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Acronym List

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

An acronym is a word formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.  To add an acronym to our list send an email to Carey Noll (Carey.Noll@nasa.gov).

Acronym Finder - searchable database containing common acronyms about computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.

Acronym Definition
A
AAC Associate Analysis Center
AC Analysis Center
AC Astronomical Council (Russia)
ACSnet Australian Computer Science Network
ACT Australian Capital Territory
ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing Satellite
AFB Air Force Base
AFGL Air Force Geophysics Laboratory
AFSPC Air Force Space Command (USA)
AGU American Geophysical Union
AIUB Astronomical Institute of Berne (Berne, Switzerland)
ALO Astronomical Latitude Observatory (Poland)
AMSAT Amateur Satellite
APD Avalanche Photo Diode
APRGP Asia-Pacific Regional Geodetic Project
APSG Asia-Pacific Space Geodynamics Project
ARC Ames Research Center (Moffett Field, CA)
ARI Academic Research Infrastructure
ARPAnet Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
ASAR Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASI Italian Space Agency (Italy)
ASL Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory
ATEx Advanced Tether Experiment
ATSC AlliedSignal Technical Services Corporation (Lanham, MD)
AUSLAS Graz, Austria Laser Station
AUSLIG Australian Surveying and Land Information Group
AWG Analysis Working Group
AZ Azimuth
AZ-EL Azimuth-Elevation
B
BAE British Aerospace (Australia)
BBS Bulletin Board System
BE-C Beacon Explorer C
BFEC Bendix Field Engineering Corporation (USA)
BIH Bureau International de l'Heure
BIPM Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (France)
BITnet Because It's Time Network
BKG Bundesamt fr Kartographie und Geodsie (Germany)
BM Bench Mark
C
CALTECH California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA)
CB Central Bureau
CCD Charged Coupled Device
CDDIS Crustal Dynamics Data Information System
CDP Crustal Dynamics Project
CEE Centro de Estudios Espaciales (Chile)
CERGA Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Geodynamiques et Astronomiques (France)
CERN Center for European Laboratory for Particle Physics (Switzerland)
CF Constant Fraction
CfA Center for Astrophysics (USA)
CGS Centro de Geodesia Spaziale (Italy)
CHAMP CHAllenging Mini-Satellite Payload
ChO Changchun Observatory/National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences
CIO Conventional International Origin
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States
CIS Conventional Inertial System
CM Center of Mass
CMONOC Crustal Movement Observation Network of China
CNES Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (France)
CODE Center for Orbit Determination in Europe
COI Co-Investigator
COM Center Of Mass
CONAE Comisin Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (Argentina)
CONUS Continental United States
COSPAR Committee on Space Research
CPU Central Processing Unit
CRL Communications Research Laboratory (Japan)
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (South Africa)
C-SPAD Compensated Single Photoelectron Avalanche Detector
CSR Center for Space Research (University of Texas, Austin, TX)
CSTG International Coordination of Space Techniques for Geodesy and Geodynamics
CSnet Computer Science Network
CTLRS Chinese Transportable Laser Ranging System
CTU FNSPE Czech Technical University Faculty of Nuclear Science and Physical Engineering
D
D-PAF Germany Processing and Analysis Facility
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (USA)
DBMS Data Base Management System
DDN Defense Data Network
DDNA Divided Difference Noise Analysis
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation
DECnet DEC networking product
DEOS Delft Institute for Earth-Oriented Space Research (The Netherlands)
DET Detachment
