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A
ACDA
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
ACTS Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
AMASS Airport Movement Area Safety System AMOS Air
Force Maui Optical Site
AMS Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer
APEC Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
ARS Agricultural Research Service (USDA)
ASDE Air Surface Detection Equipment (Model)
ASTP Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
ATLAS Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science
AVHRR Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer
AVIRIS Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer
B
Black
hole A completely collapsed, massive dead star whose gravitational
field is so powerful that no radiation can escape from it;
because of this property, its existence must be inferred rather
than recorded from radiation emissions BLM Bureau of
Land Management (DoI)
C
CASTLeS
CfA-Arizona Space Telescope Lens Survey
CEOS Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
CfA Center for Astrophysics (Harvard-Smithsonian)
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States
CNES Centre Nationale d'Etudes Spatiales (France)
COPUOS Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
(United Nations)
Corona The outer atmosphere of the Sun, extending about
a million miles above the surface
Cosmic rays Not forms of energy, such as x-rays or
gamma rays, but particles of matter
COSPAR Committee on Space Research
CRISTA-SPAS Cryogenic Infrared Spectrometers and Telescopes
for the Atmosphere-Shuttle Pallet Satellite
CUE Collaborative Ukrainian Experiment
D
DARS
Digital Audio Radio Service
DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program—DoD's
polar-orbiting weather satellite system
DoC Department of Commerce
DoD Department of Defense
DoE Department of Energy
DoI Department of the Interior
DoS Department of State
DoT Department of Transportation
DSP Defense Support Program
E
EELV
Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle
El Niño A warm inshore current annually flowing south
along the coast of Ecuador around the end of December and
extending about every 7 to 10 years down the coast of Peru
EOS Earth Observing System—a series of satellites,
part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, being designed for
launch at the end of the 1990's to gather data on global change
EOSDIS Earth Observing System Data and Information
System
EPA Environmental Protection Agency
EPIC Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center
(EPA)
EROS Earth Resources Observation System (USGS)
ESA European Space Agency
ET External Tank
EUMETSAT European Organisation for the Exploitation
of Meteorological Satellites
EVA Extravehicular activity
F
FAA
Federal Aviation Administration
FAS Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA)
FCC Federal Communications Commission
Fly-by-light The use of light signals to connect the
pilot's control devices with the aircraft control surfaces;
or the use of light (fiber optic) control connections with
no mechanical backup linkages and providing the pilot direct
control of aircraft motion rather than control surface position
Fly-by-wire The use of electrical signals to connect
the pilot's control devices with the aircraft control surfaces;
or the use of electrical control connections with no mechanical
backup linkages and providing the pilot direct control of
aircraft motion rather than control surface position
FPI Fire Potential Index
Free flight A concept being developed by the FAA and
the aviation community in which pilots could ultimately choose
their own routes, speeds, and altitudes in flight, thus improving
safety, while saving fuel, time, and natural resources
FSA Farm Service Agency (USDA)
FSS Fixed Satellite Service
FY Fiscal year
G
Gamma
rays The shortest of electromagnetic radiations, emitted
by some radioactive substances
GBS Global Broadcast Satellite Service
Geostationary Traveling around the Earth's equator
at an altitude of at least 35,000 kilometers and at a speed
matching that of the Earth's rotation, thereby maintaining
a constant relation to points on the Earth
Geosynchronous geostationary
GHz Gigahertz
GIS Geographic Information System
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GPS Global Positioning System
H
Heliosphere
The region of the Sun's influence, including the Sun and the
interplanetary medium
HST Hubble Space Telescope
Hypersonic Faster than Mach 4; faster than "high
speed"
Hyperspectral An instrument capability using many very
narrow spectral frequency bands (300 or more), enabling a
satellite-based passive sensor to discriminate specific features
or phenomena on the body being observed (such as Earth)
I
IGEB
International GPS Executive Board
INMARSAT International Mobile (formerly Maritime) Satellite
Organization
InSAR Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar
INSAT Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
Integrated modular avionics Aircraft-unique avionics
cabinet that replaces multiple black boxes with shared common
equipment and generic software
INTELSAT International Telecommunications Satellite
Organization
Interferometry The production and measurement of interference
from two or more coherent wave trains emitted from the same
source
Internet An international computer network that began
about 1970 as the NSF Net; very slowly it became a collection
of more than 40,000 independently managed computer networks
worldwide that have adopted common protocols to permit the
exchange of electronic information
Ionosphere That region of Earth's atmosphere so named
because of the presence of ionized atoms in layers that reflect
radio waves and short-wave transmissions
ISS International Space Station
ITA International Trade Administration
K
K-band
Radio frequencies in the 20-GHz range
Ka-band Radio frequencies in the 30-GHz range
Ku-band Radio frequencies in the 11–12-GHz range
L
Landsat
Land [remote sensing] Satellite—a series of satellites designed
to collect information about Earth's natural resources
Laser Light amplified by simulated emission of radiation—a
device that produces an intense beam of light that may be
strong enough to vaporize the hardest and most heat-resistant
materials, first constructed in 1960
LDEF Long-Duration Exposure Facility
LEO Low-Earth orbit—100 to 350 nautical miles above
Earth
LIDAR Light Intersection Direction and Ranging
M
Mach
A relative number named after Austrian physicist Ernst Mach
(1838–1916) and indicating speed with respect to that
of sound in a given medium; in dry air at 32 degrees Fahrenheit
