NASA's Unpiloted Global Hawk Completes First Science Flight
WASHINGTON -- NASA has successfully completed the first science flight
of the Global Hawk unpiloted aircraft system over the Pacific Ocean.
The flight was the first of five scheduled for this month's Global
Hawk Pacific, or GloPac, mission to study atmospheric science over
the Pacific and Arctic oceans.
The Global Hawk is a robotic plane that can fly autonomously to
altitudes above 60,000 feet -- roughly twice as high as a commercial
airliner -- and as far as 11,000 nautical miles, which is half the
circumference of Earth. Operators pre-program a flight path, then the
plane flies itself for as long as 30 hours, staying in contact
through satellite and line-of-site communications links to a ground
control station at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in
California's Mojave Desert.
"The Global Hawk is a revolutionary aircraft for science because of
its enormous range and endurance," said Paul Newman, co-mission
scientist for GloPac and an atmospheric scientist from NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "No other science platform
provides the range and time to sample rapidly evolving atmospheric
phenomena. This mission is our first opportunity to demonstrate the
unique capabilities of this plane, while gathering atmospheric data
in a region that is poorly sampled."
GloPac researchers plan to directly measure and sample greenhouse
gases, ozone-depleting substances, aerosols, and constituents of air
quality in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. GloPac's
measurements will cover longer time periods and greater geographic
distances than any other science aircraft.
During Wednesday's flight, the plane flew approximately 4,500 nautical
miles miles along a flight path that took it to 150.3 degrees West
longitude, and 54.6 degrees North latitude, just south of Alaska's
Kodiak Island. The flight lasted just over 14 hours and flew up to
60,900 feet. The mission is a joint project with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
The plane carries 11 instruments to sample the chemical composition of
the troposphere and stratosphere. The instruments profile the
dynamics and meteorology of both layers and observe the distribution
of clouds and aerosol particles. Project scientists expect to take
observations from the equator north to the Arctic Circle and west of
Hawaii.
Although the plane is designed to fly on its own, pilots can change
its course or altitude based on interesting atmospheric phenomena
ahead. Researchers have the ability via communications links to
control their instruments from the ground.
"The Global Hawk is a fantastic platform because it gives us expanded
access to the atmosphere beyond what we have with piloted aircraft,"
said David Fahey, co-mission scientist and a research physicist at
NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "We can go
to regions we couldn't reach or go to previously explored regions and
study them for extended periods that are impossible with conventional
planes."
The timing of GloPac flights should allow scientists to observe the
breakup of the polar vortex. The vortex is a large-scale cyclone in
the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere that dominates winter
weather patterns around the Arctic and is particularly important for
understanding ozone depletion in the Northern Hemisphere.
Scientists also expect to gather high-altitude data between 45,000 and
65,000 feet, where many greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting
substances are destroyed. They will measure dust, smoke and pollution
that cross the Pacific from Asia and Siberia and affect U.S. air
quality.
The Global Hawk will make several flights directly under the path of
NASA's Aura satellite and other "A-train" Earth-observing satellites,
"allowing us to calibrate and confirm what we see from space," Newman
added. GloPac is specifically being conducted in conjunction with
NASA's Aura Validation Experiment.
The GloPac mission includes more than 130 researchers and technicians
from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Dryden Research Center, Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and Ames Research Center
in Moffet Field, Calif. Also involved are NOAA's Earth System
Research Laboratory; the University of California, Santa Cruz;
Droplet Measurement Technologies of Boulder, Colo.; and the
University of Denver.
NASA Dryden and the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Rancho Bernardo, Calif.,
signed a Space Act Agreement to re-fit and maintain three Global
Hawks transferred from the U.S. Air Force for use in high-altitude,
long-duration Earth science missions.
For GloPac imagery and other information on the mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/
Source: NASA
