About the California - Ames DEVELOP Office: The Ames Research Center (ARC) DEVELOP office is located at the Moffett Field Naval Air Station and opened in 2003 to expand DEVELOP's geographic footprint. Located near the Pacific Ocean, many of the collaborating science advisors are water resource and oceanic specialists driving thematic foci for the office to include water resources, oceans, drought, and disasters, with wildfires and vegetation monitoring.
NASA Ames Research Center History: The Ames Research Center (ARC) was established in 1939 as the second laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and was named for the chair of the NACA, Joseph S. Ames. In the early days of the center, Ames researchers were continually breaking new ground in all flight regimes and are now expanding to various entities such as simulation technology and life sciences. Ames Research Center is known for its production of the "swept-back wing concept", used on all high-speed aircraft today; the "blunt body concept", which is used on every spacecraft to prevent burning upon planetary entry; the management of the "Pioneer planetary spacecraft", which was the first human-made object to leave the solar system; the "Viking Life Detection experiment spacecraft", which was the first spacecraft to perform experiments on another planet; and the "Lunar Prospector mission", which discovered water at the poles of the Moon.