Housed in a 10-story building at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., is one of the world's most unique machines. The Vertical Motion Simulator is a massive installation that gives pilots and engineers the opportunity to test aircraft design and explore flight characteristics with an incredibly high level of realism and accuracy.
Last week CNET visited the facility as NASA was testing out Altair, the design for the next generation of lunar landers. As they test the current design, pilots and engineers make recommendations, enhancements, and alterations.
Only U.S. citizens are allowed inside the wind tunnel facility at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Mountain View, Calif., where researchers put aeronautics to the test.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
William Warmbrodt, branch chief of the Aeromechanics Branch Flight Vehicle Research and Technology Division, talks about some of the advanced helicopter research taking place there.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)
The wind tunnel is the largest in the world at 80x120 feet. It was built in the 1940s and uses 100 megawatts of power to generate the 100-knot winds.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)- prev
- 1
- next
