Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087
beth.dickey-1@nasa.gov

Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
650-604-5612
jonas.dino@nasa.gov

CONTRACT RELEASE: C08-046

NASA AWARDS AIRSPACE SYSTEM RESEARCH CONTRACTS

WASHINGTON -- NASA has awarded research contracts worth a total of $12
million to two industry teams to study how the introduction of new
aircraft types may affect air traffic management efficiency, aviation
safety and the environment in the future.

In June, NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate selected
teams led by Raytheon Company of Waltham, Mass., and Sensis Corp. of
East Syracuse, N.Y., to receive separate 18-month study contracts
valued at $6 million each. The research topic is "Integration of
Advanced Concepts and Vehicles into the Next Generation Air
Transportation System."

"Through these studies we can begin to understand how to design an air
traffic management system that can accommodate the aircraft of the
future," said Karlin Toner, director of NASA's Airspace Systems
Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The teams will use modeling and simulation to examine the potential
impacts of seven particular classes of air vehicles on the nation's
airspace. The vehicles classes are: very light jets, super heavy
transports, uncrewed aircraft, supersonic transports, cruise
efficient short takeoff and landing aircraft, rotorcraft and business
class aircraft. Some of these vehicles already are being introduced,
and are posing challenges to operators and users of the airspace
system.

The studies are intended to identify gaps in knowledge and to provide
NASA and its partners with recommendations for future research and
analysis. NASA is collaborating with other U.S. government agencies
and industries on the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The
initiative aims to apply satellite-based navigation, surveillance and
networking technologies to help meet future air traffic demands.

The Raytheon Company team includes Northup Grumman in El Segundo,
Calif.; Gulfstream Aerospace in Long Beach, Calif.; Intelligent
Automation Inc. in Mendota Heights, Minn.; Booz Allen Hamilton of
McLean, Va.; University of California, Berkeley; George Mason
University in Fairfax, Va.; University of Illinois, Urbana;
University of Maryland, College Park; University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge; and Purdue University in West Lafayette,
Ind.

The Sensis Corporation team members include Georgia Tech, Atlanta;
CSSI Inc. of Washington; ATAC Corporation in Sunnyvale, Calif.; L-3
Communications in Billerica, Mass.; Honeywell Labs in Minneapolis;
and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

For more information about NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate, visit:

http://aeronautics.nasa.gov