NASA FY 2003 Budget Background: Office of Aerospace Technology (Code R)

Office of Aerospace Technology (Code R)

Associate Administrator: Samuel L. Venneri

Public Affairs Contact: Michael Braukus, 202/358-1979

The total Fiscal Year 2003 budget request for the Aerospace Technology
Enterprise is $2,815.8 million; this is comprised of $1,842.5 million in direct
program funding and $973.2 million for institutional support. This represents an
increase of 11 percent from FY 2002. There are an estimated 4,618 direct Full Time
Equivalent employees included within the Aerospace Technology Enterprise in
Fiscal Year 2003.

The Aerospace Technology Enterprise mission is to advance U. S. pre-eminence in
aerospace research and technology. The Enterprise aims to radically improve air travel,
making it safer, faster and quieter as well as more affordable, accessible and
environmentally sound. As part of this effort, the Enterprise has been working closely
with the FAA to improve aviation safety and also to enable new aircraft capabilities and
air traffic technology that will increase the capacity and mobility of the air transportation
system without compromising safety. The Enterprise also is working closely with the
DoD to develop more affordable, reliable and safe access to space; enhance aerospace
system performance; improve the way in which air and space vehicles are designed and
built; and ensure new aerospace technologies are available to benefit the public.

The Aerospace Technology Enterprise program structure has been reorganized to
create a clear linkage between National policies, the Enterprise strategic goals and the
program management structure. This restructuring creates an unambiguous linkage
from the Agency strategic plan to this budget and provides a foundation for transparent,
measurable performance-reporting through the Government Performance and Results
Act. The four strategic goals of the Enterprise are:

• Revolutionize Aviation: Enable the safe, environmentally friendly expansion of
  aviation.
  
• Advance Space Transportation: Create a safe, affordable highway through the air
  and into space.
  
• Pioneer Revolutionary Technology: Enable a revolution in aerospace systems.
  
• Commercialize Technology: Extend the commercial application of NASA
  technology for economic benefit and improved quality of life.

  Three exciting initiatives that will significantly improve the performance of future
  aerospace systems will be continued in fiscal year 2003.

Engineering for Complex Systems: The Engineering for Complex Systems (ECS)
Program is a reformulated program previously called Design For Safety that supports
the Pioneer Revolutionary Technology Goal. The recent problems in some NASA
missions, along with similar or related problems in aerospace and general aviation, are
symptomatic of the difficulty in synthesizing operational and design parameters. Safety
is a system property, encompassing components, subsystems, software, organizations,
human behavior and their interactions. Yet typically system design and analysis is de-coupled,
addressing only components and subsystems; analysis of risk-factors is
usually sporadic, and deferred until integration occurs.

ECS is a significant shift in the process of how systems engineering and operations are
performed, and aims to place risk-estimation and risk-countermeasures for overall
mission and human safety on a more rigorous, explicit and quantifiable basis. This
would allow design trades to be evaluated based on a risk-factor, with the same fidelity
and confidence used for other mission or system properties such as cost, schedule and
performance.

The ECS program has a three-pronged approach to achieving its objective of enabling
ultra-high levels of safety and mission success through the infusion of advanced
information. First, the program intends to significantly advance the scientific and
engineering understanding of system complexities and failures, including human and
organizational risk characteristics. Second, processes, tools and organizational
methods will be developed to quantify, track, visualize and trade off system designs
and/or mission options with an emphasis on risk-management throughout the system
lifecycle. Third, software-based resiliency tools and technologies will be developed to
help mitigate risk in the operational and maintenance phases of the program lifecycles.

21 st Century Aircraft Technology: 21
st
Century Aircraft Technology (TCAT), a project

continued in fiscal 2003 within the Vehicle System Program, supports the Revolutionize
Aviation Goal. TCAT is a next step in reaching the long-term Goal element of enabling
development of an environmentally friendly global air-transportation system with greater
safety that improves national mobility during the next century. The technologies
developed in TCAT and the concepts enabled by these technologies will affect all
objectives of the Goal. The TCAT Project will utilize systems analysis to quantify
potential project benefits and to guide future project investment decisions.

