Submission + - A Look At NASA's Unmanned Aircraft (bbc.co.uk)
krou writes: The BBC takes a look at NASA's new unmanned aircraft, and spoke to Doctor Paul Newman, one of the project leaders behind NASA's usage of three Global Hawk drones acquired from the US military to conduct environmental research. The Global Hawk recently undertook its first science flight over the Pacific, the first of five missions to study atmospheric science over the Pacific and Arctic oceans. It carries '11 instruments to sample the chemical composition of the troposphere and stratosphere [and is able to] profile the dynamics and meteorology of both layers and observe the distribution of clouds and aerosol particles'. Paul Newman said that 'The Global Hawk is a revolutionary aircraft for science because of its enormous range and endurance. 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.'