DFPWG Data Formats and Procedures Working Group
DGFI Deutsches Geodtisches ForschungsInstitut (Germany)
DGPS Differential GPS
DIF DOMES Information Form
DIS Data Information System
DMA Defence Mapping Agency (USA)
DMAHTC Defence Mapping Agency Hydrographic and Topographic Center (Japan)
DMS Data Measurement System
DOD Department of Defense (USA)
DOMES Directory Of MERIT Sites
DOMEX DOMEs EXtended
DORIS Doppler Orbitography and Radiopositioning Integrated by Satellite
DOSE Dynamics of the Solid Earth
D-PAF Germany Processing and Analysis Facility
DREN Defense Research and Engineering Network
DUT Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands)
DUT/OSG Delft University of Technology/Observatory for Space Geodesy (The Netherlands)
E
EARN European Academic Research Network
ED European Datum
EDC EUROLAS Data Center (Munich, Germany)
EDM Electronic Distance Measuring
EGS European Geophysical Society
ELV Expendable Launch Vehicle
ENVISAT ENVIronmental SATellite
EOC Earth Observation Center (NASDA)
EOP Earth Orientation Parameter
EOS Earth Observing System
EOS European Optical Society
EOS Electro Optical Systems (Australia)
ERA Ephemeris Research in Astronomy (Russia)
ERI Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo (Japan)
ERS Earth Resources Satellite
ERS-1 Earth Resources Satellite 1
ERS-2 Earth Resources Satellite 2
ESA European Space Agency (Germany)
ESOC European Space Operations Center (Germany)
ESRIN European Space Research Institute
ETS Engineering Test Satellite
EUROLAS European Laser Consortium
Euro-SPAN European Space Physics Analysis Network
F
FAA Federal Aviation Administration (USA)
FAQ Frequently Asked Questions
FAS Federation of American Scientists
FAX Facsimile System
FDR Foundation for Research Development (South Africa)
FESG Forschungseinrichting Satellitengeodsie (Research Facility for Space Geodesy, Germany)
FFDP Far Field Diffraction Pattern
FFI Forsvarets ForskningsInstitutt (Norway)
FGCC Federal Geodetic Control Committee
FGI Finnish Geodetic Institute
FGNP Field Generated Normal Points
FINLAS Metsahovi, Finland Laser Station
FLINN Fiducial Laboratories for an International Natural Science Network
FR Full-Rate
FRD Foundation for Research and Development (South Africa)
FTLRS French Transportable Laser Ranging System
FTP File Transfer Protocol
G
GAOUA Main Astronomical Observatory of the National Academy of Sciences of the Ukraine
GB Gigabyte
GB Governing Board
GDR Geophysical Data Record
GeoDAF Geodetical Data Archive Facility (Italy)
GeodIS Geodetic Information System (Germany)
GEOS Geodetic and Earth Orbiting Satellite
GEOSAT Geodesy Satellite
GFO GEOSAT Follow-On
GFO-1 GEOSAT Follow-On 1
GFZ GeoForschungsZentrum (Potsdam, Germany)
GGAO Goddard Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory (Greenbelt, MD)
GGP Global Geodynamics Project (Gravity)
GI Geological Institute (Russia)
GIF Graphic Image Format (CompuServe)
GIS Geographic Information System
GLAS Geoscience Laser Altimeter System
GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System
GLONASS Global'naya Navigatsionnay Sputnikovaya Sistema
GLRS Geodynamics Laser Ranging System
GM Gravity Model
GMT Greenwich Mean Time
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GP-B Gravity Probe B
GPS Global Positioning System
GRACE Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment
GRGS Groupe de Recherches de Godsie Spatiale (France)
GROSS Geodynamics, Rotation of the Earth, Orbit determination Searching Software (Russia)
GRS Global Reference System
GSC Geological Survey of Canada
GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center (Greenbelt, MD)
GSI Geographical Survey Institute (Tsukuba, Japan)
GSN Global Seismographic Network
GSS Geodetic Survey Squadron
H
HAVAGO Horizontal and Vertical Adjustment of Geodetic Observations
HDJ Hydrographic Department of Japan
HEPnet High Energy Physics Network
HMC Hydrogen Maser Clock
HO Haystack Observatory (Haystack, MA)