The TCAT project will achieve in three steps its objective of enabling shifts in the design
of future generations of aircraft, providing performance enhancements that can hardly
be imagined today. First, vehicle and component-level aerodynamic, structures and
material technologies will be developed and verified to enable ultra-efficient, ultra-quiet
vehicles with optimal, on-demand performance available throughout mission-specific
flight envelopes. Additionally, TCAT will develop vehicle control systems that integrate
and optimize human, automation and ultra-distributed novel control capabilities — much
as the central nervous system of the human body integrates myriad complex biological

subsystems. Finally, TCAT will develop and validate “leapfrog” aircraft propulsion/power
concepts leading to fully integrated propulsion/power concepts, in turn leading to fully
integrated propulsion/airframe systems, which enable extremely efficient, whisper-quiet
air vehicles with ultra-low emissions.

Virtual Airspace Modeling and Simulation: The Virtual Airspace Modeling and
Simulation (VAMS) project in the Airspace Systems Program supports the Revolutionize
Aviation Goal. The VAMS project will develop the analytical and simulation capability
needed to analyze and validate the next generation of air-traffic management concepts
and evaluate new air-traffic operational concepts and architectures. The models will
include the ability to assess the economic impact of new technology and National Air
Space (NAS) operational performance, including the effects of interactive agents and
weather. These models will require a never-before-achieved level of fidelity.
The Aerospace Technology Enterprise budget request is divided among its four
strategic goals as follows.

lue=A
Revolutionize Aviation — $541.4 million

Aviation Safety Program: The Aviation Safety program will continue to develop and
demonstrate technologies and strategies to improve aviation safety by reducing both
aircraft accident and fatality rates. Some of the items that will be accomplished in fiscal
2003 include: flight evaluation of synthetic vision-system products integrated with
precision approach-and-landing and display system concepts, flight evaluation of the
next-generation cockpit weather-information system, and a “smart” icing-management
system for automatic management of ice-protection systems.

Vehicle Systems Program: The Vehicle Systems program will take advantage of the
emergence of revolutionary advances in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information
technology to enable significant advances in the functionality of the 21
st
century aircraft.
Some of the items that will be accomplished during fiscal 2003 include: completion of
sector-testing of engine combustors that reduce oxides of nitrogen emissions by 70
percent; development of physics-based models related to noise-generation and
propagation-physics for airframe and engine-noise sources, as well as noise interaction
between engine and airframe; and demonstration of a propulsion and power (P&P)
system test-bed — the first end-to-end demonstration of a P&P system, including fuel-cell
power-generation and realistic loads configured for aircraft requirements.

Airspace Systems Program: The Aviation System Capacity Program will enable
improvements in the mobility, capacity, efficiency and access of the airspace system.
This will be accomplished by developing, validating and transferring technologies that
improve collaboration, predictability and flexibility for airspace users, enable runway-independent
aircraft and provide more access for general aviation operations. Some of
the items that will be accomplished during fiscal 2003 include: completing models of the
airspace system that include the capability to model dynamic effects of interactive
agents in the system; selection of candidate technologies for experimental flight-evaluation
based on their impact on mobility through reduced system cost, improved
doorstep-to-destination time, increased trip reliability and/or improved safety of small
aircraft; and development of strategies to improve training and procedures to reduce
misunderstandings between pilots and air traffic controllers.

Advanced Space Transportation — $879.4 million

2 nd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle: The 2
nd
Generation Reusable Launch
Vehicle Program, also known as the Space Launch Initiative (SLI) Program, last year
implemented the first phase of technology developments, awarding contracts valued at
more than $800 million to industry and academia. Another milestone, the Systems
Requirements Review (SRR) Kickoff is planned for November 2002. This is the next
step in the integration and synthesis of NASA, industry and DoD requirements for the
2
nd
Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle. This important review will result in more
focused attention on fewer space transportation architectures and associated
technology areas. Each industry partner will go forward with its most promising
architecture, which will drive the technology-maturation investments for the program.

Following the SRR, the program will release a Request for Proposal (RFP) in February
2003, with contract awards planned for September 2003. This RFP is the next major
milestone in the SLI process of focusing on architectures and technologies required to
increase the safety and decrease the cost of space transportation systems. The
solicitation will select the most promising architecture(s) to proceed toward a detailed
preliminary design of the 2
nd
Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle.

