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Science Global Hawk remotely guides NASA to environment research
Science Global Hawk remotely guides NASA to environment research | Global Hawk remotely guides NASA to environment research |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Friday, 16 January 2009 | |
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Science DiscussionsAccording to the NASA media release, NASA debuts Global Hawk autonomous aircraft for earth science, “NASA and the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles have unveiled the first Global Hawk aircraft system to be used for environmental science research, heralding a new application for the world's first fully autonomous high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft.” From the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, where the announcement took place, the first two Northrop Grumman-made RQ-4 Global Hawk aircraft (known as the Tier II+ aircraft during its developmental phase as an unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV]) were transferred from the U.S. Air Force as part of the Space Act Agreement of 2008. According to the Department of Defense designations, the “R” in RQ-4 stands for “reconnaissance,” the “Q” stands for “unmanned aircraft system,” and “4” represents the “fourth” in this series of unmanned aircraft system. The $35-million Global Hawk aircraft to be used for NASA are two of seven such aircraft built for the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The total developmental cost of each unmanned vehicle is approximately $132.2. The two new NASA aircraft are the first and sixth aircraft to be built in the seven-aircraft group. NASA, along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Northrup Grumman will both use the two aircraft—NASA for earth science research and Northrup Grumman for marketing and other such aerospace business concerns. Page two adds a quote from NASA's director of Earth Science Division. |
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