14 DAY TRIAL // Officials at the American space agency announce the setup of a new virtual institute at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), in Moffett Field, California. Called the NASA Aeronautics Research Institute (NARI), the organization will solicit and foster innovations to address several key issues.
These include technological challenges that the US aviation and transportation systems are face with today. At the same time, the Institute will also deal with how these problems will evolve in the foreseeable future.
The agreement establishing NARI was signed on Tuesday, March 27, by the associate administrator for aeronautics research at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, Jaiwon Shin, and ARC director, S. Pete Worden.
A series of multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary research teams will constitute the foundation of this Institute's capabilities. Some of their primary responsibilities will include the creation of new tools for solving issues such as air traffic congestion, the environmental impact of aircraft and so on.
At the same time, NARI experts will also be looking for ways of using unconventional capabilities to improve the design and safety of aircraft in general. In addition, the Institute will strengthen cooperation between NASA, academic institutions, and other government and industry organizations.
“This institute will fulfill NASA's desire to make deliberate investments in innovative, early stage and potentially revolutionary aviation concepts and technologies,” Shin said during the ceremony.
“We want innovation not only within our technical portfolio, but also in the management of it. NARI represents a new approach to introduce fresh lines of research,” he goes on to say, adding that the program will receive about $10 million per year.
This sum is sufficient for the Institute to fund a large number of early stage concepts. NARI is not designed to operate as a stand-alone research organization, but rather to complement all other capabilities the American space agency already has at its disposal.
The ARC “is delighted to host a third virtual institute, focused on another one of our core areas of expertise. We look forward to building new communities of innovation around aeronautics,” Worden explains.