Skip to main content

Recapturing NASA's Aeronautics Flight Research Capabilities (2012) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Summary
Pages 1-6

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... 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.
Read the entire page →
From page 2...
... The portion of the aeronautics budget by expense category related to government personnel and support contractors is 56 percent, and facility maintenance now represents 14 percent of the NASA aeronautics research budget.2 Only limited resources can be committed effectively to flight research programs for the modification or design and construction of research vehicles. As a result, NASA no longer initiates larger-scale, "flagship" vehicles for flight testing.
Read the entire page →
From page 3...
... NASA currently has no "flagship" class aeronautics projects, which the committee defines as larger-scale, technically ambitious aircraft projects that will make substantial advancements in fields such as environmentally responsible aviation, supersonics, aviation safety, uninhabited aerial systems in the National Air Space, rotorcraft, or hypersonics. NASA currently operates only one aircraft with an X-plane designation and has no high-visibility aircraft flight research projects under way.
Read the entire page →
From page 4...
... Finding: If NASA determines that progress in Environmentally Responsible Aviation is a priority, then the agency could collaborate with the Department of Defense (DOD) , the Federal Aviation Administra tion, other government agencies, and industry on a subsonic experimental aircraft that would integrate multiple advanced aerodynamic, structural, and engine technologies.
Read the entire page →
From page 5...
... In the relatively recent past, when it was conducting more flight research than it currently conducts, NASA successfully sponsored important aeronautical innovation with relatively modest flight research budgets. NASA aeronautics research is entirely capable of initiating a program aimed at developing cost-effective flight research vehicles to demonstrate innovative aerospace technology in flight.
Read the entire page →
From page 6...
... However, more recent NASA aeronautics flight research programs have generated useful data that are relatively inaccessible to aerospace engineers and scientists. Recommendation: NASA aeronautics should become the nation's repository of flight research data and flight test results and should make these archival data readily accessible to key stakeholders- the engineers and scientists in industry, academia, and other government agencies.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • aeronautics research
  • nasa aeronautics
  • aeronautics flight
  • environmentally responsible
  • responsible aviation

  • flight testing
  • aeronautics program
  • decadal survey
  • nasa flight
  • flight test

  • research vehicles
  • fundamental aeronautics
  • experimental aircraft
  • dryden flight
  • conduct flight

  • primary flight
  • aeronautics activities
  • nasa currently
  • relatively recent
  • innovative air

  • innovative aerospace
  • relatively modest
  • demonstrate innovative
  • aerospace technology
  • budget scenario

  • air vehicles
  • supersonics projects
  • priority focused
  • era project
  • research aircraft


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.