| And by rare, I don't know if I have ever seen an aircraft with that kind of goal. Really the Global Hawk is the only one with that kind of opportunity, with the ability to perform a 24 hour very high altitude mission. Visit the front page of HurricaneCity's recon page to see links to various viewers for data in the "NOAA / NASA SHOUT Project" section: http://hurricanecity.com/recon/ "Monday, 29 Aug. 2016 [...] Global Hawk: Is scheduled for a flight taking off at 2200 UTC (6PM Eastern) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, VA. The goal is to fly over TD9 and TD8. This flight is part of NOAA's Sensing Hazards with Operational Unmanned Technology (SHOUT) field campaign." Tuesday, 30 Aug. 2016 [...] Global Hawk: Is scheduled to land around 2200 UTC (6PM Eastern) at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, VA." From: https://noaahrd.wordpress.com/ It launched one sonde in T.D. Eight so far. It could potentially release as many as 80+. I haven't been able to find this mission's planned sonde count yet. (Sometimes they drop a lot less than that.) Lots of data for the models! Mission runs through 6pm EDT landing Tuesday in Virginia. I don't know when it will go to T.D. Nine. It might do some T.D. Eight, then to T.D. Nine and then back again to T.D. Eight since it is on the way home. I don't know. I wonder how I am going to organize this mission in the recon system later. I designed the system to be associated with a single storm. As a reminder, this aircraft is up around 55 to 65 thousand feet and there are no humans on board. A very cool aircraft. A huge thing too: "The 44-foot-long Global Hawk has a wingspan of more than 116 feet, a height of 15 feet, and a gross takeoff weight of 26,750 pounds, including a 1,500-pound payload capability. A single Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan engine powers the aircraft. The distinctive V-tail, engine cover, aft fuselage and wings are constructed primarily of graphite composite materials. The center fuselage is constructed of conventional aluminum, while various fairings and radomes feature fiberglass composite construction." From: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-098-DFRC.html |