Center Director Kevin Petersen and Dryden's management are working on solutions to meet the most critical challenges facing the Center over the next five years.
Petersen met with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and with Associate Administrator Jerry Creedon this summer to discuss Dryden's outlook for the future. They discussed a wide array of topics, including future program plans, budget and workforce challenges.
Dryden's mission can largely be categorized in five strategic areas of business - uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs), intelligent flight control systems (IFCS), Airborne Science, 21st century aeronautics and space access.
"The Administrator reinforced Dryden's role as NASA's agent for flight research and testing, providing mission enabling capabilities for the Agency's and the nation's highest priority flight programs," Petersen said.
Workload and workforce
Because the Center can adapt rapidly to meet the Agency's needs and is well aligned with NASA's vision and mission, Dryden should be able to capitalize on some of the changes within NASA.
"Our overall strength is the Center does get the work done," he said.
Dryden seeks a more stable workforce and budget by working to change the environment in which flight research is planned and carried out. Although it appeared Dryden's workload diminished significantly with the cancellation of the X-33, X-34 and X-38, Dryden capabilities remain strained because the Center never fully staffed-up for those projects. New projects-like X-37, X-45A and Autonomous Aerial Refueling- did appear and are now competing for the Center's existing resources, staffing and budget, Petersen said.
The X-37 and Altair are coming to Dryden, the Helios Prototype is gearing up for its long duration mission next summer, and the X-45 Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) is continuing to mark new milestones.
Preparations continue for the X-43 Hyper-X return to flight, the initial phase of the Autonomous Aerial Refueling flight project will fly later this year, the Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) is about to fly and intelligent flight controls systems (IFCS) flight research projects are moving ahead. The net result - lots of work and a tremendous array of exciting flight projects on tap for Dryden.
The move to full cost management and better advanced planning may assist Dryden in defining its role in upcoming projects and having the dollars allocated for flight research earlier in the process, Petersen explained. Funds tend not to be committed to flight until late in the program, which Dryden management is attempting to change by seeking to become involved early in future projects.
For these reasons, the Center director said he is optimistic that Dryden will see a stabilization of both workforce and budget in the future. Dryden also is enhancing its advocacy efforts headed by Associate Director for Planning Rich Christiansen and his staff in an effort to ensure that other aero projects find their way to the hangars and runways at Dryden.
The Center's UAV work is expected to continue with the Helios Prototype's long duration mission set for summer 2003, Altair's first flight this fall, the X-45A flight testing, and flight research related to validating their use for a variety of missions and integrating UAVs into the national airspace.
Petersen sees UAVs as a niche that Dryden has worked to fill and it will require a long-term investment to help the country and foster a new arena for aeronautics.
"One component of UAV technology that we intend to develop as part of a broad UAV initiative, is to gain routine access in the national airspace for UAVs. It is one of the highest-priority barriers to the development and widespread use of UAVs. Our intent is to work with NASA Ames Research Center, Moutainview, Calif., other NASA Centers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and industry to foster that activity," Petersen said.
To reach that end, Petersen sees more flight demonstrations and technology development work such as on re-generative fuel cells and more demonstration flights like the ones this past summer with Pathfinder Plus to show capabilities.
Pathfinder Plus flew missions that are considered key to its future applications. It successfully completed communications experiments with Japan and used a ground-controlled imaging system to show the ripest fields on coffee plantations in Hawaii.
"We expect there to be a lot of UAV technology development and flight activity over the next decade," Petersen said.
Altair, a civilian variant of the Predator B, also is expected to arrive in 2003. It is set to perform in an effort to see and detect other piloted and remotely piloted aircraft and assist Dryden and the FAA in formulating rules that could certify UAVs to fly in the national airspace with aircraft piloted by humans.
And Dryden will continue research of the Helios Prototype beyond the mission planned for summer 2003. Although that mission marks the end of the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Program, an additional research program on regenerative fuel cells is envisioned, Petersen said.
Additional work could be the result of another Dryden partnership with the UAV National Industry Team (UNITE). That partnership seeks to assist businesses that want to expand UAV operations.
Dryden's role with the X-45 is expected to continue and the Center will remain a part of the flight research and test program with DARPA, the Air Force, and Boeing partners, Petersen said.
"We expect to continue to support the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force beyond the initial transition of the aircraft from Dryden to the Air Force," Petersen said.
Dryden's focus
Aside from the emergence of UAV research, Dryden's four other major areas of focus are progressing. Flights are planned for the F-15 to validate elements of an intelligent flight control system that will ultimately be integrated into another flight research project on a C-17.
And Airborne Sciences continues to fly a number of research missions on its DC-8 flying laboratory and its ER-2 high altitude research birds to validate new sensors, study the environment and take samples of the upper atmosphere.
Also on the front burner are 21st century avionics, which will get a boost from a wing warping experiment that will take flight on the Active Aeroelastic Wing (AAW) F/A-18. The concept of wing warping for flight control dates back to the Wright brothers, but this is the first integrated system to investigate the concept.
Finally, Dryden is expected to play an important role in access to space projects, such as the X-43 and the X-37.
The X-43 team is working on a return to flight plan. And adjustments to the vehicle necessary from the first research mission are underway to prepare the vehicle for a research flight in fall 2003.
The X-43 is attached to the top of an Orbital Sciences Pegasus rocket and the stack flies under Dryden's NB-52B and is released at altitude.
Dryden is supporting Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., with the X-37 approach and landing test vehicle (ALTV) research planned for 2004 to be carried aloft and released by Dryden's new NB-52H.
