Meteorology Laboratory, prepared and 

acquired specialized satellite data such as sea surface temperature, ocean color, and 

sea surface height, as well as ocean model products such as current fields, salinity, 

and subsurface trajectories. They began routine briefings for SAB personnel on the 

oceanographic conditions and forecasts for the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

STAR and CoastWatch obtained or facilitated the acquisition and distribution 

of a broad array of data from commercial, U.S. Government, and foreign environmental satellites for the broad NOAA and responder communities and the general 

public. STAR and CoastWatch officials also supported SAB’s satellite-derived 

analyses with satellite products, scientific guidance, and oceanographic analyses. 

In addition, STAR and CoastWatch provided weekly tailored science briefings 

of the oceanographic conditions in the Gulf Coast and implemented or acquired 

specialized satellite and model products for the Gulf of Mexico to aid oil analysis. 

CoastWatch provided personnel with advanced satellite analytical experience to 

assist the National Marine Fisheries Service in the location, recovery, and rehabilitation of sea turtles. CoastWatch also made satellite imagery and products available 

to a broad audience through its Web site.

During the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, NOAA provided services and products 

based on its satellite information and databases to support government officials 

and emergency responders, as well as commercial and recreational fisheries, businesses, tourism, research, and the general public who live and work in the Gulf 
58 area. NOAA continues to operate support Web sites that include coastal ecosystem 

maps and an online database that describes oil spill–related research, monitoring, 

and restoration activities.

NOAA provided critical information during yet another major natural disaster—the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland in April 2010. Volcanic 

ash poses a major threat to jet aircraft and must be avoided. This Icelandic volcano’s eruption led to the unprecedented closure of North Atlantic and European 

airspace, disrupting commerce and travel in the area. Therefore, in response to 

the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, NESDIS, through the Washington, DC, Volcanic 

Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), began providing near-real-time information about 

the resulting ash cloud to the London VAAC. Using an algorithm developed for 

the next-generation geostationary satellite series, GOES-R, and data from the 

European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ Spinning 

Enhanced Infrared and Visible Imager, NESDIS provided estimates of volcanic 

ash cloud height, mass loading, and particle size to the London VAAC in order to 

inform aviation interests flying through European airspace that could be adversely 

affected by the volcanic ash clouds.

A major infrastructure milestone was reached in FY 10 with the construction 

of the Fairbanks Satellite Operations Facility (FSOF), a new operations center 

for satellite command and control in Alaska. FSOF, which was completed on 

September 30, 2010, will support a broad range of U.S. and international environmental monitoring satellites, thus providing critical datasets, products, and 

services to users worldwide. FSOF replaces the current Fairbanks Command and 

Data Acquisition Station, parts of which date to the early 1960s. Modernizing this 

facility ensures reliable and robust satellite tracking for NOAA far into the future. 

On a global scale, public safety and economic interests will continue to benefit 

from the comprehensive and accurate information derived from the site’s work. 

The new 20,000-square-foot FSOF was a shovel-ready project, using approximately 

$9 million of ARRA funds and $2.7 million from NESDIS to complete the project. 

NESDIS provided invaluable technical and management expertise for the complex 

project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversaw the construction, which took 

place between July 2009 and September 2010.
59Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Also this year, NOAA took a significant step in improving coastal precipitation 

forecasts using geostationary satellite data. Heavy precipitation associated with 

severe storms can cause flooding and damage to life and property. Accurate predictions of precipitation amounts near coastal areas are often very difficult due to our 

limited understanding of storm development and a lack of applicable computer 

forecast models. To address this issue, scientists in NOAA’s Center for Satellite 

Applications and Research (STAR), Florida State University, and the National 

Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) assimilated infrared radiances from 

GOES-11 and GOES-12 using the grid point statistical interpolation (GSI) analysis 

system. GSI is an analysis system developed at NCEP that allows for uses of new 

observational data and produces an optimal initial condition so computer models 

can generate better forecasts. The team’s studies demonstrated that the precipitation amount, especially for severe storm conditions, can be better predicted using 

GOES-11 and GOES-12 imager radiance data in computer models. GOES data 

assimilation requires a fast, radiative transfer model for ingesting GOES imager 

data in the computer forecast model and an adequate quality control algorithm 

for removing bad-quality data. To meet these needs, STAR scientists developed 

the community radiative transfer model and a better quality control procedure to 

detect and remove the measurements affected by clouds and precipitation. This 

work highlights the importance of geostationary satellite observations for improved 

cloud and precipitation forecasts. The GOES observations in regions of little or no 

clouds provide especially beneficial information to the computer forecast models for 

improved coastal precipitation forecasts. The developed data assimilation technique 

will also prepare weather data users, including the National Weather Service, for 

using advanced satellite data from the next-generation GOES Series R—GOES-R. 

In July 2010, NESDIS negotiated and signed a four-party agreement with NASA, 

the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, and 

CNES to cooperatively develop, launch, and operate the Jason-3 satellite. The 

Jason-3 ocean altimetry satellite will provide extraordinarily precise sea level height 

measurements that reveal upper level ocean heat content and patterns and indicate 

changes in water volume. Ocean altimetry data are essential to understanding our 

climate because ocean changes influence the weather.
60 NOAA’s fleet of satellites played a vital role in the rescues of 281 people in lifethreatening situations throughout the United States and its surrounding waters 

during FY 10. In each incident, NOAA satellites pinpointed these downed pilots, 

shipwrecked mariners, or stranded hikers by detecting a distress signal from an 

emergency beacon, called an Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon, and 

relaying the information to first responders on the ground. NOAA’s polar-orbiting 

and geostationary satellites, along with Russia’s COSPAS spacecraft, are part of 

the international Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking system (COSPASSARSAT). When a NOAA satellite locates a distress signal, the information 

is relayed to the COSPAS-SARSAT Mission Control Center based at NOAA’s 

Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. From there, it is sent to a 

Rescue Coordination Center operated by the U.S. Air Force for land rescues or the 

U.S. Coast Guard for water rescues. Now in its 28th year, COSPAS-SARSAT is 

credited with supporting more than 27,000 rescues worldwide, including 6,232 in 

the United States and its surrounding waters.

NESDIS organized a critically important aircraft flight close to the North Pole 

and directly under the path of the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite 

on April 20, 2010, just 12 days after the satellite launched. This flight was an early 

opportunity to validate CryoSat-2’s new radar technique for measuring the thinning of Arctic sea ice, a trend believed to be an early indicator of global warming.

National Institute of Standards and Technology

In FY 10, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) continued 

to provide Federal agencies and the aerospace industry with the research, guidance, 

standards, products, and services needed to advance the Administration’s space 

agenda. These wide-ranging outputs fall into four main categories: (1) validation, 

measurement, and calibration; (2) manufacturing technology; (3) observation and 

sensing; and (4) spacecraft and living environments.

NIST supported accurate and compatible measurements made by the aerospace 

industry by providing Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) and calibration services. Customers used these SRMs and services to ensure the accuracy of their 

own instrument calibrations and the validity of their measurement methods. In 
2010, aerospace companies purchased 61 SRMs, including ferrous and nonferrous 61

metals certified for chemical composition and for hardness, and artifacts certified 

for nanoscale dimensional properties. In addition, these companies submitted over 

300 instruments or artifacts to NIST for calibration. NIST performed over 1,500 

separate tests on these items, spanning dimensional, force, vibration, and electrical 

measurements, thus providing the companies with a source of metrological traceability for their primary measurement standards.

NIST continues 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 example, NIST performed calibrations 

of length standards for U.S. aerospace companies to ensure that the dimensions 

of their manufactured parts conform to design specifications. Traceable NIST 

measurements (mass, force, vibration, acoustics, electricity, thermometry, humidity, flow, pressure, viscosity, fluid density, radiometry, and length) are essential for 

aircraft manufacturing, according to a senior Boeing metrologist. Further, in the 

manufacture of the company’s new 787 airplanes, every tool used in the assembly 

process has been calibrated in Boeing’s metrology laboratories with direct traceability to NIST. Structural testing of the airplane is performed by scores of load 

cells with up to 3.54 meganewtons (MN) (800 kilofootpounds [klbf]) of capacity. 

(MN and klbf are units of force.) These load cells are central to the structural 

testing of the first full-scale composite wing/titanium wing box. The load cells, 

used to analyze the integrity of the wing box structure, are directly traceable to 

NIST either through direct comparison with NIST-calibrated load cells or through 

calibration in the Boeing 221 kN (50 klbf) force deadweight machine whose masses 

were calibrated at NIST. Other direct applications of NIST measurements included 

the use of NIST-calibrated weights to support wind tunnel applications; weighing 

airplanes; and torque, pressure, and force measurements.

NIST participated in a workshop co-organized by the World Meteorological 

Organization (WMO) and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures 

(BIPM) on “Measurement Challenges for Global Observation Systems for Climate 

Change Monitoring: Traceability, Stability and Uncertainty,” held at WMO 
62 headquarters from March 30 to April 1, 2010. The workshop brought together 

scientists from the world’s national metrology laboratories and national meteorological organizations to collaborate on improving the accuracy and comparability 

of environmental measurements, including satellite sensor measurements, through 

robust traceability to the SI.

NIST has recently begun work with DOD and with Boeing on the applicability 

of laser scanning technology for the dimensional measurement of aircraft components. This new technology offers potential cost savings and increased measurement throughput. The work includes developing calibration methodologies and 

facilities for laser scanner systems and national and international standardization 

of their measurement accuracy.

In preparation for possible launch, NIST, in collaboration with NASA, initiated the recalibration of the NIST Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR). This instrument is designed to measure the absolute spectrally integrated irradiance that 

is reflected and emitted from the sunlit face of Earth, as viewed from an orbit 

around the Earth-sun L-1 point. NISTAR was designed and built between 1999 

and 2001 by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and the NIST Optical 

Technology Division, in conjunction with the Scripps Institute of Oceanography 

and NASA, as part of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission. 

The instrument consists of four detectors: three electrical-substitution active cavity 

radiometers and a photodiode, plus several band-defining optical filters that can 

be used with any of the detectors. NISTAR was calibrated in a thermal vacuum 

chamber in a clean-room environment at NIST, using a portable version of the 

NIST Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations using Uniform 

Sources (SIRCUS) facility. The calibration includes system-level measurements of 

the relative spectral response of the NISTAR bands, using a wavelength-tunable 

laser and absolute responsivity measurements of each of the four NISTAR detectors 

at a wavelength of 532 nanometers (nm).

NIST and the NASA Langley Research Center signed a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MOU) to facilitate NIST support of the Climate Absolute 

Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Mission. The mission will 

provide accurate benchmark measurements of Earth’s climate system. NIST commenced several projects to improve optical radiation standards and the ability to 
establish on-orbit traceability to the SI for measurements of the reflected solar and 63

emitted infrared radiation from Earth.

NIST performed the first full system-level calibration of an operational satellite 

sensor, the NPP VIIRS, in collaboration with scientists and engineers from Ball 

Aerospace, NASA, NOAA, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman. VIIRS operates 

from the infrared to the visible and will produce many key environmental data 

products when it is flown initially on the NPP satellite and later as part of the JPSS, 

formerly known as NPOESS. Previous testing of VIIRS at the component level 

in 2008 raised concerns about the sensor’s ability to meet the stringent accuracy 

requirements for the 20-year climate data record for ocean color, which is used to 

assess ocean health and carbon storage. The system-level calibration performed 

with a transportable version of NIST SIRCUS confirmed that the radiometer’s 

filters cause small leaks of radiometric flux between sensor bands, a phenomenon 

known as crosstalk. However, the amount of crosstalk is small enough that VIIRS 

scientists should be able to use the calibration results to make corrections in measurements made by VIIRS on orbit. Traveling SIRCUS was also employed to study 

the internal on-orbit calibration system used by VIIRS for the visible through 

shortwave infrared (IR) bands. The data analysis will provide critical information 

about the performance of the on-orbit calibration system.

NIST scientists completed a series of measurement comparisons with NASA 

Goddard Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace, and the University of Arizona to 

help ensure the proper calibration and traceability of the measurements provided 

by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensor for the Landsat Data Continuity 

Mission (LDCM). The OLI is a mid-resolution, multispectral imaging radiometer 

designed and built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado. This series of intercomparison activities will ensure the successful calibration of the OLI with respect to 

the SI through the NIST radiance scale. SI traceability will be accomplished using 

an integrating sphere from Ball Aerospace that has been calibrated at the NIST 

Facility for Automated Spectroradiometric Calibrations (FASCAL). To ensure 

proper calibration and traceability of the OLI, the sphere was characterized, following its calibration, in a weeklong comparison campaign in February 2010. A set 

of calibrated transfer radiometers and spectrometers from NIST, NASA’s Goddard 

Space Flight Center, Ball Aerospace, and the University of Arizona measured the 
64 radiance from the sphere, and these measurements were compared to measurements made from two NIST reference spheres.

NIST extended its present bidirectional reflectance distribution function 

(BRDF) capabilities to enable unbroken measurements across the solar reflected 

region, from 250 nm to 2,500 nm, permitting more accurate calibrations and radiance measurement in support of environmental satellite measurements conducted 

in support of climate-change research.

NIST upgraded its Aperture Area Measurement Facility to ensure the availability of accurate aperture area measurements that provide the traceability to 

the meter for satellite sensor measurements of the total solar irradiance (watts per 

square meter). Aperture area measurements were provided for the Total Irradiance 

Monitor on the Glory satellite.

NIST successfully characterized the marine optical system for the next-generation 

Marine Optical BuoY (MOBY) cited in the vicarious calibration plan for NOAA 

polar-orbiting satellites launched after NPP.

NIST provided calibration support to several operational environmental satellite 

programs, including GOES-13, GOES-R, and LDCM.

NIST, in partnership with the University of New Mexico, Harvard 

University, and the Smithsonian Institution, continued a research program to 

improve the absolute radiometric calibration of stars for applications that 

include satellite sensor calibration, dark energy research, and nighttime aerosol monitoring.

Scientists from NIST, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the California 

Institute of Technology collaborated on the pre-launch and post-launch calibration 

of the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment (CIBER) sensor that flew in June 

2009 and June 2010. CIBER is designed to search for anisotropies in the cosmic 

infrared background by measuring fluctuations at wavelengths and spatial scales 

where first-light galaxy signals are expected to be detectable and discriminated 

from foregrounds. The calibrations were performed using a transportable version of 

NIST’s Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations using Uniform 

Sources Facility (Traveling SIRCUS). The SIRCUS calibration provided the most 

accurate available measurements of the CIBER sensor’s absolute spectral response. 

This is critical because the CIBER experiment’s success is strongly dependent 
on the instruments’ quantitative calibration to enable the subtraction of unwanted 65

stellar (zodiacal) and solar background radiation.

NIST developed calibration protocols for acoustic emission, a method used to 

detect subsurface macroscopic defects in fiber-based composites. A draft standard addressing these protocols is currently being balloted by American Society 

for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International. NIST also worked with several 

partners to develop protocols and reference specimens for calibrating nondestructive evaluation (NDE) instruments to enable more reliable detection of subsurface macro- and microscopic defects. Specifically, NIST established a noise-free 

calibration artifact for determining baseline performance in acoustic emission sensors. These sensors are widely used by NASA to detect breaks in fiber-reinforced 

structural composites. In addition to establishing the noise-free standard, NIST 

developed a protocol for calibration to specifically meet the needs of the aerospace 

industry. This documentary standard is currently under review by ASTM. NIST’s 

continued development of calibration standards will improve the accuracy of the 

data obtained through acoustic emission while also providing key scientific insights 

into composite manufacturing that will enable long-term reliability of the structural 

materials used in military and commercial aircraft and long-duration spacecraft.

NIST worked with the Air Force, as well as industry and NASA, in fuels research 

geared towards developing alternative fuels and generating an understanding upon 

which to base innovative designs for jet and rocket propulsion systems. Major foci 

of the work involved combustion kinetics, chemical characterization, and thermophysical properties. In particular, NIST evaluated properties of synthetic FischerTropsch fuels (including several renewable bio-based fluids) and rocket/jet fuels.

The NIST Thermal-infrared Transfer Radiometer (TXR) was deployed to Space 

Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) in Logan, Utah, to calibrate a blackbody in a thermal vacuum chamber located there. There were several purposes for the deployment. The blackbody, called the Long-Wavelength Infrared Calibration Source 

(LWIRCS), had been previously calibrated at the NIST Low Background Infrared 

(LBIR) facility, so this provided a check of “at-NIST” calibration to “in-situ” 

calibration at SDL. LWIRCS had been developed at SDL with new calibration 

technology, particularly phase transition temperature sensors that are relevant for 

future NASA missions such as CLARREO. A third purpose of the deployment was 
66 to prepare the TXR for an FY 11 deployment to ITT Corporation for the GOES-R 

Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) mission.

NIST performed the initial calibration and field-testing of the Missile Defense 

Transfer Radiometer (MDXR), a new portable cryogenic radiometer designed to 

measure the collimated output infrared beam from space simulation chambers used 

in the calibration of infrared remote sensing systems. The MDXR can be operated 

as an infrared filter radiometer or as an infrared spectral radiometer using a recently 

developed cryogenic Fourier-transform spectrometer. While the MDXR was constructed to meet the infrared calibration needs of the missile defense community, 

it also has application to calibration of test sources and calibration standards for 

infrared astronomy.

NIST collaborated with NASA on the calibration and characterization of 

the Ocean Radiometer for Carbon Assessment (ORCA), a hyperspectral ocean 

color imaging system under development at NASA through the Instrument 

Incubator Program.

NIST is developing and characterizing measurement methods for advanced 

optics used in aerospace and space applications. Advanced optical elements are 

essential components of air- and space-borne imaging systems and telescopes. They 

must incorporate features that yield vastly improved performance but pose significant measurement challenges. Examples are complex, highly accurate, optical 

surfaces that are neither flat nor spherical, or have micro- and nanoscale surface 

structures. In collaboration with NASA, NIST developed a method that employs 

a mirror with a special height relief pattern to assess the capability of inspection 

equipment to measure fine surface features on optical surfaces. NIST, furthermore, 

collaborated with NASA, supported by funding through NASA’s Innovative 

Partnerships Program, to develop a new method that will improve the fabrication 

of x-ray mirrors for future space-borne x-ray telescopes. The new method, based on 

a pair of computer-generated holograms, has the potential to meet the metrology 

requirements for the next generation of x-ray mirrors; those requirements cannot 

be met with the current probe-based metrology for mandrels. These collaborations 

built on prior joint developments by NIST and NASA for the calibration of reference optical flats for precision interferometry.
Using instruments developed to help improve semiconductor electronics, NIST 67

has worked with NASA to measure the composition of meteorites. Different 

meteorite samples were cut and polished, then measured with a spectroscopic 

ellipsometer—a device that measures optical properties of materials. The data 

obtainable with the ellipsometer help to determine the alloy, crystal structure, and 

grain structure of the meteorites. Many meteorites are made up primarily of iron 

and nickel, and NIST also made thin films of iron and iron/nickel alloys for calibration and comparison.

NIST provided quality assessment of atomic data used by astronomers who are 

interpreting observations from NASA’s land- and space-based missions, including 

the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Far Ultraviolet 

Spectroscopic Explorer, and the Spitzer Infrared Observatory. In 2010, NIST 

provided results for atomic argon, hydrogen, lithium, beryllium, boron, nitrogen, 

sodium, iron, barium, strontium, mercury, and other elements of particularly strong 

current interest. For each type of atom, NIST provided a single, self-consistent set 

of best values from the frequently inconsistent, incomplete, and heterogeneousquality data scattered across the open literature. NIST published these evaluated datasets in peer-reviewed scientific journals and disseminated them publicly 

through NIST’s online Atomic Spectra Database (http://physics.nist.gov/asd). 

These data are used as standards across the astrophysics community and facilitate 

comparison of results from different astronomers. This work was partially funded 

by NASA.

NIST measured atomic properties required to make use of observations from 

NASA’s ultraviolet and infrared spaced-based observatories. The data provided 

by NIST for iron atoms are important for determining whether the fundamental 

constants have changed over the lifetime of the universe. NIST also measured data 

for chromium atoms. This work was partially funded by NASA.

NIST helped resolve long-standing discrepancies in the data used to determine temperature and other properties of hot astronomical objects observed by 

the Chandra X-ray Observatory and other x-ray missions. NIST created, in the 

laboratory, atoms in the same extremely hot form as that found in high-energy 

astrophysical environments. By analyzing x-ray emissions from these atoms and 

comparing them to detailed calculations, NIST provided the basic data needed to 
68 understand observations from deep space. NASA partially funded this effort carried out in collaboration with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 

and the Argonne National Laboratory.

NIST began the construction of a new facility, the Controlled-Background 

System for Spectroradiometry and Spectrophotometry (CBS3). This facility will 

contain an evacuated, temperature-controlled infrared test chamber for studying the performance of sensors, calibration sources, and the optical properties of 

materials in the 5-micrometer to 50-micrometer infrared spectral region to provide 

the measurement standards and calibrations required for the next generation of 

infrared satellite sensors used for weather forecasting and climate research.

NIST initiated the construction of a new facility to permit more rapid and accurate measurements of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of 

materials, including polarization sensitivity, in support of ground- and space-based 

remote sensing throughout the solar reflected region.

NIST is collaborating with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop 

photodetectors for space applications. With funding from NASA, NIST designed 

and fabricated nanotextured gallium nitride (GaN) and GaN nanowires that serve 

as raw material for photocathode detectors. Goddard collaborators activated the 

material with cesium and packaged the units into complete imaging systems. In 

FY 10, this collaboration tested GaN nanowires for the first time and determined 

that the quantum efficiency was greater than 14 percent at 254 nm.

