Wednesday, June 3, 2009

NASA Research Plane to fly the skies of Ohio


This summer Wright Patterson Air Force Base will play host to a ER-2 NASA Research Plane and it crews. The ER-2 is a converted Lockheed U-2 Spyplane being used by NASA for support of global warming research. The ER-2 can attain altitudes of over 70,000 and carry up to 2,600 pounds of cargo. This allows the sensor package installed on the aircraft to operate like satellite base sensors, collecting data on Earth resources, celestial observations, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics and oceanic processes. The aircraft and its crews are expected to arrive at WPAFB around June 24 and operate for about one month. The ER-2 is based out of NASA's Dryden Research Center located at Edwards Air Force Base in California. This should give Ohio Milcomers a unique listening opportunity this summer.


Photo courtesy of NASA