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Strategic Objective
Advance aeronautics research for global mobility.
Strategic Objective
Overview
Aviation is the transportation mode that connects nations, cities, businesses, and people to support a growing and vital global economy. Within the United States, aviation is essential to economic well-being. Aviation contributes more than $1.0 trillion annually to the U.S. economy and supports more than 10 million direct and indirect jobs, including more than one million manufacturing jobs. Aviation comprises more than five percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product. In the United States, more than $1.5 trillion in freight is transported by air every year and air travelers alone spend more than $635 billion a year. Globally, the aviation system is growing rapidly with the potential for more than five times as many passengers and 10 times the cargo in 2050 as today. Since our establishment, NASA has continually advanced America’s aviation system to improve our quality of life and productivity on Earth.*+
NASA contributes unique innovations to aviation through our research activities. These innovations serve as key enablers for the role of U.S. commercial aviation in sustaining American commerce and safe, environmentally sustainable mobility, and hence the Nation’s economic well-being. NASA’s role is to explore early stage concepts and ideas, develop new technologies and operational procedures through foundational research, and demonstrate the potential of promising new vehicles, operations, and safety technology in relevant environments. We are focused on the most appropriate cutting-edge research and technologies to overcome a wide range of aeronautics technical challenges for the Nation’s and the world’s current and future air transportation system.
* “The Economic Impact of Civil Aviation on the U.S. Economy,” August 2011, FAA, (http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/FAA_Economic_Impact_Rp...)
+“IATA Vision 2050,” Page 61, IATA, February 2011, Table 16, PDF.(http://www.iata.org/pressroom/facts_figures/documents/vision-2050.pdf)
Progress Update
Through the Strategic Review and the Agency’s other performance management processes, NASA reviews recent accomplishments and near term plans for the Agency’s strategic objectives and programs. Under Strategic Objective 2.1, NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) advances aeronautics research along six Strategic Thrust, which are research areas guiding ARMD’s response to global trends affecting aviation:
- Strategic Thrust 1: Safe, Efficient Growth in Global Operations
- Strategic Thrust 2: Innovation in Commercial Supersonic Aircraft
- Strategic Thrust 3: Ultra-Efficient Commercial Vehicles
- Strategic Thrust 4: Transition to Low-Carbon Propulsion
- Strategic Thrust 5: Real-Time System-Wide Safety Assurance
- Strategic Thrust 6: Assured Autonomy for Aviation Transformation
This strategic direction is relatively new (ARMD released their Strategic Implementation Plan in 2015), and the 2015 NASA Strategic Review found that ARMD’s progress towards the strategic portfolio and direction is on track during the limited implementation period. External reports have been positive regarding the portfolio of programs and new strategic direction. In addition, ARMD began implementing a series of new and improved processes and structures. Over the next several years, NASA’s critical next steps are to continue contributing to the six new Strategic Thrusts through the completion of the Technical Challenges in partnership with the aviation community.
The Strategic Review also addresses long-term strategic outcomes, alignment, and key management challenges for each strategic objective, as well as across NASA’s portfolio of activities. There are no known significant events or issues that would prevent ARMD from achieving the strategic objective.
For more information, please see http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/. Highlighted achievements during FY 2015 are detailed in the FY 2015 Agency Financial Report. Additional details on the FY 2015 performance for supporting Performance Goals and Annual Performance Indicators are provided in NASA’s FY 2015 Annual Performance Report. Information on the strategies for achieving this strategic objective can be found in the 2014 NASA Strategic Plan.