HOLLAS Haleakala Laser Station (Maui, HI)
HOPLAS Mount Hopkins Laser Station (Mt. Hopkins, AZ)
HRAO Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
HREF Hypertext Reference
HTC Hydrographic and Topographic Center
HTML Hypertext Markup Language
HTSI Honeywell Technology Solutions, Inc. (USA)
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
H/W Hardware
I
IAA/RAS Institute of Applied Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences
IAG International Association of Geodesy
IAPG Institut fr Astronomische und Physikalische Geodsie (Germany)
IAU International Astronomical Union
ICESat Ice, Cloud, & land Elevation SATellite
ICCG Interagency Coordinating Committee for G
ICG Inter-Union Commission of Geodynamics
ICRF International Celestial Reference Frame
ICRS International Celestial Reference System
IDA International Deployment of Accelerometers Network
IERS International Earth Rotation Service
IESAS Academia Sinica, Institute of Earth Sciences (Taiwan)
IFAG Institut fur Angewandte Geodaesie (Germany)
IGEX International Glonass EXperiment
IGLOS International GLOnass Service
IGN Institut Geographique National (France)
IGS International GPS Service for Geodynamics
IGSCB IGS Central Bureau
ILRS International Laser Ranging Service
IMVP Institute of Metrology for Time and Space (Russia)
INASAN Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences
INTA Instituto Nacional de Technica Aeroespacial (Spain)
ION Institute of Navigation
IPIE Institute for Precision Instrument Engineering (Russia)
IR Infra-Red
IRIS Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (USA)
IRS Indian Remote Sensing Satellite
IRV Inter-Range Vector
ISAS Institute for Space and Astronautic Science (Sagamihara, Japan)
ISIR International Space Industry Report
ISRO Institute for Space Research Observatory (Graz, Austria)
ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation
ISTRAC ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (India)
ITRF International Terrestrial Reference Frame
ITRS International Terrestrial Reference System
ITSM Institute for Time and Space Metrology (Russia)
ITSS Raytheon Information Technology and Scientific Services (USA)
IUGG International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
IVS International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry
J
JAnet Joint Academic Network (United Kingdom)
JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
JCET Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology (USA)
JEA Environmental Agency of Japan
JGM Joint Gravity Model
JGR Journal of Geophysical Research
JHD Japanese Hydrographic Department
JILA Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (USA)
JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Pasadena, CA)
K
KACST King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)
L
LAGEOS LAser GEOdynamics Satellite
LAN Local Area Network
LASER Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
LASSO Laser Synchronization from Stationary Orbit
LEO Low Earth Orbit
LIDAR Light Detection and Ranging
LLR Lunar Laser Ranging
LOD Length Of Day
LRA Laser Retroreflector Array
LRRA Lunar RetroReflector Array
LRE Laser Ranging Equipment Satellite
L+T Swiss Federal Office of Topography
LURE LUnar Ranging Experiment
M
MAO Main Astronomical Observatory (Ukraine)
MATLAS Matera, Italy Laser Station
MCC Mission Control Center (Russia)
MCEP Mean Celestial Ephemeris Pole
MCP Micro Channel Plate
MEDLAS Mediterranean Laser Campaign
MERIT Monitoring of Earth Rotation and Intercomparison of Techniques
MILnet Defense data network
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
MJ Millijoule
MLRO Matera Laser Ranging Observatory (Italy)
MLRS McDonald Laser Ranging System
MOA Mount Observer Automation
MOBLAS MOBile LASer Ranging System
MOM Mobile Optical Mount
MSL Mean Sea Level
MSSSO Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory (Canberra, NSW, Australia)
MSTI Miniature Seeker Technology Integration
