During 2004 and 2005 NASA made major changes to its organizational structure to streamline the agency. The reorganization was designed to eliminate the so-called "stove pipe effect" in which individual facilities and enterprises within the agency operated too independently and did not communicate well with one another or with NASA headquarters. Many critics had blamed NASA's management structure for contributing to the Challenger and Columbia disasters. According to NASA's fiscal year 2005 performance and accountability report, the new system will ensure that "all parts of the Agency act as One NASA team to make decisions for the common good, collaborate across traditional boundaries, and leverage the Agency's many unique capabilities in support of a single focus: exploration."
NASA's organizational structure is shown in Figure 2.3. It includes four major divisions called Mission Directorates:
- Aeronautics Research—Devoted to research and development of new aeronautical technologies and aviation systems
- Exploration Systems—Responsible for biological research and technological development to support human and robotic exploration
- Science—Charged with ensuring that missions are planned to reap scientific benefits, analyzing scientific data, and facilitating cross-transfer between earth and space science findings
- Space Operations—Dedicated to directing launches and flight operations and related communications systems
NASA Facilities
Figure 2.4 shows the locations of NASA headquarters and various field facilities, including the ten major facilities called centers.
Each center supports multiple projects. Each center is also assigned a particular area of expertise for which it is supposed to build and maintain human resources, facilities, and other capabilities. NASA calls these "centers of excellence."
AMES RESEARCH CENTER
The Ames Research Center (ARC) is located in Mountain View, California. It was founded as an aeronautics research laboratory in 1939 adjacent to a military base later named Moffett Field. The base was closed in 1994 and its facilities and runways turned over to ARC. The center conducts research in astrobiology (the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe), air traffic management, super-computing, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and other areas of importance to space exploration. It also conducts wind tunnel testing and flight simulations. ARC is a center of excellence for information technology. As of 2006 it employed more than 2,500 people.
DRYDEN FLIGHT RESEARCH CENTER
The Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) is located at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California. The base was the site of joint NACA military testing of high-speed experimental aircraft during the late 1940s. In 1959 the high-speed flight station at the base was designated a NASA flight research center. DFRC is NASA's primary installation for flight research. It also serves as a back-up landing site for the space shuttle. DFRC is a center of excellence for atmospheric flight operations. As of 2006 approximately 1,000 people were employed there.
GLENN RESEARCH CENTER
The Glenn Research Center (GRC) is located in Cleveland, Ohio, at Lewis Field adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. It began in 1941 as NACA's Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory. GRC researches and develops technologies in aeropropulsion, aerospace power, micro-gravity science, electric propulsion, and communications technologies for aeronautics and space applications. Its facilities include the nearby Plum Brook field station at which large-scale testing is conducted. GRC is a center of excellence for turbomachinery (turbine-based machines). As of 2006 it employed more than 1,000 people.
GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is located in Greenbelt, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1959 as NASA's first spaceflight center. GSFC is a major laboratory for developing robotic (unmanned) scientific spacecraft. The center also operates the Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, and the Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility in Fairmont, West Virginia. Wallops is NASA's principal installation for managing and implementing suborbital research programs. The IV&V facility was formed following the space shuttle Challenger accident to ensure that mission-critical software is safe and cost-effective.
FIGURE 2.3 NASA organizational structure
In 1966 NASA established the National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at GSFC. The NSSDC became the archive center for data from NASA's space science missions and continues to serve that purpose. Space science data from NASA missions are made available to researchers and, in some cases, to the general public.
FIGURE 2.4 NASA sites
GSFC is a center of excellence for earth science and physics and astronomy. As of 2006 more than 8,000 people were employed there.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER
The Johnson Space Center (JSC) is located in Houston, Texas. It was established in 1961 to be the focus of the manned spaceflight program. At that time, it was known simply as the Manned Spacecraft Center. In 1973 the Center was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in honor of the late president's support of NASA space programs during the 1950s and 1960s.
