National Academies Press: OpenBook

Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities (2012)

Chapter: Appendix C: Acronyms and Glossary

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Acronyms and Glossary." National Research Council. 2012. Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13384.
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C

Acronyms and Glossary

 

AATE

Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine

AFRL

Air Force Research Laboratory

AirSTAR

Airborne Subscale Transport Aircraft Research

AMELIA

Advanced Model for Extreme Lift and Improved Acoustics

ARMD

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

ARTR

Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable, a committee established by the National Research Council’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board to provide guidance to NASA on aeronautics issues

ASTOVL

Advanced Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing

ATP

Aeronautics Test Program

AvSP

Aviation Safety Program

 
BWB

Blended wing body

 
CAEP

Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection

CAIV

Cost as an Independent Variable

CMC combustion liner

Ceramic matrix composite combustion liner

CoCOMs

Combatant Commands

 
DARPA

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DLR

German Aerospace Center

DSTO

Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization

 
Ephemerides

Position and velocity tables for celestial bodies

ERA

Environmentally Responsible Aviation

ERAST

Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology

Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Acronyms and Glossary." National Research Council. 2012. Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13384.
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Full cost recovery A NASA program that requires all outside NASA customers to pay the full cost of NASA participation in joint programs
   
HIFiRE Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation
HIWC High ice water content
HSCT(1283) High-Speed Civil Transport
HSR(1283) High-Speed Research
HTV-2 Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2
Hypersonic Hypersonic, or hypersonic speed, is considered to be five times the speed of sound; also known as Mach 5 or greater.
   
ISRP Integrated Systems Research Program
   
JSRA Joint Sponsored Research Agreement
   
MAJCOMs Major Commands
MUTT Multi-Utility Technology Testbed
   
NACA National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics
NAS National Airspace System
NAVAIR Naval Air Systems Command
NextGen Next Generation Air Traffic Management System
NGLT Next Generation Launch Technology
NRA NASA Research Announcement
   
PRSEUS Protruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure
   
QSP Quiet Supersonic Platform
   
RevCon Revolutionary Concepts program, which was created to encourage innovation in flight vehicle design
   
SCAR Supersonic Cruise Aircraft Research
SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Sonic boom The sound released by shock waves associated with an aircraft as it travels faster than the speed of sound
SST Supersonic Transport
Supersonic Supersonic, or supersonic speed, is considered to be greater than the speed of sound; also known as Mach 1 or greater.
   
TRL Technology readiness level
   
UAV/UAS Unpiloted aerial vehicle/uninhabited aerial system
   
VAATE Versatile Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine
   
X-factor A quantitative measure of a program’s level of technological difficulty
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Acronyms and Glossary." National Research Council. 2012. Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13384.
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Page 83
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C: Acronyms and Glossary." National Research Council. 2012. Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13384.
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Page 84
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In the five decades since NASA was created, the agency has sustained its legacy from the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) in playing a major role in U.S. aeronautics research and has contributed substantially to United States preeminence in civil and military aviation. This preeminence has contributed significantly to the overall economy and balance of trade of the United States through the sales of aircraft throughout the world. NASA's contributions have included advanced flight control systems, de-icing devices, thrust-vectoring systems, wing fuselage drag reduction configurations, aircraft noise reduction, advanced transonic airfoil and winglet designs, and flight systems. Each of these contributions was successfully demonstrated through NASA flight research programs. Equally important, the aircraft industry would not have adopted these and similar advances without NASA flight demonstration on full-scale aircraft flying in an environment identical to that which the aircraft are to operate-in other words, flight research.

Flight research is a tool, not a conclusion. It often informs simulation and modeling and wind tunnel testing. Aeronautics research does not follow a linear path from simulation to wind tunnels to flying an aircraft. The loss of flight research capabilities at NASA has therefore hindered the agency's ability to make progress throughout its aeronautics program by removing a primary tool for research.

Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities discusses the motivation for NASA to pursue flight research, addressing the aspects of the committee's task such as identifying the challenges where research program success can be achieved most effectively through flight research. The report contains three case studies chosen to illustrate the state of NASA ARMD. These include the ERA program and the Fundamental Research Program's hypersonics and supersonics projects. Following these case studies, the report describes issues with the NASA ARMD organization and management and offers solutions. In addition, the chapter discusses current impediments to progress, including demonstrating relevancy to stakeholders, leadership, and the lack of focus relative to available resources.

Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities concludes that the type and sophistication of flight research currently being conducted by NASA today is relatively low and that the agency's overall progress in aeronautics is severely constrained by its inability to actually advance its research projects to the flight research stage, a step that is vital to bridging the confidence gap. NASA has spent much effort protecting existing research projects conducted at low levels, but it has not been able to pursue most of these projects to the point where they actually produce anything useful. Without the ability to actually take flight, NASA's aeronautics research cannot progress, cannot make new discoveries, and cannot contribute to U.S. aerospace preeminence.

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