NASA's mission for Aerospace Technology (AT) Enterprise is to pioneer the identification, development, application, and commercialization of high-payoff aeronautics and space transportation technologies. The Enterprise's research and technology programs promote economic growth and contribute to national security through advances that will lead to a safe and efficient national aviation system, affordable and reliable space transportation, and improved information management systems.

Research and development conducted by the AT Enterprise is led by individual NASA Research Centers according to primary roles and core competencies. Ames Research Center (ARC) utilizes its core competencies and its unique expertise areas to lead research and technology development activities to achieve the AT Enterprise goals, which are to

• Revolutionize Aviation: Enable a safe and environmentally friendly expansion of aviation
• Advance Space Transportation: Create a safe, affordable highway through the air and into space
• Pioneer Technology Innovation: Enable a revolution in aerospace systems
• Commercialize Technology: Extend the benefit of NASA's research and technology

The AT Enterprise manages through a care-fully defined set of technology areas that are aligned with designated Center Missions. Lead Centers have the responsibility to manage the implementation and execution phases of technology programs. In order to achieve this mission, NASA has designated Ames Research Center as the Center of Excellence for Information Technology and has delegated to Ames the lead role for basic research in Aviation Operations Systems, Information Systems Technol-ogy, and Rotorcraft. Ames is also the NASA Lead Center for focused programs in Aviation System Capacity and High-Performance Computing and Communications. To perform these leadership roles, Ames maintains Agency leads in the core competencies of information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and aerospace operations systems, with unique expertise areas in rotorcraft and thermal protection systems. The plans and goals of the AT Enterprise directly support national policies in both aeronautics and space; those policies are documented in "Goals for a National Partnership in Aeronautics Research and Technology" and the "National Space Transportation Policy," respectively. The following paragraphs highlight Ames Research Center's accomplishments in FY01 toward achieving the goals of the Enterprise.

Revolutionize Aviation

Air transportation has become an essential component of the economic progress of the United States. Efficient aviation operations assist in domestic industrial progress and help U.S. businesses to compete in the global marketplace. Aviation products are also a major contributor to a positive U.S. industrial balance of trade. Projections linked to world economic growth suggest that air travel demand will triple over the next 20 years. To preserve the Nation's economic health and the welfare of the traveling public, NASA must provide technology advances for safer, cleaner, quieter, and more affordable air travel. Ames has unsurpassed expertise in key disciplines that are requisite to addressing these chal-lenges. Those disciplines include human-centered air traffic management automation tools, innovative rotorcraft and short takeoff vehicles, integrated design-automation tools, and technologies for managing and communicating information on every level. Ames maintains key national facilities that are crucial for performing the basic and applied research needed to support the U.S. aerospace industry. These efforts are all part of Ames' contribution to increased safety, reduced noise, increased capacity, and increased mobility objectives.

Airlines and businesses lose billions of dollars annually from delays and lost productivity owing to weather and traffic congestion in the current airspace system. Under the Aviation System Capacity program, Ames has developed air traffic management decision-support tools such as the Active Final Approach Spacing Tool (aFAST) component of the Center/ TRACON Automation System (CTAS). The success of the CTAS system has led to widespread FAA acceptance of the system including plans to field CTAS at numerous major airports across the country. During FY00, the implementation of these tools was continued at several U.S. sites under the FAA's "Free Flight Phase 1" program. The Direct-To Tool for En Route Controllers received rave reviews after airport tests. The predictions, analyses, and measurements of wake-vortex locations trailing aircraft have been advanced through a number of different approaches. The unique suite of tools that Ames offers was expanded this year with the increased use of Future Flight Central, a simulated Aircraft Control Tower used by airports to study and evaluate operational concepts. Information technology advancements were applied to these challenges through remote large data-set visualization, remote access and analysis of aeronautical data, and advancing computations for wind tunnel test and data analysis.

While increasing aviation system capacity and affordability, Ames is improving flight safety with innovative research in new aircraft crew-station designs and display systems and human-centered air traffic controller station design. In addition, advanced neural network control systems promise the ability to autonomously reconfigure a vehicle so that it can survive the failure of virtually any of its systems. An example of this reconfiguration capability was flight tested in conjunction with the Dryden Flight Research Center.

