Armstrong Flight Research Center did amazing things this year,
helping advance NASA's mission to explore the unknown in air and space.
Innovate for the benefit of humanity
and inspire the world through discovery.
NASA's X-57 Maxwell
All electric aircraft reached another milestone toward first flight.
Lithium ion battery packs were successfully
installed and powered the plane's motors.
Armstrong is advancing all electric propulsion technology
that will make aviation more efficient, quiet and environmentally friendly.
NASA and Lockheed Martin teams made great progress
assembling NASA's X-59 quiet supersonic experimental aircraft.
The crew successfully added the tail
completed final installation of the nose, performed
a system check of the ejection seat and installed the engine.
Preparations continued for a future X-59 flight tests
that could open the door to commercial supersonic flights over land.
Testing validated supersonic shockwave imaging and measuring systems
installed in chase aircraft that gather critical data on the X-59’s Sonic thump.
The chase
aircraft also received a new life support system
to provide pilots with enough oxygen during high altitude flights,
and testing was conducted to verify microphone stations
that will be used to measure the thumps on the ground.
Advanced Air Mobility is NASA's vision to map out
a safe, accessible and affordable new air transportation system.
With the addition of new technology
such as electric aircraft concepts and increased automation, NASA's
mission is researching how industry aircraft can be integrated into the skies.
ARMSTRONG Team members are leading testing, simulation and information
sharing efforts alongside researchers from NASA's other aeronautics centers.
Armstrong is leading an effort to build a small scale
version of NASA's new hybrid electric aircraft concept.
Four Transport category aircraft.
Flights were conducted to test the integrated flight Power
and Propulsion Controls approach.
Armstrong's
flight loads laboratory completed one of its biggest loads calibration
efforts with an F/A-18E Super Hornet from Naval Air Systems Command.
Testing helped establish design limits and ensure safety of flight and crew.
87 load cases were applied to exercise as structural response.
NASA's taking flight training and preparation
to new heights at Armstrong's simulation laboratory.
One of a kind experimental simulations are providing researchers, engineers
and pilots with a safe environment to practice test conditions.
The first phase of NASA's new flight data archiving and acquisition
system was released to help engineers record access process
and analyze the vast amount of data collected during flight testing.
This phase enables better support of X-59 envelope expansion,
flight testing.
NASA's Armstrong's C-20A aircraft conducted
geological observations of California to document the long term
behavior of active landslides and the San Andreas Fault.
The science aircraft deployed to Maine to validate soil moisture algorithms.
And to Alaska and Canada to study the effects
of climate change on Arctic and boreal ecosystems.
A group of university
students and mentors flew aboard Armstrong's DC-8 aircraft to study
air quality as part of NASA's Student Airborne Research program.
The DC-8 studied dangerous engine icing conditions at high altitudes
and deployed to Cabo Verde off the coast of Africa to measure winds, aerosols,
precipitation and other conditions that influence convection.
Armstrong's ER-2 aircraft supported NASA's
multi-year airborne science campaign to track U.S.
snowstorms.
The high altitude aircraft also studied how convective storm
systems affect air pollution ecosystems and provided
critical information on natural disasters such as volcanoes, wildfires and drought.
They also studied the amount of light reflected off the moon.
The King Air B200 science aircraft supported NASA's campaign
to study small ocean whirlpools, eddies and currents
and the role these ocean processes play in the movement of heat, nutrients,
oxygen and carbon from the ocean surface
to the layers below.
After 732 nights observing,
NASA's SOFIA project ended September 29th,
2022.SOFIA was a mission of discovery,
revealing, unseen and sometimes unseeable,
parts of our universe, including water on the sunlit surface of the moon.
The first type of molecule ever to form in the universe and the intricate magnetic
field structures involved in the formation of stars and spiral galaxies.
The Boeing 747SP jetliner was modified
to carry the 38,000-pound, 100 inch telescope.
Engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center developed a garage door like mechanism
that rolled up to let the telescope observe the skies.
By 2014, the observatory reached its full operational capability,
and for eight years, SOFIA enabled astronomers
around the world to study the infrared universe
and unveil impressive cosmic events and objects invisible
to other telescopes.
NASA's Flight Opportunities
program supported suborbital flight campaigns, including parabolic flight
testing innovations designed for a broad range of space based capabilities,
including 3D printing, medical care, biotechnology,
food and farming, power systems and propellant gauging.
As part of NASA's TechRise Student Challenge, 57 student teams in grades 6
to 12 and their teachers designed and built space technology payloads
to test on future suborbital rocket or high altitude balloon flights.
Winners of NASA's first TechLeap prize launched their technologies
this summer on high altitude balloon flights testing Earth Observation
Technologies at Stratospheric Heights, thanks to Center Innovation Fund Awards.
NASA's continues to create innovative solutions to address
some of the most pressing aerospace challenges.
New weather sensors were designed to measure atmospheric pressure,
temperature, relative humidity, air quality and 3D wind velocities.
And a new magnetic connector that releases
payloads quickly and reliably was tested and could have applications
for aircraft, spacecraft and space exploration.
An early career initiative project team is researching
how magnets can be used to attach and release cryogenic fuel lines
and withstand the dust in the unforgiving environments of the moon and Mars.
Another early career Initiative project team is testing highly elastic strain
sensors to aid in the design of supersonic parachutes
used for Mars exploration.
This year, Fiber Optic Sensing System
Researchers continued Armstrong's support of heat shield development.
FOSS developers adapted their technology to support NASA's
demonstration of an inflatable heat shield technology
that could help land heavy payload cheaply on Mars.
In 2013 and 2014, NASA's Armstrong's flight loads
laboratory conducted structural tests on the donut shaped inflatable device
designed to more effectively slow down the spacecraft
upon atmospheric reentry to earth or other planets.
November's return from orbit demonstration was the next step
in the technology's development.
All eyes were
on Artemis one in November.
The first launch of NASA's mega moon rocket,
the Space Launch System, and the Orion spacecraft.
As NASA builds a long term presence on the moon.
Previously, NASA's Armstrong played key roles in the Orion
launch Abort System Developmental test, Orion parachute tests,
autonomous flight control system testing,
and the spacecraft Launch Abort System Demonstration this year.
Armstrong's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft collected rockets systems health data
during the Artemis One launch and in preparation for Artemis
two engineers are supporting development and integration of a system
to collect heat shield data during launch, NASA's Armstrong
Innovators, pilots and mission support teams attended events geared towards
inspiring the next generation of innovators.
The center participated with exhibits and hands on demonstrations,
showcasing aviation inspired technology and the latest in NASA's
aeronautics, research, space, exploration, science and more.
That's Armstrong Flight Research Center's 2022 Highlights.
For more on these and other stories, follow us on the
Web at nasa.gov/ Armstrong.