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Narrator: 2013 was a big year for Ames Research

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Center's space exploration programs, including

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several new launches, and continuing a long

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history of cutting-edge innovations.

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(Music)

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Designed and built at Ames, the Lunar Atmosphere

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and Dust Environment Explorer or LADEE Mission was

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successfully launched and sent to orbit the Moon

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to conduct science operations.

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The spacecraft is studying the extremely thin

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atmosphere or exosphere of the Moon and measuring

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the amount of dust found in this region of space.

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Ames is managing the science operations for the

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LADEE Mission, as well as commanding and

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controlling the spacecraft using the

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Multi-Mission Operations Center.

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This facility is also being used by controllers

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for the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

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or IRIS Mission.

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The IRIS spacecraft successfully launched this

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year on its mission to study the region of space

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around the surface of the sun.

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Using state of the art imaging technologies, IRIS

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is gathering extremely high-resolution data about

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the energy release from the sun that creates what

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is commonly referred to as space weather.

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The Kepler Mission continues to make

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groundbreaking discoveries and redefine our

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understanding of planetary systems and stars in

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the galaxy.

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The team has found hundreds of new planet

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candidates this year and continues to discover

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smaller, Earth-sized planets orbiting in the

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habitable zone of their sun-like stars.

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For Ames researchers, 2013 could be called the

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"Year of the Nanosatellite!"

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Several of these tiny satellites were built and

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sent into space, including the innovative

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PhoneSat cubesat.

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PhoneSat was created as a technology demonstration

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mission to prove that a satellite based on a

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smartphone could function in space.

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This year, the team successfully flew 4 of the

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tiny satellites in space and future versions are

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already in development.

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The TechEdSat cubesat was also built at Ames as a

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technology demonstration.

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It tested a new "exo-braking" parachute system

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that could allow satellite payloads to safely

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re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

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In collaboration with the Air Force,

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a team at Ames built the first

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Nanosatellite Launch Adapter System.

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NLAS is designed to launch multiple cubesats from

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rockets that could previously only carry

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two or three at a time.

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The Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA Ames is

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working to improve the capability, functionality

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and reliability of robotic systems that are key to

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the future of space exploration.

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On three different occasions this year, astronauts

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on the International Space Station remotely

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operated the Ames-developed K10 planetary rover

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located at the Center's Marscape.

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These tests were the first time an astronaut in

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space controlled a rover on a planetary surface.

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2013 was also a year that Ames researchers

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conducted experiments on the

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International Space Station to better

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understand the effects of microgravity.

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Seedling Growth-1 was designed to study

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how plants respond and adapt to a range

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of low gravity environments.

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The results of these studies could be key to

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supporting astronauts for

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long-duration space missions.

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Ames also developed the Cell Biology

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Technology Demonstration.

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The system is a simple, yet highly effective

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method, for conducting cell biology tests

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while in space.

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A team at Ames tested an innovative and compact

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heat shield that could expand like an umbrella to

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enable much larger payloads for planetary entry

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than are currently possible.

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Wind tunnel tests on models of the NASA Space

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Launch System were conducted at Ames to help

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improve the design and stability of NASA's next

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heavy-launch vehicle.

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This summer NASA launched Spaceloft-7 and

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Spaceloft-8, two sub-orbital rockets, from

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Spaceport America near Las Cruces, New Mexico.

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They achieved a record altitude of 73.9 miles,

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while carrying a variety of experiments

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in microgravity.

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Ames manages the selection and development of

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payloads for the suborbital flights program.

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The Curiosity rover continues to explore the

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surface of Mars and a team from Ames is using

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their X-ray diffraction instrument called CheMin

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to analyze the soil and find out exactly what

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minerals it contains.

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Ames researcher David Blake developed the CheMin

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instrument that is one of the key tools being used

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to identify whether the conditions for life could

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have existed at one time on the surface of Mars.

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Using instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance

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Orbiter, researchers from Ames and JPL are working

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to see if a form of salty water is responsible for

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the seasonal slopes that appear on the sides of

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Martian hills and mountains, an area where

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scientists generally believe conditions to be dry.

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Researchers at Ames worked in partnership with the

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Russian Space Agency on a life science experiment

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called Bion-1.

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The mission was to study how life adapts to

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microgravity in space and then re-adapts to

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gravity on Earth.

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The Ames-developed Pioneer 11 spacecraft reached

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its 40th anniversary in space.

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Launched in April of 1973, Pioneer 11 flew past

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Jupiter and Saturn and collected tremendous

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amounts of data about both before communication

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with the spacecraft ended in 1995.

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As they did in 2013, scientists, researchers and

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staff are hard at work to continue their mission

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to make new discoveries in 2014 and beyond!

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(Music)