Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
Archive-name: space/acronyms
Edition: 13
Acronym List for Space and Astronomy
Edition 13, 1998 Mar 31
(Previous edition: 1997 Apr 30)
This list is offered as a reference for translating commonly appearing
acronyms in the space-related newsgroups. If I forgot or botched your
favorite acronym, please let me know! Also, if there''s an acronym not on
this list that confuses you, drop me a line, and if I can figure it out,
I''ll add it to the list.
The canonical version of this list will now be the HTML form, available at
http://www.users.uswest.net/~dinosaur/list.html . From that, I will
generate the text form for USENET posting.
Note that this is intended to be a reference for frequently seen acronyms,
and is most emphatically not encyclopedic. If I incorporated every acronym
I ever saw, I''d soon run out of disk space. :-)
The list will be posted at regular intervals, every 30 days. All comments
regarding it are welcome; I''m reachable as dinosaur@uswest.net.
Note that this just tells what the acronyms stand for -- you''re on your own
for figuring out what they mean. Note also that the total number of
acronyms in use far exceeds what I can list; special-purpose acronyms that
are essentially always explained as they''re introduced are omitted.
Further, some acronyms stand for more than one thing; as of Edition 3 of
the list, these acronyms appear on multiple lines, unless they''re simply
different ways of referring to the same thing.
Thanks to everybody who''s sent suggestions since the first version of the
list, and especially to Daniel Fischer (p515dfi@mpifr-bonn.mpg.de), who is
maintaining a truly huge list (over 800 at last count) of acronyms and
terms, mostly in German (which I read, fortunately), and Ken Hollis at
NASA, who has sent me copies of NASA''s own tomes of TLAs.
PS: Strictly speaking, most of these are "abbreviations" rather than
"acronyms"; pedantically, it''s only an "acronym" if you make a word out of
it, a la "laser." In practice, though, everybody calls ''em acronyms.
A&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics
AAO: Anglo-Australian Observatory
AAS: American Astronomical Society
AAS: American Astronautical Society
AAVSO: American Association of Variable Star Observers
ACE: Advanced Composition Explorer
ACRV: Assured Crew Return Vehicle (or) Astronaut Crew Rescue Vehicle
ADFRF: Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (now DFRC) (NASA)
AGN: Active Galactic Nucleus
AGU: American Geophysical Union
AIAA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIPS: Astronomical Image Processing System
AJ: Astronomical Journal
ALEXIS: Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors
ALPO: Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
ALS: Advanced Launch System
ANSI: American National Standards Institute
AOA: Abort Once Around (Shuttle abort plan)
AOA: Angle Of Attack
AOCS: Attitude and Orbit Control System
Ap.J: Astrophysical Journal
APL: Applied Physics Laboratory (at Johns Hopkins)
APM: Attached Pressurized Module (a.k.a. Columbus)
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit
ARC: Ames Research Center (NASA)
ARC: Astrophysical Research Consortium
ARTEMIS: Advanced Relay TEchnology MISsion
ASA: Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ASI: Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
ASP: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
ASRM: Advanced Solid Rocket Motor
ATDRS: Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
ATLAS: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science
ATM: Amateur Telescope Maker
ATM: Apollo Telescope Mount (on Skylab)
ATO: Abort To Orbit (Shuttle abort plan)
AU: Astronomical Unit
AURA: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
AW&ST: Aviation Week and Space Technology (a.k.a. AvLeak)
AXAF: Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility
BAe: British Aerospace
BATSE: Burst And Transient Source Experiment (on CGRO)
BBXRT: Broad-Band X-Ray Telescope (ASTRO package)
BDB: Big Dumb Booster
BEM: Bug-Eyed Monster
BH: Black Hole
BIMA: Berkeley Illinois Maryland Array
BIS: British Interplanetary Society
BMDO: Ballistic Missile Defense Office (was SDIO)
BNSC: British National Space Centre
BTW: By The Way
CARA: Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica
C&T: Communications & Tracking
CATS: Cheap Access To Space
CCAFS: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (now CCAS)
CCAS: Cape Canaveral Air Station
CCD: Charge-Coupled Device
CCDS: Centers for the Commercial Development of Space
CD-ROM: Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
CFA: Center For Astrophysics
CFC: ChloroFluoroCarbon
CFF: Columbus Free Flyer
CFHT: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
CG: Center of Gravity
CGRO: (Arthur Holley) Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (was GRO)
CHARA: Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy
CIRRIS: Cryogenic InfraRed Radiance Instrument for Shuttle
CIT: Circumstellar Imaging Telescope
CM: Command Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CM: Center of Mass
CMBR: Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
CMCC: Central Mission Control Centre (ESA)
CNES: Centre National d''Etude Spatiales
CNO: Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen
CNSR: Comet Nucleus Sample Return
COBE: COsmic Background Explorer
COMPTEL: COMPton TELescope (on CGRO)
COSTAR: Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement
CRAF: Comet Rendezvous / Asteroid Flyby