MTLRS Modular Transportable Laser Ranging System
MTPE Mission to Planet Earth (USA)
MWG Missions Working Group
MWV MicroWave Radiometer
N
NAD North American Datum
NAO National Astronomical Observatory (Tokyo, Japan)
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASCOM NASA COMmunications Network
NASDA National Space Development Agency (Japan)
NAVNET Navy VLBI Network
NAVSTAR Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging
NBSM National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (PRC)
NCL University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom)
NCMN National Crustal Motion Network
NEOS National Earth Orientation Service
NERC Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom)
NEWG Networks and Engineering Working Group
Nd YAG Neodymium Yttrium Aluminum Garnet
NGRS National Geodetic Reference System
NGS National Geodetic Survey
NGVD National Geodetic Vertical Datum
NIES National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan)
NIPRNET Non-Classified IP Router Network
NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command
NOS National Ocean Survey
NP Normal Point
NRAO National Radio Astronomy Observatory
NRIAG National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (Egypt)
NRL Naval Research Laboratory (USA)
NSF National Science Foundation (USA)
NSFnet National Science Foundation Network
NSI NASA Science Internet
NSI-DECnet NASA Science Internet DECnet Protocol
NSI-TCP/IP NASA Science Internet TCP/IP Protocol
NSN NASA Science Network
NSSDC National Space Science Data Center (GSFC)
NWS National Weather Service (USA)
O
OAC Operational Analysis Center
OCA Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur
OMC Observed Minus Computed
ONP On-site Normal Point
ORRLAS Orroral, Australia Laser Station
ORT Optical Ranging Telescope
OSC Orbital Sciences Corporation (USA)
OSGB Ordinance Survey of Great Britain
OSTA Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications
P
PAS Polish Academy of Sciences
PC Personal Computer
PCGIAP Permanent Committee for GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific
PDF Portable Document Format
PDF Probability Density Function
PI Principal Investigator
PL Phillips Laboratory (USA)
PM Polar Motion
PM/UT Polar Motion/Universal Time
PMT Photo Multiplier Tube
POD Precision Orbit Determination
POLAC Paris Observatory Lunar Analysis Center (France)
POLARIS POLar motion Analysis by Radio Interferometry
PPME Pacific Plate Motion Experiment
PRARE Precise Range and Range-rate Equipment
PRC Peoples Republic of China
PRN Pseudo Random Noise
PSI Packetnet Systems Interface
PSLR Portable Satellite Laser Ranging System (Latvia)
PSN Piano Spazial Nazionale (Italy)
R
R&D Research and Development
RA Radar Altimeter
RAM Random Access Memory
RAS Russian Academy of Sciences
RESURS Earth Remote Sensing Satellite
RFI Radio Frequency Interference
RGO Royal Greenwich Observatory (Great Britain)
RGOLAS RGO, Herstmonceux, Great Britain Laser System
RIS Reflector in Space
RISC Reduced Instruction-Set Computing
RISDE Russian Institute of Space Device Engineering
RITSS Raytheon Information Techology and Scientific Services (USA)
RM Reference Monument
RMS Root Mean Square
RMT Reference MonumenT
ROSAVIAKOSMOS Russian Aerospace Agency
RRA RetroReflector Array
RSA Russian Space Agency
S
SA Selective Availability
SAAO South African Astronomical Observatory
SAC Astronomical Station of Cagliari (Italy)
SAFE San Andreas Fault Experiment
SAFRD South African Foundation for Research Development
SALRO Saudi Arabian Laser Ranging Observatory (Riyahd, Saudi Arabia)
SAO Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
SAO Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (PRC)
SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar
SCEC Southern California Earthquate Center
SDSC San Diego Supercomputer Center
SENH Solid Earth and Natural Hazards
SEWP Scientific and Engineering Workstation Procurement
SGAPO Space Geodesy and Altimetry Projects Office
