WASHINGTON - Operating at altitudes above 99% of the Earth’s atmosphere, NASA’s ER-2 aircraft is the agency’s highest-flying airborne science platform. With its unique ability to observe from as high as 65,000 feet, the ER-2 aircraft is often a platform for Earth science that facilitates new and crucial information about our planet, especially when the plane is part of collaborative and multidisciplinary projects, Erica Heim writes for NASA. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
28 October 2024 - “We’re deploying instruments and people everywhere from dry lakebeds in the desert to coastal oceans and from the stratosphere to marine layer clouds just above the surface,” said Kirk Knobelspiesse, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We live on a changing planet, and it is through collaborative projects that we can observe and understand those changes.”
Equipped with tools like the AVIRIS hyperspectral scanner and the Air-LUSI instrument, the ER-2 enables precision environmental and atmospheric measurements crucial for understanding climate dynamics. AVIRIS captures molecular and particle signatures to monitor Earth’s surface and atmospheric composition, while Air-LUSI refines lunar spectral irradiance data to improve satellite calibration models. Flying at up to 70,000 feet, above 99% of Earth’s atmosphere, the ER-2 has an 8-hour range, accommodates payloads up to 2,600 pounds, and features modular experiment compartments for mission versatility.
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Jamie Whitney, Senior Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
