ER-2 - Fremdeles engasjert i prosjekter

Dragonlady still going strong.....

 

Foto: NASA

Denne maskinen er til forveksling lik den som operererte ut fra Sola i Project Ozone på 80-tallet.
Over the next few weeks, an ER-2 high altitude research aircraft operating out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, VA, will take part in the development of two future satellite instruments.

The aircraft will fly test models of these instruments at altitudes greater than 60,000 feet to gather information researchers can use to develop ways to handle data future spaceborne versions will collect.

NASA Wallops will be the temporary home of one of NASA's ER-2 research aircraft. The ER-2 from NASA's Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, CA, will carry two instruments, the Cloud-Aerosol Transport System (CATS) and the Multiple Altimeter Beam Experimental Lidar (MABEL).

CATS and MABEL are test beds for instruments to be carried by future satellite missions, and because they are both high-altitude laser instruments they will share space on the ER-2 in part as a way to lower costs for both teams. The ER-2s deployment began on September 7th and will end no later than September 27th.