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A
AA - Ad Astra (periodical)
ABC - American Broadcasting Companies
ACRV - Assured Crew Return Vehicle
AFB - Air Force Base
ALS - Advanced Launch System
ALDP - Advanced Launch Development Program
android - an anthropomorphic (human in appearance) robot
AU - Astronomical Unit, the average distance from the earth
to the sun = 149.59 million kilometers
A.U. - AU
AW - Aviation Week and Space Technology (periodical)
B
B - billion
Baja - the western peninsula of Mexico
BDB - Big Dumb Booster
BeH - Beryllium Hydride
C
c - speed of light in a vacuum - about 3e+8 meters per second
CBS - Columbia Broadcasting System
CIS - Commonwealth of Independent States
CFD - Computational Fluid Dynamics
cm - centimeter = 0.01 meters
CNN - Cable News Network
CPI - Consumer Price Index
CVD - Chemical Vapor Deposition
D
D - Deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen containing one proton
and one neutron
dv - delta velocity
Deimos - smaller outer satellite of Mars
Delta V - dv, delta velocity
E
E - East
ecliptic - the path of the Earth's orbit around the Sun
ELV - Expendable Launch Vehicle
EML - electromagnetic launcher
EMPL - electromagnetic projectile launcher
ESA - European Space Agency
ET - External Tank
EVA - Extra Vehicle (outside) Activity
F
F - chemical symbol of Fluorine
fps - feet per second
G
g - gravities, a multiple of earth's gravitational attraction
G - gravitation constant = 6.672E-11
gees - gravities, a multiple of earth's gravitational attraction
GAO - General Accounting Office, Washington D.C.
GD - General Dynamics, US corporation
GE - General Electric, US corporation
gees - gravities, a multiple of earth's gravitational attraction
GEO - Geostationary Earth Orbit
GJ - gigajoule = 1,000,000,000 joules
GW - gigawatts = 1,000,000,000 watts
H
H - chemical symbol of Hydrogen
H-2 - Japanese heavy booster
harvest index - the fraction of a crop which is edible
He - Helium
HEO - High Earth Orbit
HF - Hydrogen Fluoride
HLV - Heavy Lift Vehicle
HLLV - Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle
Hotol- Horizontal take-off and landing
Hytex- Hypersonic Technology Experiment
I
I - rotational inertia
ignition temperature - the lowest temperature at which a reaction
can begin
Io - innermost of the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter
IUS - Inertial Upper Stage
J
J - Joule, the unit of energy equal to 2.778E-7 kw-hr.
JPL - Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSC - Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
K
K - chemical symbol of Potassium
K - thousand
kg - kilogram = 1000 grams
Kg - a thousand times earth's gravity = 9800 m/s/s
kilogram = 2.2 pounds
km - kilometer = 1000 meters
KSC - Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Florida
kw - kilowatt = 1000 watts
L
LANL - Los Alamos National Laboratory
LB1 - 'Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century'
LEMDE- Lunar Excursion Module Descent Engine
LEO - Low Earth Orbit
LH2 - liquid hydrogen
LLNL - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
LLO - Low Lunar Orbit
LMO - Low Martian Orbit
LOX - liquid oxygen
LPO - Lunar Polar Orbit or Lunar Polar Observer
LSL - Lunar Slide Lander
M
m - meter
M - million or mass
Mach - multiple of the speed of sound
Mag-Lev - Magnetic Levitation
mare - "sea", a flat dark area on the Moon (without water)
maria- plural of mare
MBB - Messerschmitt-Boelkow-Blohm, German aerospace corporation
MESUR- Martian Environmental Survey
MHD - Magnetohydrodynamics
mi - mile = 1609 meters
mil-spec - military specification
min - minutes, there are 60 minutes in a degree
Mir - 'peace', a Soviet space station
MJ - megajoule = 1,000,000 joules
mm - milimeter = 0.001 meters
MO - Mars Observer
MPV - Multi-purpose Vehicle
mr - millirads
MT - metric ton = 1000 kg = 1,000,000 grams
Mw - megawatt = 1,000,000 watts
MW - megawatt = 1,000,000 watts
N
N - North
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASP - National Aerospace Plane
NBC - National Broadcasting Company
NLS - National Launch System (see ALDP)
nm - nanometers = billionths of a meter
NEP - Nuclear Electric Propulsion
NTP - Nuclear Thermal Propulsion
O
OMS - Orbital Maneuvering System
OPEC - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OTA - Office of Technology Assessment, Washington D.C.
OTV - Orbital Transfer Vehicle
OV - Orbital Vehicle
P
P - chemical symbol of Phosphorus
Phobos - larger inner satellite of Mars
PLS - Personnel Launch System
positron - an anti-electron
ppb - parts per billion
ppm - parts per million
PRC - People's Republic of China
psf - per square foot
R
r - radius
R&D - research and development
regolith - the soil of the Moon
rem - roentgen equivalent man
RLV - Recoverable Launch Vehicle
RP-1 - Rocket Propellant # 1, a kerosene-like fuel
rpm - revolutions per minute
S
S - South
SDHLV- Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift Vehicle
SDI - Strategic Defense Initiative
SDIO - Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
SEI - Space Exploration Initiative
SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
sidereal - relative to the fixed stars
skyhook - a cable hanging down from a satellite
specific impulse - the number of seconds that one pound of propellant
would burn while producing one pound of thrust
SSME - Space Shuttle Main Engine
SSTO - Single Stage To Orbit
STME - Space Transportation Main Engine
STS - Space Transportation System
SWAG - Scientific wild ass guess
T
T - Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen containing one proton
and two neutrons
TBS - Tokyo Broadcasting System or Turner Broadcasting System
TI - Texas Instruments, US electronics corporation
TOS - Transfer Orbit Stage
U
U - University
UC - University of California
UDMH - Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine
UK - United Kingdom
US - United States
USDA - US Department of Agriculture
USGPO- US Government Printing Office
V
V - velocity
VP - Vice President
W
W - West
w - watt, the unit of power
WAG - wild ass guess
Y
yield- amount of crop harvested per unit area
yr - year
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