SGF Space Geodesy Facility (United Kingdom)
SGMS Space Geodetic Measurement Sites
SGP Space Geodesy Project
SHAO Shanghai Observatory (PRC)
SHO Simosato Hydrographic Observatory (Japan)
SHOLAS Simosato, Japan Laser Station
SI International System of Units
SINEX Software INdependent EXchange format
SIO Scripps Institution of Oceanography (San Diego, CA)
SLR Satellite Laser Ranging
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SOAP Single Operator Automation System
SOD Site Occupation Designator
SOPAC Scripps Orbit and Permanent Array Center
SOR Starfire Optical Range (USA)
SP Signal Processing
SPAD Single Photon Avalanche Diode
SPAN Space Physics Analysis Network
SPE Single Photo Electron
SPIE International Society for Optical Engineers
SPNLAS San Fernando, Spain Laser Station
SPRINTmail SPRINT Mail (formerly TELEMAIL)
SPWG Signal Processing Working Group
SRDC Shanghai Regional Data Center (China)
SRI Space Research Institute (Russia)
SRP System Reference Point
SSC Set of Station Coordinates
SSFPO Space Station Freedom Project Office
SSL Space Science Laboratory (MSFC)
SSV Set of Station Velocities
STALAS Standard Laser Station
STDN Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network
SUNSAT Stellenbosch UNiversity SATellite
SV Space Vehicle
S/W Software
T
TAC Totally Accurate Clock
TAI International Atomic Time
TB TerraByte
TBF Time Bias Function
TCUP TLRS Upgrade Project
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/INTERnet Protocol
TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
TELENET GTE public packet switching network
TFO TOPEX/Poseidon Follow-ON
THEnet Texas Higher Education Network
TIGO Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory
TIPS Tether Physics and Survivability Experiment
TIRV Tuned Inter-Range Vector
TIU Time Interval Unit
TLRS Transportable Laser Ranging System
TOPEX Ocean TOPography EXperiment
T/P TOPEX/Poseidon
T/R Transfer/Receive
TRF Terrestrial Reference Frame
TROS TRansportable Observation Station
TTandC Tracking-Telemetry/Control
TUJJB Turkish Union of Geodesy and Geophysics
TUM Technical University of Munich (Germany)
U
UARS Upper Atmospheric Research Satellite
UK United Kingdom
UM University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
UMBC University of Maryland Baltimore County (USA)
UNAVCO University NAVSTAR Consortium
UOSATS University of Surrey Satellite (United Kingdom)
UPF Universit de la Polynsie Franaise (French Polynesia)
URL Uniform Resource Locator
USA United States of America
USAF United States Air Force
USC & GS United States Coast and Geodetic Survey
USGS United States Geological Survey
USN United States Navy
USNO United States Naval Observatory
USSPACECOM United States Space Command
UT Universal Time
UT University of Texas (USA)
UT Austin University of Texas, Austin (USA)
UTC Universal Coordinated Time
UTCSR University of Texas Center for Space Research
UTOPIA University of Texas Orbit Processor (USA)
UTXM University of Texas McDonald Observatory (USA)
UUCP Unix to Unix Copy Program
V
VAFB Vandenberg Air Force Base (Vandenberg, CA)
VCL Vegetation Canopy Lidar
VLBA Very Long Baseline Array
VLBI Very Long Baseline Interferometry
VNIIFTRI All-Russian Scientific Research Institute for Physical-Technical and Radiotechnical Measurements (Russia)
VOL Variation Of Latitude
W
WEGENER Working Group of European Geoscientists for the Establishment of Networks for Earth-science Research
WETLAS Wettzell, Germany Laser Station
WGS World Geodetic System
WLRS Wettzell Laser Ranging System (Germany)
WESTPAC Western Pacific Laser Tracking Network Satellite
WFF Wallops Flight Facility (NASA)
WG Working Group
WLRS Wettzell Laser Ranging System (Germany)
WPLTN Western Pacific Laser Tracking Network
WRMS Weighted Root Mean Square
WTU Wuhan Technical University (PRC)
WWW World Wide Web
X
X.25 Level II communication protocal for packet
Y
Y2K Year 2000
Z
ZIMLAS Zimmerwald, Switzerland Laser Station