Armstrong Flight Research Center
Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center from the air. | |
Agency overview | |
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Preceding agencies |
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Jurisdiction | U.S. federal government |
Headquarters | Edwards Air Force Base, California, United States |
Agency executive |
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Parent agency | NASA |
Website | Official website |
The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by
Established as the
AFRC was the home of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a modified Boeing 747 designed to carry a Space Shuttle orbiter back to Kennedy Space Center if one landed at Edwards.
The center long operated the oldest
Location
Though Armstrong Flight Research Center has always been located on the shore of Rogers Dry Lake, its precise location has changed over the years. It currently resides on the northwestern edge of the lake bed, just south of North Gate. Visitors must obtain access to both Edwards AFB and NASA AFRC.
The Rogers Dry Lake bed offers a unique landscape well suited for flight research: dry conditions, few rainy days per year, and large, flat, open spaces in which emergency landings can be performed. At times, the bed can host a runway length of over 40,000 feet. It is home to a compass rose some 2,000 feet across, in which aircraft can land into the wind in any direction.
List of current projects
- X-56
- X-57
- X-59 QueSST
- Dream Chaser
- UAS in the NAS
- TGALS
Historic projects
Douglas Skyrocket
NASA's predecessor, the NACA, operated the Douglas Skyrocket. A successor to the
Controlled Impact Demonstration
The Controlled Impact Demonstration was a joint project with the Federal Aviation Administration to research a new jet fuel that would decrease the damage due to fire in the crash of a large airliner. On 1 December 1984, a remotely piloted Boeing 720 aircraft was flown into specially built wing openers which tore the wings open, fuel spraying everywhere. Despite the new fuel additive, the resulting fireball was huge; the fire still took an hour to fully extinguish.
Even though the fuel additive did not prevent a fire, the research was not a complete failure. The additive still prevented the combustion of some fuel which flowed over the fuselage of the aircraft, and served to cool it, similar to how a conventional rocket engine cools its nozzle. Also, instrumented crash test dummies were in the airplane for the impact, and provided valuable research into other aspects of crash survivability for the occupants.
Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment
LASRE was a
The experiment focused on determining how a reusable launch vehicle's engine plume would affect the aerodynamics of its lifting-body shape at specific altitudes and speeds reaching approximately 340 m/s (760 mph). The interaction of the aerodynamic flow with the engine plume could create drag; design refinements look to minimize that interaction.
Lunar Landing Research Vehicle
The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle or LLRV was an
Aircraft on display
- NB-52B Balls 8 NASA 008
- Bell X-1E AF Ser. No. 46-063
- F-104N - NASA 826
- Supercritical wing- NASA 810
- F-8 Digital Fly-by-wire - NASA 802
- F-15B ACTIVE - NASA 837
- Grumman X-29 - NASA 849
- Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird LASRE - NASA 844
- Northrop HL-10 Lifting Body - NASA 804
- Rockwell HiMAT
Gallery
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The Dryden Flight Research Center's fleet of aircraft in 1997.
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The satellite image of Armstrong Flight Research Center and the Edwards compass rose.
Notable employees
- Neil Armstrong
- Marta Bohn-Meyer
- Bill Dana
- C. Gordon Fullerton
- David Hedgley
- Bruce Peterson
- R. Dale Reed
- David Scott
- Milt Thompson
- J. Scott Howell
See also
- Gromov Flight Research Institute - the Russia counterpart of the Armstrong Flight Research Centre
- List of aerospace flight test centres
References
- ^ a b Conner, Monroe (February 19, 2015). "Building 703 Facilities Overview". NASA. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Gibbs, Yvonne (August 12, 2015). "NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: First Generation X-1". NASA. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ "Aerospaceweb.org | Aircraft Museum - X-15". www.aerospaceweb.org. Archived from the original on February 10, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Gibbs, Yvonne (August 13, 2015). "NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: X-15 Hypersonic Research Program". NASA. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Gibbs, Yvonne (May 10, 2017). "F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire". NASA. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Conner, Monroe (February 19, 2015). "Building 703 in Palmdale". NASA. Archived from the original on May 4, 2017. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
- ^ Bardan, Roxana (December 5, 2022). "NASA Administrator Names New Leadership at Two Agency Centers". NASA. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
- ^ "What's In a Name". NASA. February 27, 2014. Archived from the original on March 8, 2014. Retrieved December 11, 2017.
- ^ "NASA Center Renamed in Honor of Neil A. Armstrong". NASA. April 9, 2015. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
- ^ "NASA Honors Astronaut Neil Armstrong with Center Renaming". NASA Press Release 14-061. February 28, 2014. Archived from the original on March 4, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
- ^ Google Earth imagery date 26 August 2012, at 34°59′34″N 117°53′00″W / 34.99278°N 117.88333°W