NASA Ames Research Center celebrated their 75th Anniversary on October 18th 2014 with an Open House, after a 17-year hiatus. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a “backstage pass” to tour the largest wind tunnel in the world. The subsonic tunnel is over 1,400′ long and 180′ high. It has the capacity to test planes with wing spans up to 100′ (including a full size Boeing 747!). It is separated into two sections, 80′ x 120′ and 40′ x 80′. Below are panoramic photos I shot from inside the larger section of the wind tunnel.
Above is a view from the entrance of the tunnel. Models are brought into the tunnel by a 75-ton gantry crane through the large opening overlooking NASA Ames Campus.
The wind tunnel facility is used to determine the acoustic characteristics of NASA’s full-scale models. This includes acoustic research aimed at discovering and reducing aerodynamic sources of noise. Research and experiments like this are not possible anywhere else in the world.
The fan drive system was replaced in 1987, which is now composed of six variable-pitch fans, each 40′ in diameter (equal to the height of a four-story building). The fans are powered by six 22,500-horsepower electric motors. With all six fans rotating together at 180 rpm, more than 60 tons of air per second is pushed through the tunnel!
Below is a shot of one of the air intakes, from outside the large tunnel.
Read more about the different wind tunnels at NASA on their website.
. . . And just in case you get as excited as I do regarding anything NASA, below is a panoramic photo I shot from inside Hangar One. This place is incredible.. built by the Navy in 1932 and still one of the largest freestanding structures in the world.
Hangar One spans 1,133′ long and 308′ wide, covers 8 acres, and can accommodate 10 football fields. This massive structure was designed and built to serve as the West Coast home base for the USS Macon and for the U.S. lighter-than-air aviation program (airships, dirigibles, or blimps).
