Ames Doesn't Need Moffett

This is from a front page article in the Monday, July 29th San Francisco Chronicle, titled "Moffet Field's Future is Up in the Air". There's a lot more to this very good article, but here's the part about the relationship of Ames to MFA.

Henry McDonald, Ames' new director, was in Washington last week trying to persuade NASA administrator Dan Goldin to restore some of the cuts in personnel ordered last year - from 1,646 civil service employees to 1,395.

Because Goldin wants to make Ames the leader in information technology, McDonald is pushing for 195 more jobs. He said the agency no longer needs to test its ideas on aircraft based at Moffett, and can instead use the wind tunnel or a high-speed computer. This will involve working more closely with Silicon Valley companies, local universities such as Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley, and other government agencies to design space vehicles and aircraft.

Silicon Valley Relationship

NASA wants to move most of the aircraft at Ames to Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards Air Force Base near the Mojave Desert, a move some critics, notably Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, believe cannot be justified economically and would only serve to further endanger NASA's research program and symbiotic relationship with Silicon Valley.

McDonald insisted that such a move would have little impact on Ames.

"Aircraft-related missions are not a major role for Ames and haven't been for some time," he said.