NASA Global Hawks Ensure Rapid Data Collection with New Base of Operations

Unmanned NASA Global Hawks developed by Northrop Grumman has been recently adopted in the U.S. East coast. Based on Global Hawks, environmental scientists can achieve improved data collection during Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) missions.

The HS3 missions will investigate the processes of intensity change and hurricane formation in the Atlantic Ocean.

The commencement of 2012 HS3 missions earlier this month marked the first-time deployment of the unmanned aircraft in NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. Also, the pilots recently newly controlled the aircraft from two locations such as NASA Wallops and Edwards Air Force Base ground stations.

With the rightly opted deployment site at NASA Wallops, the mission will be carried out. Flights from Wallops will fly over the Atlantic for data collection, regardless of the flight of Global Hawks from NASA Dryden in California over hurricanes in the Atlantic. The aircraft’s long range, durability and high altitude capability enables tracking the storms extended even to Caribbean from their formation site.

Northrop Grumman is supporting these major science missions by providing mission planners, maintenance and engineering support and pilots at Wallops Island as well as NASA Dryden, ensuring control of flight operations from both locations. NASA Global Hawk AV-6 has gathered data over two hurricanes including September 6-7 over Hurricane Leslie and September 11-12 over Nadine. With further operations underway, a second aircraft will be deployed later in the month.

In 2010, ‘GloPac’, NASA Global Hawk’s first science research campaign was achieved, followed by its adoption in Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes (GRIP) hurricane surveillance missions. During 2011, NASA launched winter storm missions over the Pacific and Arctic, while launching Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment flights over the Pacific in 2011 fall.

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