CRRES: Combined Release / Radiation Effects Satellite
CSM: Command and Service Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CSTC: Consolidated Space Test Center (USAF)
CTIO: Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory
CV: Cataclysmic Variable
CXBR: Cosmic X-ray Background Radiation
DC: Delta Clipper
DCX: Delta Clipper eXperimental
DDCU: DC-to-DC Converter Unit
DDTE: Design, Development, Test, and Evaluation
DFRC: Dryden Flight Research Center
DFRF: Dryden Flight Research Facility (was ADFRF, now DFRC)
DMSP: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
DOD: Department Of Defense (sometimes DoD)
DOE: Department Of Energy
DOT: Department Of Transportation
DRS: Data Relay Satellite
DRS: Direct Receiving Station
DSCS: Defense Satellite Communications System
DSN: Deep Space Network
DSP: Defense Support Program (USAF/NRO)
EAFB: Edwards Air Force Base
ECS: Environmental Control System
EDO: Extended Duration Orbiter
EGRET: Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (on CGRO)
EJASA: Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ELV: Expendable Launch Vehicle
EMU: Extravehicular Mobility Unit
EOS: Earth Observing System
ER: Eastern Range (was ETR)
ERS: Earth Resources Satellite (as in ERS-1)
ESA: European Space Agency
ESIS: European Space Information System
ESO: European Southern Observatory
ET: (Shuttle) External Tank
ETLA: Extended Three Letter Acronym
ETR: Eastern Test Range
EUV: Extreme UltraViolet
EUVE: Extreme UltraViolet Explorer
EVA: ExtraVehicular Activity
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FAST: Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer
FFT: Fast Fourier Transform
FGS: Fine Guidance Sensors (on HST)
FHST: Fixed Head Star Trackers (on HST)
FIR: Far InfraRed
FITS: Flexible Image Transport System
FOC: Faint Object Camera (on HST)
FOS: Faint Object Spectrograph (on HST)
FRC: Flight Research Center (old name for DFRC)
FRR: Flight-Readiness Review
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
FTS: Flight Telerobotic Servicer
FUSE: Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
FWHM: Full Width at Half Maximum
FYI: For Your Information
GAS: Get-Away Special
GBT: Green Bank Telescope
GCVS: General Catalog of Variable Stars
GEM: Giotto Extended Mission
GEM: Galileo Extended (or Europa) Mission
GEO: Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
GDS: Great Dark Spot
GHRS: Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (on HST)
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
GLOMR: Global Low-Orbiting Message Relay
GLOW: Gross Lift-Off Weight
GMC: Giant Molecular Cloud
GMRT: Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time (also called UT)
GOES: Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite
GOX: Gaseous OXygen
GPC: General Purpose Computer
GPS: Global Positioning System
GR: General Relativity
GRO: Gamma Ray Observatory (now CGRO)
GRS: Gamma Ray Spectrometer (on Mars Observer)
GRS: Great Red Spot
GSC: Guide Star Catalog (for HST)
GSFC: Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)
GTO: Geostationary Transfer Orbit
HAO: High Altitude Observatory
HD: Henry Draper catalog entry
HEAO: High Energy Astronomical Observatory
HeRA: Hermes Robotic Arm
HF: High Frequency
HGA: High Gain Antenna
HLC: Heavy Lift Capability
HLV: Heavy Lift Vehicle
HMC: Halley Multicolor Camera (on Giotto)
HOTOL: HOrizontal TakeOff and Landing (a proposed SSTO craft)
HR: Hertzsprung-Russell (diagram)
HRMS: High Resolution Microwave Survey
HRI: High Resolution Imager (on ROSAT)
HSP: High Speed Photometer (on HST)
HST: Hubble Space Telescope
HTHL: Horizontal Takeoff Horizontal Landing
HTVL: Horizontal Takeoff Vertical Landing
HUT: Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (ASTRO package)
HV: High Voltage
IAPPP: International Amateur/Professional Photoelectric Photometry
IAU: International Astronomical Union
IAUC: IAU Circular
ICE: International Cometary Explorer
IDA: International Dark-sky Association
IDL: Interactive Data Language
IGM: InterGalactic Medium
IGY: International Geophysical Year
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
IMO: International Meteor Organization
IOTA: Infrared-Optical Telescope Array
IOTA: International Occultation Timing Association
IPS: Inertial Pointing System
IR: InfraRed
IRAF: Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
IRAS: InfraRed Astronomical Satellite
IRFNA: Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid
ISAS: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Japan)
ISM: InterStellar Medium
ISO: Infrared Space Observatory
ISO: International Standards Organization
ISPM: International Solar Polar Mission (now Ulysses)
ISPP: In-Situ Propellant Production
ISY: International Space Year
IUE: International Ultraviolet Explorer
IUS: Inertial Upper Stage
JEM: Japanese Experiment Module (for SSF)
JGR: Journal of Geophysical Research
JILA: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSC: Johnson Space Center (NASA)
KAO: Kuiper Airborne Observatory
KPNO: Kitt Peak National Observatory
KSC: Kennedy Space Center (NASA)
KTB: Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary (from German)
LANL: Los Alamos National Laboratory
LaRC: Langley Research Center (NASA)
LDEF: Long Duration Exposure Facility
LEM: Lunar Excursion Module (a.k.a. LM) (Apollo spacecraft)
LEO: Low Earth Orbit
LeRC: Lewis Research Center (NASA)
LEST: Large Earth-based Solar Telescope
LFSA: List of Frequently Seen Acronyms (!)
LGA: Low Gain Antenna
LGM: Little Green Men
LH: ...
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