2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
2009 Annual Report - NASA Airborne Science Program
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functional traits: cell structure, shade tolerance,<br />
and recalcitrance. Data will also be used to<br />
investigate forest growth, carbon cycling and<br />
the interaction between ecosystems and climate.<br />
During the WPAFB-AVIRIS campaign the ER2<br />
806 flew a total of 55.2 hours (including 12 hrs<br />
of transit time) of the estimated 69.8 hrs (79%)<br />
during the WPAFB AVIRIS/CPL campaign. A<br />
total of 35 defined experimental sites were flown<br />
and some sites were repeated. The WPAFB-<br />
AVIRIS campaign was completed on July 29, <strong>2009</strong>.<br />
In August, the team continued to fly the AVIRIS<br />
sensor over required experiment sites in Southern<br />
and Northern California. In September, the<br />
TWiLiTE sensor returned to DFRC and was<br />
uploaded into A/C 806 and completed it required<br />
flights.<br />
In summary, the ER-2’s flew a total of 204 flight<br />
hours combined totaling 72 sorties.<br />
In addition, In <strong>2009</strong>, the ER-2 project supported<br />
several education and outreach events by providing<br />
a presentation and demonstration of the pressure<br />
suit. Presentations were made at several local<br />
schools in the Antelope Valley, at an Edwards<br />
AFB air show, at the TATTOO air show at<br />
WPAFB, Dayton Ohio, and at the special Air<br />
Force Junior ROTC “honors camps” at the<br />
University of Oklahoma and University of New<br />
Mexico. The ER-2 team also supported the<br />
<strong>NASA</strong> Headquarters aeronautics theme at the<br />
Albuquerque balloon festival in Albuquerque,<br />
New Mexico.<br />
In fiscal year 2010 the ER-2 operations will<br />
be re-located from DFRC hangar 4840, to the<br />
Dryden’s Aircraft Operations Facility (DAOF) in<br />
Palmdale. This move, along with efforts to share<br />
infrastructure with other projects, will allow the<br />
ER-2 to continue to maintain its reduced hourly<br />
flight cost.<br />
Details on the ER-2s, their capabilities, and points<br />
of contact can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/<br />
centers/dryden/research/AirSci/ER-2/<br />
Figure 47:<br />
TWiLiTE in Q-Bay of ER-2.<br />
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