2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program

NASA’s
ER-2
NASA operates two ER-2 (806 and 809) aircraft as
readily deployable high altitude sensor platforms
to collect remote sensing and in situ data on earth
resources, atmospheric chemistry and dynamics,
and oceanic processes. The aircraft also are used
for electronic sensor research, development and
demonstrations, satellite calibration and satellite
data validation. Operating at 70,000 feet (21.3
km), the ER-2 acquires data above ninety-five
percent of the earth’s atmosphere. The aircraft
also yields an effective horizon of 300 miles (480
km) or greater at altitudes of 70,000 feet.
In November 2008, ER-2 806 was taken out of
service temporarily to conduct a required 200 hour
phase inspection.
In February, the ER-2 team integrated the
Tropospheric Wind Lidar Experiment, TWiLiTE,
sensor and flew its first flight on February 19,
2009. Unfortunately, the sensor encountered
some in-flight failures and had to be returned to
home base for trouble shooting and repair. The
sensor flew again in September.
In March, the ER-2 team conducted four Airborne
Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS)
flights over the Santa Monica Mountains and
two Autonomous Modular Systems (AMS)
sensor flights utilizing both aircraft 806 and 809,
showing team flexibility on accomplishing flight
requirements.
In April, the ER-2 team continued to fly the
AVIRIS sensor on A/C 809 over required
experiment sites. Team also uploaded the Large
Area Collectors (LAC) and began flying sensor
towards end of April and into May. A new Sandia
National Laboratories High Altitude Telemetry
Sensor (HATS) sensor was successfully integrated
into A/C 809 and flown over Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
In May, ER-2 team completed flying the LAC and
the HATS sensor and began to prepare for the
upcoming deployment campaign at Dayton Ohio.
In mid June, the ER-2 809 deployed to Wright-
Patterson AFB (WPAFB), in Dayton, OH, in
support of the WPAFB-AVIRIS campaign.
Science flights were also conducted over sites in
Canada (Alberta, Ontario and North of Hudson
bay), New York, Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, W.
Virginia, Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota.
The AVIRIS flights were conducted to gather
data and characterize forest functional types
by canopy-based measurement of three key
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