NASA's new associate administrator for aeronautics has announced a sweeping restructuring of research programmes in a bid to place more emphasis on fundamental research. 
Lisa Porter (pictured left), unveiling the revised structure at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics aerospace sciences meeting in Reno, Nevada yesterday, said the shake-up is driven by several key goals. These include the overriding needs to “master the science of flight in all regimes”, focus on research “appropriate to NASA’s unique capabilities” and address the US government’s Next Generation Air Transport System (NGATS). It also encompasses a plan to protect and maintain the agency’s key aeronautical research and test sites.
The new structure follows four main guidelines, said Porter: a long-term focus on “cutting-edge research”; a need to integrate NASA’s diverse areas of research into a more coherent picture; specific milestones against which the agency’s research progress can be judged; and the need to reduce ‘stove-piping’, which Porter said has been a problem at NASA in recent years.
The return to fundamental research spells the end for planned projects such as a low-boom supersonic demonstrator and wider NASA involvement in government-industry efforts such as the Access 5 unmanned air vehicle programme. Porter believes the new approach will be more robust and adaptable to the vagaries of the budget cycle which, over recent years, have not been kind to aeronautics research.
Four main programmes will make up the revised aeronautics portfolio; the Fundamental Aeronautics programme, formerly Vehicle Systems; the Aviation Safety programme, previously Aviation Safety & Security; and Airspace Systems, which retains the same identity. An all-new effort dubbed the Aeronautics Test programme covers the strategic use, operations, maintenance and investment for facilities at NASA’s Ames, Glenn and Langley research centres.
GUY NORRIS / RENO
Source: Flight International
