On the 20th of December , 1939 , the 2nd laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics ( NACA ) was establish . The facility at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale , California , would later be know asNASA ’s Ames Research Centerafter the founding chairman of NACA , Joseph S. Ames — but no one could anticipate how iconic Ames would become .
The Ames Research Center was establish to further the US ’ enquiry into the aerodynamics of World War II aircraft , and later it was developed further and further in parliamentary procedure to transmit space travel inquiry and information technology study . AsNASA remembers :
During its earliest days , the center ’s researcher broke new ground in all flight regimes – the subsonic , sonic , ultrasonic and hypersonic – through construction of increasingly sophisticated wind burrow , research aircraft , and methods of theoretical aeromechanics . progress upon its unbelievable capability with wind tunnels , Ames research expanded into computational fluid moral force , simulation technology , information technology , melody traffic management research , list rotorcraft , atmospherical entrance systems , human factors and life science . Ames was influential in many slipway in establish what is now known as Silicon Valley . [ … ] Today , in addition to its continuing research in aeronautics and life sciences , Ames labour the frontiers of research in lunar science , astrobiology , small small - price missions , airborne science and the search for planets outside of our own solar system .
Let ’s lionise ARC ’s 75th day of remembrance with the following set of gorgeous icon selected from the NASA archives .
Dr. Joseph Sweetman Ames at his desk at the NACA headquarters.
photograph : NACA / NASA
Circa 1940: Lockheed P-38 model in 40x80ft wind tunnel.
1942: Free-flight investigation of a 1/4-scale dynamic model of XFV-1 in a 40 x 80ft wind tunnel.
1942: A scale model is being prepared for study in one of the 7×10 foot wind tunnels.
This 20 February 2025 photograph shows the construction of the Ames full-scale 40×80 foot wind tunnel.
A Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star sits on the ramp at the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (1946).
An aerial view of the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, Moffett Field, California, in 1947.
1948: Test pilot Lawrence A. Clousing climbs into his Lockheed P-80 aircraft for a test flight.
1948: Testing advanced designs for high-speed aircraft, an engineer makes final calibrations to a model mounted in the 6×6-foot supersonic wind tunnel.
1954: A F-86 aircraft being lowered into the 40×80-foot full scale wind tunnel.
Photo : NASA
1954: The Republic F84F Thunderjet fighter-bomber involved in flight research at the NACA Ames Aeronautical Laboratory.
1962: A demonstration of a vertical landing by the NASA Ames Research Center’s Bell X-14A Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft.
1963: The “energy flash” when a projectile launched at speeds of up to 17,000 mph impacts a solid surface at the Hypervelocity Ballistic Range. This test is used to simulate what happens when a piece of orbital debris hits a spacecraft in orbit.
1963: A technician mounts a model of the Apollo Launch Escape System (LES) in the Unitary Wind Tunnel.
1963: An engineer mounts a model of the M-1 Lifting Body in the throat of the 3.5-foot Hypersonic Tunnel.
picture : NASA Ames Research Center
Ames test pilot Fred Drinkwater, astronaut Neil Armstrong, and Ames project engineer Stu Rolls in front of the Ames Bell X-14 airplane being flown by Armstrong in February of 1964, five years before Armstrong landed on the moon.
Photo : Lee Jones / NASA
5 Degree Freedom of Motion Simulator with R. Gerdes.
Schlieren image of an Apollo Command Module and Launch Escape System model being tested in the Ames 11-foot wind tunnel at Mach 1.20 and an angle of attack of 10.5 degrees.
1965: The M2-F2 lifting body aircraft is mounted in the full scale wind tunnel.
M-2 Lifting Body being tested in the atmospheric entry simulator to determine the areas of most intense heat.
Photo : Dino Ponseggi / NASA
YF-12 inlet airframe interaction test in the 8X7-foot supersonic wind tunnel.
1977: Hubert Vykukal (designer) demonstrates the mobility of the hard-suit AX-3 Space Suit design.
Photo : Lee Jones / NASA Ames Research Center
Circa 1978: McDonnell Douglas YAV-8B Harrier V/STOL Systems Research Aircraft hovering.
Aerial View of the main buildings of NASA Ames Research Center, in 1982.
The Vestibular Research Facility (VRF) centrifuge in Building N-242 (1985).
photograph : Eric James / NASA
A 1/3 scale model of the space shuttle preparing for tests in the 40×80-foot test section.
The space shuttle acoustics model in the 11-foot wind tunnel.
1987: The largest wind tunnel in the World: the 80×120-foot wind tunnel drive fans.
Photo : Tom Trower / NASA Ames Research Center
1989: The AH-64 Apache helicopter simulator with Integrated Helmet & Display Sighting System (IHADSS).
The Puma Robotic Sensor Arm, for use in Virtual Reality development and studies (1990).
Photo : Dominic Hart / NASA
1990: The EVA (Extra Vehicular Activity) Exercise Device for evaluation and effectiveness of weightlessness on astronauts during long duration spaceflights
photograph : Tom Trower / NASA
1990: The 40×80-foot Data Acquisition System.
1990: Mapping out the neural networks of the inner ear as part of Dr. Murial Ross’s study of the effects of space travel.
The Cray Y 190A Supercomputer (1990).
1991: The F-18 in the 80×120-foot wind tunnel
1995: NASA’s Virtual Airport Tower, a full-scale, highly sophisticated simulation facility that emulates Level 5 air traffic control towers and the busiest airports.
1995: Ames Robotics Laboratory, T-1 Robot in the “sandbox.”
1998: Vertical Motion Simulator cab in motion.
The parachute for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) passed flight-qualification after testing in March and April 2009 inside the world’s largest wind tunnel at NASA’s Ames Research Center.
pic : NASA / Ames Research Center / JPL
2012: A model for the Experimental Evaluation Concept Boom and Performance Exploratory Test is tested in the NASA Ames 11×11-foot transonic wind tunnel.
Photo : Eric James / NASA Ames Research Center
2012: The Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) for Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) class spacecraft undergoes wake deficit wind tunnel testing with pressure-sensitive paint. The testing occurred in the Ames Research Center’s 11×11-foot Transonic Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel.
Photo : Dominic Hart / NASA Ames Research Center
anniversaryNASA
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