Ames is the coolest place to work in the federal government. at was true when one of us (Jack) joined the laboratory in 1947, true when the other (Pete) joined in 2006. And it is true today. Part of what makes it so cool is the history we inherited. Our two oces are steps apart, and during the course of any day we often discuss what parts of Ames' past are relevant to some urgent management decision. And it's not just the two of us. People all around Ames often swap stories about how...
More DescriptionAmes is the coolest place to work in the federal government. at was true when one of us (Jack) joined the laboratory in 1947, true when the other (Pete) joined in 2006. And it is true today. Part of what makes it so cool is the history we inherited. Our two oces are steps apart, and during the course of any day we often discuss what parts of Ames' past are relevant to some urgent management decision. And it's not just the two of us. People all around Ames often swap stories about how well Ames' heritage supports America's vision of the future of space exploration. Part of what makes Ames so cool is the constant dialogue between past and future, between capabilities and potential, between the science ction of yore and the realities of what we do today, and between those giants of aerospace engineering who have walked our campus and those many young folk freshly hired who seek to learn from them. Ames has recently made a major eort to hire and give wings to the best and brightest of the next generation of space explorers. Part of what attracts them to this place is the way we have done what we do. One of ten NASA eld Centers around the country, Ames is located at the heart of Silicon Valley. While Ames developed its own in-house expertise in computation and the life sciences, we have always partnered closely with the computing and biotechnology rms active in the Silicon Valley community that sprung up around our Center. We do the non-traditional, and that is where creativity springs forth. e organizational culture of NASA Ames reects that of Silicon Valley: collaboration with many partners to leverage proven strengths, the wisdom to nurture new disciplines, a willingness to work cheap and fast, a devilish desire to hack and test often, a need to match demonstration with theory, a longer view into the future of space exploration and, most importantly, the rm belief that we indeed can change the world. During its earliest days, Ames researchers broke new ground in all ight regimes (the subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic) by building increasingly sophisticated wind tunnels, arc jets, research aircraft, and methods of theoretical aerodynamics. Extending its expertise into human factors and pilot workload research, Ames became NASA's lead center in basic life sciences research, which included radiation biology, adaptability to microgravity, and exobiology. Some Ames aerodynamicists explored the complex airows around rotorcraft and devised the rst tilt-rotor aircraft, while others modeled airows using new supercomputers and internetworking to create the eld of computational uid dynamics. Building upon its expertise in computational chemistry and materials science, Ames once pioneered the eld of nanotechnology and likewise is now a leading force in the new eld of synthetic biology. Ames research in air trac management helped make air travel safer and more energy ecient. Ames engineers and planetary scientists managed a series of airborne science aircraft, of planetary atmosphere probes, and robotic explorers like the Pioneer spacecraft and Lunar Prospector. Ames pioneered the "virtual institute" to develop the disciplines of astrobiology and lunar science. More recently, NASA Ames has been innovating in the engineering of small and modular spacecraft.
Table of Contents - History From The Perpective Of Ames Directors
- Space Projects
- Engineering Human Spacecraft
- Planetary Sciences and Astrobiology
- Space Life Sciences
- Information Technology
- Aeronautical Technology and Flight Research