Credits: NASA
Have you ever wondered what lies beyond the gate of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland? Well, here is your chance to see the facilities where we have contributed to some of the nation’s greatest innovations over the last 75 years.
Join us May 21 and 22 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Lewis Field Campus for an exciting Open House celebrating NASA Glenn’s 75th anniversary. Our staff will guide you through world-class facilities and show you the technologies that contribute to the future of NASA in aeronautics and our journey to Mars.
Each day will feature special presentations by NASA Glenn’s technologists and researchers and hands-on activities for kids including making a handheld jet engine, straw rockets and solar energy bracelets as well as demonstration carts on lunar robotics, soda bottle rockets, alternative energy and more.
And it’s all free!
Directions, Parking and Security Policies
Facilities Tours
Enjoy a free walking tour of our research campus at your own pace. The men and women who work in each facility will host tours.
Spread your Wings at the NASA Hangar
You’ve seen our iconic hangar many times from Brookpark Road, but what’s exactly inside that big building with the NASA meatball on it? The hangar houses our aircraft fleet, which conducts flight research such as mapping the algal blooms on Lake Erie each spring and summer. There will also be displays of some of Glenn’s groundbreaking research in support of NASA’s missions.
NASA Glenn researchers are investigating noise reduction concepts for subsonic and supersonic aircraft of the future at the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory. New innovative models are developed and tested here as we move toward more advanced aircraft.
Our Wind Tunnel will Blow your Mind
The Low Speed Wind Tunnel is the only facility in the nation that can simulate aircraft takeoff, approach and landing. With airspeeds up to 175 mph, this wind tunnel helps us conduct aerodynamic and acoustic testing of airplane models and parts.
Chill Out in the Icing Research Tunnel
The Icing Research Tunnel may be an historic landmark, but it’s on the cutting-edge of research to understand the effects of in-flight icing on full-size aircraft components. Creating safer aircraft has always been our goal because NASA is with you when you fly.
How do you create weightlessness on Earth? The Zero-Gravity facility, the largest drop tower of its kind, does it everyday to test the effects of microgravity on experiments and hardware. Peer into the deep hole that goes down 467 feet.
You’ve never seen wheels like this. Researchers at the SLOPE (Simulated Lunar Operations) facility develop innovative wheels that can navigate lunar and Martian terrain so NASA can continue to explore the solar system and beyond.
GRUVE and GVIS designers create 3-D and virtual reality products based on science and engineering specifications. The GRUVE Lab is an advanced CAVETM like display environment for science and engineering. Its three large, moveable projection modules can create a 24-foot display wall, a panoramic 3D theater or a fully immersive virtual reality room.
Imagine Conditions at 90,000 Feet
The Propulsion System Lab is the nation’s premier altitude flight simulation facility for full-scale gas turbine engine and propulsion system research. It creates flight conditions from near sea level up to 90,000 feet, subsonic to Mach speeds, and weather conditions that help us understand how ice crystal clouds can affect aircraft engines.
Enter the Portal to the Space Station
Do you ever wonder how experiments are conducted on the International Space Station? Sometimes the astronauts do the research and sometimes it’s done remotely back here on Earth. At the Telescience Support Center operators can send commands and receive science data from their payload hardware operating on board the ISS.
The Electric Propulsion Laboratory has many vacuum chambers that simulate the unique conditions of deep space. This is where we test hardware and solar-electric propulsion systems that will help NASA achieve its future missions on the journey to Mars.
When it comes to engines, we’ve got you covered. The Engine Research Building is filled to the brim with test cells that support research on every aspect of engine development—turbomachinery, aerodynamics, flow physics, aeropropulsion, heat transfer, mechanics and combustion.
Talk about extreme! The Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER) can simulate the most hostile conditions in space. Take Venus for example, which has surface atmosphere high-pressure up to 90 times that on Earth and surface temperatures up to 872˚ F. GEER tests whether spacecraft will survive those conditions before they launch.
Power for a New Generation of Space Missions
Take a look at the next generation of solar arrays at the Photovoltaic Lab that will power future spacecraft going to Jupiter and Saturn. You’ll even see a demonstration on how water can be split into H2 and O2 to be used in fuel cells and see the batteries of the future. All these are powerful sources of energy for the space missions of tomorrow.
Source: nasa.gov / Kelly Heidman
