III.

NASA Ames Research Center

NASA’s Ames Research Center was established in 1939 on a site adjacent to Naval Air Station Sunnyvale. It is the second laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and was named for the chair of the NACA, Joseph S. Ames, an influential aerodynamicist and the former president of Johns Hopkins University. The center became a part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration when NASA was established in 1958. After Moffett Field was officially closed to military operations on July 1, 1994, all of the property was transferred from the Navy to NASA, except for the military housing buildings, which were reassigned to the U.S. Air Force.


A birds-eye view of large wind tunnel buildings with long, curved chambers connected to huge industrial structures with flat and peaked roofs.
Aerial view of 7-by-10-foot wind tunnels #1 and #2, old 14-by-14-foot wind tunnel site, Eric James, 2009. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. ACD09-0235-006

As the U.S. Navy was building some of the world’s biggest wood structures to house its new fleet of patrol blimps, NACA embarked on the construction of the largest wind tunnels on Earth. Its first wind tunnel was completed in 1941 and was used during World War II to test the airflow of high-speed fighter aircraft. The 40-by-80-foot wind tunnel opened in June 1944. The 12-foot subsonic wind tunnel opened in 1946. The construction of the Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT) began in 1951 and was completed in 1956. That facility includes three separate tunnels, the 11-by 11-foot Transonic, 9-by-7-foot Supersonic, and the 8-by-7-foot Supersonic test sections. An 80-by-120-foot tunnel was added to the 40-by-80-foot tunnel in 1987. The 12-foot pressure tunnel was rebuilt in the 1980s and rededicated in 1995.

A man repairs a huge, circular gear, while standing atop a tall metal platform attached to the big machine. 2 men stand beside a stack of 10 huge gears.
Historical view from the Ames Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel 8-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. AD06-0109-3
A man wearing a white hard hat examines a huge industrial machine made of large circular discs with short, tightly spaced, fanlike blades.
Historical view from Ames 8-foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel construction. View of the 11-stage compressor, 1955. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. A-8ft-sswt-339-2-1
A construction crane lifts an oval-shaped structural member into place in the center of two wind tunnel segments supported with metal scaffolding.
Installation of a test-section bent showing the flat-oval shape of the test section, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 18. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NACA AFST 40
Three steel construction cranes stand beside the curved metal exterior of an under construction wind tunnel. A nearby blimp ascends into the sky.
View of the construction of the world’s largest wind tunnel and its original 40- by 80-foot test section with a Navy blimp flying overhead in the background, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 19. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NACA AFST 37
A dark section of a large wind tunnel with an oval opening at its center that reveals a blimp flying in the distance and a construction crane.
Wind tunnel structure looking down the test-section throat from the contraction structure showing some of the structural framing. A Navy blimp is shown in the center, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 17. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NACA AAL-4270

Generations of flight vehicles have been tested and refined at the Ames Research Center, from commercial and military aircraft to NASA rockets and craft from every crewed spaceflight program. Innovations in supersonic flight, deicing research, which was critical to the effective technology used in the Pacific during World War II, and the development of the swept wing have all been made possible by the pioneering research and analysis completed at Ames’s advanced facilities.

A man wearing a hard hat looks up at a very large scale model of a space shuttle, which is raised above the floor on tall columns inside a wind tunnel.
Three-quarter front view of the space shuttle model in the wind tunnel, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 291. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA AC75-1161-004
A man in a hard hat with his back to the camera points up at a white fighter jet, which is raised above the floor on tall columns inside a wind tunnel.
Three-quarter front view of the McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II lift-jet V/STOL aircraft, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 227. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA A76-1269-9
Two men look up at a yellow aircraft with a thin fan element attached to each wing, which is raised above the floor on tall columns inside a wind tunnel.
Low-wing transport model with lift fans forward of wing, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 210. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA AC70-1604
Two men stand below an aircraft raised above the floor on tall columns, with a triangular body and sharp nose cone pointed to the wind tunnel ceiling.
Lower front view of E-7 model at high angle of attack, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 323. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA AC89-0370-43
A sleek, yellow jet with its nose cone pointed up toward the wind tunnel ceiling is studied by a man standing beneath its aerodynamic wings.
Lear Jet Model 23 at high angle of attack, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 160. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA A-40937
A man looks up at a yellow aircraft with short wings and a tail with NASA’s logo. The plane is raised above the floor on tall columns inside a wind tunnel.
Low-wing transport model with lift fans forward of wing, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 215. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA AC70-1604
A woman wearing a hard hat and holding a large drawing looks up at a huge propeller with 3 long gray blades that is being tested inside a wind tunnel.
A 2/3-scale V-22 tilt-rotor aircraft proprotor in cruise orientation, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 307. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA AC88-0182-2
Two men, with their backs to the camera, look up at a yellow helicopter with wings that is raised above the floor on tall columns inside a wind tunnel.
Lockheed stoppable rotor in lifting mode, NASA/Ames Research Center. From Kenneth W. Mort, The World’s Largest Wind Tunnels: Their History, Contributions to Aeronautics, and Importance to Flight, NASA Ames Research Center, (Moffett Field, California, 2020), page 187. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. NASA A-36028

