NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedi ...

's Airborne Science Program is administered from the NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center, in

Edwards, California Edwards (formerly, Muroc and Wherry Housing) is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is located east-southeast of Mojave, about northeast of Lancaster, east of Rosamond, and south of California City at an elevation ...

. The program supports the

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can b ...

requirements of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise. Dryden maintains and operates two ER-2 high-altitude "satellite simulator" aircraft and a

DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...

which is specially configured as a "flying laboratory". The scientific disciplines that employ these aircraft include

Earth sciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spher ...

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

atmospheric chemistry Atmospheric chemistry is a branch of atmospheric science in which the chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere and that of other planets is studied. It is a multidisciplinary approach of research and draws on environmental chemistry, physics, mete ...

climatology Climatology (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ''klima'', "place, zone"; and , ''wiktionary:-logia, -logia'') or climate science is the scientific study of Earth's climate, typically defined as weather conditions averaged over a period of at least 30 ...

, oceanography,

archeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscape ...

ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin word '' vulcan''. Vulcan was the a ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

. The DC-8 and ER-2 are also important tools for the development of sensors intended to fly aboard future Earth-observing satellites, and to validate and calibrate the sensors which are used onboard satellites which currently orbit the Earth.

NASA research aircraft types operated

Present

Media

Image:Airborne Science Safari 2000 Mission.ogv, Airborne Science Safari 2000 Mission Image:ER-2 in Sweden for the Sage III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment.ogg, ER-2 in Sweden for the Sage III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment

References

External links

* {{cite web, title=NASA Airborne Science Program, work=NASA, url=http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/research/AirSci/index.html, accessdate=October 18, 2005, archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20050929003701/http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/research/AirSci/index.html, archivedate= 29 September 2005 , url-status= dead NASA programs Articles containing video clips

NASA research aircraft types operated

Present

Media

See also

References

External links