Supersonic research aircraft and
legendary wind tunnels were the exotic tools being promoted by NASA
engineers and pilots at Aerospace Testing Expo 2005 last week at
the Long Beach, Calif., Convention Center.
The exposition gave NASA the opportunity to talk about its
aeronautics research capabilities to several thousand key players
in the global aerospace industry. Visitors lined up at the NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center booth to try their hand at piloting a
jet flight simulator. Dryden, located on Edwards Air Force Base in
California's Mojave Desert, has the capability to make simulations
for a wide variety of aircraft.
Dryden is also home to supersonic jet aircraft like an F-15B
that recently helped engineers model the trajectories of divots of
space shuttle fuel tank insulating foam, to help prepare the
shuttle fleet to return to flight. In addition to research
conducted by Dryden for NASA, the aircraft and facilities showcased
at the expo can be hired by other government agencies and
industry.
Representatives from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett
Field near San Jose came to the Expo to talk about wind tunnels.
Ames has the agency's West Coast wind tunnel facilities, storied
for their pioneering research dating back to World War II. Coupled
with computer modeling techniques, wind tunnels remain a viable,
and less expensive, alternative to full-scale flight testing in the
early stages of an aircraft development program.
Joining the Ames crew at Expo 2005 are engineers from NASA's
Glenn Research Center near Cleveland, Ohio. Glenn brings a
particular kind of wind tunnel expertise to the aerospace
community, specializing in tests of engines and powerplant systems
in tunnels built for that purpose.
Legendary among NASA aeronautical research facilities is the
Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. At the expo, Langley
engineers Peter Jacobs, Richard Wahls and others explain Langley's
various test capabilities including a transonic wind tunnel that
can be pressurized and cooled with nitrogen to produce realistic
flight regimes for modern tests.
There's a noticeable linkage between the NASA centers
represented at Aerospace Testing Expo 2005; advanced aeronautical
concepts hatched at Langley often are flown in the desert skies
over Dryden. Airframes studied at Ames and Langley can benefit from
the powerplant testing at Glenn. It's all part of the first "A" in
NASA - Aeronautics.