NIST is collaborating with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the development of 

superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD). SNSPDs are a type 

of single photon detector with extremely low noise and very-high-speed response. 

These devices are of interest to JPL for space communications and to NIST for various quantum information experiments. NIST characterized various JPL devices. 

NIST also packaged some JPL devices with our self-aligned single mode optical 

fiber packaging scheme.

NIST worked with the NASA Glenn Research Center to add reverberation 

chamber functionality to the Plum Brook Station vacuum chamber (a cylinder 

approximately 30 meters in diameter and 60 meters in height). The feasibility 

tests (FY 10) and data processing (FY 11) have been completed and show that the 

vacuum chamber works well as a reverberation chamber over the 100 megahertz 
(MHz) to 40 gigahertz (GHz) frequency range evaluated. It is important that the 69

chamber have well-stirred uniform fields with no significant hot spots (high fields 

well above the nominal average level). Hot spots could lead to over testing and 

unintentionally damage expensive electronics. The final report was to be delivered 

to the sponsor (FY 11).

NIST extended its ability to test antenna parameters (gain, polarization, and 

pattern) above 110 GHz with the acquisition (FY 10) of new equipment under 

ARRA. The initial test object for the new capability is an antenna used in a 

water vapor detection radiometer near 180 GHz. Both the antenna parameter and 

radiometer calibration capability in development by NIST will serve the general 

aerospace community. In particular, NIST continued working (starting in FY 09) 

with NASA Goddard (Microwave Sensors and Hydrological Sciences Branch) to 

develop blackbody microwave brightness temperature measurement methods and 

SI traceable microwave radiometer calibrations.

In a collaboration with the University of Colorado (CU) Center for Astrophysics 

and Space Science, NIST demonstrated a prototype easily portable new system 

to precisely measure the tiny changes in wavelength of infrared light emitted 

from stars caused by the orbit of Earth-like exoplanets. The NIST/CU system uses 

femtosecond laser frequency combs to make ultra-precise, ultra-stable wavelength 

references in the infrared spectrum around 1,600 nm. About 80 percent of the 

exoplanets discovered so far have been identified by the radial velocity technique 

of measuring tiny changes in the wavelength of the star’s emitted light over weeks 

to months as the orbiting exoplanet causes the star to “wobble” slightly. But for 

the radial velocity changes to be detectable, the exoplanets must usually be quite 

close to the parent star. The great majority of exoplanets so far detected with the 

radial velocity technique are orbiting hot stars emitting strong visible light, and the 

detectable exoplanets are much too hot to support Earth-like conditions. Cooler 

stars emitting mostly infrared light are very common (comprising about two-thirds 

of the stars nearest to our solar system) and could support Earth-like exoplanet 

orbits much closer to the stars and detectable by the radial velocity technique. 

But no good, ultra-precise, ultra-stable infrared wavelength references have been 

available, in contrast to suitable visible light references. The NIST/CU team developed a prototype compact, portable, ultra-precise, ultra- stable infrared wavelength 
70 reference based on the technology of laser frequency combs that won NIST a 

share of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. The NIST/CU frequency comb reference 

was transported to and tested at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the MacDonald 

Observatory in Texas. The initial prototype testing was very successful, resulting in 

the first stellar spectra calibrated with a frequency comb. The NIST/CU team continues to perfect the infrared frequency comb calibration system and plans further 

tests at NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) in Hawaii before the system is 

deployed for long-term calibrations needed for detection of Earth-like exoplanets.

With NASA funding, NIST developed a prototype circuit for critical signal processing applications on future space-based observatories. The demanding specifications for these circuits were met by using superconducting electronics operated at 

ultra-low temperature.

NASA’s next-generation satellite observatories require new detectors with 

improved sensitivity and scalability. With NASA funding, NIST developed new 

detectors based on the voltage-biased superconducting transition-edge sensor 

(TES). The TES offers new capabilities for the detection of electromagnetic signals, 

from millimeter waves through x-rays. Following on their successful development 

at NIST, the TES has become the reference technology or a leading candidate for 

future NASA satellite missions at x-ray, millimeter, and submillimeter wavelengths, 

as well as for many NASA-funded suborbital instruments (including balloonborne instruments and instruments intended for SOFIA). More recently, NIST 

developed integrated TES polarimeters for measuring polarization of the cosmic 

microwave background (CMB). These devices incorporate multiple TESs per pixel 

to measure the power in the different polarizations of the CMB. This integrated 

detector utilizes fully micromachined silicon feedhorns for beam formation. This 

integrated detector technology will be incorporated in two ground-based instruments (ACTPol and SPTPol).

With NASA funding, NIST is also developing Superconducting Quantum 

Interference Devices (SQUID) and SQUID-based multiplexers to read out large 

arrays of TES detectors in a manageable number of output channels. NIST is 

providing SQUID systems to many researchers both at NASA centers (Goddard 

Space Flight Center and JPL) and in academia working on NASA-funded projects (including the California Institute of Technology; Stanford University; the 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of California, Berkeley; 71

Princeton University; Cornell University; and others). SQUIDs and SQUID multiplexers developed at NIST are currently deployed in many ground- and balloonbased instruments (ACT, BICEP2/Keck, SPT, BLISS, GISMO, SPIDER, EBEX, 

and others) and will be used in most of NASA’s future TES instruments. Recent 

developments for improved detector readout include the demonstration of TES 

readout with dissipationless microwave SQUID multiplexers, the demonstration 

of code-domain multiplexers for sub-frame sampling for measurement of fast x-ray 

pulses, and new low-power SQUID amplifiers for use at focal plane temperatures. 

Recently (in collaboration with the University of Colorado), NIST developed a 

quantum limited Josephson parametric amplifier for use in the readout of microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID). NIST’s work in detector readout and 

multiplexing creates a path for truly large (up to 1 million) pixel arrays of TES 

detectors for use in a variety of astronomical instruments. NIST is also using its 

SQUID expertise to assist NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in the 

development of magnetic micro-calorimeters.

NIST and international collaborators also successfully delivered eight imagers 

(10,240 total pixel count) for the Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array 

(SCUBA-2) camera. The SCUBA-2 instrument is currently in shared-risk observing mode, allowing preliminary scientific observations to be made concurrent with 

system startup. The new camera is based upon eight 1,280-pixel SQUID multiplexer chips and eight 1,280-pixel TES bolometer arrays fabricated at NIST. This 

ground-based instrument is not funded by NASA, but it is a technical pathfinder 

for a number of future NASA instruments.

NIST continued work on new concepts to achieve on-chip electrical cooling of 

cryogenic detectors. These on-chip coolers, based on superconducting tunnel junctions, could greatly simplify spacecraft cryogenic requirements by providing a final 

on-chip stage of cooling from 0.3 kelvin (K) to 0.1 K. Researchers at NIST have 

developed large-area coolers fabricated using standard microelectronic processes. 

These devices have demonstrated cooling from 260 millikelvins (mK) to 115 mK 

with cooling power 100 to 1,000 times greater than previous demonstrations. In 

collaboration with researchers at GSFC, NIST also fabricated and operated devices 

that combine both TES detectors and electrical refrigerators on a single chip.
72 NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was the first measurement laboratory 

to implement NIST’s newly developed 10-volt programmable Josephson Voltage 

Standard. This system will be used for calibrating NASA standards and is the first 

in the world to provide stable voltages whose accuracy is determined by quantum 

behavior. It is also the first Josephson system capable of performing calibrations 

of AC voltages at 10 volts. NIST is collaborating with KSC to incorporate new 

software features and hardware that will make the system simpler to transport, 

including a compact microwave synthesizer and an onboard embedded controller.

The NIST Fluid Metrology Group makes air speed and hydrocarbon liquid flow 

measurements to support the aerospace sector. The air speed calibration service 

performs calibrations of anemometers used at airports, on aircraft, and in wind 

tunnels used for testing new aircraft. The hydrocarbon liquid calibration service 

calibrates flow meters that are used to meter jet fuel, for example, turbine meters 

used to evaluate jet engine performance on test stands. During the past year, NIST 

worked to improve these measurements by researching the influence of fluid properties (density and viscosity) on turbine flow meter performance. This work will 

lead to usage of less toxic and inflammable surrogate fluids by NIST and secondary 

calibration labs in the aerospace calibration chain. The NIST Temperature and 

Humidity Group provides measurement services for traceable temperature and 

humidity to support NASA’s missions. Additionally, the group is actively involved 

in accreditation activities through the NIST-administered National Voluntary 

Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), with companies that support NASA 

(e.g., Wyle Laboratories). The NIST Pressure and Vacuum Group invented a revolutionary transfer pressure standard that can be used in an FAA-proposed project 

aimed at safely narrowing separation distances between aircraft, known as Reduced 

Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM). This potentially exciting application would 

help to alleviate air traffic congestion around the Nation’s airports (see http://www.

faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/enroute/rvsm/).

NIST’s SURF III Synchrotron Ultraviolet Radiation Facility was used as a 

source of soft x-rays and vacuum ultraviolet light to calibrate mirrors, detectors, 

and spectrometers used in NASA spacecraft. These include calibrations of rocketborne instruments to maintain the accuracy of the instrumentation for the EUV 

Variability Experiment (EVE) aboard the SDO and the Thermosphere Ionosphere 
Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite. Both of these satellites 73

are designed to study extreme ultraviolet (EUV) solar irradiance and its variability 

over minutes (flares) to years (11-year solar cycle). These measurements are important to the National Space Weather Program (NSWP), which tracks solar storms 

that impact space-based communications and navigation technologies. We continue to work on the calibration of UV (ultraviolet) instrumentation for satellites 

in the NOAA GOES program.

With NASA support, NIST developed a new measurement method and a proofof-concept system for measuring the volume of liquid in spacecraft tanks in zerogravity conditions. Measuring the level of a liquid in zero-gravity conditions is 

difficult because fluids (such as water or fuel) tend to break into clumps and float 

inside the container. This tendency makes it difficult to know, with certainty, how 

much liquid is left in the container. For organizations like NASA, this problem can 

lead to life-or-death consequences for astronauts or catastrophic results for satellites 

and other unmanned spacecraft. Multi-billion-dollar space missions are jeopardized 

because of uncertain knowledge about the amounts and distribution of remaining liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen fuel within the tanks. In collaboration with 

NASA engineers, the NIST team advanced the measurement science for measuring the fluid contents of a tank in (near) zero-gravity by designing, building, and 

testing an innovative, macro-scale, low-noise capacitor array that gives accurate 

results regardless of the fluid’s distribution within the tank. Prior to this development, NASA had no alternatives to using insufficient, low-accuracy sensors that 

approximated the amount of material within the container and gave no specifics 

about the distribution of that material within the volume.

The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program maintains a 

network of 60 centers, with at least one in every state and Puerto Rico. These MEP 

centers offer business and technical assistance services to the Nation’s manufacturers. The aerospace industry is experiencing a two-fold challenge to meet the 

growing needs of domestic and world-wide government customers. These customers are demanding higher visibility in the supply chain while maintaining highperformance, lower-cost standards. These pressures are creating opportunities for 

small- and medium-sized manufacturers who are capable of moving beyond offering simple products to presenting differentiated product-service bundles based on 
74 innovative ideas. In FY 10, MEP centers engaged in 290 business improvement 

projects with 160 individual manufacturing companies designated with an aerospace North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code.

In 2010, MEP and the Bureau of Veterans Affairs, via a formal interagency agreement, began a supplier scouting pilot. The purpose of the pilot is to increase and 

enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the supply of critically needed parts by 

Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (VOSB) and Service-Disabled Veteran–Owned 

Small Businesses (SDVOSB) for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). 

Specific emphasis is being placed upon items that NAVAIR has difficulty procuring 

for different reasons, such as the unavailability of technical data; sole source supply 

scenarios; or other difficult supply issues that may include lead-time, quality, or 

reliability problems. The pilot is creating new business opportunities for companies 

to supply needed parts to the Navy’s aerospace programs.

NASA and MEP are collaborating to assist NASA suppliers affected by the 

pending retirement of the Space Shuttle Program. MEP is working with companies 

on market diversification and technology adoption projects.

NIST is working with industry to test and advance interoperability standards 

that can be used to communicate information about parts and processes. NIST 

is working with industry to test and advance MTConnect, a low-cost, open 

machine tool integration standard sponsored by the Association for Manufacturing 

Technology, General Electric, TechSolve, and other partners. U.S. manufacturers 

in the aerospace industry are highly interested in this standard and the productivity benefits that it provides. MTConnect fosters greater interoperability between 

controls, devices, and software applications by publishing data over networks 

using the Internet Protocol. NIST researchers are part of MTConnect’s Technical 

Advisory Group, and they lead the performance evaluation tests. In 2010, NIST 

and Boeing partnered to explore on-machine process monitoring and continuous 

improvements following the Kaizen method. The integration of MTConnect and 

on-machine process analytics was implemented in real time to calculated Key 

Performance Indicators (KPI) that were incorporated into analytical tools such 

as Discrete Event Simulation systems to assess what-if scenarios and optimize production. NIST and members of the STandard for Exchange of Product (STEP) 

Manufacturing Team (including aerospace industry companies such as The Boeing 
Company) met in June 2010 at the NIST Gaithersburg facility to demonstrate and 75

discuss advanced uses of the STEP-NC AP238 (also known as ISO 10303-238) standard. STEP-NC is an enhancement of the international standard—STEP model 

data (a comprehensive ISO standard that describes how to represent and exchange 

digital product information)—that extends the STEP standard to parts created by 

computer numerical control. STEP-NC aims to enable manufacturers to design 

a three-dimensional part electronically and then send the part geometry, along 

with tolerance, feature, and high-level process information, directly to a machine 

tool without taking the extra step of defining all of the machine-specific motion 

codes needed to make the part. The June 2010 demonstration showed that a steel 

part machined by NIST was able to demonstrate predicted tool wear for machining operations and featured the integration of Boeing’s metal cutting optimization techniques with STEP-NC data. Live force measurements from a machining 

dynamometer were made and showed to correlate with the predicted tool wear. 

The demonstration also highlighted the need for STEP-NC data to describe information needed by machinists when setting up a job and selecting tooling. These 

features were added to software used by the testing group and reduced the time 

needed to set up the machining operations and the cost to purchase tooling.

A mathematical construct involving Brownian motion in randomized time has 

been successfully applied at NIST to sharpen galaxy images obtained with the 

Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two ingredients 

are required for the effective deblurring of imagery: (a) knowledge of the optical 

transfer function (OTF) that caused the blur and (b) a stable process for undoing 

the effect of the OTF. The new NIST procedure does not require explicit knowledge of the OTF; instead, it estimates it from an analysis of the image itself. This 

process is known as blind image deconvolution. In particular, the new NIST procedure considers generalized Linnik characteristic functions as candidate OTFs, 

whose parameters are estimated by least squares curve fitting of the absolute value 

of the blurred image’s Fourier transform. The deblurring is then accomplished by 

solving an ill-posed logarithmic diffusion equation backwards in time using a “slow 

motion” integration procedure also developed at NIST. In many cases, Linnik blind 

deconvolution can extend the range of telescopes by making faint background 

objects more visible, while the structure of foreground objects becomes more clearly 
76 defined. The research report describing the new technique presents a variety of 

stunning examples of image sharpening from the Hubble ACS.

In collaboration with NASA’s Langley Research Center, NIST has developed 

statistical methods for data smoothing that can be applied to the estimation of 

aerosol extinction in the atmosphere, using measurements made from NASA 

aircraft. The same methods will be put to use in Differential Absorption Light 

Detection and Ranging (DIAL) for the measurement of greenhouse gas plumes.

NIST is currently working with NASA’s Glenn Research Center (GRC) on 

spacecraft fire-detection research. The designs of the current ISS and Shuttle 

smoke detectors were based upon terrestrial test data and experience due to the 

lack of experimental data for spacecraft fires. The absence of or reduction in gravity has a significant impact on the smoke properties from a spacecraft fire. NASA 

and NIST first developed the Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME) 

to characterize smoke properties from overheated spacecraft materials using a suite 

of aerosol measurement instruments and smoke-collection devices. SAME was 

conducted aboard the ISS. The success of SAME subsequently led to the reflight of 

SAME (SAME-R) with additional smoke and aerosol diagnostic instruments. NIST 

is assisting the GRC science team in analyzing smoke and aerosol data obtained 

from SAME-R that will be used to provide technical guidance for the design of the 

next-generation smoke detectors for future manned spaceflights.

NIST is working with The Boeing Company to understand the suppression of 

fires in aircraft cargo bays. In order to replace existing cargo-bay fire suppressants 

(which have high ozone depletion potential), various alternative fire suppressants 

are being considered. Unfortunately, many of the otherwise desirable replacement 

compounds fail one required FAA qualification test. NIST researchers are helping 

to understand why these compounds fail the test and actually promote, rather than 

suppress, the combustion.

Industry and Trade Policy

The Office of Transportation and Machinery (OTM) within the Department of 

Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) participated in the development of Administration policies on aeronautical R&D through the National 
Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Aeronautics Science and Technology 77

Subcommittee (ASTS). In FY 09, the ASTS completed the first biennial update 

to the National Aeronautics Research and Development Plan, which establishes 

research goals and objectives for Federal aeronautics R&D investments in priority 

areas. To follow that exercise, in FY 10, the ASTS completed the first biennial 

update to the National Plan for Aeronautics R&D and Related Infrastructure, 

which establishes aeronautics R&D goals, objectives, and guidance outlining 

the path forward for implementing the R&D Plan. In FY 11, the ASTS plans 

to update the associated Technical Appendix to the R&D Plan. The appendix identifies research investments by Federal departments and agencies related 

to the national goals and objectives and includes a preliminary assessment of 

current Federal R&D activities to identify areas of opportunity for potential 

increased emphasis.

OTM participated in the planning and implementation process for NextGen 

through the interagency JPDO overseeing the initiative. OTM staff continued 

to represent the Department of Commerce on both the Global Harmonization 

Working Group (GHWG) and the Aviation Security Working Group. As part 

of the GHWG, OTM staff supported the GHWG Executive Committee and cochaired the Liaison Standing Committee (which is charged with collaborating 

with the other working groups on technological and procedural developments 

with global implications). Further, OTM staff coordinated the review of various 

JPDO documents, including the Avionics Roadmap, the Net-Centric Operations 

ConOps, and the Safety Culture Improvement Guide.

OTM continued its participation in aviation security activities, including work 

on the JPDO Aviation Security Working Group. OTM staff took part in various security technology demonstrations and presentations to determine viability 

and provide perspective on the state of aviation security technology. OTM staff 

worked to ensure cooperation between the GHWG and the Aviation Security 

Working Group with regard to specific projects, such as the Flight Data Initiative 

(advanced flight data recorder technology) and the Security Integrated Tool 

Suite (for assessing the threat level of various flight objects). OTM also assisted 

the Commercial Service in recruiting for aviation-security-related trade missions 

to Brazil (September 2010) and to the Netherlands and Sweden (March 2011).
78 OTM helped support the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative 

(CAAFI) at the Farnborough Air Show in June 2010. CAAFI is a public/private 

group sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration, the Air Transport 

Association of America, the Aerospace Industries Association, and Airports 

Council International-North America. Following the successful appearance of several alternative-fuel companies at Farnborough, OTM began working with Kallman 

Worldwide, CAAFI, and ITA’s Invest in America to promote foreign direct investment in U.S.-based bio–jet fuel producers. The group began to plan a series of 

Webinars leading up to a live event to take place at the 2011 Paris Air Show.

OTM updated market and policy assessments for civil-use unmanned aircraft 

systems (UAS). OTM continued public outreach on UAS issues through meetings 

with major UAS manufacturers at the 2010 Farnborough International Air Show.

In September 2010, ITA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with EmbryRiddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide Center for Aviation and Aerospace 

Leadership to promote U.S. aerospace industry competitiveness through joint outreach, research, and other activities.

In July 2010, OTM participated in the first plenary meeting on commercial 

cooperation between the Department of Commerce and South Korea’s Ministry of 

Knowledge Economy. OTM gave a presentation on ways to encourage U.S.-Korea 

aerospace collaboration and held policy discussions with Korean officials.

Throughout the year, OTM organized and led four meetings of the Industry 

Trade Advisory Committee for Aerospace Equipment (ITAC 1). The committee 

provides advice to the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative on 

aerospace-related trade policy issues.

ITA continued to support the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on issues 

relating to enforcement of U.S. rights under the World Trade Organization and in 

free-trade agreement negotiations. In particular, OTM provided support for 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 Financial Service Industries 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 79

with major aircraft manufacturers are signatories to the ASU, an annex to the 

OECD Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits, which establishes 

rules for export credit agencies. The OECD rules aim to ensure that governmentprovided export financing is not a competitive factor in civil aircraft sales competitions. In 2010, a new round of negotiations was launched to address several issues 

related to the 2007 ASU. As a member of the U.S. delegation, ITA helped ensure 

that the interests of industry were incorporated into the U.S. position and provided 

advice on how Export-Import Bank programs affect the aerospace industry.

ITA continued its active participation in the implementation of the current 

National Space Policies, which include industrial base and competitiveness issues. 

ITA’s OTM was very active in the drafting and release of the June 2010 National 

Space Policy, which revised and updated several aspects of the previous policies. 

