NASA Technology Takes Off Into Dark And Stormy Nights

Part of NASA's UAV-based science demonstration program, these flights will show the ability of this type of aircraft to carry Earth-viewing scientific payloads into environments where an onboard pilot would be exposed to life-threatening hazards. This capability will benefit both U.S. scientific and commercial objectives well into the new millennium.

The mission will utilize the ALTUS UAV, built by General Atomics, San Diego, CA, taking advantage of its remotely piloted capability, along with its high altitude (up to 55,000 feet) and slow speed. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, with colleagues from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, will chase down thunderstorms in Florida to better understand the relationship between storms and lightning. When a developing storm is spotted at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, researchers will send the ALTUS above and around the storm, while the remote pilots remain safely on the ground.

"This mission combines the exciting use of UAV technology with sound science to unravel the mystery behind lightning and its relationship to violent storms -- information that will help those who predict these events as well as the public and infrastructure affected," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth Sciences at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.

Using precision instruments aboard the aircraft, researchers will take measurements to determine lightning potential of the storms in the hopes of better understanding how different physical characteristics in the atmosphere can contribute to development of lightning. These data will increase understanding of lightning and storms, while providing federal, state and local governments new disaster-management information for use in the areas of severe storms, floods and wild fires.

This is one of two projects selected from 45 proposals received in response to a solicitation issued in 2000. The solicitation requires that the missions be managed in "Principal Investigator" mode: Each mission's lead investigator is responsible for choosing the UAV best suited for the experiment, and then managing all aspects of the mission for NASA. NASA has identified approximately $8 million to fund the two UAV missions over a period of four years.

The mission is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, a long-term research effort aimed at understanding how human-induced and natural changes affect our global environment, while providing practical societal benefits to America today. The Earth Science Enterprise provides the sound science needed by policy and economic decision-makers to assure responsible stewardship of the global environment.