The JSC houses the program offices and mission control centers for the space shuttle and the International Space Station. JSC facilities are used for astronaut training and spaceflight simulations for both these programs. Aircraft used to train astronauts and to support the space shuttle program are stationed at nearby Ellington Field, a joint civilian and military airport operated by the City of Houston. JSC is a center of excellence for human operations in space. As of 2006 it employed more than 15,000 people.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER
The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is located on Merritt Island, Florida, adjacent to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The air force station was the site of the Mercury and Gemini launches of the early 1960s. KSC was created specifically for the Apollo missions to the Moon. The center provides launch and landing facilities for the space shuttle program and performs maintenance, assembly, and inspection services on the spacecraft. It is also responsible for packaging components of the laboratory experiments that are used on the space shuttle. KSC is a center of excellence for launch and payload processing systems. As of 2006 more than 11,000 people worked there.
LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER
The Langley Research Center (LRC) is located in Hampton, Virginia. In 1917 it was established as the country's first civilian aeronautics laboratory. LRC designs and develops military and civilian aircraft, conducts atmospheric flight research, and tests structures and materials in wind tunnels and other testing facilities. It is a center of excellence for structures and materials. As of 2006 LRC employed more than 3,500 people.
MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is located near Huntsville, Alabama, on the Redstone Arsenal Site. During the 1950s a team of rocketry specialists led by Wernher von Braun worked at the arsenal site developing rockets for the U.S. military. In 1960 the Redstone Arsenal Site's space-related projects and personnel were transferred to the newly formed MSFC. The center developed the Saturn rockets used throughout the Apollo program. MSFC manages the manufacturing contracts for the space shuttle main engine, external tank, and reusable solid rocket motor. The center also conducts research in micro-gravity and space optics and develops programs for space shuttle payloads. It is a center of excellence for space propulsion. As of 2006 more than 6,000 people were employed there.
STENNIS SPACE CENTER
The Stennis Space Center (SSC) is located in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. It was founded in 1961 as the static test facility for launch vehicles to be used in the Apollo program. SSC is home to the largest rocket propulsion test complex in the United States. It is NASA's primary installation for testing and flight-certifying rocket propulsion systems for the space shuttle and other space vehicles. The center also works with government and commercial partners to develop remote sensing technology. SSC is a center of excellence for rocket propulsion testing systems. As of 2006 it employed more than 1,500 people.
Other NASA Facilities
There are numerous facilities and installations that provide support to the field Centers and are either operated by NASA or under contract to NASA. Some of the major ones are described below.
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is located in Pasadena, California. This facility is owned by NASA but operated under a contractual agreement by the California Institute of Technology. JPL began informally during the 1930s as a group of student rocket enthusiasts under the direction of Professor Theodore von Kármán, head of the university's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory. These rocket scientists achieved funding for their projects from the U.S. Army, and by the 1940s they were investigating new technologies in aerodynamics and propellant chemistry under the name of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In 1958 JPL was transferred from Army jurisdiction to NASA.
Jet propulsion is no longer the primary focus at JPL. The facility now serves as NASA's primary operator of robotic exploration missions. It also manages and operates NASA's Deep Space Network. As of 2006 JPL employed approximately 5,000 people.
DEEP SPACE NETWORK
The Deep Space Network (DSN) is an international network of antennas that enables NASA mission teams to communicate with distant spacecraft. As shown in Figure 2.5 DSN communications complexes are situated at three locations around the world (roughly 120 degrees apart) in Goldstone, California, Robledo, Spain, and Tidbindilla, Australia. This placement allows the JPL operations control center to maintain constant contact with spacecraft as the earth rotates.
WHITE SANDS TEST FACILITY
The White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) is located at Las Cruces, New Mexico, a remote desert location. WSTF provides services to military and government clients. It is NASA's primary facility for testing and evaluating rocket propulsion systems, spacecraft components, and hazardous materials used in space travel. WSTF supports the space shuttle and ISS programs.
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