In order to ensure that commercial interests continue to be adequately addressed, 

OTM worked to ensure that all of the policies’ implementation actions, as well as 

the new 2010 policy, will improve U.S. industry’s competitiveness, stimulate the 

American economy, increase exports, and create U.S. jobs.

OTM continued to represent the interests of the commercial remote-sensing satellite industry within the Remote Sensing Interagency Working Group (RSIWG), 

led by the State Department. The RSIWG coordinates policy for the export of commercial remote-sensing satellite systems and negotiates government-to-government 

agreements that address the safeguarding of those systems’ technology. The RSIWG 

consulted with several foreign countries on satellite cooperation and met with 

industry to understand the impact on industry.

ITA continued to play an important role in promoting U.S. aerospace trade 

interests as the industry faced mounting competition from abroad. ITA participated 

in and organized trade events and provided advocacy to support U.S. companies 

in international aerospace competitions, including commercial sales for aircraft, 

helicopters, airport construction, communications, remote-sensing satellites, commercial projects, and air traffic management projects.

In February 2010, OTM attended the 2010 Singapore Air Show to hold policy 

discussions with U.S. and foreign government officials and aerospace industry 

representatives. While at the show, OTM also supported the attendance of the 
80 Deputy Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service and the 

Commercial Service’s Executive-Led Trade Mission that happened in conjunction 

with the Singapore Air Show.

In July 2010, 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 Manufacturing and Services 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.

In March 2010, OTM established the Civil Aviation Subcommittee of the U.S.-

India High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) to discuss industry-specific 

trade issues previously covered in the Defense and Strategic Trade Subcommittee. 

One of the most important outcomes of the inaugural meeting of the HTCG Civil 

Aviation Subcommittee was the creation of the U.S.-India Airport Infrastructure 

Working Group (AIWG), which addresses ways to encourage greater U.S. privatesector participation in India’s $20 billion airport infrastructure development 

market. The AIWG held its inaugural meeting in New Delhi in September 2010. 

The AIWG members agreed to select “focus” airports that will serve as models for 

future collaboration and redevelopment.

OTM continued to monitor the progress of the Indian Air Force’s Medium 

Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) acquisition program for 126 aircraft worth 

over $10 billion. OTM staff updated policy assessments for the MMRCA as the 

competition progressed through technical and field evaluations as well as policy 

assessments on the Indian FY 07 rollback of tariff exemptions for the importation 

of general aviation aircraft into India.

Industry and Trade Promotion

ITA’s U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service Aerospace Team recorded 157 

export successes in FY 10 valued at over $2 billion. An export success is an activity 

in which Department of Commerce personnel effectively assist a U.S. company 

with identifying new international sales channels or resolving an issue that is hindering an export sale. Commercial Service (CS) personnel impacted deals with 
small- and medium-sized companies, as well as larger corporations such as Boeing, 81

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, and others.

The CS Aerospace Team held over 500 counseling sessions with U.S. aerospace 

companies, helping them resolve international trade issues, identify new export 

markets, and develop strategies for entering those markets.

The CS Aerospace Team participated in 30 domestic and international aerospace trade events at which team members supported U.S. industry with one-onone counseling sessions, arranged individualized business-to-business meetings 

with international business partners, and provided additional export counseling 

services. ITA also sponsored Aerospace Products Literature Centers at several 

air shows, which offered low-cost, efficient venues for U.S. small to medium-sized 

aerospace companies to explore international and niche aerospace markets. 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 and Singapore Air Shows and 

an Aerospace Supplier Development Trade Mission to India, among others.

DOC’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) participates in seminars specific 

to the civil aircraft industry to address ongoing export control issues. For example, BIS participated in the Berlin Air Show in June 2010 and the Farnborough 

International Air Show in July 2010, in each case providing a one-day seminar on 

export controls and conducting one-on-one meetings with industry representatives.
.
83Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

deparTmenT of The inTerior

DOI

Bureau of Land Management

Remote sensing is one of many tools that the Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) utilizes to support its many resource management needs. While field-based 

measurements provide the foundational data for many of the decisions BLM makes 

on the ground, managers across BLM realize remote sensing plays a vital role. 

Remote sensing and field data used in tandem produce invaluable mapping and 

monitoring information. Additionally, remote sensing is essential because fieldbased collection alone does not address all BLM needs in relation to describing 

resource conditions and trends, especially across vast expanses of land. To fill in 

the gaps and meet the full spectrum of monitoring needs, both spatially and temporally, BLM is developing a core set of integrated, scalable, remote-sensing tools 

that are compatible with the field data collection methods already employed. Using 

these tools as a component of an integrated, quantitative monitoring approach, 

amongst others applications, BLM can begin to document the cumulative impacts 

from authorized and unauthorized disturbance and land treatment activities at 

local and potentially regional scales. By integrating remote sensing into the overall Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) strategy, scientists can better 

leverage the proposed field-based monitoring plans to produce additional mapping 

products that would otherwise be too expensive to generate independently.

FY 10 was the fourth year of collecting monitoring data through remotesensing sources, with three primary focus areas to monitor the impacts of coalbed methane discharge water on aquatic and riparian habitat in the Powder 

River: 1) aquatic habitat sample collection using very large-scale aerial (VLSA) 
84Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

photography; 2) upland, riparian, and aquatic habitat mapping using AEROCam 

and QuickBird imagery; and 3) photogrammetric processing of VLSA to accurately 

register imagery for monitoring purposes, as well as provide detailed terrain data to 

examine bank stability.

BLM continues to be a leader in the field of aerial photography and photogram-

metry, having pioneered the use of close-range photogrammetry for a host of applica-

tions, such as cultural resource preservation and quantifying erosion impacts due to 

off-highway vehicle activity, as well as applying traditional techniques for hazardous 

waste management, engineering projects, and boundary dispute litigation.

In FY 10, BLM continued its partnership with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) 

for access to the National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) orthoimagery. 

Arizona, California, and Nevada acquired statewide, 4-band orthoimagery. Through 

the Department of the Interior (DOI) agreement with FSA, BLM and the other 

DOI bureaus were considered full partners with FSA and had access to these data at 

no additional cost. Due to the extensive landscapes that are covered by the NAIP 

product, the imagery is still the de facto base imagery dataset for BLM. NAIP uses 

are varied, including change-detection studies and surface-disturbance delineation; 

road development updates and routine inventory creation crucial to planning efforts; 

characterization of land exchanges; mining reclamation planning for recreation facil-

ities; monitoring the health of rangelands and the impact of oil and gas development; 

vegetation treatments; fire planning; and trespass studies. Without this product, the 

cost to perform all of these activities would be significantly higher. It is also helpful 

at the state office and the field offices for vegetative studies, riparian analysis, range 

monitoring, wildlife inventory, forest inventory, and other specialized applications.

Traditionally, and for 2010, the widest use of remote-sensing data was for fire-related 

activities. Most of the activities center on the interpretation of aerial infrared pho-

tography to identify active fires, post-fire perimeter delineation, and vegetation clas-

sification for fire/fuel risk modeling and disturbance mapping. However, the utility of 

remote-sensing data goes far beyond the fire world. BLM, with its partners, conducted 

a large range of natural resource management projects that leveraged remote-sensing 

data and analyses to support our mission. Projects included vegetation mapping of 

1.2 million acres in the west, range monitoring in the Upper Colorado River Basin, 

and wildlife habitat monitoring.
85Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Due to the unique challenges that are presented in Alaska, from the sheer size 

of the state to the remoteness of its beautiful landscapes, remote sensing is a vital 

tool to assist in BLM’s resource management goals of the state. Several projects 

highlight current activities and emphasize the need and value of partnerships. 

Land cover mapping, base mapping using digital elevation models, and wildland 

fire suppression studies were done in cooperation with regional Alaskan agencies.

Bureau of Reclamation

In 2010, the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) used a wide variety of remote sensing 

methods in support of its water resource management mission. BOR staff continued to use remotely sensed imagery to monitor consumptive water use throughout 

the western United States. This was accomplished primarily through the mapping 

of irrigated crops and other vegetation at a variety of spatial scales.

BOR image analysts used Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery to map irrigated 

crop types and open water areas in the Central and Imperial Valleys of California 

and along the Lower Colorado River dividing California and Arizona. Because 

this area produces agricultural crops year-round, multi-date imagery was required 

to map up to four different crops on a single field each year.

Along the Lower Colorado River, phreatophytic vegetation within the river’s 

floodplain consumes significant quantities of water from the river system, which is 

of concern to water managers. In order to obtain reliable estimates of their consumptive use, Landsat and NAIP imagery was used to map Salt Cedar and other 

phreatophytes along the Lower Colorado River. Because consumptive water use in 

phreatophyte areas is closely tied to tree density, BOR used high-resolution imagery 

to estimate tree canopy closure in these riparian areas.

High-resolution image mosaics were used for many purposes, including mapping 

invasive tree species in the riparian zone; performing counts of endangered fish in protected backwaters; and mapping in-stream habitat features, such as pools, riffles, and 

backwaters for fish habitat studies. Video imagery was particularly useful for in-stream 

habitat mapping because the wide range of illumination and view angles offered by the 

video allow for the detection of subtle roughness features on the surface of the water 

that provide information related to water depth, flow velocity, and channel substrate.
86Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Office of Surface Mining

The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) continues to acquire and use high-resolution 

remotely sensed imagery and GPS information to support on-the-ground Surface 

Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) activities. Particular focus in FY 10 

was placed on interagency and interdepartmental partnerships as a way to reduce 

image acquisition costs and enhance effectiveness.

Remote-sensing projects included the continuation of a two-year pilot project 

working with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA). The goals of the project were to determine the best 

methods for acquisition and delivery of image data, products, and services for OSM 

responsibilities under SMCRA and to determine which remote image data prod-

ucts and services support virtual inspection. The project focused on three surface 

coal mines—Centralia Mine in Washington, Valley Creek Mine in Tennessee, and 

McKinley Mine in New Mexico. Quarterly satellite image collects are required for 

all three sites in order to meet the inspection cycle required by Title V of SMCRA. 

The processed satellite imagery and derived products are intended to enhance the 

current OSM inspection/permitting processes to integrate image data and solu-

tions into a virtual inspection process that will meet the needs of some routinely 

required inspections.

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) has a long history and standing investment in 

remote sensing and GPS technologies. A wide range of projects and programs have 

business requirements that utilize aerial and spaceborne platforms for activities 

ranging from data acquisition to applications and the use of imagery in reports and 

related products.

The Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network (NCBN) of the NPS Inventory 

and Monitoring (I&M) Program collaborated with the USGS Florida Integrated 

Science Center to collect LIght Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) data and aerial 

photography at Fire Island National Seashore and Gateway National Recreation 

Area in support of the coastal geomorphologic monitoring program. These data are 
used to generate highly accurate elevation models of beach, dune, and other coastal 87

features and are used by park natural resource managers to assess rates of erosion 

and deposition. Ongoing monitoring of the NCBN coastal parks using LIDAR will 

also assist managers in assessing the effects of climate change, such as sea-level rise, 

on these coastal systems.

The I&M Program conducts 12 baseline inventories of over 270 parks spanning over 30 million acres of public lands. Geology, soils, vegetation, and base 

cartography are only 4 of the 12 inventories that provide important baselines for 

the support of land management decisions. Every level of resolution of space-based 

remote sensing is used for these efforts. In 2009 the NPScapes project packaged 

Landsat Thematic Mapper, National Land Cover Database, Gap Analysis Program 

(GAP) land cover, Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools 

(LANDFIRE), and various metrics from these data for all of the NPS units in order 

to allow parks to start monitoring landscape dynamics in and around their units. 

This will be expanded in the future to include land cover data for all of North 

America derived from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer 

(MODIS) imagery and NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) data.

Many park vegetation maps incorporate remote sensing, with 9 million acres 

mapped, 8.2 million acres underway, and 12 million remaining. NAIP imagery, 

sometimes coupled with Landsat Thematic Mapper, and a variety of Satellite Pour 

l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT), QuickBird, and IKONOS products, is used to 

support these inventories. GPS is also a critical tool in checking field data, accuracy 

assessments, and project mapping. The use of Continuously Operating Referenced 

Station (CORS) data and the National Differential GPS system maintained by the 

U.S. Coast Guard are critical tools in resource assessments.

NPS’s I&M Program, Southwest Alaska Network, used a combination of highresolution commercial satellite image data (IKONOS), Landsat data, and historical 

aerial photographs to quantify decadal changes in glacier ice cover (1973–2002) 

and to document land cover change (1955–2005) in three national park units. In 

addition, MODIS data were useful in documenting seasonal variation in lake ice 

and in calculating growing season metrics across the study region.

A University of Colorado research team, in coordination with the Alaska Arctic 

I&M Network, continued to assess rates of coastal erosion and accretion along the 
88 shores of Bering Land Bridge National Preserve and Cape Krusenstern National 

Monument. The team used aerial photographs from the 1950s, the 1980s, and 

2003, as well as IKONOS satellite imagery to determine coastline changes. The 

project will assist NPS in developing protocols to continue acquiring aerial photographs and satellite imagery for long-term monitoring of the coastline. Significant 

changes to the 450 kilometers of coastline along the park shorelines became 

evident by comparing the imagery. These changes affect animal habitat, water, 

soil, permafrost, and other aspects of coastal ecosystems, cultural resources, and 

local communities.

NPS Yellowstone National Park staff used a temporal series of high-resolution 

(1-meter resolution or less) commercial imagery and Landsat-derived Normalized 

Burn Ratio products to delineate stand-replacing fire effects from 1988 to the 

present in Yellowstone National Park. The park purchased 1,600 square kilometers of QuickBird commercial 2-foot-resolution satellite imagery along road corridors and developed areas. This imagery will be used for multiple park projects, 

including updating buildings, roads, utilities, vegetation, and trails in Geographic 

Information System (GIS) data layers. Since high-resolution imagery became the 

de facto background base map for park operations maps, the QuickBird imagery 

will also be used as background imagery for cartographic products.

Wildland fire burn severity products derived from Landsat imagery continued 

to be generated for fires occurring within the Alaska NPS region. In FY 09, the 

Denali land cover map was updated with fire perimeter information generated from 

burn scars found within Landsat imagery. This produced a map that reflects postfire vegetation changes for fires dating back to 1986. This map provides vegetation 

and fuel information for use in spatially explicit fire behavior modeling tools and 

fire suppression activities. Additionally, Landsat and IKONOS satellite imagery of 

Denali National Park was provided to the Alaska Natural Heritage program at the 

University of Alaska Anchorage to verify land cover (vegetation) classes and field 

plot data for a LANDFIRE dataset accuracy assessment.

Alaska’s national parks are perhaps the most remote park units within the NPS. 

As such, the use of remote-sensing technologies in the Alaska region has proved 

extremely valuable in supporting the NPS mission and its operations. Satellite 

imagery, aerial photography, and GPS technologies have been used during various 
mapping efforts, to track wildlife, to conduct search and rescue missions, and to 89

map and monitor trails, as well as to assess environmental and landscape changes 

related to lakes, streams, shorelines, vegetation, glaciers, and permafrost. Park managers, scientists, and planners relied on information derived from remotely sensed 

data during FY 10 in their stewardship of Alaska’s national park resources.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) used a diverse set of remotely sensed 

data, from traditional aerial images to satellite radar imagery, to support a wide 

variety of conservation and land management activities. Just a few of those applications are habitat, wetland and vegetation mapping; monitoring fish and wildlife 

populations; refuge management; trend analysis; modeling; climate change forecasting; and strategic habitat conservation planning. These activities used a variety 

of remote-sensing data sources.

Without question, the leading remote-sensing event in 2010 was the Gulf oil 

spill. This and other oil spills around the country underscore the necessity for 

rapid remote-sensing response to disaster events. Access, analysis, and delivery of 

geospatial products underscore the importance of using real-time remote-sensing 

imagery to properly respond to emergency situations.

For 2010, the FWS Midwest Region’s National Wetland Inventory (NWI) program continued to work with a variety of international, Federal, tribal, state, local, 

and nonprofit partners to strategically map and assess the Great Lakes Basin. These 

partnerships are critical to developing the current picture of our changing wetlands 

and habitats across the Basin, where the FWS and our partners address their natural resource management decisions. This unique opportunity, led by the President 

and Congress, is designed to help restore the Great Lakes Basin. Key to the restoration is the requirement to first understand the Basin’s baseline conditions. Remote 

sensing plays a pivotal role in this effort.

One of the important needs for the Great Lakes Basin was the ability to map 

invasive species and forested wetlands. With additional funding provided by 

the USGS through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), Michigan 

Tech Research Institute was able to field-verify and map all invasive Phragmites 
90 for the entire coastline of Lake Huron in Michigan in 2010 using Phased Array 

type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) imagery. This unique kind of 

invasive species radar mapping had never been done before at this scale. In addition to mapping Phragmites, mapping wetland extents in forested regions was the 

other key objective to help improve the NWI delineations with the rest of the 

GLRI partnership.

DOI staff also used remote-sensing analytical approaches to identify floodprone areas. The results of the analysis allowed refuge staff to identify areas of 

varying flood intensity. This helped in the planning of future habitat management. Regional office staff in the Division of Conservation Planning also mapped 

vegetation at three National Wildlife Refuges in 2010. This work helped the 

FWS create more visual analysis tools tailored to conservation planning and 

refuge management.

U.S. Geological Survey

The Landsat Project at the USGS manages two active satellites, Landsat 5 and 

Landsat 7, and the historical archive of data collected since 1972—more than 

2.4 million images. In FY 09, a change in data policy (no-charge, Web-enabled 

data) transformed the distribution of Landsat data for scientists and operational 

users worldwide. As a result, more than three million Landsat images have been 

downloaded by customers. As of FY 10, Landsat 5 has reached 26 years in orbit 

and Landsat 7 has reached 11 years in orbit. Both of these satellites continue to 

provide essential data to scientists well beyond their designed lifespans of three 

years and five years respectively. The Landsat team continually worked to extend 

the longevity of the satellites in orbit; enhance Landsat data quality; and improve 

systems at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center 

used to archive, process, and access Landsat data, while leading the design and 

development of the ground system for the LDCM.

Recent flood events in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America have stimulated interest in modeling water storage capacities of wetlands and surrounding 

catchments to facilitate flood mitigation efforts. Accurate measurements of basin 

storage capacities have been hampered by a lack of high-resolution elevation data. 
91Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

A 0.5-meter bare Earth model was developed from LIDAR data in combination 

with NWI data. These data were used to delineate wetland catchments and spilling 

points within a 196-square-kilometer study area.

Many of the fundamental geophysical processes active at Earth’s surface are 

controlled or strongly affected by topography, thus the critical need for highquality terrain data. The USGS and the NGA collaborated on the development 

of a notably enhanced global elevation model, the Global Multi-resolution Terrain 

Elevation Data 2010 (GMTED2010), which replaces Global 30 Arc-Second Data 

Elevation Set (GTOPO30) as the elevation dataset of choice for global and continental scale applications.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) uses a variety of 

remotely sensed data products and modeled outputs to support food aid decision 

making. One of the products that FEWS NET utilized throughout its 25-year history is the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), used primarily for 

monitoring cropland and pasture conditions, initially supporting FEWS NET 

efforts in Africa. In recent years, monitoring efforts were expanded to include 

Haiti, Central America, and Afghanistan and are now becoming more global.

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are transforming Earth observation methods and techniques used by DOI and the USGS by providing reliable scientific 

information to more fully describe and understand Earth. Cost-effective UAS 

technology is currently available to support a wide variety of applications including managing Federal lands; monitoring environmental conditions and the use of 

natural resources; analyzing dynamic Earth processes to support global and climate 

change investigations; generating mapping, charting, and geodesy products; conducting environmental risk assessments; and preventing, preparing for, responding 

to, and recovering from natural and human-induced disasters. The USGS supported the FWS by successfully operating a UAS to inventory Sand Hill Cranes. 

The USGS supported the U.S. Forest Service and several DOI bureaus by operating UAS missions over prescribed burns. These demonstrations help pave the way 

for an expanded use of UAS technology to monitor wildfires.

Since July 2009, USGS staff utilized NASA’s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle 

Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), an aircraft-mounted polarimetric and differential interferometric L-band synthetic aperture radar system, to collect monthly 
92 images of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta and much of the adjacent Suisun 

Marsh. The images help characterize levee stability, spatially image subsidence, 

and assess how well the UAVSAR performs in an area with widespread agriculture 

production. The UAVSAR allows scientists to identify small-scale motion (1 to 

2 meters) on the levees and to characterize soil moisture change, biomass change, 

and inundation. Once areas of instability are identified, scientists collect ultrahigh-resolution T-LIDAR imagery to document and measure surface deformations.

During the years 2000–09, the USGS developed a database of fire perimeters 

for Colorado based on Federal fire records, MODIS fire information, and Landsat 

imagery to assist the BLM with wildfire management, weed and insect outbreaks, 

energy development, and climate change impacts. Staff examined all reported 

fire locations on the appropriate Landsat imagery and manually digitized burned 

areas of ten acres and greater. For the year 2008, staff systematically searched the 

Landsat imagery for unreported fires. The database laid the foundation for generating, calibrating, and refining an automated method for burned area identification. 

The long-term goal for this project is to develop a Landsat-based Thematic Climate 

Data Record for burned areas.

Colorado has experienced widespread conifer mortality during the past several years, much of which has been attributed to the mountain pine beetle 

(Dendroctonus ponderosae) epidemic. This vegetation mortality poses ongoing 

concerns for forest health and potentially heightened wildfire risk, both threats 

to human safety and environmental quality. The threat of wildfires continues to 

put pressure on planning and mitigation efforts at Federal, state, and local levels—

especially in the wildland-urban interface.

