Ames Research Center

**About Ames** NASA’s Ames Research Center, is located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. Since 1939, Ames has led NASA in conducting world-class research and development in aeronautics, exploration technology and science aligned with the center’s core capabilities. Ames contributions have fundamentally shaped fields of study related to aeronautics and space. The ingenuity and problem-solving capabilities of personnel at Ames have affected all our lives in numerous ways, from everyday air travel to how we envision the possibility of life on other worlds. Ames evolved as a special place where state-of-the-art facilities and world-class talent melded to produce cutting-edge research in fields such as aerodynamics, thermodynamics, simulation, space and life sciences, and intelligent systems. Basic and applied research have been cornerstones of Ames since its founding as an aeronautical laboratory. That laboratory was an expansion of the first National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, facilities at Langley Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia, and it transitioned to research center with the advent of NASA in 1958. **NASA’s Center in Silicon Valley** **Ames Research Center applies the spirit of Silicon Valley to NASA’s mission.** - We were founded in the San Francisco Bay Area 80 years ago, and the region has been shaped by our passion for knowledge and technology — Steve Jobs said he first fell in love with computers when he saw one for the first time as a boy visiting Ames. - We will go forward to the Moon, through Silicon Valley — bridging public and private partnerships to capitalize on the innovation and entrepreneurship of our region. We lead experimental projects that retire risk, and outside-the-box solutions for a sustainable program of exploration.