2011 NASA plan estrategico

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

The future of aeronautics and space exploration is built on sound strategic planning and the commitment of our employees and partners. The images on

the cover show activities that contribute to achieving our strategic goals, artist concepts of future missions or innovative ideas, and our education efforts.

On May 17, 2010, NASA Astronaut Steve Bowen, STS-132 mission specialist, participates in the mission’s first session of extravehicular

activity as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station.

Aerospace engineer Rod Chima works with the Large-Scale Low-Boom supersonic inlet model in the Glenn Research Center’s 8' x 6'

Supersonic Wind Tunnel. Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and the University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign partnered with Glenn to test

the model with micro-array flow control to try to alleviate the thunder-like sonic booms produced by supersonic aircraft. (Credit: NASA/B.R.

Caswell)

Dr. Heather Oravec, a postdoctoral researcher at the Glenn Research Center, works with a new device developed there that tests lunar soil

strength. Called a vacuum bevameter, the device measures the characteristics of lunar soil simulants, or lunar regolith, in a vacuum chamber

at specific temperatures while accounting for lunar gravity. The system may be used to predict strength characteristics of lunar regolith in

previously unexplored regions of the Moon. (Credit: NASA/M.M. Murphy, Wyle Information Systems, LLC)

Leland Melvin, Associate Administrator for the Office of Education and former astronaut, high-fives fifth- through 12th-graders at the Minority

Student Education Forum. The forum was part of our Summer of Innovation initiative and the Federal Educate to Innovate campaign to

increase the number of future scientists, mathematicians, and engineers. (Credit: NASA/C. Huston)

Our heavy-lift rover Tri-ATHLETE, or All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer, carries a logistics module mockup during the summer

2010 DesertRATS field test. The spider-like Tri-ATHLETE can roll or climb over uneven terrain to deliver a load to its destination. Desert-

RATS, or Research and Technology Studies, offers a chance for a team of engineers, astronauts, and scientists to conduct technology

development research in the Arizona desert, a good stand-in for destinations for future planetary exploration missions. (Credit: NASA)

An engineer works with the fully functional, one-sixth scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope mirror in the optics testbed. This

large, infrared-optimized telescope will search for the first galaxies that formed in the early universe. It will peer through dusty clouds to see

the birth of stars and planetary systems. (Credit: NASA)

A crew member from STS-132 photographed the International Space Station on May 23, 2010, after the Space Shuttle undocked and

began separation. (Credit: NASA)

An artist’s concept of the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity (left), compares it with the much-smaller Spirit, one of the twin Mars

Exploration Rovers. Mars Science Laboratory, in development at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still

today, an environment able to support microbial life. (Credit: NASA/JPL–Caltech)

Solar Probe Plus, its primary solar panels retracted into the shadows of its protective solar shield, approaches the Sun in this artist’s concept.

Managed by the Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar Probe Plus will repeatedly sample the near-Sun environment, revolutionizing our

knowledge and understanding of coronal heating and the origin and evolution of the solar wind. (Credit: NASA/JHU–APL)

Kenneth Silberman, an engineer at the Goddard Space Flight Center (right), guides a student from the Maryland School for the Blind through

an exploration of one of several tactile, scale models. During the visit to NASA Headquarters, one of several events sponsored by the Equal

Opportunity and Diversity Management Division during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, students from the school met with

representatives from each Mission Directorate. (Credit: NASA/P.E. Alers)

The SUGAR Volt is a twin-engine ultra-fuel efficient aircraft concept with a hybrid propulsion system that combines gas turbine and battery

technology, a tube-shaped body and a truss-braced wing mounted to the top of the aircraft. This aircraft is designed to fly at Mach 0.79

carrying 154 passengers 3,500 nautical miles. This concept was one of four designs presented to us in April 2010 for our NASA Research

Announcement-funded studies into advanced subsonic aircraft that could enter service in the 2030 to 2035 time frame. (Credit: NASA/The

Boeing Company)

Life aboard the International Space Station always requires the crew members to put our core values—safety, integrity, teamwork, and

excellence—into action. The International Space Station brings together people from many backgrounds and nations in a relatively small

working and living environment to achieve a wide variety of science and engineering goals. In this photo Naoko Yamazaki, Japan Aerospace

Exploration astronaut (center), joins NASA astronauts T.J Creamer (back left), Alan Poindexter (STS-131 commander, back right), and

Stephanie Wilson (lower right) in the busy Destiny Laboratory. (Credit: NASA)

A last quarter crescent Moon above Earth’s horizon is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 24 crew member on the International

Space Station on September 5, 2010. (Credit: NASA)

Two seventh grade boys conduct an experiment in the Ames Research Laboratory’s Fluid Mechanics Laboratory on the effects of airflow

resistance (or drag) on automobiles. They have placed a toy truck in the tank on the right and added a dye to the water to show the flow

around the vehicle. The boys were preparing for the Santa Clara Valley [California] Science Engineering Fair–2010 Synopsys Championship.

(Credit: NASA/E. James)

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In 2010, the President and Congress unveiled an ambitious new direction

for NASA, laying the groundwork for a sustainable program of exploration and

innovation. This new direction extends the life of the International Space Station,

supports the growing commercial space industry, and addresses important

scientific challenges while continuing our commitment to robust human space

exploration, science, and aeronautics programs. The strong bipartisan support

for the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 confirms our essential role in addressing

the Nation’s priorities.

This is a year that will see additional discoveries from our premiere science

missions and advances in aviation technology. It is a year that will see the end

of the Space Shuttle Program, the completed construction of the International

Space Station, and progress in developing a new space transportation system.

It also is a year that we are certain will see continued success in commercial

space efforts to bridge the gap in U.S. human space flight to low Earth orbit.

This Strategic Plan outlines our long-term goals as an agency and describes how we will accomplish these goals

over the next decade or more. Our goals cover more than flagship missions and cutting-edge technology development.

We are committed to working smarter, doing business differently, and being transparent in our operations.

Continuous improvement in our program management, in particular, is essential to our future success, and we will

keep the public’s trust through transparency and accountability for our actions. We will continue to adhere to our core

values of safety, integrity, teamwork, and excellence while we foster the pioneering, innovative, and partnering spirit

that drives us and continues to advance our Nation.

We will continue to reach out to our international partners, educators, industry, the public, and other stakeholders.

NASA will be a leader in research and development and in innovative business and communications practices.

Overall, NASA is a multi-mission agency that addresses complex national challenges, enables new markets, performs

cutting-edge research, inspires and educates, and opens new frontiers.

The Nation has high expectations of NASA—as it should. That expectation is cast in the legacy of those who built,

tested, and flew the missions of yesterday and is a sign of confidence in each of us here now. I am proud of what we

have accomplished throughout our history as an agency, and I believe that the future holds many good things. With

our past accomplishments in mind, we shift our focus forward on the bold new direction set by the President. We

embrace the challenge, and we look forward to sharing this adventure with the American people.

Strategic Plan Message From the Administrator

Photo above: Administrator Charles Bolden speaks during a ceremony for winners and participants of NASA’s 2009 Centennial Challenges,

held on February 26, 2010, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The competition addresses a range of technical challenges that support

our missions in aeronautics and space, with a goal of encouraging novel solutions from non-traditional sources like individual inventors, student

groups,

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