To characterize conifer forest distribution, health, and structure within three 

study areas in Grand County, Colorado, the USGS is integrating the Civil Air 

Patrol’s Airborne Real-time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance 

(ARCHER) electro-optical imagery and discrete return LIDAR data. The 

ARCHER system provides both high spatial resolution and hyperspectral capabilities not currently available from commercial satellites. The ARCHER system has 

1-meter spatial resolution across 52 discrete bands spanning the visible green to 

near-infrared electromagnetic spectrum (500 to 1,000 nanometers). The sensor also 

offers a panchromatic imager with a spatial resolution of less than 1 foot.
Following the 7.0 magnitude earthquake near the capital city of Port au Prince, 93

Haiti, on January 12, 2010, the USGS produced 1:24,000-scale post-earthquake 

image base maps incorporating high- and medium-resolution remotely sensed imagery. On January 15, 2010, following the initial earthquake, DigitalGlobe acquired 

commercial 2.4-meter multispectral satellite imagery. JAXA collected 10-meter 

multispectral Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Advanced Visible and 

Near Infrared Radiometer Type-2 (AVNIR-2) imagery on January 12, 2010. The 

USGS obtained these data under the International Charter for Space and Major 

Disasters, a global team of space and satellite agencies that provide timely imagery 

in support of emergency response efforts worldwide. The base maps provided a 

temporally current representation of post-earthquake ground conditions, which 

may be of use to decision makers, scientists, and the general public.

During the 1990s, the Medea program brought Government and academic scientists together to review imagery acquired by classified intelligence satellites, known 

as National Technical Means, and to recommend declassifying certain datasets 

that could further the understanding of environmental change. Although the 

group disbanded in 2000, it reassembled in 2008. In 2009, the USGS, in cooperation with Medea, released to the public numerous images acquired since 1999 as 

Literal Image Derived Products (LIDP). These 1-meter-resolution images are from 

six locations in the Arctic Basin (Beaufort Sea, Canadian Arctic, Fram Strait, East 

Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea, and Point Barrow). Each LIDP is a geocoded panchromatic image covering an area of approximately 15 by 15 km of Arctic sea ice.

In addition to these static sea ice sites, Medea scientists requested image collections to track assemblies of ice floes that drift in various directions on the Arctic 

Ocean. The locations of data buoys that were deployed in the vicinity of the floes 

guided the repeat imaging of the ice cover. A buoy will transmit GPS locations at 

regular intervals to track where it is and coordinate the climatologic and meteorological data with its location. Using the latest GPS locations to project travel 

direction and speed, the same piece of ice can be imaged as it moves throughout 

the Arctic region. This imagery can then be used as a reference for studying ice 

fracture patterns, melt pond activity, snow cover, ice thickness and age, ice and 

snow ridges, ocean currents, and many other variables that are important as input 

for refining more accurate climate models.
94 Scientists from the USGS have completed the initial data collection for the first 

ever multi-decadal national assessment of contemporary land use and land cover 

change in the U.S. Geographers across the country completed the manual interpretation of 2,688 100-km2 sample blocks using Landsat Multispectral Scanner, 

Thematic Mapper, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus satellite imagery spanning five years (1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000). The land use and land cover 

mapping effort yielded five individual dates and four discrete periods for analysis. 

Sample blocks were selected by using a stratified random sample allocated across 

84 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Level III ecoregions. Results from all 84 

conterminous U.S. ecoregions show that the responses to various economic, policy, 

technological, and social driving forces differ significantly based on the unique 

environmental and socioeconomic factors shaping each ecoregion. Analysis and 

national synthesis of the data will be conducted in FY 11.

As groundwater basins in California are increasingly being used as local reservoirs to enhance water supply reliability, water managers are seeking more information on the relationship between land subsidence and water extraction. The USGS 

conducted studies in southern California with this focus. One involved the region 

around Palm Desert and other desert resort cities in the Coachella Valley east of 

Los Angeles. It used conventional and persistent scatter InSAR (also known as 

PS InSAR or IPTA InSAR) remote-sensing data to measure changes in land surface elevation between 2005 and 2010 and compared those data to information on 

groundwater levels. The study used conventional InSAR to characterize land subsidence associated with groundwater-level declines in areas of the Mojave Desert. 

InSAR data were developed to determine the location, extent, and magnitude of 

land-surface changes in the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins.

Developing water budgets, particularly estimating perennial yield, is a major issue 

in Nevada. The Nevada State Engineer uses perennial yield estimates to allocate 

groundwater in many basins. Perennial yield estimates are typically determined from 

basin-wide groundwater evapotranspiration (ET) studies. The Nevada Water Science 

Center is working cooperatively with Nevada state agencies, DOI bureaus, and other 

Federal agencies to refine groundwater discharge estimates associated with ET in 

select hydrographic basins and regional studies in the Great Basin. Landsat Thematic 

Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus data, along with imagery from the 
NAIP and MODIS, are used to quantify ET from groundwater discharge. To fine- 95

tune imagery-derived vegetation indices with on-ground observations, imagery is used 

in conjunction with ET micrometeorological stations set up on the ground within 

potential areas of groundwater recharge and in focus areas of vegetation of interest.

Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens) are listed as threatened under the 

Endangered Species Act due to loss and degradation of oak-scrub habitat. A USGS 

study investigated the development of an optimal strategy for the restoration and 

management of scrub habitat at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge (MINWR), 

which is colocated with the Kennedy Space Center in east-central Florida. The 

USGS and NASA collaborated to use color imagery to classify the condition of scrub 

habitat. Using annual sequences of imagery, researchers were able to determine how 

scrub responds to three different management actions: scrub restoration (mechanical 

cutting followed by burning), prescribed burning, or no intervention. The analyses 

suggested that prescribed burning as practiced by MINWR was relatively ineffective 

at setting back scrub succession, which is important for providing good habitat for 

scrub-jays. NASA also developed a remote-sensing protocol for mapping fire scars 

from Landsat satellite imagery; researchers used the resulting fire-scar maps to better 

understand how fire spreads as a function of various environmental conditions. In 

response, MINWR has taken a much more aggressive approach to the problem of 

managing scrub-jay habitat.

Landscape structure and function in flowing aquatic environments are strongly 

linked to the feedbacks between flow and vegetation. In low-gradient wetlands 

and floodplains, vegetation is the primary physical resisting force to flow. USGS 

scientists developed empirical predictive relationships based on biomass samples 

harvested at 80 locations in the Florida Everglades. They also found that spatial 

and temporal variations in flow resistance are impacted by vegetation architecture 

and human-induced effects, such as water management and water quality. In order 

to scale up flow resistance parameters, scientists correlated meter-scale biomass 

measurements to the NDVI derived from digital multispectral video. This enabled 

scientists to estimate spatiotemporal variations in flow resistance to improve hydrologic modeling and to guide restoration efforts in the Everglades and elsewhere.

A common measure of cover crop success (wintertime biomass) can be easily 

quantified from space using vegetation indices applied to moderate resolution 
96 multispectral imagery. The USGS used commercial SPOT data and Landsat data 

to select pixels that fall within specific agricultural field boundaries, converted 

vegetation index statistics to calculated estimates of cover crop biomass and nitrogen content, and matched these results with agronomic management information 

derived from conservation program farm records. Over five years of collaborative 

research, the project developed a set of geospatial toolkits and methodologies that 

support a remote sensing analysis of winter cover crops. USGS staff programmed a 

prototype geospatial toolkit to assist Soil Conservation Districts with the recording 

of geospatial field boundaries and agronomic information during the cover-crop 

farmer enrollment process. Then USGS programmed a second prototype toolkit 

to link the field-specific enrollment data with satellite imagery analysis to produce 

vegetation index statistics associated with each field.

The erosion of riverbanks along the Missouri River has been a concern of many 

of the Native American tribes within South Dakota. Changing reservoir levels 

combined with precipitation, wind, and ice create conditions that can cause substantial shoreline erosion within a single season. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe is 

concerned about water pollution caused by this shoreline erosion. The Reservation 

has experienced the massive shoreline erosion of an estimated 8 feet per year along 

the entire length of the reservation border along the Missouri River. The USGS is 

using various technologies to obtain accurate measurements of shoreline erosion, 

with the current study area consisting of a 7-mile stretch near the community of 

Lower Brule. The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe’s Environmental Protection Office, in 

cooperation with the USGS South Dakota Water Science Center, is using groundbased LIDAR to obtain precise land-surface elevation data for areas of interest. 

During 2011 and 2012, changes in the shoreline also will be monitored with a 

small UAS that will be used as a reconnaissance and surveillance tool with flights 

at equal time intervals.

The application of Landsat imagery to estimates of inland lake water quality 

provides resource managers with information for unsampled lakes, the capability 

to identify potential areas of concern, and the ability to evaluate trends in lake 

water quality. Landsat imagery was used to determine the water quality for over 

3,000 of Michigan’s inland lakes larger than 20 acres. High-quality lakes are a vital 

economic and environmental resource, but physical measurement of the quality of 
each lake is not economically viable. The USGS used Landsat imagery to predict 97

water quality based on Secchi-disk transparency (SDT) physical measurements provided by USGS, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), 

and the Cooperative Lakes Monitoring Program, a network of volunteer monitors trained by MDEQ. The trophic state of unsampled inland lakes greater than 

20 acres is estimated by regression equations relating SDT to Landsat imagery. 

SDT is a measure of water clarity and can be used to estimate Trophic State Index 

(TSI). TSI is a measure of a lake’s primary biological productivity. TSI estimates 

are available for three time periods: 3,121 lakes from 2003–05; 3,024 lakes from 

2007–08; and 2,591 lakes from 2009–10. Similar approaches were implemented in 

Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The USGS routinely applies and uses remote-sensing methodologies and data 

to mineral resource assessments in the United States and around the world. The 

Global Mineral Resource Assessment Project uses Advanced Spaceborne Thermal 

Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data for mapping hydrothermally 

altered rocks to identify porphyry copper mineralization. This technique assisted 

USGS scientists with the estimation of undiscovered deposits and copper resources 

in Kazakhstan, Iran, Afghanistan, and Mexico. Similar studies were carried out 

in Alaska using ASTER data in conjunction with rock sample surveys and spectral processing methods to identify hydrothermal alteration anomalies associated 

with polymetallic massive sulfide mineralization. In the Basin and Range of the 

southwestern United States, maps compiled from ASTER data were developed for 

mineral-environmental and concealed-deposits mineral resource assessments.

In combination with GIS spatial analysis and modeling, remotely sensed data 

are increasingly becoming essential components of larger, interdisciplinary, 

natural resource assessments that consider mineral, water, environmental, and 

socioeconomic factors.
.
99Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

federal CommuniCaTions

Commission

FCC

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formulates rules to facilitate the provision of commercial satellite services in the United States. It also 

issues licenses for the launch and operation of all nongovernmental U.S. satellites. 

Internationally, the FCC coordinates satellite radio-frequency usage with other 

countries. The FCC’s accomplishments for FY 10 related primarily to commercial 

communications satellites.

The FCC took one significant action in a rule-making proceeding in FY 10. 

Specifically, the FCC established a “Ka-Band Permitted List.” This list identifies 

non-U.S.-licensed satellites that the FCC has approved for the provision of service 

to the United States. Once a satellite is placed on the Ka-Band Permitted List, all 

earth stations with standard technical characteristics may communicate with that 

satellite without further regulatory approval.

The FCC also took several notable actions concerning the use by terrestrial 

communications systems of radio-frequency spectrum assigned to the mobile satellite service (MSS). Under rules adopted in FY 03, MSS operators can deploy 

an ancillary terrestrial component (ATC), which is a terrestrial network that 

enhances the capabilities of an MSS system. In one action, on March 26, 2010, 

the FCC modified the technical specifications of an ATC authorization held by 

SkyTerra Communications. SkyTerra plans to deploy an ATC that will enhance 

consumer broadband connections for Internet and other uses. In another action, 

on September 14, 2010, the FCC suspended the regular authority for ATC operations held by Globalstar because Globalstar was unable to meet the conditions of 
100Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

the authorization. The FCC permitted short-term operations to continue, however, 

in order to avoid disruption to consumers.

The FCC authorized a number of commercial communication satellite launches 

and operations as follows:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

November 25, 2009: to Intelsat for a geostationary satellite planned for the 

longitude 85.15° east orbit location.

December 15, 2009: to DirecTV for a geostationary satellite planned for 

the longitude 102.765° west orbit location.

April 2, 2010: to Intelsat for a geostationary satellite to operate at the 

longitude 31.5° west orbit location. Intelsat acquired the on-orbit satellite, 

formerly known as Protostar 1, in a bankruptcy proceeding.

April 20, 2010: to SES Americom for a geostationary satellite to operate at 

the longitude 101° west orbit location.

June 4, 2010: to Intelsat for a geostationary satellite to operate at the 

longitude 19.95° west orbit location. The authorization covered Ku-band 

operations of the NSS-5 satellite as part of a cooperative arrangement 

with another operator, SES New Skies.

The FCC added two non-U.S.-licensed space stations to the Commission’s permitted space station list in order to allow the space stations to provide domestic 

and international satellite service to U.S. earth stations that have routine technical 

parameters. Specifically, on October 15, 2010, the FCC added Brazil’s Amazonas 2 

space station to its permitted list for Ku-band frequencies; on June 4, 2010, the FCC 

added the Netherlands’ NSS-5 satellite to the permitted list for C-band frequencies.

The FCC also granted a number of requests for non-U.S.-licensed space stations 

to provide service in the United States on a non-routine basis as listed below:

• 

• 

May 5, 2010: The FCC reserved Ka-band spectrum for Hughes to use with 

a satellite to be licensed by the United Kingdom. The satellite will operate 

at the longitude 107.1° west orbit location.

June 24, 2010: ViaSat received authorization to deploy terminals to com-

municate with the AMC-21 satellite, licensed by the United Kingdom to 

operate at the longitude 125° west orbit location.
101 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

• 

• 

June 25, 2010: Hawaii Teleport received authorization to communicate 

with the Apstar VI satellite, licensed by China to operate at the longitude 

134° east orbit location.

July 2, 2010: Inmarsat Hawaii received authorization for earth sta-

tions to operate with the Wide Area Augmentation System payload 

of the Inmarsat 4F3 satellite, licensed by the United Kingdom to 

operate at the longitude 97.65° west orbit location. The Wide Area 

Augmentation System provides enhanced radionavigation capabilities 

for certain users of Global Positioning System receivers, particularly for 

aeronautical radionavigation.

The FCC also remained active in international satellite coordination. In 

the second quarter of FY 10, the FCC reached a total of 145 Administrationto-Administration Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks with Japan 

and Canada. In the third quarter of FY 10, the FCC reached a total of 51 

Administration-to-Administration Coordination Agreements for U.S. networks 

with Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Canada.
.
103 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

u.s. deparTmenT of 

agriCulTure

USDA

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United 

Nations, an estimated 45 percent of the United States and an estimated 38 percent 

of the global land surface is agricultural land. The FAO estimates that approximately 33 percent of the United States and about 31 percent of the global land 

surface is covered by forests. Proportionally, agriculture and forestry combined are 

the single most intensive human activity on the planet, accounting for impacts on 

an estimated 78 percent of the United States landscape and 69 percent globally.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues a tradition of leadership 

in food, farm, natural resource, science, market, and related agricultural issues. 

Specific departmental objectives in FY 10 included enhancing economic opportunities for U.S. farmers and ranchers; ensuring a safe, affordable, nutritious, and 

accessible food supply; fostering responsible land management practices on both 

public and private lands; supporting the sound, sustainable development of rural 

communities; expanding global markets for agricultural and forest products and 

services; and working to reduce hunger and improve America’s health through 

good nutrition.

Multiple USDA agencies employed aspects of remote-sensing data, technologies, 

and expertise to support the departmental contribution to public value, governance, and innovation. The wide aerial coverage and geographic detail of satellite 

images and aerial photography supplied tangible benefits to the Department and 

its customers by providing a comprehensive view of the landscape not attainable 

through ground-based observations or sensors alone. Many USDA agencies shared 
104Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

remote-sensing resources, ensuring the efficient and cost-effective use of these data 

and technologies within the Department. USDA agency contributions for FY 10 

are described individually in the following sections.

Agricultural Research Service

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) conducted research on issues related 

to global food security, agricultural air quality, ecosystem health, biofuels, and cli-

mate change. ARS collaborated with NASA and other USDA agencies to further 

develop remote-sensing instruments, decision-support systems, and data manage-

ment technologies to help USDA agencies accomplish their missions. Partnerships 

with other Federal agencies, universities, industry, and state governments remained 

a key component of ARS research.

Water quality and quantity management are critically important capabilities for 

agriculture and were thus a focus for ARS remote-sensing activities. Soil moisture 

remote-sensing research continued with the development of algorithms for soil 

moisture estimation from aircraft and satellite sensors. Researchers further devel-

oped guidance systems for remotely sensing crop nitrogen status, enabling farmers 

to reduce the application of excess fertilizer while helping to maintain water quality 

and improve economic returns. ARS scientists contributed to the development of 

the next generation of satellite remote-sensing systems through the Soil Moisture 

Active-Passive mission, with three scientists serving on the Science Definition 

Team. ARS scientists also continued to develop algorithms using thermal infrared 

and multispectral visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared data for spatially 

and temporally variable irrigation scheduling, mapping evapotranspiration and 

drought, and estimating soil moisture and vegetation canopy water content. An 

ARS scientist served on the Landsat Science Team, and several ARS scientists 

contributed to research supporting the Hyperspectral Infrared Imager concept as 

part of this effort.

ARS scientists continued to develop data assimilation techniques for merging 

land surface information from models and remote sensing into a single enhanced 

estimate of land surface variables including root-zone soil moisture, stream flow, 

and evapotranspiration. These techniques were designed to enhance the value of 
105 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

remote-sensing retrievals for monitoring key environmental variables and precipitation estimates from numerical weather prediction models.

ARS scientists investigated the use of remotely sensed information for the management of soil and nutrient resources via projects to map crop tillage practices, crop 

residue cover, and soil carbon. These applications remain important for sustaining 

soil, water, and air and for sequestering carbon. Research on monitoring reductions of 

nitrogen runoff to sensitive ecosystems used remote sensing to map and quantify winter cover crops. LIDAR remote sensing was developed as a tool to better understand 

and manage the fate of agrochemicals and sediment in coastal watersheds.

ARS also developed spectral and spatial procedures to monitor invasive species 

with remote sensing to manage rangeland and understand the impacts of changing climate on managed and natural ecosystems. ARS researchers continued to 

develop a rangeland decision support tool for public land management that accesses 

remote-sensing data via the Internet. Both cattle fever tick and screwworm flies 

were the focus of eradication and containment research in which remote sensing 

was used to map infestations and favorable habitats.

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is the extramural 

research arm of the USDA. The NIFA primarily provides financial assistance in 

the form of grants to partner organizations, such as land grant institutions, to conduct high-priority agricultural research and education. The NIFA awarded many 

grants that used NASA data products to solve complex, environmentally related 

problems on topics such as land use, water and nutrient management, resource 

conservation, and pest management in forest and crop lands. A few examples of 

NIFA-supported research and education are

• 

• 

developing new courses related to geographic information systems (GIS) 

and remote-sensing applications and enhancement of teaching and 

research capabilities of faculty and staff from Delaware State University, a 

historically black land-grant university;

using remote sensing for biological assessment of headwater streams in 

ravine ecosystems of northwest Florida;
106Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

• 

• 

• 

enhancing the capacity of the Ohio plant diagnostic network by providing 

a remote-sensing diagnostic station;

evaluating improved methods for surveillance and control of the tropical 

bont tick (Amblyomma variegatum) in the Caribbean using modeling and 

remote-sensing techniques; and

assessing the influence of mid-continent land-use trends on floral diversity 

and pollen availability to sustain bee health, diversity, and ecosystem services using satellite data products.

The NIFA had a special focus on funding GIS and remote-sensing curriculum 

development at minority-serving institutions in 2010. The NIFA funded a num-

ber of projects that will help train students in using these technologies and also 

developed new courses that will service many departmental programs at land grant 

universities. The NIFA also funded long-term studies in Mississippi, Kentucky, 

Alabama, and Wisconsin that utilized remote sensing and geospatial technologies 

to develop precision management techniques for various agricultural production 

strategies and to evaluate land use practices. The NIFA and the Science Mission 

Directorate of NASA jointly funded several geospatial extension programs at landgrant, sea-grant, and space-grant institutions. After NIFA/NASA funding had terminated, these geospatial outreach programs continued to train local and regional 

technologists in the use of NASA data products and geospatial technologies. By 

leveraging the ongoing coordination in these state geospatial programs in geo-

spatial technologies (e.g., interoperability, standards, metadata, architecture), the 

geospatial extension specialists helped ensure that the vast quantity of information 

being collected by NASA and other Federal agencies was utilized effectively and 

shared more broadly with the public.

U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS), in collaboration with the NASA Goddard 

Space Flight Center Direct Readout Laboratory, the MODIS Rapid Response 

Project, and the University of Maryland (UMD), continued to process MODIS 

data from the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites as part of the USFS Active Fire 

Mapping Program. The USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center antenna at its 
facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, collected real-time MODIS imagery for the western 107

U.S. Additionally, the Active Fire Mapping Program integrated real-time MODIS 

imagery for Alaska, Canada, and the eastern U.S. Collectively, the USFS processed these data to generate comprehensive active fire detection data and a dozen 

other land, atmosphere, and ocean products. Derived active fire detection data and 

reflectance imagery formed the basis for a suite of daily wildfire mapping, visualization, and data products that were produced operationally for the Continental U.S. 

