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"Ames
Research Center boasts a proud history of innovation and discovery that
spans more than 60 years. Today, at the beginning of the 21st Century, we
face new challenges and new opportunities. Our responses will define us
as an institution. We will measure ourselves by our creativity, innovation,
and dedication to The NASA Vision. We will succeed through our unique strengths
and capabilities.
The NASA vision that inspires us �To improve
life here� blossoms at Ames. Our research projects
accelerate the development of tools and procedures
to improve aviation safety, security, and
air traffic management for today and explore
advanced concepts for transforming the national
airspace system of tomorrow. In addition, our
information technologists provide the high-end
computational capability to model the complexity
of global climate change�a major impact on
our everyday lives.
The NASA Vision asks us �To extend life to there.�
Here, too, Ames advances the horizon. Our life
sciences research enables an understanding of the
effects of the space environment on living systems,
while human-centered computing provides
avenues for working in a robotic-assisted universe.
Such studies pave the way to prolonged
space missions.
Perhaps most audaciously, the NASA Vision challenges
us �To find life beyond.� Here too, Ames is
in the vanguard. Seeking answers to some of life�s most fundamental questions, the Astrobiology scientists and NASA Astrobiology Institute centered
at Ames ask: How does life begin and evolve?
Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? What is the
future of life on Earth and beyond? Ames created
the interdisciplinary field of Astrobiology less
than a decade ago and today leads more than
700 scientists across the Agency and around the
world in pursuing investigations focused on these
fundamental questions. Through biotechnology,
information technology, and nanotechnology,
researchers are developing both the basic knowledge
and the applications to create new sensors
and capabilities to allow autonomous spacecraft,
and ultimately humans, to seek out life wherever
it might reside.
Finally, the new education mission challenges us
to inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers
and explorers in ever more creative and effective
ways. Once again, Ames rises to the task with a
daring new vision for the 21st Century: The NASA
Research Park will open the Center�s gates to
academia and industry as never before with a college-
like campus and a commitment to partnership
in the heart of Silicon Valley. Ames and its
partners will soon begin developing 213 acres on
Moffett Field into a world-class laboratory and
educational facility. Here research scientists and
students will conduct collaborative research and
development in today�s most promising and adventurous
fields: Astrobiology, biotechnology,
information technology, and nanotechnology.
This exciting new chapter in the history of Ames
Research Center promises to get even better. I
encourage you to read about it in these pages.
"
G. Scott Hubbard
Director
NASA Ames Research Center
Read the full 2004 Ames Implementation Plan
(Adobe Acrobat Required)
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