Exhibit highlights AEDC, NASA cooperation

  • Published
  • By Shawn Jacobs
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  From the beginnings of the American space program and Project Mercury, to the Apollo moon missions, to the space shuttles and potential future space projects, Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) and NASA have cooperated to assure the readiness of space vehicles.

Those collaborative efforts were the subject of an exhibit, "Mission to Mission," presented by AEDC's Junior Force Council, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) near Huntsville, Ala. The display ran July 22-29 in AEDC's Mark 1 High Bay space test facility.
Tracy Carter is president of the Junior Force Council, whose mission is to enhance career development and cooperation among the military and civilian sides of AEDC, and served as the point of contact for organizing the exhibit.

"We wanted to showcase how AEDC's mission ties in with other defense and commercial practices or industries in the area ... and [AEDC Executive Director Britt] Mr. Covington made the comment that he would like the JFC to do something with NASA." Carter said. "That got me to thinking. I wanted to show how tests and projects at AEDC are linked to tests and projects at NASA, hence "Mission to Mission."

The exhibit consisted of a 20-by-30 foot display tailored to include NASA's work with the Department of Defense (DoD).

"It was exciting because one particular placard does mention us [AEDC] specifically," Carter said. "It focuses on the current mission, which is of course, the Moon/Mars.

To highlight the AEDC/NASA relationship, Carter contacted her counterparts in different
test areas and requested displays of projects they had worked on for NASA. "We've had phenomenal support from the Test Group, Informational International Associates (IIA) Graphics and the IIA Photo Lab in putting these storyboards together."

NASA has tested in every one of AEDC's wind tunnels as well as some of the rocket test cells and chambers, according to Dr. Richard Roberts, project manager in the Propulsion Wind Tunnel Ground Test Complex.

"We've done a variety of tests in the wind tunnels, including force and moment, materials testing, plume simulation, parachute deployment and separation testing," he said. "We've been performing wind tunnel tests for NASA since the beginning, starting with Project Mercury in the 1950's when our facility was brand new.

"We've also played a role in the development of Gemini, Apollo, the shuttle and other NASA vehicles," Dr. Roberts said. "We continue to support them today with the most recent tests involving the Constellation Program."

Dr. Roberts said in the recent Facility Aerodynamics Validation and Operations Research (FAVOR) model test series AEDC engineers were able to work with their counterparts at NASA's Ames, Glenn and Langley Research Centers in a cooperative series of wind tunnel tests.

"We tested the same model at each of the facilities and compared processes, procedures and test data in order to share best practices with each another," he said. "We are at a point now where we can sit down and jointly go over the results. This test series has truly benefitted both NASA and AEDC. Hopefully, further collaboration of this type will continue in the future."

The exhibit was designed for base personnel, but Carter said she would like to open up future exhibits to the community and present them on a much larger scale. She said personnel at MSFC were extremely cooperatively in helping arrange the exhibit, despite the fact they are in the middle of their 50th anniversary celebration.

The exhibit was coupled with an excursion to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center near Huntsville to be held Aug. 18. Their new "Constellation" package has activities specifically for adult visitors to the center. The cost of the trip is $25 and must be paid by close of business Aug. 6 to Capt. Joseph Byker at 454-5802.