(CONUS), Alaska, and Canada. In addition to MODIS, the Active Fire Mapping 

Program coordinated with the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, 

and Information Service to acquire near-real-time active fire detection data using 

NOAA GOES and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on 

board NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. These satellite fire detection data were also 

integrated into the daily geospatial product suite provided by the program.

The USFS disseminated MODIS, AVHRR, and GOES fire products to national 

fire managers and the general public via the Internet (http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.

us). The program Web site received approximately 4.2 million visits in 2010. The 

products provided the interagency fire community with a synoptic view of the 

wildland fire situation, aiding in the strategic allocation of firefighting resources 

and assets throughout the country. In addition, the Active Fire Mapping Program 

data and products were integrated into several interagency fire support programs 

and applications. Major media entities routinely used the maps and fire detection 

data as well.

The USFS also continued to work with the NASA Ames Research Center 

(ARC) on a number of fire-related remote-sensing technologies. ARC work 

included advanced sensor design and image processing from airborne platforms, utility of satellite communication data links, mission profiling for tactical wildland fire mapping, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) development. 

More specifically, the USFS and ARC continued to collaborate on the use 

of UAS for fire mapping and forest health missions. Because of the light fire 

season, efforts in 2010 focused primarily on further development of the ARCsponsored Wide Area Imager and testing and integration of the Autonomous 

Modular Scanner sensor on a USFS aircraft. Due to the success of the Wildfire 

Research Applications Partnership, the USFS actively incorporated many of 
108 the technologies demonstrated through the partnership. Other NASA/USFS 

activities included

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

determining the utility of MODIS sensors for the characterization of 

changing forest health conditions in our Nation’s forests;

estimating the amount, spatial distribution, and statistical uncertainty of 

aboveground carbon stocks of North American boreal forests;

investigating the utility of a Ground Penetrating Synthetic Aperture 

Radar to measure soil moisture, fuel moisture, and biomass;

implementing and testing of direct readout technologies and algorithms 

for Earth Observing System (EOS), NPP, and JPSS sensors;

integrating historic patterns of wildfire, emissions, and climate for Siberia 

as a basis for estimating the impacts of fire on carbon cycling, quantifying 

past fire/climate interactions, and projecting future fire/climate change 

impacts; and

studying the influence of changing forestry practices on the effects 

of wildfire and on interactions between fire and changing climate in 

central Siberia.

Farm Service Agency

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) administered and managed farm commodity, 

credit, conservation, disaster, and loan programs as laid out by Congress through a 

network of Federal, state, and county offices. Geospatial systems and data played a 

fundamental role in the management of FSA’s programs. The agency’s core dataset 

was a Common Land Units (CLU) layer, a nationally consistent digital dataset representing farm and field boundaries. FSA used CLUs, digital soil surveys, 1-meter 

imagery, satellite imagery, and other datasets for program implementation, management, and monitoring of its many and varied agriculture programs.

Throughout 2010, FSA used remotely sensed data to respond to and help mitigate the impacts of flooding, fires, hail, tornadoes, and hurricanes in agricultural 

areas. MODIS, Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS), and locally collected 

high-resolution aerial imagery were used in conjunction with National Weather 

Service and other USDA and FSA geospatial datasets to immediately respond to 
and coordinate efforts with other Federal, state, and local agencies. These data 109

were also used during the recovery period to assist impacted producers and support 

FSA administration of the Emergency Loan, Emergency Conservation, and Livestock 

Indemnity Programs.

As the primary source of aerial imagery for the USDA, FSA administered NAIP, 

leveraging partnership funds from other Federal, state, and local entities to acquire 

imagery during the growing season over the CONUS. In 2010, FSA collected 4-band 

imagery over 2 million square miles in 30 states. NAIP, as well as a large imagery 

archive, was accessible to the public through the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway.

National Agricultural Statistics Service

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) used remote-sensing 

data to construct and sample area frames for statistical surveys, estimate crop 

area and yield, and create crop-specific land cover data layers as inputs for GIS. 

NASS used remote-sensing data and techniques to improve the accuracy of its 

statistics. For example, NASS used Landsat imagery, digital National Agriculture 

Imagery Program orthophoto quadrangles, and other remotely sensed inputs for 

the CONUS and Puerto Rico to select the yearly area-based samples for the June 

Agricultural Survey. In addition, NASS constructed a new area-based sampling 

frame for North Dakota and California.

The remote-sensing acreage estimation project used Resourcesat-1’s AWiFS and 

USGS Landsat data to produce crop acreage estimates for crops at the state and 

county levels for 36 states for the 2010 crop year, up from 27 states for the previous 

year. Acreage estimates were created for 16 different crops, up from 15 for the previous year, now covering all the market-sensitive crops and states. With the expanded 

coverage and timeliness, the NASS Agricultural Statistics Board fully utilized the 

remote-sensing acreage estimates to set the official estimates for the speculative 

regions for the creation of its Monthly Crop Production Reports. The FAS Satellite 

Imagery Archive (SIA) provided 1,194 AWiFS images through a cooperative 

partnership. Researchers derived remote-sensing-based acreage estimates from a 

crop-specific land cover categorization called the Cropland Data Layer (CDL). The 

ground truth for building the CDL came from the FSA CLU program over the 
110 agricultural domain, while the USGS National Land Cover Dataset circa 2001 

provided the nonagricultural ground truth. In addition, NASS distributed the CDL 

for 48 states to users for the previous 2009 crop season on DVD and via the USDA 

Geospatial Data Gateway Web site.

NASS also continued its partnership with ARS to conduct research and implement the use of MODIS sensor vegetative index and surface temperature data for 

setting state and county corn and soybean yield estimates. Three states—North 

Dakota, Missouri, and Arkansas—were added to the remote-sensing yield program 

for the 2010 crop year, bringing the total number of states from seven to ten. The 

Agricultural Statistics Board utilized estimates from this algorithm when setting 

the official September and October yield estimates for these states. State and district level yield indications were provided monthly to the states in September and 

October. County-level indications were provided for all 10 states in October.

Foreign Agricultural Service

The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) administered and managed the primary 

international missions for the USDA. The FAS managed market development, 

trade agreements and negotiations, market intelligence, and congressionally mandated global crop statistics. The FAS Office of Global Analysis assessed and produced the global agricultural crop production outlook and conditions that affect 

world food security. Satellite and additional advanced remote-sensing information 

provided an objective and repeatable source of information for early warnings of 

unusual crop conditions and potential disruptions in the global food supply. This 

information, when used in the context of the FAS convergence of evidence methodology, enabled rapid and precise determinations of global food supply conditions 

by the FAS global crop analysts and GIS specialists. The FAS geospatial program 

remained a key element in the USDA mission critical analysis of global agricultural production and crop conditions by providing timely, accurate, and unbiased 

estimates of global crop area, yield, and production. The pertinent intelligence 

was issued monthly in the FAS World Agricultural Production Report as part of 

the monthly commodity analysis procedure conducted by the World Agricultural 

Outlook Board (WAOB) and its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates 
111 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Report. The FAS partnered with the Department of Defense in assessing food 

supply conditions for stabilization and reconstruction operations in Iraq, Pakistan, 

Afghanistan, and the surrounding Middle East region. The FAS also provided 

an early warning of drought- and flood-related food supply disruptions in several 

countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, which enabled the U.S. 

Government to position emergency food supplies, ascertain crop conditions, and 

make critical crop planting decisions.

The FAS partnered with the Department of State U.S. Agency for International 

Development (USAID), the National Geo-Spatial Agency (NGA), NASA, USGS, 

and NOAA to share pertinent satellite-derived datasets and information (including 

weather data) that exploited space technologies for food security, special projects, 

foreign market intelligence, and agricultural cropland data that could affect specific 

commodities and be of concern to the U.S. Government, trade groups, and farm 

organizations. The FAS also maintained the USDA’s SIA, which is the agency’s 

primary source of satellite imagery, housing an archive of global imagery (including of the CONUS). The SIA saved the USDA millions of dollars by employing 

a centralized data acquisition, archival, and dissemination strategy to eliminate 

redundant satellite purchases. The FAS, UMD and NASA also cooperated on a 

key project to exploit space technologies, including near-real-time satellite data 

acquisition and global lake and reservoir monitoring. This ongoing USDA/UMD/

NASA Global Agriculture Monitoring partnership continued to expand to multiple universities, commercial companies, and international organizations. Robust 

information on the FAS remote sensing program can be found online at http://www.

pecad.fas.usda.gov/cropexplorer. This site features satellite imagery, global reservoir 

and lake monitors, a tropical cyclone monitor, vegetation indexes, soil moisture 

information, precipitation data, and more.

Natural Resources Conservation Service

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) worked with private landowners through conservation planning and assistance to benefit the soil, water, 

air, plants, and animals for productive lands and healthy ecosystems. Seventy 

percent of the land in the U.S. is privately owned, making stewardship by private 
112 landowners absolutely critical to the health of our Nation’s environment. For over 

50 years, NRCS has used remote-sensing products to carry out agency programs.

Digital orthoimagery, derived from aerial and satellite data, was the primary 

remote-sensing product used by NRCS to inventory, monitor, manage, and assess 

our natural resources in GIS nationwide. By partnering with other Federal and 

state agencies, NRCS acquired statewide 1-meter or better resolution orthoimagery 

for 32 states and parts of Alaska, Hawaii, the Pacific Basin, and Puerto Rico. NRCS 

was an active member of several geospatial coordination groups, including the 

National Digital Orthophoto Program, which assisted in orthoimagery coordination efforts. All orthoimagery purchased by NRCS was made available to internal 

users and the general public via the USDA Geospatial Data Gateway Web site. 

NRCS contracted for high-resolution aerial photography (4-inch ground resolving distance) over 70,901 confidential statistical sites to collect natural resources 

data for the annual National Resources Inventory (NRI) program. The NRI also 

acquired direct digital, 4-band, 15-centimeter-resolution orthoimagery over 2,000 

sites to evaluate possible issues with a transition from film to digital imagery. NRCS 

contracted for high-resolution aerial photography over 10,306 Stewardship Land 

Easements covering about 1.9 million acres to be used to monitor compliance and 

ecological succession. The use of remote-sensing techniques has replaced making 

expensive on-site visits to collect the same data. High-resolution satellite imagery 

was acquired for conducting conservation, NRI, and Soil Survey data in Alaska, 

Hawaii, and the Pacific Basin.

NRCS also used commercial high-resolution satellite imagery from NGA’s Webbased Access and Retrieval Portal to fill in gaps in aerial film coverage. NRCS 

continued using Landsat and AWiFS scenes from the USDA SIA and ASTER data 

from the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center for statewide natural 

resource analysis, change detection, and Soil Survey pre-mapping. NRCS upgraded 

most satellite orthoimagery licenses in Hawaii and the Pacific Basin to allow more 

open distribution of orthoimagery data to Government, universities, not-for-profit 

organizations, and the general public. NRCS cooperated on the acquisition of 

high-resolution orthoimagery with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Puerto 

Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
NRCS also funded high-resolution digital elevation data in selective areas of 113

many states. The data were used in a variety of NRCS agency programs such as Soil 

Survey, Engineering, Watershed Assessments, Water Resources, and Conservation 

Planning. NRCS was a member agency of the National Digital Elevation Program 

(NDEP), a multi-agency Federal partnership chaired by the USGS to expedite the 

collection and availability of digital elevation data. NRCS funded Interferometric 

Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR)–based digital elevation data in North Dakota 

and South Dakota. NRCS funded LIDAR-based digital elevation data in coordination with USGS/NDEP in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Oregon, 

Tennessee, and Kentucky.

Risk Management Agency

The Risk Management Agency (RMA) administered an area-based insurance policy for livestock grazing and forage lands to help agricultural producers better manage risk. First piloted in 2006, a satellite-derived Rainfall Index 

(RI) and Vegetation Index (VI) served as the triggers for Pasture, Rangeland, 

and Forage (PRF) Insurance Program indemnity payments. The RI, which was 

based on data obtained from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, required 

producers to select at least two two-month time periods when precipitation 

was important for the growth and production of a forage crop. Insurance payments were calculated based upon the deviation from normal rainfall during 

the selected time periods. Alternatively, the VI, which is based on USGS 

EROS Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data derived from 

AVHRR and MODIS, required producers to select one or more three-month 

time periods when NDVI data can be used to assess the growth and production 

of a forage crop. The NDVI measures vegetation greenness and can serve as 

an indicator of vegetation conditions and productive capacity. The VI-related 

insurance payments were determined based on NDVI deviations from normal. 

Given the success of these satellite-based indices in administering the PRF 

Insurance Program, the RMA began using the RI and VI as triggers in the 

Apiculture Pilot Insurance Program for beekeepers.
114 Office of Chief Information Officer

The Office of Chief Information Officer (OCIO) developed a geospatial information tool using remote-sensing data to help visually identify and analyze renewable 

energy opportunities for multiple stakeholders. Opportunities in renewable energy 

are viewed broadly to include the entire supply chain from feedstock production to 

end use (delivery) of renewable energy.

The geospatial tool is used to identify transportation biofuels (ethanol, biodiesel) for renewable energy opportunities. It is considered static and based upon 

existing data and information that would enable (1) a potential producer of feedstock to identify whether it makes sense to produce a biofuel feedstock such as 

miscanthus or switchgrass vis-à-vis alternatives such as grain or to have land in the 

Conservation Reserve Program; (2) a potential owner of a biorefinery, such as an 

organization or local community, to assess whether it may be economical to build 

a facility or retrofit an existing one; and (3) owners of refueling stations to consider 

adding blender pumps.

At all three of these levels, there may be Federal, state, and local programs or 

incentives that could affect the economic viability of growing a particular biomass, building a biorefinery, or adding blender pumps. The idea is to have as much 

needed information as possible within the tool so that one could assess whether 

an opportunity exists. An important outcome is to provide Federal-, state-, and 

county-level logistics, environmental linkages, and economic linkages across feedstock production, renewable energy production, and renewable energy demand 

using the latest technologies to create an interactive tool to help users identify 

agricultural linkages that will help better the environment and economy.
115 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

naTional sCienCe 

foundaTion

NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) continued to serve as the lead Federal 

agency for the support of ground-based astronomy and space science. Through the 

Divisions of Astronomical Sciences, Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, and 

Physics, as well as through the Office of Polar Programs, the NSF sponsored a broad 

base of observational, theoretical, and laboratory research aimed at understanding the states of matter and physical processes in the universe. Areas of research 

ranged from the most distant reaches of the universe and the earliest moments 

of its existence to nearby stars and planets, including our own sun and planetary 

system, and Earth’s atmosphere and space environment.

Division of Astronomical Sciences

The Division of Astronomical Sciences (AST) supported the development of 

advanced technologies and instrumentation for astronomical sciences, in addition to providing core support for the optical and radio observatories whose 

state-of-the-art instrumentation and observing capabilities are accessible to the 

community on the basis of scientific merit. The NSF’s national astronomical facilities included the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), the National 

Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC), the National Optical Astronomy 

Observatory (NOAO), and the National Solar Observatory (NSO). The NSF also 

served as the executive agency for the Gemini Observatory—an international 
116Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

partnership operating optical/infrared telescopes in both the Northern and 

Southern Hemispheres—providing the United States’ share of support for 

the program.

In partnership with Europe, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan, the United States 

continued construction on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array 

(ALMA), an interferometer located near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. FY 10 saw 

continued delivery of North American antennas at a rate of about one every two 

months and transport of the first eight accepted North American and Japanese 

antennas to the 16,500-foot, high-altitude site. Commissioning of the antenna 

array was started. The number of antennas at various stages of commissioning, 

integration, and testing in Chile now totals 41–19 from the United States, 13 from 

Japan, and 9 from Europe.

AST continued support for the development of the Advanced Technology Solar 

Telescope (ATST), the next-generation U.S. ground-based solar telescope. The 

ATST, a collaboration of scientists from 22 institutions representing a broad seg-

ment of the U.S. solar physics community, previously earned the strong recommen-

dation of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. In 

FY 10, funding for the construction of the $298 million ATST began with funds 

from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the NSF’s Major Research 

and Facilities Construction account. Contracts for the detailed design and con-

struction of the major subsystems have been issued, and the primary mirror blank 

has been cast. Construction will begin after final permits authorizing access to the 

site on Haleakala peak on Maui, Hawaii, have been granted.

In FY 10, AST continued to fund a four-year technology development and design 

effort for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST will be a 6.7-

meter effective aperture telescope with a field of view exceeding 3 degrees, using 

a 3.3-gigapixel camera to image the entire accessible sky repeatedly, producing 

approximately 20 terabytes of data nightly. The science goals of the LSST project 

are extremely broad, spanning the fields of cosmology, galactic structure, and solar 

system astronomy and especially opening up the transient time domain. The LSST 

will undertake both a census of distant (trans-Neptunian) solar system objects and 

surveys of near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroids. Over a 10-year lifetime, 

the LSST should provide a 90-percent-complete sample of potentially hazardous 
117 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

objects with diameters greater than 250 meters and an 80-percent-complete sample 

of those with diameters down to 140 meters. The University of Arizona’s Steward 

Observatory Mirror Lab is fabricating the 8.4-meter-diameter primary/tertiary mirror using funds from private donors. The camera is being designed at the Stanford 

Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) National Accelerator Laboratory with the 

expectation that it will be funded by the Department of Energy. The LSST project was rated as the highest priority ground-based facility by the 2010 Astronomy 

and Astrophysics decadal survey, New Worlds, New Horizons. As a consequence, 

the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy formed a Joint 

Oversight Group and are moving aggressively to enable the construction of LSST 

and its operation for a 10-year prime mission.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) is a new 6-meter-diameter, 

millimeter-wave telescope located at 5,200 meters (17,000 feet) on Cerro Toco 

in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, near the ALMA site. It is designed 

to measure minute variations in intensity of the cosmic microwave background 

(the radiation at microwave wavelengths that is a remnant of the Big Bang) 

to study how the universe began, what it is made of, and how it evolved to its 

current state. ACT is a dedicated special-purpose telescope and is equipped 

with a state-of-the-art customized camera with over 2,500 detectors cooled 

to a third of a degree above absolute zero. During FY 10, the telescope continued to operate successfully in its second year of full science operations, 

obtaining measurements that span size scales on the sky two to three times 

finer than any previous experiment to measure the microwave background. 

Also in FY 10, funding was approved to continue the project for another five 

years and to upgrade and expand the bolometer cameras and add polarization 

measurement capability.

Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

The Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences’ (AGS) high-altitude aircraft, the High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental 

Research (HIAPER), is a highly modified and instrumented Gulfstream V (GV) 

midsize jet operated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), 
118Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) of the NSF. 

HIAPER is FAA-certified to operate at 51,000 feet. Its ability to fly for long dura-

tions (over 12 hours), its long range (over 6,000 kilometers), and its scientific 

payload capacity (6,000 pounds) have enabled scientific research previously not 

possible with existing platforms. HIAPER is the most advanced airborne research 

platform in the U.S. civilian fleet. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) recently 

completed modifications, including advanced instrumentation, to a Gulfstream 550 

that can collaborate with the NSF’s GV HIAPER aircraft in scientific campaigns. 

During FY 10, the DLR’s 550 staff and the GV’s staff continued collaboration on 

instrument pod development and shared instrumentation. In FY 10, the GV con-

tinued to conduct long-duration flights for the HIAPER Pole to Pole Observations 

(HIPPO) deployment to study the carbon cycle and greenhouse gases as part of 

a multi-year campaign. The HIAPER GV also participated in additional field 

projects during FY 10 and remained one of the world’s most advanced airborne 

research platforms.

NCAR’s Research Aircraft Facility continued to operate and maintain HIAPER 

through FY 10. HIAPER’s expected lifetime is 10 to 25 years, during which new 

instrumentation innovations will be continually integrated onto the airframe as 

appropriate. NCAR also operated and maintained the NSF’s heavy-lift C-130Q 

research aircraft. In FY 10, the C-130Q completed a major inspection and, with 

ARRA funding, was given an avionics upgrade to meet new requirements and 

to make it compatible with HIAPER’s avionics. The C-130Q also participated in 

international airborne exhibition and instrument calibration flights in Toulouse, 

France, in October 2010, organized by the European Facility for Airborne Research.

The AGS Geospace Section (GS) supported a wide variety of research programs 

in space science in FY 10. 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 10 included the Upper Atmospheric Facilities (UAF) 

program; NSWP; the Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions 

(CEDAR) program; the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) program; and 

the Solar, Heliosphere, and INterplanetary Environment (SHINE) program.
NSWP is a multi-agency Federal program aimed at mitigating the adverse effects 119

of space weather on the Nation’s technological infrastructure by providing timely, 

accurate, and reliable space environment observations, specifications, and forecasts. In FY 10, GS contributed to the further development of NSWP’s Strategic 

Plan and Implementation Plan. These plans are available online at the Web site of 

the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology (OFCM).

In addition, during FY 10, a formal NSF Science and Technology Center, called 

the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling (CISM), continued to develop 

and test an end-to-end computer simulation for space physics research and applications. CISM’s coupled models simulated the processes by which energy from the 

sun and solar wind propagates to Earth, as well as the resulting effects on Earth’s 

magnetosphere, ionosphere, and thermosphere. CISM researchers integrated these 

results with education and outreach activities. An effective knowledge transfer 

program also ensured that CISM shared these models for use in operational space 

weather forecasting centers of the United States Air Force and NOAA.

