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|
| Acronym | Full Name |
|---|---|
| ACE | Advanced Composition Explorer |
| ACP | Aviation Capacity program |
| ACRIM | Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor |
| AEPA | Atmospheric Effects of Aviation program |
| AGATE | Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments |
| ALT-Laser | Laser Altimeter |
| AST | Advanced Subsonic Technology |
| ASTP | Advanced Space Technology program |
| Astrobiology | The study of the living universe. Provides a foundation for a multidisciplinary study of the origin and distribution of life in the universe, including the role of physical forces, planetary atmospheres, and ecosystem interaction in the evolution with living systems. |
| Astro materials | The natural, nonbiological materials that constitute the solid bodies of the solar system other than Earth, including planets, satellites, asteroids, comets, and dust. These materials may be studied in situ in their place of origin, collected by missions for return to Earth, or brought to Earth by natural phenomena (meteorites, cosmic dust). |
|
Aviation
Capacity Program
|
Technology development program designed to increase air traffic throughput (the number of planes that can safely take off, fly, or land in a given air space) |
|
AvSP
|
Aviation Safety program |
| AXAF | Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, now named Chandra X-ray Observatory |
| Base R&T | Basic long-range research and technology development |
| CGRO | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory |
| DoD | Department of Defense |
| DOE | Department of Energy |
|
DS
|
Deep Space |
| EELV | Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle |
| El Niño | A climate disturbance occurring every 2 to 5 years in the Pacific Ocean. A region of warm water forms in the western Pacific and moves toward South America, altering weather and rainfall patterns, wind directions, and even the jet stream. El Niño events contribute to floods and droughts in the Americas, Africa, and Australia. |
| EOCAP | Earth Observation Commercialization Applications program |
| EOS | Earth Observing System |
| EOSDIS | EOS Data and Information System |
|
EPA
|
Environmental Protection Agency |
| ERAST | Environmental Research Aircraft Sensor Technology |
| FAA | Federal Aviation Administration |
| FIRST | Far-Infrared Space Telescope |
| Future-X | A continuing series of demonstrators containing technologies that are more advanced or alternative to the technologies in X-33 and X-34 |
| GAP | General Aviation Propulsion program |
| GLAST | Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope |
| Global change | The full range of natural and human-induced changes in Earth's environment, including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems, that may alter the capacity of Earth to sustain life. |
| GOES | Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite |
| GPRA | Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 |
| GPS | Global Positioning System |
| GRACE | Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment |
| HEDS | Human Exploration and Development of Space (Enterprise) |
| HPCC | High Performance Computing and Communications |
| HST | Hubble Space Telescope |
| Human-rated | General term that can best be described as designing piloted vehicle systems in such a manner as to safely accommodate humans and to make use of human-inherent capabilities to ensure the greatest possible probability of a successful mission. |
| Hyper-X | Hypersonic Test Vehicle |
| IMAGE | Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration |
| IPCC | International Panel on Climate Change |
| ISE | Intelligent Synthesis Environment |
| ISS | International Space Station |
| LEO | Low-Earth orbit |
|
Lidar
|
Light detecting and ranging instrument (as opposed to radar, which uses radio waves) |
| Lunar Prospector | A small Discovery program mission that orbited the Moon |
|
Mars
Pathfinder
|
The Discovery program mission that landed the Sojourner rover on Mars |
| Microgravity research | Area of scientific application and commercial research concerned with the identification and description of the effects of reduced gravitational forces on physical and chemical phenomena. Microgravity research probes a new parameter in space where gravitional acceleration no longer is equal to 1 g and, instead, can approach values that are orders of magnitude lower. |
| Mir | Russian space station |
| NEAR | Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous |
| New Millennium program | A space flight program to demonstrate new technologies for use in a subsequent flight validation program |
| NGST | Next Generation Space Telescope |
| NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NMP | New Millennium program |
| NOAA | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |
|
NOx
|
Nitrogen oxide |
|
NSF
|
National Science Foundation |
| OMB | Office of Management and Budget |
| R&D | Research and development |
| R&T | Research and technology |
| SAGE | Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment |
| SAMPEX | Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer |
| SeaWiFS | Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor |
| SIM | Space Interferometry Mission |
| SIRTF | Space Infrared Telescope Facility |
| SOFIA | Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy |
| SOHO | Solar and Heliospheric Observatory |
| Space Act | National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 |
| SRTM | Shuttle Radar Topography Mission |
|
STEREO
|
Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory |
|
TDRSS
|
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System |
| TIMED | Thermosphere-Ionosphere-Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics |
| TOMS | Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer |
| TRACE | Transition Region and Coronal Explorer |
| TRMM | Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission |
| UEET | Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology (Aeronautics) |
| USDA | U.S. Department of Agriculture |
| USGS | U.S. Geological Survey |
| VCL | Vegetation Canopy Lidar Mission |
| WMO | World Meteorological Organization |