A major challenge to deploying rotorcraft vehicles to alleviate air traffic congestion is noise abatement. Ames projects are providing revolutionary technology advances in aero-acoustics including higher harmonic control (HHC) for blade-vortex interaction noise reduction, phased microphone array technol-ogy, and development of a Tilt Rotor Aero-acoustic Model (TRAM). Some early results indicate the possibility of reducing noise from the rotor by a factor of 4 at certain frequencies through the use of HHC. Noise from aircraft landing gear has also been analyzed this year, leading to similar opportunities for noise reduction.

Advance Space Transportation

Low-cost space access is key to realizing the commercial potential of space and to greatly expanding space research and exploration. Through integration of aviation technologies and flight operation principles with commercial launch vehicles, a tenfold reduction in the cost of placing payloads in low-Earth orbit is anticipated within the next decade. High reliability and rapid turnaround are the first steps to increased confidence in delivering payloads on time with fewer ground crews. NASA has initiated research on a broad spectrum of technology advancements that have the potential to reduce costs well beyond the initial reusable launch vehicle goals. Involved are new technologies and the inte-gration of aeronautical principles such as air-breathing propulsion and advancedstructures. This will enable a cost-to-orbit measured in hundreds, not thousands, of dollars per pound. Additional innovative work in interplanetary spacecraft thermal protection and autonomous vehicle systems promises to decrease the mass of interplanetary spacecraft while dramatically improving their reliability and performance.

Ames is developing new thermal protection systems that will enable radical improvements in vehicle entry performance. If forced to de-orbit in an emergency, current spacecraft, such as the space shuttle, have very limited cross-range capability; consequently, the crew has very few available emergency landing sites. Dramatic improvements in thermal protection technology, such as the materials to enable the use of sharp leading edges, will allow radically different aerodynamic shapes that will lead to dramatic improvements in cross-range capability. A flight experiment of some of these materials was conducted, and is yielding data that will improve our understanding of the ways in which these new materials must be developed and applied to aerospace vehicles. Full vehicle systems analysis has been performed to measure the improved safety that can be achieved given increased cross-range. Advanced micro-sensor technol-ogy and intelligent vehicle health management research will provide order-of-magnitude decreases in the cost and time required to inspect and refurbish reusable launch vehicles. These Ames technologies are at the heart of system-wide improvements in the launch-to-low-Earth-orbit space transportation market.

Aviation and space transportation have been exciting and challenging areas of scientific and engineering endeavor since their inception. The basic aerospace paradigm is shifting from large hardware developments to information-based design and data system management. As NASA's Center of Excellence for Information Technology, Ames Research Center's contribution will continue to grow throughout the remainder of this century and into the next. Specific accomplishments this year include work in advancing grid-generation tools and applications.

Pioneer Technology Innovation

NASA's charter is to explore high-risk technology areas that can revolutionize aerospace systems and create new markets for U.S. industry. The technology challenges for NASA include eliminating the barriers to affordable and environmentally friendly high-speed travel, expanding general aviation, and accelerating the application of technology advances to increase design confidence and decrease design cycle time.

Next-generation design tools will revolutionize the aviation industry. The impact will benefit all four AT Enterprise goals, contributing to every technology objective. Ames' aerospace and information technology research programs are developing aerospace-vehicle design tools that integrate the design system with performance analysis and high-accuracy computational and wind tunnel performance testing. These Ames-developed systems have demonstrated order-of-magnitude improvements in the time required to develop and validate a successful design. Research at Ames in information technology will elevate the power of computing tools to artificial domain experts through application of fuzzy logic, neural networks, and other new artificial intelligence methods. New tools will integrate multidisciplinary product teams, linking design, operations, and training databases to dramatically cut design cycle times and improve operational efficiency. Ames' accomplishments include applying neural networks and genetic algorithms for real-time reconfiguration of integrated flight controls to alleviate system failure events, genetic algorithms for aerodynamic shape optimization, and development of flight controls for unmanned rotorcraft. Innovation in vertical-lift technologies, and conceptual development of the application of vertical-lift vehicles for planetary exploration progressed this year. Work is under way to identify and understand the factors that contribute to the three-dimensional perception of sound. Additionally, in FY00 Ames made significant strides in the development and application of nanotechnology, including demonstrating the ability to manufacture carbon nanotubes.