Throughout FY 10, the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) 

for space weather research, co-sponsored by the NSF and NASA and located at 

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, continued to provide the research community with access to state-of-the-art space weather models and conducted important model validation activities necessary for the transition of research models to 

operational use.

Research facilities remained the key component of GS efforts. In FY 10, the 

Upper Atmospheric Facilities program continued to promote basic research on the 

structure and dynamics of Earth’s upper atmosphere. In particular, the CEDAR and 

GEM programs conducted research efforts utilizing these facilities. Throughout 

FY 10, observations made by the Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar 

(AMISR) at Poker Flat, Alaska, demonstrated the unique capabilities of this new 

instrument, including its ability to image the ionospheric effects of auroral particle 

precipitation in three dimensions. These observations provided a wealth of data 

particularly useful to modelers interested in validating space weather models. A 

second AMISR system has been operating at Resolute Bay in Arctic Canada since 

2009. This radar is ideally situated to observe the properties of the ionosphere in 
120 the polar cap, a region that is characterized by high ionospheric variability that 

often causes disruption of important navigation and communication systems.

GS also continued to support the study of magnetospheric physics within the 

international Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) consortium 

through the addition of a new radar installation in central Oregon in 2010. Along 

with two other mid-latitude SuperDARN radars that had been constructed in 

southern Virginia and central Kansas in 2009, the new Oregon site in Christmas 

Valley extended the longitudinal coverage of this growing instrument chain.

In FY 10, GS continued to support its new program for CubeSat-based small 

satellite science missions for atmospheric and space weather research. The first 

project started as a result of the NSF’s 2008 CubeSat competition; a small satellite, 

known as RAX, completed its mission in 2010. The RAX CubeSat was launched 

successfully as part of an Air Force Space Test Program launch from Kodiak in 

Alaska in November 2010. Initially all subsystems, as well as the science payload, 

operated better than expected, but the RAX satellite subsequently suffered from a 

premature degradation of the solar cells and has now ceased operations. Another 

three missions selected from the first NSF CubeSat competition in 2008 have progressed very well, and all three have been manifested on launches with NASA’s 

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program. From the NSF’s second 

CubeSat solicitation in May 2009, two more excellent science projects were started 

in FY 10, adding exceptional capabilities and breadth to the overall CubeSat program. During the third CubeSat competition in May 2010, GS received proposals 

for a total of 23 new missions. As was the case for the previous CubeSat solicitations, the quality of the proposals in terms of both scientific creativity and technological innovation was exceptional.

GS continued support for the satellite-based Active Magnetosphere and 

Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) through FY  10. 

AMPERE utilized the 66 networked satellites of the existing Iridium constellation 

to create a new facility for collecting geomagnetic field data. The AMPERE facility 

has provided the first-ever real-time 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 flares interact with Earth’s magnetosphere. 
Such storms can cause major disruptions of power and communications systems 121

on the ground. The AMPERE data server facility has been established and placed 

online, and data for the full year of 2010 have been made freely available to 

researchers, with new data being added continually.

The GS solar physics community also continued to benefit from the Division 

of Astronomical Sciences’ ongoing efforts to develop and manage the Advanced 

Technology Solar Telescope being constructed in Hawaii. Also in FY 10, with funding dedicated to Major Research Instrumentation from the American Recovery 

and Reinvestment Act of 2009, GS was able to support much-needed upgrades at 

the Owens Valley Solar Array in California.

In FY 10, the AGS 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 (NSPO), designed and built 

the COSMIC six-satellite constellation, which was launched on April 14, 2006, 

with the support and assistance of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program (STP). 

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 RO 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 U.K. Met Office, the Meteorological Service of Canada, the 

Taiwan Central Weather Bureau, and others. All of these centers have reported 

that RO data are having a significant positive impact on numerical weather forecasts. In ionospheric studies, COSMIC RO data have accelerated the development 

of physical models for space weather prediction by providing dense, accurate, and 

global electron density measurements. These data are used for model testing and 

initialization, including the response of the global ionosphere to the impact of 

solar storms.

During FY 10, all six COSMIC satellites were operating and providing data. 

On average, COSMIC produced from 1,500 to 2,000 GPS RO soundings per day. 
122 Ninety percent of these were processed and delivered to operational centers within 

three hours. COSMIC has 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. COSMIC has 

received funding from U.S. agencies and Taiwan to continue its operation through 

April 2011.

Office of Polar Programs

For FY 10, the primary activities of the Office of Polar Programs (OPP) in groundbased space science and astronomy included continued full-scale observations with 

the 10-meter, off-axis radio telescope at the U.S. Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station 

to survey deep space galaxy clusters, as well as preparing for the completion of the 

construction of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory.

The South Pole Telescope successfully completed its fourth winter surveyobserving period (northern summer 2010), adding a few hundred new massive galaxy 

clusters via the Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect (SZE) independent of redshift. (SZE is a 

decrement in the strength of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation as it is 

scattered by electrons in galaxy clusters.) This survey of SZE galaxy clusters is mostly 

complete—one more austral winter season is needed to cover all 4,000 square degrees 

of the southern skies. This mapping allows the reconstruction of the universe’s evolution through the power of this new method of distant galaxy cluster mass detection.

During the austral summer 2009–10, the South Pole IceCube Neutrino 

Observatory deployed 21 new strings of optical photodetectors in deep ice under 

the South Pole Station in Antarctica, making the majority of the detector volume 

(79 strings) available for science observations. The observatory expects the completion of all 86 strings (six constitute the additional Deep Core Array for low-energyneutrino detection) in the beginning of FY 11. Data collection continued with the 

advanced filtering and reconstruction of neutrino events. Scientific topics under 

study included searches for weakly interacting massive particles, neutrino point 

sources, and magnetic monopoles. An additional scientific topic of interest is a study 

of the symmetry/asymmetry of the distribution of galactic cosmic rays between the 

northern and southern hemispheres.
123 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

deparTmenT of sTaTe

DOS

The Department of State (DOS) carries out diplomatic efforts to support U.S. 

space policies and programs internationally. State supports U.S. civil space activities through the negotiation of bilateral and multilateral agreements with partner 

countries and leads U.S. participation in numerous international space and technological venues and international organizations. State also maintains outreach 

programs to advance U.S. space and foreign policy objectives.

The DOS continued to represent the U.S. on the United Nations Committee 

on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and its Legal and Scientific 

and Technical subcommittees. With so many countries now engaged in space 

activities, the DOS considers promoting the safe and responsible use of space by 

all current and future spacefaring nations as a vital goal. At UNCOPUOS, the 

DOS led U.S. efforts on long-term sustainability of space, including such issues 

as orbital space debris, meteorology, astronomy and astrophysics, space transportation, nuclear power sources in space, and legal issues related to international 

liability and responsibility of launching nations. Still building on the results of 

the International Heliophysical Year to improve international cooperation in 

understanding the impact of space weather on satellites and Earth’s environment 

in general, the DOS continued to promote space weather as an important foreign 

policy topic worldwide.

The DOS continued strong international efforts to implement the National 

Space Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Policy in FY 10. Building 

on the successful fourth plenary meeting of the International Committee on 

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG-4) held in Russia in September 2009, 

State pursued work plans throughout the year in the four ICG working groups 
124Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

to obtain better understanding of other Global Navigation Satellite System 

(GNSS) providers’ systems and to promote common time and geodesy standards 

for interoperable civil systems. Throughout the year, State also led interagency 

preparations for ICG-5, which was held in Turin, Italy, in October 2010.

The U.S. and EU conducted satellite navigation working group meetings 

on compatibility and interoperability as well as security issues in May 2010 in 

Brussels, Belgium, that allowed a frank exchange on future plans for each sys-

tem. A U.S.-EU follow-up meeting in July 2010 in Washington opened the way 

for closer cooperation and resolution of outstanding signal and security issues. 

The U.S.-EU working group on next-generation systems completed work on two 

papers showing the advantages of combined GPS-Galileo receivers in various 

impeded environments. A joint press announcement lauded the accomplish-

ment. The technical papers were released to the international community in the 

summer of 2010.

Close U.S.-Japanese cooperation in satellite navigation issues continued with 

our annual plenary meeting in January 2010 in Washington. In September 

2010 Japan launched its first Quasi-Zenith Satellite (QZS), called Michibiki, 

which is designed to be compatible and highly interoperable with GPS. Work 

continued on QZS monitoring sites in Guam and Hawaii, designed to improve 

QZS performance.

Bilateral U.S.-Russia talks on compatibility and interoperability issues between 

GPS and Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) continued on 

the margins of international conferences. Technical work continued on nextgeneration search and rescue capabilities that are planned for GPS IIIB and new 

GLONASS satellites.

State supported a strong public outreach and diplomatic campaign to underscore the reliability and accuracy of GPS. State speakers gave presentations at 

many international conferences, including the Moscow International GNSS 

Conference, the Korean International GNSS symposium, the European Position 

Determination System (EUPOS) meeting, meetings of the international sec-

tion of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee, and the annual Institute of 

Navigation conference. State also attended the Cairo International Conference 

and Exhibition on GNSS issues, sponsored by the Arab Institute of Navigation. 
125 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Talks with the president of the Arab Institute of Navigation, Dr. Refaat Rashad, 

led to his nomination for a position as an international member and maritime GPS 

expert on the U.S. National PNT Advisory Board.

In June 2010, the United States hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 

(APEC) GNSS Implementation Team in Seattle, Washington. The meeting was 

attended by 80 experts from 12 APEC economies (Chile, People’s Republic of 

China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, 

Peru, Russia, Thailand, and the United States) and one intergovernmental organi-

zation (the International Committee on the Global Navigation Satellite System), 

one participant from the European Commission, and one non-governmental orga-

nization (the International Federation of Surveyors). An industry forum was con-

ducted as part of the program, and representatives from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, 

ITT, Raytheon, Trimble, OnStar, FedEx, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and 

others highlighted satellite navigation technology developments that would reduce 

congestion, enhance transport safety and security, and achieve effective sustain-

ability, as called for by APEC transportation ministers. The U.S. demonstrated 

several GNSS applications in the transportation area, and the APEC GNSS 

Implementation Team endorsed a strategy for the adoption of measures to include 

GNSS technologies in the development of seamless intermodal transportation 

systems for 2010 through 2015.

In 2010, the DOS initiated a new dialogue with the EU and European Space 

Agency (ESA) on space weather as part of ESA’s space situational awareness pro-

gram. The DOS also supported an international meeting called by the National 

Security Council staff on mitigating space weather events. State is support-

ing formal and informal interagency dialogue with a view to coordinating U.S. 

Government efforts in this area in terms of both research and operations.
.
127 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

deparTmenT of energy

DOE

The Department of Energy (DOE) participates in the national effort to further 

U.S. interests in space. Three organizations within DOE provide this capability: the 

National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Nonproliferation 

and Verification Research and Development, the Office of Science, and the Office 

of Nuclear Energy.

Office of Nonproliferation and Verification 

Research and Development

The Nuclear Detonation Detection program builds the Nation’s operational 

sensors to monitor the entire planet from space to detect and report surface, 

atmospheric, or space nuclear detonations (NuDets). The Space-based Nuclear 

Detonation Detection subprogram provides much of the Nation’s capability to 

detect, report, locate, and identify nuclear explosions using orbiting satellites. 

The Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development 

(DNN R&D) 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. NuDet Detection 

System (USNDS).

Since the Vela satellite program in 1960, 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 and 

missile warning needs. Today, these associations continue and have expanded to 

include military support missions and space control. These efforts span decades of 
128Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

overlapping generations of instruments deployed on multiple platforms in different 

orbital configurations. NNSA will continue full-scale production and deliveries 

of sensor packages to ensure that payloads are ready, as needed, to meet national 

security requirements. To ensure that the technologies and capabilities developed 

for the program support stakeholder needs, DNN R&D actively engages in intergovernmental working groups that reduce duplication among agencies, bring new 

user requirements to the fore, and improve the quality of relevant technology across 

the funding agencies. Strong synergy exists between the work performed in the 

USNDS program and planetary science and astrophysics. The current gamma ray 

spectrometers used for USNDS share their heritage with the NASA Swift mission, 

which evolved from earlier USNDS sensors. This mission exemplifies how col-

laboration between national laboratories and NASA for astrophysics has benefited 

USNDS capabilities and vice versa. Additionally, the NASA Living With a Star 

program contributes to, and is benefited by, the NNSA-developed payloads that 

monitor and operate in the near-Earth space environment.

The NNSA weapons laboratories, most notably Los Alamos National Laboratory 

(LANL) and Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), supply the science, technol-

ogy, and engineering required for USNDS, with Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory (LLNL) contributing to the end-to-end testing of USNDS. These 

NNSA laboratories have unique and comprehensive capabilities in understand-

ing nuclear weapons, as well as the signatures and observables associated with a 

nuclear detonation and the propagation of signals from the weapon to the sen-

sor. Moreover, these laboratories provide capabilities in the design, construction, 

calibration, deployment, and operation of satellite-based detection instruments, 

along with detailed modeling and analysis. Analysis, insights, and computer codes 

based on this research are routinely provided to the user/operations communities as 

the basis for 24/7/365 global monitoring. These capabilities represent an important 

non-commercial source of national space expertise and competency that NNSA is 

committed to sustaining and nourishing.

Two payloads built by NNSA at these laboratories accomplish the NuDet reporting mission—the Global Burst Detector (GBD) and the Space and Atmospheric 

Burst Reporting System (SABRS). The GBD payload is hosted on all GPS satel-

lites. The SABRS payload is carried on satellite hosts in geosynchronous orbit. In 
129 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

order to maintain a vital capability to design and implement these systems, DNN 

R&D supports Demonstration-Validation payloads to explore new technologies and 

new sensing modalities and to increase the technology readiness level (TRL) for 

parts that might be used in future payload designs.

Office of Science

The Office of Science (SC) supports many cooperative efforts with NASA covering a broad range of space interests. Projects funded by SC include the development 

of techniques to conduct fundamental physics in space to investigate high-priority 

national science objectives. Examples of these efforts include the Alpha Magnetic 

Spectrometer and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST). The Alpha 

Magnetic Spectrometer, also designated AMS02, is a particle physics experiment. 

Launched on the Space Shuttle in May 2011, AMS02 is now mounted on the 

International Space Station, where it searches for various forms of unusual matter 

by measuring cosmic rays. Among the experiment’s science goals are the search 

for evidence of dark matter and for cosmic domains of antimatter. The Large Area 

Telescope (LAT), the primary instrument on FGST, studies the gamma ray sky. SC 

managed the LAT fabrication and now operates the LAT Science Operations Center. 

Researchers use the data to learn about high-energy acceleration mechanisms generated by supermassive black holes and supernovae and to search for dark matter.

The Office of Science and NASA, under an interagency Memorandum of 

Understanding, jointly supported the mission concept development for a Joint Dark 

Energy Mission (JDEM) until the end of FY 10. The primary scientific objective for 

JDEM was to determine the nature of dark energy in the universe by measuring 

the expansion history and the growth rate of large-scale structure. However, the 

August 2010 report of the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS) Astronomy and 

Astrophysics Decadal Survey (Astro2010) did not recommend the development of 

a dedicated space-based dark energy mission. The NAS Survey Committee recommended instead a multi-purpose space-based mission, the Wide-Field Infrared 

Space Telescope (WFIRST), whose science goals include exoplanet detection, an 

infrared astronomical survey, and dark energy. SC is not currently participating in 

the design of WFIRST, although it may consider participation in the future.
130Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

The Office of Science also supports research in plasma science, which contrib-

utes to SC-NASA mutual interests in knowledge of astrophysical systems. A major 

area of research supported by SC’s Office of Fusion Energy Sciences is centered 

on developing a comprehensive understanding of astrophysical magnetic processes 

including particle acceleration in cosmic gamma ray bursts, magnetic reconnection 

and turbulent processes in Earth’s magnetosphere and solar corona, the forma-

tion and evolution of astrophysical jets, and dynamo processes creating planetary/

galactic magnetic field structures. Other research sponsored by this office focused 

on probing the properties of warm dense matter as found in planetary cores.

The Office of Science and NASA will complete a joint experiment in 2011, 

the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E), at the 

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s Southern 

Great Plains site in central Oklahoma. This experiment supports the development 

of model improvements and critical algorithms for the NASA Global Precipitation 

Mission satellite. ARM also provides support at three sites (Southern Great Plains; 

Barrow, Alaska; and Manus Island, Papua New Guinea) for validation of the Crosstrack Infrared Sounder and the Advanced Microwave Sounder that will fly on the 

Joint Polar Satellite System satellite and will provide profiles of temperature and 

moisture. SC also engages in joint efforts to understand atmospheric and environ-

mental phenomena.

Since astronauts are spending more time in space, NASA is working on groundbased studies with DOE and others to understand the possible risks to human 

beings exposed to space radiation. SC provides scientific user facilities for the 

scientific community, including particle accelerators and ion beams for biological 

and electronic system radiation studies. The NASA Space Radiation Laboratory 

(NSRL) was established at DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to study 

the radiobiological effects using beams that simulate the cosmic rays found in 

space. Jointly managed during the four-year construction period by SC and NASA’s 

Johnson Space Center, the facility employs beams of heavy ions extracted from 

BNL’s Booster accelerator, providing a leading capability for radiobiology studies 

in the U.S.

Since FY 01, under a joint Memorandum of Agreement, DOE and NASA have 

engaged in coordinated efforts to better understand and predict the health risks 
associated with exposure to low-dose radiation. SC’s Low Dose Radiation Research 131

Program interacts with the Space Radiation Project within NASA’s Human 

Research Program. The Low Dose program focuses on doses of radiation measured 

at or below current workplace exposure limits. NASA’s Space Radiation Project 

seeks to understand the biological effects of space radiation so that radiation risks 

may be accurately assessed.

Office of Nuclear Energy

The Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) supports NASA’s space science and exploration programs by maintaining the necessary nuclear facilities’ infrastructure 

capabilities to produce and deliver power systems for Federal user agencies, such as 

NASA. These facilities support NE’s production of space radioisotope and reactor 

power system technologies for current space mission applications.

DOE and its predecessors have provided radioisotope power systems that have 

safely enabled deep space exploration and national security missions for five 

decades. Radioisotope power systems (RPS) convert the heat from the decay of the 

radioactive isotope plutonium-238 into electricity. RPSs are capable of producing 

either heat or electricity for decades under the harsh conditions encountered in 

deep space. They have proven to be safe, reliable, and maintenance-free in missions to study the Moon and all of the planets in the solar system except Mercury. 

Systems that utilize RPS-powered systems are currently in many different stages of 

their mission lives. The Mars Science Laboratory rover, named Curiosity, launched 

in November 2011. Voyagers 1 and 2 left Earth in 1977 and began their grand tour 

of the outer planets; they are expected to continue functioning until 2025. The 

Cassini mission launched in 1997, entered orbit around Saturn in 2004, and should 

continue to operate until at least 2017. The New Horizons mission, launched in 

2006, is on its way to a planned Pluto encounter in 2015.

The stockpile of plutonium-238 used to power these missions to explore the 

solar system and for other Government applications is limited. NE is working with 

NASA to reestablish domestic plutonium-238 production in order to assure continued availability of these power systems for future science missions.
.
133 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

smiThsonian insTiTuTion

The Smithsonian Institution continued to contribute to national aerospace 

goals through the activities of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 

(SAO), which, together with the Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, 

Massachusetts, forms the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). 

Through this organization, more than 300 scientists engaged in a broad program of 

research in astronomy, astrophysics, Earth and space sciences, and science education. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Washington, 

DC, also contributed to national aerospace goals through its research and education activities.

FY 10 marked the seventh year of operations for NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, 

whose Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) was developed at SAO and constructed at 

the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Spitzer is operated by the Jet Propulsion 

Laboratory. Spitzer studies the universe at infrared wavelengths of light, enabling 

the telescope to peer into nearby dust-obscured regions to study the birth and evolution of stars, observe planets around other stars (exoplanets), and detect distant 

galaxies in the early universe.

In 2009, more than five and a half years after launch, Spitzer ended its cryogenic 

mission phase when it ran out of liquid helium coolant. However, Spitzer is still cold 

enough (–406 degrees Fahrenheit) that two of IRAC’s four detectors can continue to 

operate. The Spitzer Warm Mission has an anticipated lifetime of five years.

IRAC team members at SAO are leading or participating in six Spitzer Warm 

Mission Exploration Science Programs and were awarded the largest observing 

times in the Exploration Science Programs. To date, IRAC has logged a total of 

over 16,300 hours of operation in the Warm Mission.

A major program of the Spitzer/IRAC team at SAO is the study of birth and 

evolution of galaxies in the very early universe, just a few hundred million years 
134Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

after the Big Bang. These early galaxies serve as beacons of the first sites of star 

formation, as a constraint on galaxy formation models, and as probes of the era of 

reionization in the early universe.

