As it works on developing new aircraft that offer enhanced safety, reduced fuel consumption, and lower emissions, NASA’s aeronautics R&D program also is developing technologies to enable a next-generation US air traffic control system and to encourage adoption of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) for research, law enforcement, and other purposes. It’s a tall order for a program for which President Obama requested just $569.4 million for fiscal year 2012. House appropriators have agreed to provide the full request, $68 million more than Congress dispensed in FY 2011. As PHYSICS TODAY went to press, the Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet moved its version of NASA’s spending bill.
In late August NASA administrator Charles Bolden told the first meeting of an aeronautics roundtable convened by the National Academies that he has been looking throughout NASA’s $18.7 billion budget to find $100 million to add to aeronautics R&D. “In aeronautics terms, $100...