Propulsion development for vehicle on-orbit maneuvering and control systems will be
initiated in November 2002 with the Technology Readiness Review of a two new
auxiliary propulsion-system designs: liquid oxygen/ethanol and liquid oxygen/liquid
hydrogen. A prototype system will undergo a Critical Design Review in July 2003.

Space Transportation & Launch Technology: Also known as the 3
rd
Generation
Reusable Launch Vehicle Program, the Space Transfer and Launch Technology (STLT)
activity will pioneer the identification, development, verification, transfer and application
of high-payoff space transportation technologies. STLT is responsible for implementing
the 3
rd
generation element — Hypersonics (of speeds equal to or exceeding five times
the speed of sound) — of NASAÕs Integrated Space Transportation Plan. As a result of
NASA’s participation in the National Hypersonics Plan development, the agency has
focused its 3rd Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) efforts on the unique,
critical technologies required to meet these ambitious goals.

The refocused efforts are centered on integrated ground demonstrations of rocket-based
combined-cycle systems, turbine-based combined-cycle systems and flight
demonstration of high-speed scramjet-propulsion/airframe integration. In fiscal 2003,
STLT will complete the non-advocate review of three revolutionary hypersonic
propulsion-technology systems demonstrations that include the rocket-based combined-cycle,
turbine-based combined-cycle and scramjet engines. Other achievements will
include the high-temperature composites demonstration where significant weight
reduction for RLV engine systems can be quantified through actual test data.

Pioneer Revolutionary Technology — $274.9 million

Computing, Information and Communications Technology Program: The
Computing, Information and Communications Technology program is developing and
demonstrating revolutionary computing, information and communications technologies
in the specific areas of autonomy, human-centered systems, intelligent data-understanding,
advanced computing and networking, information environments, and
fundamental information and bio- and nano-technologies. Some of the items that will be
accomplished during fiscal 2003 include: development of efficient algorithms for
automated generation of software designs and code and development of ad-hoc space
communications networks.

Engineering for Complex Systems: (as described previously in the new initiatives)

Enabling Concepts and Technologies Program: The Enabling Concepts and
Technologies program provides revolutionary aerospace system concepts that can
enable NASAÕs strategic vision and expand future mission possibilities. In fiscal 2003,
the program will emphasize technologies to enable breakthrough capabilities in active
science instruments, ultra-efficient and resilient space systems, and advanced system
studies. Some of the areas in which investment will be made include: space-capable
lidar instruments; efficient long-life lasers; advanced spacecraft-energy production and
storage systems, including all-plastic batteries, long-life fuel cells and compact high-speed
flywheels; new sensor concepts; formation-flying control methods; and
components to enable distributed instrument networks.

Commercial Technology — $146.9 million

NASAÕs Commercial Technology Program includes Commercial Programs, Tech
Transfer Agents and Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech
Transfer programs. NASAÕs Commercial Technology Program responds to one of the
principal NASA mission goals — to develop and transfer advanced technology. The
program objectives are to establish high-value technology-development partnerships
with industry, to transfer advanced technology to industry for U.S. economic
enhancement and contributions to public quality of life, and to provide outreach to the
public on opportunities and success of NASA commercial and small business programs.

Technology partnerships are a key tool by which industry and NASA jointly pursue
mutually advantageous research and development (R&D) projects that provide new
technology both for industry use in new products and services and for NASA use in
mission programs. One intended result of these high-value R&D partnerships is to
accelerate the development of new technology by innovative leveraging of each
partnerÕs unique capabilities and consequently to reduce development costs for both.

The basis for these technology partnerships is creation of strategic alliances with
industry and close synchronization with the NASA enterprises’ technology objectives.
Some of the active technology areas for partnership with industry are advanced
materials, sensors and instruments, medical devices and imaging, and information
technology.

The Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer (SBIR/STTR)
programs were established to provide innovative technology in support of NASA
missions and to promote the commercialization of their technology. The commercial
programs and SBIR/STTR programs are closely coordinated and mutually supportive of
the overall R&D mission.

February 2002