and at sea level, for example, Mach 1=approximately 741 miles
per hour (1,192 kilometers per hour)
Magnetosphere The region of Earth's atmosphere in which
ionized gas plays an important role in the atmospheric dynamics
and where, consequently, the geomagnetic field also exerts
an important influence; other magnetic planets, such as Jupiter,
have magnetospheres that are similar in many respects to Earth's
MilSatCom Military Satellite Communications
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MTCR Missile Technology Control Regime
N
NAPP
National Aerial Photography Program NAS National Airspace
System (FAA)
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA National Space Development Agency (of Japan)
NASS National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA)
NCAP National Civil Applications Program (USGS)
NDOP National Digital Orthoquad Program
NESDIS National Environmental Satellite, Data, and
Information Service (NOAA)
Neutron star Any of a class of extremely dense, compact
stars thought to be composed primarily of neutrons; see pulsar
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
(DoC)
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(DoC); also the designation of that administration's Sun-synchronous
satellites in polar orbit Nominal Functioning as designed
NOx Nitrous oxide
NPOESS National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental
Satellite System
NRCS National Resources Conservation Service (USDA)
NRO National Reconnaissance Office
NSF National Science Foundation
NTIA National Telecommunications and Information Administration
(DoC)—the Federal Government's radio spectrum manager, which
coordinates the use of LEO satellite networks, such as those
for Landsat, Navstar GPS, the Space Shuttle, and the Television
and Infrared Operational Satellite (TIROS), with other countries
of the world
O
OASC
Office of Air and Space Commercialization (DoC)
OAST Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (former
NASA office)
ODERACS Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres
OLMSA Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and
Applications (NASA)
Order of magnitude An amount equal to 10 times a given
value; thus if some quantity was 10 times as great as another
quantity, it would be an order of magnitude greater; if 100
times as great, it would be larger by two orders of magnitude
ORFEUS-SPAS Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme
Ultraviolet Spectrograph-Shuttle Pallet Satellite
OSS Office of Space Science (NASA)
OSTA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications (former
NASA office)
P
PAMS-STU
Passive Aerodynamically Stabilized Magnetically Damped Satellite-Satellite
Test Unit
Pathfinder A program that focuses on the processing,
reprocessing, maintenance, archiving, and distribution of
existing Earth science data sets to make them more useful
to researchers; NASA, NOAA, and USGS are involved in specific
Pathfinder efforts
PCB Polychlorinated biphenyl
Photogrammetry The science or art of obtaining reliable
measurements by means of photography
POES Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite
(program)
PPS Precise Positioning Service
Pulsar A pulsating radio star, which is thought to
be a rapidly spinning neutron star; the latter is formed when
the core of a violently exploding star, called a supernova,
collapses inward and becomes compressed together; pulsars
emit extremely regular pulses of radio waves
Q
Quasar
A class of rare cosmic objects of extreme luminosity and strong
radio emission; many investigators attribute their high-energy
generation to gas spiraling at high velocity into a massive
black hole
R
Ramjet
A jet engine with no mechanical compressor, consisting of
specially shaped tubes or ducts open at both ends, along with
the air necessary for combustion being shoved into the duct
and compressed by the forward motion of the engine
RAPID Repair Assessment Procedure and integrated Design
(software)
Radarsat Canadian radar satellite
RSA Russian Space Agency
RSML Remote Sensing and Modeling Laboratory (ARS)
S
SAO
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SBIRS Space Based Infrared System
SBS Satellite Business Systems
Scramjet Supersonic-combustion ramjet
SeaWiFS Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
SLS Spacelab Life Sciences
SNOE Student Nitric Oxide Experiment
SOFIA Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Solar wind A stream of particles accelerated by the
heat of the solar corona (outer region of the Sun) to velocities
great enough to permit them to escape from the Sun's gravitational
field
SPACEHAB Commercial module for housing Shuttle experiments
SPARTAN Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for
Astronomy
SPOT Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (French
satellite for the observation of Earth)
SRB Solid Rocket Booster
SRM Solid Rocket Motor
SRMU Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade
SSBUV Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet
SSCE Solid Surface Combustion Experiment
SSME Space Shuttle Main Engine
SSTI Small Satellite Technology Initiative
START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
STS Space Transportation System
T
TDRS
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
TM Thematic Mapper (Landsat instrument)
TRACE Transition Region and Coronal Explorer
TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
TSA Technical Safeguard Agreement
U
UARS
Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
UHF Ultrahigh Frequency—any frequency between 300 and
3,000 megacycles per second
U.S. United States
USDA U.S. Department of Agriculture
USGS U.S. Geological Survey (DoI)
USIA U.S. Information Agency
USIS U.S. Information Service (USIA abroad)
USML U.S. Microgravity Laboratory
USMP U.S. Microgravity Payload
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (former)
V
VAAC
Volcanic Ash Advisory Center
VHF Very High Frequency—any radio frequency between
30 and 300 megacycles per second
W
WAAS
Wide Area Augmentation System
WARP Weather and Radar Processor (program)
Wind shear Variation of wind speed and wind direction
with respect to a horizontal or vertical plane; powerful but
invisible downdrafts called microbursts focus intense amounts
of vertical energy in a narrow funnel that can force an aircraft
to the ground nose first if the aircraft is caught underneath
WSF Wake Shield Facility
WTO World Trade Organization
X-Y-Z
X-rays
Radiations of very short wavelengths, beyond the ultraviolet
in the spectrum
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