khayo@sonia.math.ucla.edu (Eric Behr) (05/06/88)
As you are aware by now, some of this is not entirely up to date;
specifics should be taken with a grain of salt. Hopefully Eugene
will find the time to go through this too.
I don't have much time to edit nowadays, hence length of postings.
Some will like it this way, some won't - that's life. Have fun.
=================================================================
LEWIS RESEARCH CENTER
21000 Brookpark Road
Cleveland, OH 44135
NASA's Lewis Research Center occupies 360 acres of land
adjacent to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, some 20
miles southwest of Cleveland, Ohio.
More than 100 buildings comprise the center which is staffed
by 2,670 government employees and some 1,000 on-site
contractors. Additional facilities, which are currently in
standby condition, are located at Plum Brook Station, about 3
miles south of Sandusky, Ohio.
The center was established in 1941 by the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Named for George W. Lewis,
NACA's Director of Research from 1924 to 1947, the center
developed an international reputation for its research on jet
propulsion systems. Lewis is NASA's lead center for research,
technology and development in aircraft propulsion, space
propulsion, space power and satellite communication.
Aircraft propulsion activities in the early days of the jet
age were to develop aircraft which would fly higher, faster and
farther. Today's goals are fuel conservation, quieter flight and
cleaner exhaust.
Lewis has responsibility for developing the largest space
power system ever designed to provide the electrical power
necessary to accommodate the life support systems and research
experiments to be conducted aboard the Space Station. In
addition, the center will support the Station in other major
areas such as auxiliary propulsion systems and communications.
Lewis is the home of the Microgravity Materials Science
Laboratory, a unique facility to qualify potential space
experiments.
Other facilities include a zero-gravity drop tower, wind
tunnels, space environment tanks, chemical rocket thrust stands
and chambers for testing jet engine efficiency and noise. Dr.
John M. Klineberg is acting center director.
=================================================================
MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is located
on 1,800 acres inside the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal at
Huntsville, Ala. The center has about 3,300 civil service
employees. Of this number, 58 percent are scientists and
engineers and 16 percent are business professionals. The
remainder consists of technicians and administrative and clerical
support personnel.
Marshall was formed on July 1, 1960, by the transfer to NASA
of buildings and personnel comprising part of the U.S. Army
Ballistic Missile Agency. Named for the famous soldier and
statesman, General of the Army George C. Marshall, it was
officially dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on Sept.
8, 1960.
Two other sites are managed by Marshall: the Michoud Assembly
Facility, New Orleans (see separate section), where the Space
Shuttle external tanks are manufactured, and the Slidell Computer
Complex, Slidell, La., which provides computer services support
to Michoud.
In the past, Marshall has been identified most often as NASA's
launch vehicle development center. While this label accurately
describes part of the center's activities, the organization has
another side. Marshall is a multi-project management, scientific
and engineering establishment, with much emphasis on projects
involving scientific investigation and application of space
technology to the solution of problems on Earth.
In helping to reach the nation's goals in space, the center is
working on many projects. Marshall had a significant role in the
development of the Space Shuttle. It provides the orbiter's
engines, the external tank that carries liquid hydrogen and
liquid oxygen for those engines, and the solid rocket boosters
that assist in lifting the Shuttle orbiter from the launch pad.
The center also plays a key role in the development of
payloads to be flown aboard the Shuttle. One such payload is
Spacelab, a reusable, modular scientific research facility
carried in the Shuttle's cargo bay. This facility was designed,
tested and provided to NASA by the European Space Agency.
Marshall is responsible for technical and programmatic monitoring
of development activities and for development of selected
hardware. The first three Spacelab missions, for which Marshall
was responsible, have successfully flown and have returned
extraordinary amounts of data. The center also will be in charge
of numerous other Spacelab missions within the next decade. To
prepare for these flights, Marshall has built two
state-of-the-art payload control centers to run Spacelab missions
from Huntsville.
Marshall has management responsibility for the Hubble Space
Telescope, an optical telescope to be placed in orbit by the late
1980s. It will orbit above the Earth's hazy and turbulent
atmosphere, enabling scientists to see deep into space, seven
times farther than is now possible -- perhaps to the outer edges
of the universe.
The Tethered Satellite System, the "satellite on a string,"
expected to be in orbit by 1990, also is under Marshall
management. Scheduled to be carried into space by the Shuttle,
the satellite will be suspended either upward or downward from
the orbiter's cargo bay on a tether -- a super-strong synthetic
cord about 1/16th of an inch thick and up to 60 miles in length.
When deployed upward, as it will be for its first mission, the
satellite will study electrodynamic and other phenomena.
Deployed downward, it will troll the Earth's upper atmosphere for
magnetospheric, atmospheric and gravitational data.
Marshall is also responsible for the Orbital Maneuvering
Vehicle. This unmanned robotic vehicle will be carried into
orbit by the Shuttle and perform a number of activities, such as
moving satellites from one orbit to another. It is expected to
extend the range of Shuttle on-orbit operations by about 1,500
miles and will play an important role in the Space Station
program. Currently under development, its first flight is
planned for 1991.
The center also has been assigned responsibility for designing
the habitability, laboratory and logistics modules for the Space
Station, plus the environmental control system. Of the total
Space Station effort, Marshall has roughly 40 percent. The
habitability and laboratory elements will be used for living and
working in space for scientific research and technology
development, while the logistics module will store expendables --
air, food, water, clothing, etc. -- that will require replacement
about every 3 months.
Eventually, payload capability larger than the 65,000 pounds
provided by the Shuttle will be required as mankind extends
itself into the further reaches of space. Marshall has been
looking into designs of cargo vehicles to be used in the next
decade and beyond, some of which may carry as much as 250,000
pounds of payload. Evolving from components of the Shuttle into
completely new versions called "heavy-lift launch vehicles,"
these cargo carriers are proposed for the late 1990s and the
early years of the 21st century.
Other projects for the future include the Marshall-managed
Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). This observatory,
proposed for launch into orbit by the early 1990s, would be
technologically superior to any X-ray facility previously sent
into space. It would weigh 10 tons, be more than 40 feet long
and have a lifetime of about 15 years. With a full complement of
instruments for studying various properties of X-ray emissions,
it may be able to view X-ray sources at the very edge of the
universe.
Marshall also is committed to the investigation of materials
processing in space, which -- in a gravity-free environment --
promises to provide opportunities for understanding and improving
Earth-based processes and for the formulation of space-unique
materials. Exciting new techniques in materials processing have
already been demonstrated in past Spacelab missions, such as the
formation of alloys from normally immiscible products, and the
growth of near-perfect large crystals impossible to grow on
Earth. James R. Thompson is center director.
=================================================================
Ericeugene@pioneer.arpa (Eugene N. Miya) (05/08/88)
In article <12034@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> khayo@MATH.ucla.edu (Eric Behr) writes: >specifics should be taken with a grain of salt. Hopefully Eugene >will find the time to go through this too. Until Monday, when I move offices. >MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER >Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812 Why am I not surprised they have the longest description! Another gross generalization from --eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@ames-aurora.ARPA resident cynic soon to be aurora.arc.nasa.gov at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers: "Mailers?! HA!", "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology." {uunet,hplabs,hao,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix}!ames!aurora!eugene "Send mail, avoid follow-ups. If enough, I'll summarize."