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"Flying high and long missions with advanced
scientific equipment over the Arctic provides
scientists with real data to better understand
the changes that are affecting our world," said
Janis Pamiljans, Northrop Grumman's sector vice
president and general manager of unmanned
systems. "The high-altitude, long-endurance NASA
Global Hawk is one of the best tools researchers
have to study weather phenomena."
This flight marks the first time the NASA Global
Hawk has flown through Canadian civil airspace.
Global Hawk's high-altitude, long-endurance
capabilities enabled the aircraft to depart from
NASA Dryden, based at Edwards Air Force Base,
Calif., and fly over several predetermined key
areas in the Arctic before returning to NASA
Dryden.
Northrop Grumman, NASA Dryden, NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and Canadian science
counterparts worked together to enable this
mission. NASA Global Hawks have already been
used for a wide range of environmental missions,
including collecting atmospheric data in support
of the Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment
and deployment over the Atlantic Ocean to study
hurricane formation and intensity change during
the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel
missions.
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