That agency was dissolved and its assets and personnel transferred to the newly created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on October 1, 1958.

Ames was founded to conduct wind-tunnel research on the aerodynamics of propeller-driven aircraft; however, its role has expanded to encompass spaceflight and information technology.

It provides leadership in astrobiology; small satellites; robotic lunar exploration; the search for habitable planets; supercomputing; intelligent/adaptive systems; advanced thermal protection; planetary science; and airborne astronomy.

Based on Lunar Prospector Neutron Spectrometer (NS) data, mission scientists have determined that there is indeed water ice in the polar craters of the Moon.

Modifications of the Boeing 747SP airframe to accommodate the telescope, mission-unique equipment and large external door were made by L-3 Communications Integrated Systems of Waco, Texas.

[14][15] The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph mission is a partnership with the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory to understand the processes at the boundary between the Sun's chromosphere and corona.

[19] The Aviation Systems Division conducts research and development in two primary areas: air traffic management, and high-fidelity flight simulation.

For air traffic management, researchers are creating and testing concepts to allow for up to three times today's level of aircraft in the national airspace.

These simulators have been used for a variety of purposes including continued training for Space Shuttle pilots, development of future spacecraft handling qualities, helicopter control system testing, Joint Strike Fighter evaluations, and accident investigations.

Originally called the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation Division, the facility has housed more than 40 production and test supercomputers since its construction in 1987, and has served as a leader in high-performance computing, developing technology used across the industry, including the NAS Parallel Benchmarks and the Portable Batch System (PBS) job scheduling software.

In September 2009, Ames launched NEBULA as a fast and powerful Cloud Computing Platform to handle NASA's massive data sets that complied with security requirements.

In July 2010, NASA CTO Chris C. Kemp open sourced Nova, the technology behind the NEBULA Project in collaboration with Rackspace, launching OpenStack.

Ames Research Center also houses the world's largest wind tunnel, part of the National Full-Scale Aerodynamic Complex (NFAC): it is large enough to test full-sized planes, rather than scale models.

In addition to the normal data gathering methods (e.g., balance system, pressure measuring transducers, and temperature sensing thermocouples), state-of-the-art, non-intrusive instrumentation (e.g., laser velocimeters and shadowgraphs) are available to help determine flow direction and velocity in and around the lifting surfaces of aircraft.

Some of the test programs that have come through the 80 by 120 Foot include: F-18 High Angle of Attack Vehicle, DARPA/Lockheed Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter, XV-15 Tilt Rotor, and Advance Recovery System Parafoil.

Although decommissioned by NASA in 2003, the NFAC is now being operated by the United States Air Force as a satellite facility of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC).

The Ames Arc Jet Complex is an advanced thermophysics facility where sustained hypersonic- and hyperthermal testing of vehicular thermoprotective systems takes place under a variety of simulated flight- and re-entry conditions.

[27] Of its seven available test bays, four currently contain Arc Jet units of differing configurations, serviced by common facility support equipment.

This power capacity, in combination with a high-volume 5-stage steam ejector vacuum-pumping system, enables facility operations to match high-altitude atmospheric flight conditions with samples of relatively large size.

It is a very flexible facility, capable of long run times of up to one hour, and able to test large samples in both a stagnation and flat plate configuration.

The Aerodynamic Heating Facility (AHF) has similar characteristics to the IHF arc heater, offering a wide range of operating conditions, sample sizes and extended test times.

The Ames Vertical Gun Range (AVGR) was designed to conduct scientific studies of lunar impact processes in support of the Apollo missions.

In 1995, increased scientific needs across various disciplines resulted in joint core funding by three different science programs at NASA Headquarters (Planetary Geology and Geophysics, Exobiology, and Solar System Origins).

These images, combined with the recorded flight time history, can be used to obtain critical aerodynamic parameters such as lift, drag, static and dynamic stability, flow characteristics, and pitching moment coefficients.

The HFFAF is currently configured to operate the 1.5 inches (38 mm) light-gas gun in support of continuing thermal imaging and transition research for NASA's hypersonics program.

The Electric Arc Shock Tube (EAST) Facility is used to investigate the effects of radiation and ionization that occur during very high velocity atmospheric entries.

In addition, the EAST can also provide air-blast simulations requiring the strongest possible shock generation in air at an initial pressure loading of 1 standard atmosphere (100 kPa) or greater.

The land in Menlo Park is owned by the General Services Administration, which is required by federal law to charge market-rate rent.

"[31] The federal government has re-tasked portions of the facility and human resources to support private sector industry, research, and education.

HP became the first corporate affiliate of a new Bio-Info-Nano Research and Development Institute (BIN-RDI); a collaborative venture established by the University of California Santa Cruz and NASA, based at Ames.