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Langley Research Center
NASA Langley 14-foot (4 m) x 22-foot (7 m) Subsonic Wind Tunnel.

Langley Research Center (LaRC) is the oldest of NASA's field centers, located in Hampton, Virginia, United States. It directly borders Poquoson, Virginia and Langley Air Force Base. LaRC focuses primarily on aeronautical research, though the Lunar Lander was flight-tested at this facility and a number of high profile space missions are planned and designed on site. Established in 1917 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the Center currently devotes two-thirds of its programs to aeronautics, and the rest to space. LaRC researchers use more than 40 wind tunnels to study improved aircraft and spacecraft safety, performance, and efficiency. Between 1958, when NASA started Project Mercury and 1963, LaRC served as the main office of the Man-In-Space program, with the office being transferred to the Manned Spacecraft Center (now the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) in Houston in 1962-63.

The current Director is Ms. Lesa B. Roe

Contents

History

In 1917, less than three years after it was created, the NACA established Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on Langley Field. The Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps had established a base there earlier that same year. The first research facilities were in place and aeronautical research was started by 1920. Initially the laboratory included 4 researchers and 11 technicians.1

Langley Field and NACA began parallel growth as air power proved its utility during World War I. The center was originally established to explore the field of aerodynamic research involving airframe and propulsion engine design and performance. Early in 1943 the Center expanded to include rocket research, leading to the establishment of a flight station at Wallops Island, Virginia. A further expansion of the research program permitted Langley Research Center to orbit payloads. As rocket research grew, aeronautics research continued to expand and played an important part when subsonic flight was advanced and supersonic and hypersonic flight were introduced.

NASA Langley Research Center can claim many historic firsts, some of which have proven to be revolutionary scientific breakthroughs. These accomplishments include the development of the concept of research aircraft leading to supersonic flight, the world's first transonic wind tunnels, the Lunar Landing Facility providing the simulation of lunar gravity, and the Viking program for Mars exploration.2

Fabrication research and development

Electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF³)

The EBF³ process produces structural metallic parts with immense strength, and is conducive to performing repairs in remote locations. In addition, the ability to build functionally graded, unitized parts directly from CAD data offers enhanced performance in a great number of applications. Just recently LaRC has become home to this new type of machining process, which is used by their new room-sized electron-emitting device. This machine uses a High Frequency 42 kW, X-ray emitting electron gun, (A cousin to the ones found in television Cathode Ray Tubes), which, at high speeds, melts either aluminum or titanium wire, (positioned by dual independent wire feeders), into the desired 3-dimensional metallic parts with material strength comparable to that of wrought products. The machine's deposition rate is 150 in³/h (690 mm³/s), similar to that of its plastic-fabricating counterpart. Metallic parts are also built directly from CAD, without molds or tools, leaving the end product with absolutely no porosity. Other facts include:

  • A 6-axis positioning
  • Heated or cooled platen
  • 1x10^-6 torr vacuum capability (needed for the high power Electron beam gun)
  • 72 x 24 x 24 inch build envelope
  • Power efficiency in excess of 90%
  • Near 100% feedstock efficiency
  • Can deposit reflective materials not processable with lasers
  • Potential portable EBF³ system (Under Development)
  • Potential Fabrication & repair from the plants to the planets
  • Research assistance for developing large scale fabrication in space

Overall, Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication is a layer-additive technique that offers potential for improvements in cost, weight, and performance to enhance mission success for aircraft, launch vehicles, and spacecraft.

Plastic fabrication

Langley Research Center's 16 foot transonic wind tunnel in 1990. Before the tunnel was mothballed in 2004 it supported most major military programs both in their development stage and ongoing propulsion integration research including all fighters since 1960 (F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18 and the Joint Strike Fighter).

LaRC also houses a large collection of various, inexpensive plastic reformation machines. These machines are generally very critical in the freeform fabrication department for faster timing, better precision, and larger quantities of low-cost toy, model, and industrial plastic parts. The fabrication of plastic parts is not all that dissimillar to the EBF³ process, except the melting apparatus is a thin, grated heating element, but other than that they are quite similar, eg. they are both run completely by CAD data and deal with various freeform fabrication of raw materials. Plastic reformation machines have also come to the interest of graphical artist, opening a whole new world of bringing their masterpieces to life, all with a 'flick' of a switch, so to speak.

Langley Research Center main focus

Aeronautics

Vortex created by the passage of an aircraft wing, revealed by colored smoke

Langley Research Center performs critical research on aeronautics, including wake vortex behavior, fixed-wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft, air safety, human factors and aerospace engineering. LaRC supported the design and testing of the hypersonic X-43, which achieved a world speed record of Mach 9.6 (almost 7,000 miles per hour). LaRC assisted the NTSB in the investigation of the crash of American Airlines Flight 587.

Langley also had the Sikorsky Skycrane helicopter since 1962.

Astronautics

Moon

Since the start of Project Gemini, Langley was a center for training of rendezvous in space. In 1965, Langley Research Center opened the "Lunar Landing Research Facility" for simulations of moon landings with a mock Apollo Lunar Module suspended from a crane over a simulated lunar landscape. There was experimental work on some Lunar Landing Research Vehicles (LLRV).

Mars

Langley Research Center now supports NASA's space mission by designing a spacecraft for outer space, preparing to explore Mars (see the Mars Exploration Rover).

Earth science

Langley Research Center conducts earth science research to support NASA's mission.

References

  1. ^ "Journey in Aeronautical Research: a Career at NASA-Langley Research Center, ch. 3". NASA.
  2. ^ "NASA Langley History and Description: Initial Activities". NASA LaRC Master Plan.

External links

Full scale model of the X-43 plane in Langley's 8-foot (2 m), high temperature wind tunnel.
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