Ames’s unparalleled research infrastructure and diverse areas of expertise are vital to numerous NASA missions. The Vertical Motion Simulator is the world's largest flight simulator for high-fidelity testing of new and experimental aircraft and spacecraft designs. Every NASA shuttle pilot received training in the VMS, and future Moon-bound astronauts may as well. NASA’s Kepler space telescope, led by Ames, discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars and revealed that the galaxy holds more planets than stars. Artemis and the pathfinding small satellite CAPSTONE, which successfully tested a navigation technology akin to Earth’s GPS, advanced a capability that could help future space missions more efficiently navigate at the Moon.

Ames is the lead center for NASA’s first robotic lunar rover, VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover), which will map water and other resources on the Moon. Ames scientists explore the universe with the James Webb Space Telescope and study how Earth life responds to the conditions of space aboard the International Space Station. The Starling mission will test Ames-developed technologies that will let multiple spacecraft operate as a unit, without direct control from Earth—tools that are essential to the HelioSwarm mission to study the Sun. Ames supports the Mars Sample Return mission bringing rocks back from Mars for study on Earth, and Dragonfly, which will make flights of exploration across Saturn’s moon, Titan.

The arc jet—a specialized high-energy wind tunnel—helps users design, develop, and test thermal protection materials and heat shields for spacecraft entering an atmosphere. Computer simulation goes hand in hand with wind tunnel testing, and NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing division at Ames provides world-class supercomputing resources and services. They are customized to meet NASA’s needs for aeronautics, space exploration, and Earth and space science.

A man holding a long cable guides a white, flat, square-shaped vehicle down 2 metal tracks from a raised platform to the floor of a large research lab.
Antoine Tardy, VIPER rover egress driver, adjusts the cables that power and send commands to the VIPER test unit as engineers practice its exit/descent from the model Griffin lunar lander at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Dominic Hart, 2023. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. ACD23-0066-049
The exterior of a large, white, cube-shaped volume connected to a wide, metal floor track. A man stands on a short blue bridge leading to its door.
The Vertical Motion Simulator is the world’s largest motion flight simulator, moving within a ten-story tower at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Dominic Hart, 2019. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. ACD19-0059-025
4 people wearing headsets sit in the 4 seats of a car-like space. The windshield and windows are screens displaying virtual views of the city
Four passengers participate in a simulation of an air taxi at NASA’s Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS), Dominic Hart, 2020. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center Photograph Library Collection, photo no. ACD20-0006-039

Ames transformed air traffic management by helping to optimize the flow of flights at airports, saving time for travelers and over one million gallons of fuel during a four-year test at a single U.S. airport, called Airspace Technology Demonstration 2 (ATD-2). Ames’s work in drone traffic management is revolutionizing the way the nation’s airspace is used. UTM—the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Traffic Management Project—created a research platform to help manage large numbers of drones flying at low altitude along with other airspace users. Their findings will help package delivery or emergency response drones fly safely near helicopters, airplanes, and nearby airports. Building on earlier work by Ames researchers, the center leads NASA’s Advanced Capabilities for Emergency Response Operations (ACERO) project, using drones and advanced aviation technologies to improve wildland firefighting coordination and operations. The NASA Earth Exchange (NEX) is a Big Data initiative providing unprecedented insights into Earth’s systems using NASA’s supercomputers at Ames.

Ames also hosts the NASA Research Park, a world-class shared-use R&D hub for industry, academia, and nonprofits that collaborate with NASA to meet mission needs. Residents include the U.S. Geological Survey, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, and numerous industry partners. For more information about the extraordinary history and inspiring impact of NASA’s Ames Research Center please visit: https://www.nasa.gov/reference/ames-history/



We Are Ames, NASA/Ames Research Center, 2014. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center


Before NASA, Before Silicon Valley: The 1939 Founding of Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, NASA/Ames Research Center, 2009. Courtesy NASA Ames Research Center

PREV

NEXT
PAGE NAVIGATION
3 / 10 Sections