Two high flying Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles have been adapted for environmental science research missions thanks to a joint effort by NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center and Northrop Grumman Corp.
The first earth science mission will consist of six long-duration missions over the Pacific and Arctic regions this year to collect atmospheric data in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere.
Northrop Grumman says Global Hawk has many other non-military applications, including hurricane monitoring and development of disaster support capabilities such as surveying California wildfires.