| NASA Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, CA: This astronaut
photograph illustrates the diverse built environment surrounding the
NASA Ames Research Center located at the southernmost end of San
Francisco Bay. Founded in 1939 as an aircraft research laboratory,
Ames became a NASA facility in 1958. Its original aircraft research
focus was enhanced by the adjacent Moffett Field—an active Naval Air
Station until 1994, and the original home of the Navy dirigible
U.S.S. Macon. The large hanger for docking the U.S.S. Macon is still
present at Moffett Field, and is visible in this astronaut photograph
(image center). Today, NASA Ames includes the former Naval Air
Station, and it continues its focus on aeronautics in addition to
nanotechnology, information technology, fundamental space biology,
biotechnology, thermal protection systems, and human factors
research. Land use and land cover in the southern San Francisco Bay
area is a diverse mix of industrial, institutional, and residential
patterns. Industrial lots, characterized by lack of green vegetation
and large buildings with highly reflective white rooftops, border
NASA Ames to the west, east, and south. The city of Mountain View
directly to the south appears as a dense gray-brown network of
streets and residential properties with interspersed green parks. The
northern boundary of NASA ARC consists of former salt ponds that are
being restored to tidal wetlands (image right). Drainage channels
that predate the salt pond levees are visible at image right. |