The IRAC team is currently carrying out the largest observing program 

(2,100  hours) on the Warm Spitzer Mission (Spitzer Extended Deep Survey—

SEDS) to search in five different fields (approximately 1 square degree of the 

sky) to identify and characterize the spectrum of the very early galaxy popula-

tion. The IRAC team members are also co-investigators on the Cosmic Assembly 

Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS), which is a recently 

approved Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Cosmology Survey Multi-Cycle Treasury 

Program. During 901 HST orbits, CANDELS will image more than 250,000 galax-

ies within the same fields as the SEDS program. IRAC team members were also 

recently awarded 1,182 hours of Warm Spitzer Mission observing time to signifi-

cantly increase the depth of the IRAC observations in the CANDELS Wide Fields 

(approximately 0.2 square degrees of the sky). These probes of the early universe, 

over a relatively large area and to such a depth by HST and Spitzer/IRAC, will 

have a major impact on our knowledge of galaxy evolution and leave an important 

legacy for years to come.

A sample of other FY 10 findings made by the Spitzer Space Telescope in which 

SAO IRAC team members participated include

• 

• 

• 

• 

physical characterization of 65 near-Earth objects (asteroids) to determine 

their potential as targets to land spacecraft, including determining their 

size, albedo (reflectivity), and thermal history;

discovery of the most massive known galaxy cluster at a distance of 

7 billion light-years;

an ultra-deep survey of the HST Early Release Science field to detect the 

most distant galaxies; and

observations of the most massive galaxy clusters in the 2,500-squaredegree South Pole Telescope survey.

As one of NASA’s Great Observatories, the Chandra X-ray Observatory studies 

the high-energy universe with unparalleled vision in X-ray light. In January 2010, 

NASA announced that it had extended the contract with SAO to provide science 

and operational support for Chandra.
135 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

In FY 10, astronomers using Chandra made several important and intriguing 

discoveries. These included providing a major advance in understanding a type of 

supernova critical for studying the dark energy that astronomers think pervades 

the universe. The results show that mergers of two dense stellar remnants are the 

likely cause of many of the supernovae that have been used to measure the accelerated expansion of the universe.

Scientists also reported evidence for a thin veil of carbon found on the neutron 

star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. By analyzing Chandra’s X-ray spectrum—akin to a fingerprint of energy—and applying it to theoretical models, a 

team of researchers determined that the neutron star in Cassiopeia A has an ultrathin coating of carbon. This is the first time the composition of an atmosphere of 

an isolated neutron star has been confirmed.
136Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Chandra continued to increase our understanding of black holes. One result 

provided evidence for powerful winds blowing away from the vicinity of a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy. This discovery indicated that “average” 

supermassive black holes may play an important role in the evolution of the 

galaxies in which they reside. Another result supported the premise that two 

mid-sized black holes exist close to the center of a nearby starburst galaxy. These 

“survivor” black holes avoided falling into the center of the galaxy and could 

be examples of the seeds required for the growth of supermassive black holes in 

galaxies, including the one at the center of the Milky Way.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) launched in February 2010. SDO provides better-than-HD-quality images of the sun’s surface and outer atmosphere. 

SAO is a major partner in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly—a group of four 

telescopes that photograph the sun in 10 different wavelength bands, or colors, 

once every 10 seconds. In August 2010, SAO issued an aurora alert after detecting a solar eruption heading our way. The announcement garnered major media 
coverage. Sky watchers from Minnesota to Norway enjoyed spectacular views of 137

the Northern Lights. Such alerts will become more common as the sun’s activity 

increases toward a 2013 maximum.

In the future, SAO will play a major role in a mission to “touch” the sun. When 

NASA’s Solar Probe Plus launches before the end of the decade, it will carry a 

suite of cutting-edge scientific instruments. Only one—the Solar Wind Electrons 

Alphas and Protons (SWEAP) Investigation—will directly sample the sun’s outer 

atmosphere. Designed by Smithsonian scientists, part of SWEAP will extend 

beyond the probe’s heat shield to scoop up some of the sun’s tenuous gases. In 

September 2010, the SWEAP proposal received $67 million from NASA for instrument design and development.

SAO also continued its partnership in two other sun-watching spacecraft: 

Hinode and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

SAO is playing a leading role in working toward the scientific success of NASA’s 

Kepler mission. Launched in 2009, Kepler is tasked with hunting for exoplanets 

orbiting select stars in the Lyra and Cygnus constellations. SAO has been involved 

in the development of the Kepler mission for more than a decade. SAO has seven 

members of the Kepler Science Team, supported by a much larger number of staff 

members, postdocs, and students.

SAO scientists are making major contributions to the confirmation and characterization of planet candidates identified by Kepler. The highlights in FY  10 

included follow-up observations and preparation of publications for the first five 

confirmed Kepler planets, announced in January 2010, and the announcement of 

five systems with multiple transiting planets in June 2010.

The most spectacular success of Kepler in FY 10 was the detection of transit 

timing variations in the multiple transiting system Kepler 9. SAO scientists led the 

effort to determine the masses of the two Saturn-sized planets, the first time this 

technique had been applied to exoplanets. This discovery was published in Science 

Express in August 2010 and was featured on the cover of the printed version in 

Science magazine. This technique may prove to be critical for the success of the 

primary goal of the Kepler mission—to confirm and characterize the population of 

planets like Earth, especially those that might be the right temperature for liquid 

water on their surfaces.
138 Less spectacular, but equally important for Kepler to achieve a large yield of 

planets, was the work led at SAO to validate planets with too little mass to be 

confirmed by the traditional radial-velocity technique. This approach was used to 

validate a third, small, inner planet in the Kepler-9 system. This approach is now a 

major element in plans for confirming and validating planets.

SAO’s largest field installation is the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory 

(FLWO) on Mount Hopkins, near Amado, Arizona. FLWO is the site for a number 

of instruments ranging from arrays of small robotic telescopes searching for variable stars and exoplanets to the 6.5-meter (256-inch) Multiple Mirror Telescope 

(MMT), a joint facility operated with the University of Arizona for solar system, 

galactic, and extragalactic astronomy.

In FY 10, the smallest research telescopes at FLWO, the Hungarian-made 

Automated Telescope Network (HATNet), added seven more planet discoveries, 

bringing the total to 30 confirmed exoplanet systems since 2007. In this completely 

robotic system working with related sites in Hawaii, Israel, and Chile, the HAT 

planet candidates are followed up with observations on other FLWO telescopes. 

Such follow-up observations contributed to the discovery of exoplanet HAT-14b’s 

unusual retrograde, or “backwards,” orbit.

FLWO also hosts the MEarth (pronounced “mirth”) Project—an array of eight 

identical, 16-inch-diameter RC Optical Systems telescopes that monitor a preselected list of 2,000 red dwarf stars to hunt for exoplanets. Soon after startup in 

early FY 10, MEarth scientists announced the discovery of the most Earth-like 

planet to that date, a “super-Earth” orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from 

Earth. They found the planet with a set of ground-based telescopes no larger than 

those many amateur astronomers have in their backyards. (A super-Earth is a 

planet up to 3 times the size of Earth and weighing 2 to 10 times as much.)

In FY 10, the workhorse MMT continued its wide-ranging research into projects 

from stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy to mapping the large-scale structure of 

the universe. The wide-field configuration of the MMT is being put to use in the 

HectoMAP galaxy survey. HectoMAP, the largest of the redshift surveys, will cover 

50 to 75 square degrees of the northern sky, examining light from galaxies up to 

3.75 billion light-years distant. This large, dense survey offers rich opportunities for 

the study of galaxy and galaxy-cluster evolution as well as the large-scale structure 
139

of the universe. This project will make use of the Hectospec multi-object spectrograph, which is fed by 300 optical fibers. Dual robots, dubbed Fred and Ginger, 

reconfigure all 300 optical fibers in just 300 seconds.

The Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) at 

FLWO observes cosmic gamma rays. Each of the four 12-meter optical reflectors 

composing the VERITAS array is equipped with an extremely sensitive, extraordinarily fast camera. Unlike conventional telescopes, VERITAS does not directly 

observe the radiation from astronomical sources. Rather, it detects the fleeting 

burst of light (Cherenkov radiation) produced by the interaction of gamma rays 

with Earth’s atmosphere.

In FY 10, VERITAS helped solve a 100-year-old mystery concerning the origin of cosmic rays. Cosmic rays are atomic particles—mostly protons—that zip 

through space at nearly the speed of light. The mystery was, where and how are 

these particles accelerated? VERITAS detected an over-abundance of cosmic rays 

in Messier 82, a nearby starburst galaxy in which the rates of massive star formation 

and of supernovae are much higher than in our own galaxy. Astrophysicists had 

long predicted that the winds associated with massive stars and the shocks created 

by supernovae would produce cosmic rays. By observing gamma rays resulting from 

the collision of cosmic rays with gas and dust in Messier 82, VERITAS was able 
140 to confirm this hypothesis. Not until the advent of VERITAS was any instrument 

sensitive enough to provide this important observation.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Submillimeter Array (SMA), a 

pioneering observatory for radio astronomy, continued to engage in a wide variety 

of astronomical observations in FY 10. Three key areas of investigation were distant galaxies, planet-forming disks around other stars, and magnetic fields within 

star-forming molecular clouds.

Submillimeter telescopes such as the SMA are ideal for studying star and galaxy 

formation in the distant universe because light from those galaxies is shifted into the 

submillimeter part of the spectrum by the universe’s expansion. In FY 10, the SMA 

studied a rich collection of galaxies, discovered by the Herschel infrared satellite, 

that are unusually bright at submillimeter wavelengths. The high-resolution SMA 

images confirmed that in each case, the high brightness is due to gravitational lensing—focusing of the submillimeter emission by another galaxy intervening along 

the line of sight. Because all the brightest submillimeter galaxies are gravitationally 

lensed, astronomers can study the properties of these distant galaxies, which would 

be near the detection limit of the SMA without the lensing effect.
141 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Recent discoveries of several hundred planets orbiting distant stars have motivated great interest in the evolution of solar systems similar to our own. The submillimeter is an ideal wavelength to study nascent solar systems. In FY 10, the 

SMA examined truncated disks of material orbiting newborn stars, disks whose 

sharp boundaries may be created by a newly formed but unseen planet. This continuing research will help determine whether solar systems such as ours with Earthlike planets are common.

Magnetic fields are themselves invisible, but their structure in the interstellar 

medium is often evident in the pattern of polarized radio emission, which is emitted 

by dust grains aligned with the field. In FY 10, the SMA used polarized emission to 

map the magnetic field direction in large-scale molecular clouds and in the accretion flows around just-forming stars. These observations will test theories asserting 

that the process of star formation is controlled entirely by magnetic forces.

In public outreach, SAO celebrated the 80th anniversary of 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 view the Moon, stars, 

and planets through a variety of telescopes. Attendees routinely fill the observatory 

auditorium and a nearby overflow room to capacity. The lectures are Webcast live 

and archived online to reach a broader audience.

SAO also provided occasional Author’s Night programs, as well as Sci-fi Movie 

Nights that explored the theme “Everything I learned about science, I learned at 

the movies.”

The From Earth to the Universe (FETTU) project, which started as a major initiative of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, continued to be on display in 

locations around the world. FETTU seeks to inspire and help contextualize planetary 

and space science by exhibiting large-scale images of astronomical objects in nontraditional and mostly public locations such as parks, metro stations, art centers, 

and others. By the close of FY 10, FETTU had been displayed in over 1,000 separate 

locations in over 70 countries, and the captions had been translated into some 40 

languages. FETTU was developed and led by a team at SAO’s Chandra X-ray Center.

A museum exhibit developed by SAO educators and scientists also continued to tour the country. Titled Black Holes: Space Warps & Time Twists, the 
142 2,500-square-foot traveling exhibition pulled visitors into the modern search for 

real black holes—the most mysterious and powerful objects in the universe.

In FY 10, NASM continued to educate and inspire the public through exhibits and education programs, including discovery stations, lecture series, family 

educational events, and intern programs. The Museum commemorated the 40th 

anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission with a panel discussion with the surviving 

Apollo 13 astronauts and other NASA figures involved in the mission. Three 

major exhibitions were opened this fiscal year: Moving Beyond Earth on the topic 

of human spaceflight; Beyond: Visions of Our Solar System, an exhibit of striking 

planetary images collected by unpiloted spacecraft missions; and the Barron Hilton 

Pioneers of Flight Gallery, on aviation and early rocketry in the 1920s and 1930s. 

The Pioneers of Flight gallery featured public programs and a space emphasizing 

early childhood education.

Construction was completed at the Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The 

newly completed areas include a large restoration hangar, a conservation lab, and 

storage for the artifact and archival collections.

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 served as a participating scientist for the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) 

mission, as a chair of the MER Science Operations Working Group. In that capacity he directed the science team to consensus on targets and operations for the 

long-lived rovers. He conducted real-time mission planning from a control station 

installed on site at CEPS. Dr. Grant also co-chaired the Mars Science Laboratory 

(MSL) Landing Site Steering Committee, which worked to identify landing sites 

for the new Mars rover, scheduled for launch in late 2011.

CEPS staff served on the science teams for 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), the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), and the MErcury Surface, Space 

ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) mission to Mercury.

 CEPS continued its active research program in planetary and terrestrial geology 

and geophysics using remote-sensing data from Earth-orbiting satellites, as well as 
piloted and unpiloted space missions. The scope of research activities included 143

work on the moon, Mars, Earth, and Mercury, resulting in 40 peer-reviewed publications. Research topics included lunar radar studies; Mars rover results; Mercury 

tectonics and volcanism; terrestrial fluvial studies; and Martian aeolian, fluvial, 

and polar features. In addition, CEPS scientists used newly acquired LRO data to 

identify previously undetected fault scarps distributed across the lunar surface that 

indicate that the moon has contracted in recent geologic time.

As a NASA Regional Planetary Image Facility (RPIF), CEPS continued to house 

a collection of over 300,000 images of the planets and their satellites that is a 

reference library for science researchers and the public, serving the mid-Atlantic 

and southeastern U.S. The CEPS RPIF holds the most complete collection of lunar 

images of any RPIF in the world.
.
145

Fiscal Year 2010 Activities
146Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix A-1

(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

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 (through September 30, 2010) 11 0 0 0

TOTAL 1,663 156 106 16

a. The criterion of success or failure used is attainment of Earth orbit or Earth escape rather than judgment of mission success. “Escape” flights 

include all that were intended to go to at least an altitude equal to lunar distance from Earth.

b. This Earth-escape failure did attain Earth orbit and, therefore, is included in the Earth-orbit success totals.

c. This excludes commercial satellites. It counts separately spacecraft launched by the same launch vehicle.

d. This counts various sets of microsatellites as a single payload.

e. This includes the Small Spacecraft Technology Initiative (SSTI) Lewis spacecraft that began spinning out of control shortly after it achieved 

Earth orbit.

f. This includes American spacecraft not launched in the U.S.
147 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Appendix A-2

World reCord of spaCe launChes suCCessful

in aTTaining earTh orbiT or beyond

(Enumerates launches rather than spacecraft; some launches orbited multiple spacecraft.)a

Calendar 

Year

United

Statesb

USSR/

CIS Francec Italyc Japan

People’s 

Republic

of China Australia

United

Kingdomc

European 

Space

Agency India Israel Iran

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

2008 19 26 1 11 7 3

2009 25 29 3 4 9 4 1

2010* 11 20 3 9 4 1 1

*(through September 30, 2010)

TOTAL 1,413 2,879 10 8 77 128 1 1 195 29 6 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 included in U.S. totals.

c. Since 1979, all launches for ESA member countries have been joint and are listed under ESA.
148Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix B

October 1, 2009–September 30, 2010

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

Period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

October 8, 2009

2009-057A

Worldview 2

Delta 2

Commercial/imaging 768 km

765 km

100.2 min

98.5°

Commercial satellite providing Earth 

imagery in eight color bands 

October 18, 2009

2009-057A

DMSP 5D-3 F18 (USA 210)

Atlas 5

Military/weather 858 km

843 km

101.9 min

98.9°

Department of Defense satellite, one of 

several in the Defense Meteorological 

Satellite Program

November 16, 2009

2009-062A

STS-129

Shuttle

International Space Station 348 km

336 km

91.4 min

51.7° 

Delivered parts to the International Space 

Station, including a spare gyroscope

Final Space Shuttle crew rotation flight to 

or from the International Space Station

November 23, 2009

2009-064A

Intelsat 14

Atlas

Commercial/communications 35,795 km

35,778 km

1,436.1 min

0°

Commercial satellite providing television 

and data

December 6, 2010

2009-068A

WGS F3 (USA 211)

Delta 4

Military/geostationary 

communications 

35,789 km

35,784 km

1,436.1 min

0.1°

Wideband Global SATCOM geostationary communications satellite

December 14, 2009

2009-071A

WISE

Delta 2

Science 525 km

520 km

95.1 min

97.5°

NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey 

Explorer will perform a sky survey in four 

infrared wavelengths

February 8, 2010

2010-004A

STS-130

Shuttle

International Space Station 348 km

334 km

91.4 min

51.7°

Installation of the Tranquility module

February 11, 2010

2010-005A

SDO

Atlas 5

Heliophysics 35,795 km

35,777 km 

1,436.1 min

27.9°

Solar Dynamics Observatory will 

study the sun at high time and spatial 

resolution

March 4, 2010

2010-008A

GOES-15

Delta 4

Geostationary weather 35,884 km

35,802 km

1,438.99 min

0.16°

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational 

Environmental Satellites 

April 5, 2010

2010-012A

STS-131

Shuttle

International Space Station 346 km

322 km

91.2 min

51.6°

Delivered a multi-purpose logistics 

module 

April 22, 2010

2010-015A

OTV 1 (USA 212)

Atlas 5

Military Unknown United States Air Force X-37B Orbital 

Test Vehicle, reusable mini-spaceplane 

capable of autonomous re-entry and 

landing
149 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Appendix B

(Continued)

October 1, 2009–September 30, 2010

Launch Date

Spacecraft Name

COSPAR* Designation

Launch Vehicle Mission Objectives

Apogee and

Perigee (km),

period (min),

Inclination to Equator (°) Remarks

May 14, 2010

2010-019A

STS-132

Shuttle

International Space Station 359 km

336 km

91.5 min

51.7°

Delivered an Integrated Cargo Carrier 

and a Russian-built Mini Research 

Module

May 28, 2010

2010-022A

Navstar 65/GPS 2F-1

Delta 4

Military/navigation 20,201 km

20,161 km

717.9 min

55.3°

U.S. Air Force satellite, first in a new 

breed of GPS satellites in the Block 

2F series

June 4, 2010

2010-026A

Dragon

Falcon 9

Commercial 140 km

138 km

87.3 min

34.5°

SpaceX spacecraft flight test, module 

remained mounted to the upper stage 

of the rocket

August 14, 2010

2010-039A

AEHF 1 (USA 214)

Atlas

Military/communications 35,799 km

35,775 km

1,436.1 min

4.3°

First of four Advanced Extremely High 

Frequency (AEHF) U.S. Air Force 

satellites that will replace the earlier 

Milstar system

Placed in an initial 221 × 50,179 km × 

22.2 degree geosynchronous transfer 

orbit until the satellite’s main 

engines failed

September 21, 2010

2010-046A

USA 215

Atlas 5

Military Unknown Classified satellite for the U.S. 

National Reconnaissance Office

September 26, 2010

2010-048A

SBSS (USA 216)

Minotaur 4

Military 632 km

631 km

97.4 min

98°

U.S. Air Force Space Based Space 

Surveillance satellite, part of the 

United States Strategic Command’s 

Space Surveillance Network

*U.N. Committee on Space Research
150Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix C

October 1, 2009–September 30, 2010

Spacecraft Launch Date Crew

Flight Time 

(d:h:min) Highlights

Space Shuttle

Atlantis (STS-129)

November 16, 2009 Charles O. Hobaugh

Barry E. “Butch” Wilmore

Leland D. Melvin

Michael J. Foreman

Randolph J. Bresnik

Robert L. Satcher, Jr.

Nicole P. Stott

10:19:16 Delivered parts to the International 

Space Station, including a spare 

gyroscope

Final Space Shuttle crew rotation flight 

to or from the International Space 

Station

Returned Nicole Stott to Earth from 

ISS Expedition 21

Soyuz-TMA 17

(Expedition 22)

December 20, 2009 Oleg Kotov 

T.J. Creamer

Soichi Noguchi

163:06:33 Carried one Russian crewmember, one 

U.S. crewmember, and one Japanese 

crewmember

Space Shuttle

Endeavour (STS-130)

February 8, 2010 George D. Zamka

Terry W. Virts, Jr.

Nicholas J. M. Patrick

Robert L. Behnken

Stephen K. Robinson

Kathryn P. Hire

13:18:06 Delivered the Tranquility Node and a 

cupola to be used as a control room for 

robotics

Soyuz-TMA 18

(Expedition 23)

April 2, 2010 Alexander Skvortsov

Mikhail Kornienko

Tracy Caldwell Dyson

176:01:19 Carried two Russian crewmembers and 

one U.S. crewmember

Space Shuttle

Discovery (STS-131)

April 5, 2010 Alan G. Poindexter

James P. Dutton, Jr.

