NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field is a NASA center within the cities of Brook Park and Cleveland between Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and the Rocky River Reservation of Cleveland Metroparks, with a subsidiary facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Its director is James A. Kenyon. Glenn Research Center is one of ten major NASA facilities, whose primary mission is to develop science and technology for use in aeronautics and space. , it employed about 1,650 civil servants and 1,850 support contractors on or near its site.
In 2010, the formerly on-site NASA Visitors Center moved to the Great Lakes Science Center in the North Coast Harbor area of downtown Cleveland.
History
The installation was established in 1942 as part of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and was later incorporated into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a laboratory for aircraft engine research.
It was first named the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory after funding was approved in June 1940. It was renamed the Flight Propulsion Research Laboratory in 1947, the Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (LFPL) in 1948 (after George W. Lewis, the head of NACA from 1919 to 1947), and the NASA Lewis Research Center in 1958.
On March 1, 1999, the center was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field, in honor of John Glenn, who was a fighter pilot, astronaut (the first American to orbit the Earth) and a politician.
As early as 1951, researchers at the LFPL were studying the combustion processes in liquid rocket engines.
Facilities
Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility
The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility or just Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility, formerly the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Plum Brook Station or just Plum Brook Station, in southern Erie County, Ohio, near Sandusky, is also part of Glenn (). It is located about from the main campus. It specializes in very large scale tests that would be hazardous on the main campus.
the station consisted of five major facilities: B-2 Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility Combined Effects Chamber Cryogenic Components Laboratory: slated for demolition Hypersonic Test Facility Space Power Facility
The Plum Brook Reactor was decontaminated and decommissioned under a 2008 cost-plus-fee contract valued at more than $33.5 million.
In 2019 the U.S. senators from Ohio, Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, proposed to rename Plum Brook Station after Neil Armstrong. The legislation was signed into law on December 30, 2020, and Plum Brook Station was renamed the Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility.
B-2 Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility
The B-2 Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility is the world's only facility capable of testing full-scale, upper-stage launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated high-altitude conditions. The Space Power Facility houses the world's largest space environment vacuum chamber.
Icing Research Tunnel
The icing Research Tunnel is a wind tunnel capable of simulating atmospheric icing condition to test the effect of ice accretion on aircraft wings and body as well as to test anti-icing systems for aircraft.
Zero Gravity Research Facility
The Zero Gravity Research Facility is a vertical vacuum chamber used for dropping experiment payloads for testing in microgravity. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1985. The facility uses vertical drop tests in a vacuum chamber to investigate the behavior of components, systems, liquids, gases, and combustion in such circumstances.
The facility consists of a concrete-lined shaft, in diameter, that extends below ground level. An aluminum vacuum chamber, in diameter and high, is contained within the concrete shaft. The pressure in this vacuum chamber is reduced to 13.3 newtons per square meter (1.3atm) before use.
After the closing of the Japan Microgravity Centre (JAMIC), the NASA Zero-G facility is the largest microgravity facility in the world.
Another, smaller drop tower remains in use with a free fall time of 2.2 seconds. The smaller tower has a significantly reduced cost per drop and the Dropping In Microgravity Environment (DIME) educational program is conducted there.
Significant developments
Aeronautics science and technology
NASA Glenn does significant research and technology development on jet engines, producing designs that reduce energy consumption, pollution, and noise. The chevrons it invented for noise reduction appear on many commercial jet engines today, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.