Clayton C. Anderson

Rick Mastracchio

Dorothy M. Metcalf-Lindenburger

Stephanie D. Wilson

Naoko Yamazaki

15:02:47 Delivered the Leonardo Multi-Purpose 

Logistics Module (MPLM)

Returned with a Japanese experiment 

retrieved from the International Space 

Station’s exterior

Space Shuttle

Atlantis (STS-132)

May 14, 2010 Kenneth T. Ham

Dominic A. Antonelli

Michael T. Good

Garrett E. Reisman

Piers J. Sellers

Stephen G. Bowen

11:18:29 Delivered an Integrated Cargo Carrier 

and a Russian-built Mini Research 

Module (Rassvet)

Soyuz-TMA 19

(Expedition 24)

June 15, 2010 Fyodor Yurchikhin

Shannon Walker

Doug Wheelock

163:06:11 Carried one Russian crewmember and 

two U.S. crewmembers
151 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Appendix D-1A

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY 

(in millions of real-year dollars)

FY

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DOD Othera DOEb DOC DOI USDA NSFc DOT Total Space

1959 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

a. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total 

column because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as in space. For the years 1989–1997, this Other column also includes 

small figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also includes $2.1 billion for replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

b. The DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998

c. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
152Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix D-1B

HISTORICAL TABLE OF BUDGET AUTHORITY 

(in millions of inflation-adjusted FY 10 dollars)

FY

Inflation 

Factors

NASA 

Total

NASA 

Space DOD Othera DOEb DOC DOI USDA NSFc DOT Total Space

1959 6.091 2,016 1,590 2,985 207 207 4,781

1960 6.002 3,145 2,773 3,367 258 258 6,398

1961 5.928 5,714 5,489 4,825 403 403 10,717

1962 5.846 10,669 10,505 7,588 1,163 865 298 19,257

1963 5.782 21,236 20,964 8,962 1,486 1,237 249 31,412

1964 5.710 29,121 28,641 9,130 1,216 1,199 17 38,987

1965 5.643 29,625 28,993 8,882 1,360 1,292 68 39,235

1966 5.544 28,689 28,079 9,363 1,186 1,037 150 38,628

1967 5.429 26,961 26,223 9,034 1,156 999 157 36,414

1968 5.261 24,133 23,307 10,112 916 763 147 1 5 34,335

1969 5.082 20,282 19,423 10,230 866 600 102 1 5 158 30,519

1970 4.858 18,199 17,233 8,152 685 500 39 5 5 136 26,070

1971 4.611 15,267 14,298 6,972 747 438 124 9 5 170 22,017

1972 4.391 14,521 13,484 6,178 586 241 136 26 9 173 20,248

1973 4.192 14,280 12,967 6,804 618 226 168 42 8 173 20,390

1974 4.017 12,200 11,083 7,094 635 169 241 36 12 177 18,812

1975 3.748 12,104 10,927 7,092 591 112 240 30 7 202 18,610

1976 3.393 12,044 10,941 6,728 571 78 244 34 14 201 18,240

TQ* 3.165 2,950 2,687 1,456 136 16 70 9 3 38 4,279

1977 3.068 11,715 10,555 7,401 594 68 279 31 18 198 18,550

1978 2.945 11,956 10,669 8,063 665 100 303 29 24 209 19,397

1979 2.759 12,679 11,117 8,375 684 163 270 28 22 201 20,177

1980 2.553 13,379 11,949 9,825 590 102 237 31 36 184 22,365

1981 2.346 12,946 11,712 11,327 550 96 204 28 38 184 23,588

1982 2.136 12,907 11,805 14,263 668 130 310 26 32 170 26,737

1983 1.999 13,741 12,648 18,027 654 78 356 10 40 170 31,328

1984 1.915 14,279 13,130 19,519 756 65 452 6 36 197 33,404

1985 1.846 13,982 12,786 23,574 1,078 63 781 4 28 203 37,438

1986 1.788 13,962 12,813 25,262 853 63 553 4 41 193 38,928

1987 1.748 19,092 17,145 28,467 814 84 486 14 33 195 2 46,426

1988 1.703 15,429 14,169 30,100 1,262 410 599 24 31 196 2 45,531

1989 1.650 18,095 16,657 29,539 924 160 497 28 35 200 5 47,120

1990 1.588 19,571 18,199 24,798 803 125 386 49 40 196 6 43,800

1991 1.532 21,467 19,982 21,720 1,183 384 384 44 40 323 6 42,884

1992 1.476 21,128 19,478 22,170 1,177 329 483 50 43 267 6 42,826

1993 1.438 20,582 18,789 20,288 1,051 237 466 47 36 259 6 40,129

1994 1.407 20,502 18,323 18,526 890 104 439 44 44 252 7 37,739

1995 1.378 19,090 17,284 14,667 1,045 82 485 43 44 383 8 32,996

1996 1.349 18,734 16,960 15,536 1,117 62 637 49 50 311 8 33,613

1997 1.324 18,148 16,490 15,524 1,045 46 593 56 52 291 8 33,059

1998 1.300 17,742 16,017 16,066 1,091 134 565 56 51 278 8 33,174

1999 1.284 17,525 15,993 16,948 1,261 135 738 76 47 257 8 34,201

2000 1.267 17,230 15,862 16,394 1,337 208 728 76 56 262 8 33,594

2001 1.242 17,678 16,528 17,798 1,319 180 717 75 45 288 15 35,645

2002 1.214 18,045 16,835 19,103 1,432 201 782 78 34 323 15 37,369

2003 1.194 18,344 17,145 23,149 1,558 228 775 88 50 402 14 41,852

2004 1.170 17,987 16,750 22,356 1,712 244 871 83 71 428 14 40,819

2005 1.140 18,471 17,372 22,453 1,769 261 920 80 83 411 14 41,594

2006 1.104 18,357 17,409 24,420 1,819 271 950 91 93 402 13 43,649

2007 1.068 17,389 16,623 23,938 1,794 214 974 93 69 431 13 42,355

2008 1.037 17,742 17,105 25,700 1,760 202 893 93 61 496 13 44,565

2009 1.013 18,011 17,505 26,881 1,893 203 1,092 65 27 491 14 46,278

2010 1.000 18,725 18,228 26,463 2,057 203 1,261 67 27 484 15 46,748

a. The Other column is the total of the non-NASA and non-DOD budget authority figures that appear in the succeeding columns. The total is 

sometimes different from the sum of the individual figures because of rounding. The Total Space column does not include the NASA Total 

column because the latter includes budget authority for aeronautics as well as in space. For the years 1989–1997, this Other column also includes 

small figures for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Also includes $2.1 billion for replacement of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1987.

b. The DOE has recalculated its space expenditures since 1998.

c. The NSF has recalculated its space expenditures since 1980, making them significantly higher than reported in previous years.

* Transition Quarter
153 Fiscal Year 2010 Activities

Appendix D-2

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2008 

actual

2009 

actual

Recovery 

enacted

2010 

actual

2010 

ARRA

2011 

est.

2008 

actual

2009 

actual

2010 

actual

NASA1, 2 16,502 17,275 852 18,228 17,231 18,389 18,362

DOD 25,949 26,528 26,463 24,080 24,273 24,142

DOE3 195 200 1 203 217 192 193 204

DOC 862 1,078 75 1,261 603 991 1,221

DOI 64 64 0 67 64 64 67

USDA 26.8 26.3 26.6 22.6 21.6 21.6

DOT 13 14 0 15 15 12 14 15

NSF4, 5 464 485 142 484 146 361 310 515

(1) The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act rescinded $192.5 million in NASA prior-year unobligated balances, effectively reducing NASA’s 

total FY 08 budget authority by this amount.

(2) Beginning in 2009, NASA program budgets reflect only direct program costs. Indirect costs are budgeted within the Cross-Agency Support 

Programs account (captured within the Federal Space Activities Budget table).

(3) Beginning in 2007, Department of Energy budget figures do not include any physics research and operations funding for ground-based experiments managed in the High Energy Physics program.

(4) The 2008 Actuals that NSF reported in June 2009 were $479 million in authority and $361 million in outlays.

(5) $146 million in FY 10 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) authority is carried over from FY 09 ARRA authority.
154Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

Appendix D-3

(in millions of dollars by fiscal year)

Federal 

Agencies

Budget Authority Budget Outlays

2008 

actual

2009 

actual

Recovery 

enacted

2010 

actual

2011 

est.

2008 

actual

2009 

actual

2010 

actual

NASA1, 2 615 500 150 497 603 778 542

USDA 33.2 48.9 55.4 30.1 47.5 52.6

DOD 10,873 13,248 49 14,166 10,994 12,252 13,573

DOI 26 22 15 30 26 22 30

DOT 2,646 2,897 200 3,104 2,886 2,562 2,587 2,742

(1) The 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act rescinded $192.5 million in NASA prior-year unobligated balances, effectively reducing NASA’s 

total FY 08 budget authority by this amount.

(2) Beginning in 2009, NASA program budgets reflect only direct program costs. Indirect costs are budgeted within the Cross-Agency Support 

Programs account (captured within the Federal Space Activities Budget table).
155 Fiscal Year 2010 Activitie

4D FMS TBO Four-Dimensional Flight Management System Trajectory-Based Operations

A

AAD Aircraft Aging and Durability

ABI Advanced Baseline Imager

ACD Advanced Capabilities Division

ACRP Airport Cooperative Research Program

ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys

ACT Atacama Cosmology Telescope

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast

AEHF Advanced Extremely High Frequency

AGN active galactic nuclei

AGS Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences

AIM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring

AIWG Airport Infrastructure Working Group

ALMA Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array

ALOS Advanced Land Observing Satellite

AMISR Advanced Modular Incoherent-Scatter Radar

AMPERE Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment

AMS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

ARC Ames Research Center

ARCHER Airborne Real-time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance

ARMD Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

ARS Agricultural Research Service

ARTEMIS Advanced Responsive Tactically Effective Military Imaging Spectrometer

AS Atmosphere Section

AST Office of Commercial Space Transportation; Division of Astronomical Sciences

ASTER Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials

Astro2010 Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Survey

ASTS Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee

ASU Aircraft Sector Understanding

ATC Air Traffic Control

ATC ancillary terrestrial component

ATM Air Traffic Management

ATMS Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder

ATP Aeronautics Test Program

ATST Advanced Technology Solar Telescope

AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

AVNIR-2 Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer Type-2

AWiFS Advanced Wide Field Sensor

B

BAT Burst Alert Telescope

BIPM Bureau of Weights and Measures

BLM Bureau of Land Management

BNL Brookhaven National Laboratory
156Aeronautics and Space Report of the President

BOR Bureau of Reclamation

BRDF bidirectional reflectance distribution function

BWB Blended Wing Body

C

C3PO Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office

CAAFI Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative

CANDELS Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey

CBS3 Controlled-Background System for Spectroradiometry and Spectrophotometry

CCAFS Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

C-CAP Coastal Change Analysis Program

CCDev Commercial Crew Development

CCMC Community Coordinated Modeling Center

CDL Cropland Data Layer

CDR Climate Data Records

CEDAR Coupling, Energetics, and Dynamics of Atmospheric Regions

CEPS Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

CERES Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System

CEV Crew Exploration Vehicle

CfA Center for Astrophysics

CHIRP Commercially Hosted Infrared Payload

CIBER Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment

CIP Current Icing Products

CISM Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling

CLARREO Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory

CLU Common Land Unit

CMB cosmic microwave background

CNES Centre National d’Études Spatiales

CONOPS Concept of Operations

CONUS Contiguous United States

CORS Continuously Operating Reference Station

COSMIC Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate

COTS Commercial Orbital Transportation Services

CS Commercial Service

CTD Concepts and Technology Development

CU University of Colorado

CxP Constellation Program

D

DASH Discovery in Aeronautics Systems Health

DEM digital elevation model

DIAL Differential Absorption Light Detection and Ranging

DLR German Aerospace Center

DNN R&D Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research & Development

DOC Department of Commerce

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

DOI Department of the Interior

DOS Department of State

DOT Department of Transportation

DSCOVR Deep Space Climate Observatory

DSN Deep Space Network
157 DTN Disruption Tolerant Network

DWSS Defense Weather Satellite System

E

EA Enterprise Architecture

ECLSS environmental control and life support systems

ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

EDA Efficient Descent Advisor

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle

ELaNa Educational Launch of Nanosatellites

ELC ExPRESS Logistics Carrier

ELV expendable launch vehicle

EMA electromechanical actuator

EMS Environmental Management Systems

EOP Executive Office of the President

EOS Earth Observing System

ERA Environmentally Responsible Aviation

ERBS Earth Radiation Budget Suite

EROS Earth Resources Observation and Science

ESA European Space Agency

ESMD Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

ET external tank, evapotranspiration

ETDP Exploration Technology Development Program

EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

EUPOS European Position Determination System

EUV extreme ultraviolet

EVA Extravehicular Activity

EVE EUV Variability Experiment

ExPRESS Expedite the Processing of Experiments to the Space Station

F

FAA Federal Aviation Administration

FACET Future Air Traffic Management Concepts Evaluation Tool

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FAS Foreign Agricultural Service

FASCAL Facility for Automated Spectroradiometric Calibrations

FCC Federal Communications Commission

FETTU From Earth to the Universe

FEWS NET Famine Early Warning Systems Network

FFRDC Federally Funded Research and Development Center

FGST Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

FIP Forecast Icing Products

FLWO Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory

FMS flight management system

FSA Farm Service Agency

FSOF Fairbanks Satellite Operations Facility

FWS Fish and Wildlife Service

FY fiscal year

G

GaN gallium nitride

GAP Gap Analysis Program
158 GBD Global Burst Detector

GBS Global Broadcast Service

GEM Geospace Environment Modeling

GHWG Global Harmonization Working Group

GHz gigahertz

GIS Geographic Information System

GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System

GloPac Global Hawk Pacific

GLRI Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

GMTED2010 Global Multi-resolution Terrain Elevation Data 2010

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GPS Global Positioning System

GRIP Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes

GS Geospace Section

GSI grid point statistical interpolation

GTOPO30 Global 30 Arc-Second Data Elevation Set

GV Gulfstream V

H

HCT Hall Current Thruster

HEO Highly Elliptical Orbit

HIAPER High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research

HIPPO HIAPER Pole to Pole Observations

HiRISE High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment

HITL human-in-the-loop

HRP Human Research Program

HST Hubble Space Telescope

HTCG High Technology Cooperation Group

I

I&M Inventory and Monitoring Program

ICC-VLD2 Integrated Cargo Carrier–Vertical Light Deployable 2

ICG International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems

IfSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

IIFD Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck

IOAG Interagency Operations Advisory Group

IP Internet protocol-based

IR infrared

IRAC Integrated Resilient Aircraft Control; Infrared Array Camera

IRIS Internet Routing in Space

IRTF Infrared Telescope Facility

ISRP Integrated Systems Research Program

ISS International Space Station; Imaging Science Subsystem

ITAC 1 Industry Trade Advisory Committee for Aerospace Equipment

IVGEN IntraVenous Fluid GENeration

IVHM Integrated Vehicle Health Management

J

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

JCTD Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration

JDEM Joint Dark Energy Mission
159 JPDO Joint Program Development Office

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

JPSS Joint Polar Satellite System

K

K kelvin

klbf kilopound-force

km kilometer

KPI Key Performance Indicator

L

LADEE Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer

LANDFIRE Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

LAT Large Area Telescope

LBIR Low Background Infrared

LCROSS Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite

LDCM Landsat Data Continuity Mission

LEO Low-Earth Orbit

LIDAR LIght Detection and Ranging

LIDP Literal Image Derived Products

LLCD Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration

LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

LMMP Lunar Mapping and Modeling Project

LPRP Lunar Precursor Robotic Program

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

LSP Launch Services Program

LSST Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

LWIRCS Long-Wavelength Infrared Calibration Source

M

MARSIS Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding

MC3E Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment

MDEQ Michigan Department of Environmental Quality

MDXR Missile Defense Transfer Radiometer

MEP Manufacturing Extension Partnership

MER Mars Exploration Rover

MESSENGER MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging

MHz megahertz

MINWR Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MKID microwave kinetic inductance detector

MMIS Mission Medical Information Systems

MMRCA Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

MOBY Marine Optical BuoY

MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

MSL Mars Science Laboratory

MSP Multi-Sector Planner

MSS mobile satellite service
160 N

NAIC National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center

NAICS North American Industry Classification System

NAIP National Agricultural Imagery Program

NAIS North American Ice Service

NAS National Airspace System; National Academy of Sciences

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASM National Air and Space Museum

NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service

NAVAIR Naval Air Systems Command

NCAR National Center for Atmospheric Research

NCBN Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network

NCDC National Climatic Data Center

NCEP National Centers for Environmental Prediction

NDE nondestructive evaluation

NDEP National Digital Elevation Program

NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index

NE Office of Nuclear Energy

NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System

NFAC National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

NGDC National Geophysical Data Center

NIC National Ice Center

NIFA National Institute of Food and Agriculture

NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology

NISTAR NIST Advanced Radiometer

NLS NASA Launch Services

nm nanometer

NNSA National Nuclear Security Administration

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOAO National Optical Astronomy Observatory

NOS National Ocean Service

NPAT National Partnership for Aeronautics Testing

NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System

NPP NPOESS Preparatory Project

NPS National Park Service

NRA NASA Research Announcement

NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory

NRCS Natural Resources Conservation Service

NRI National Resources Inventory

NRO National Reconnaissance Office

NSF National Science Foundation

NSG National System for Geospatial Intelligence

NSO National Solar Observatory

NSPO National Space Organization

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory

NSTC National Science and Technology Council

NSWP National Space Weather Program

NTF National Transonic Facility

NTSB National Transportation Safety Board

NuDet Nuclear Detonation Detection

NVLAP National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program
161 NWI National Wetland Inventory

NWS National Weather Service

O

OBSS Orbiter Boom Sensor System

OCIO Office of Chief Information Officer

OCX Next Generation GPS Operational Control Segment

OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

OFCM Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology

OI operational improvement

OLI Operational Land Imager

OMPS Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite

OPIR Overhead Persistent Infrared

OPP Office of Polar Programs

ORCA Ocean Radiometer for Carbon Assessment

ORS Operationally Responsive Space

OSC Orbital Sciences Corporation

OSC Office of Space Commercialization

OSM Office of Surface Mining

OTF optical transfer function

OTM Office of Transportation and Machinery

OTV-1 Orbital Test Vehicle 1

P

PALSAR Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar

PARTNER Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction

PNT Position, Navigation, and Timing

POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite

PRF Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage

PRSEUS Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure

Q

QZS Quasi-Zenith Satellite

R

R&D Research and Development

RI Rainfall Index

RLV Reusable Launch Vehicle

RMA Risk Management Agency

RNAV Area Navigation

RNP Required Navigation Performance

RO radio occultation

RPI Relative Position Indicator

RPIF Regional Planetary Image Facility

RPS radioisotope power system

RPT Rocket Propulsion Test

RR Rapid Refresh

RSIWG Remote Sensing Interagency Working Group

RSRM Reusable Solid Rocket Motor

RSS Radio Science Subsystem

RTA Required Time of Arrival
162 RTT Research Transition Team

RVSM Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum

S

SAA Space Act Agreement

SAB Satellite Analysis Branch

SABRS Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System

SAIE Systems Analysis, Integration and Evaluation

SAME Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment

SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

SAR synthetic aperture radar

SARSAT Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking

SATCOM Satellite Communications

SBIRS Space Based Infrared System

SBSS Space Based Space Surveillance

SC Office of Science

SCaN Space Communications and Navigation

SCUBA Submillimeter Common-User Bolometer Array

SDL Space Dynamics Laboratory

SDO Solar Dynamics Observatory

SDT Secchi-disk transparency

SDVOSB Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses

SEDS Spitzer Extended Deep Survey

SFW Subsonic Fixed Wing

SGSS Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment

SHAAC Shuttle Hazard Area to Aircraft Calculator

SHARAD Shallow Subsurface Radar

SHINE Solar, Heliosphere, and INterplanetary Environment

SI International System of Units

SIA Satellite Imagery Archive

SIRCUS Spectral Irradiance and Radiance Responsivity Calibrations Using Uniform Sources

SLAC Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

SMA Submillimeter Array

SMCRA Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act

SMD Science Mission Directorate

SN Space Network

SNL Sandia National Laboratory

SNSPD superconducting nanowire single photon detectors

SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corporation

SPOT Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre

SQUID Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices

SRM Standard Reference Materials

SRW Subsonic Rotary Wing

SSME Space Shuttle Main Engine

STAR Center for Satellite Applications and Research

STBO Surface Trajectory-Based Operations

STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

STP Space Test Program

SuperDARN Super Dual Auroral Radar Network

SWEAP Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons

SWPC Space Weather Prediction Center
163 T

TACSAT Tactical Satellite

TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System

TES transition-edge sensor

TI Technical Intelligence

TIMED Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics

TOC Test Operations Contract

TRACON Terminal Radar Approach Control

TRL technology readiness level

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission

TSI Trophic State Index

TSIS Total and Spectral Irradiance Sensor

TSTO two-stage-to-orbit

TXR Thermal-infrared Transfer Radiometer

U

UAF Upper Atmospheric Facilities

UAS unmanned aircraft system; unmanned aerial system

UAVSAR Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar

UCAR University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

ULA United Launch Alliance

UMD University of Maryland

UNCOPUOS United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space

UPS United Parcel Service

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

USCG U.S. Coast Guard

USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture

USFS U.S. Forest Service

USGS U.S. Geological Survey

USNDS U.S. Nuclear Detonation Detection System

USP United States Pharmacopeia

V

VAAC Volcanic Ash Advisory Center

VAFB Vandenberg Air Force Base

VCAM Vehicle Cabin Atmosphere Monitor

VERITAS Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System

VI Vegetation Index

VIIRS Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite

VIMS Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer

VLSA very large-scale aerial

VOSB Veteran-Owned Small Businesses

W

WFC3 Wide Field Camera 3

WFIRST Wide Field Infrared Space Telescope

WISE Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

WMM World Magnetic Mode

WMO World Meteorological Organization

WRF Weather Research and Forecasting
.
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