Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, Feb 1, 2019 - Mission Update Edition

NASA, from 5
ready for operation.
The Student Airborne Research
Program celebrated its 10th year, as 28 undergraduate students partici- pated in an eight-week immersive NASA airborne science field experi- ence. The SARP program provides a unique opportunity for undergradu- ate students majoring in the scienc- es, mathematics, and engineering to participate in all aspects of a NASA airborne science research campaign. Flying aboard the DC-8, the students sampled and measured atmospheric gases to study air quality in the Los Angeles basin and California’s Cen- tral Valley.
ER-2 and C-20A
Multiple NASA aircraft including the C-20A and ER-2 supported disas- ter relief efforts during the wildfire and hurricane seasons. The agency’s C-20A aircraft, a modified Gulf- stream III, deployed to North and South Carolina to support emergency relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Florence. A team of scientists used the Uninhabited Aerial V ehicle Syn- thetic Aperture Radar (UA VSAR) instrument to map flooded regions to assist Federal Emergency Man- agement Agency and a University of South Carolina science team that was already conducting field research on flood inundation prior to the disaster.
The C-20A and the ER-2 high-alti- tude research aircraft also supported emergency response for multiple Cal- ifornia wildfires. Both aircraft carried scientific instruments to map the burn scar areas. Resulting data helped of- ficials estimate resources needed to recover from the fire, as well as to identify areas at risk of mudslides ahead of the winter rains. The SARP students also used ER-2 remote- sensing data to study drought, fire damage and debris flows in Southern California, and ocean biology along the California coast. Students also took measurements at field sites near Santa Barbara, Sequoia National For- est, and the Salton Sea.
In another part of California,
NASA Armstrong pilot Scott Howe, who was serving as a part-time mem- ber of the California Air National Guard, assisted with the blazes by piloting the guard’s MQ-9 remotely piloted aircraft to monitor raging wildfires. Howe was chosen for that role because he was one of the pilots of NASA’s Ikhana aircraft, a civilian variant of the MQ-9 based at Arm- strong.
SOFIA
NASA’s Stratospheric Observa- tory for Infrared Astronomy program contributed to several major scientific discoveries in 2018, during deploy- ments to Christchurch, New Zealand, and Daytona Beach, Fla. Astrono- mers use the airborne observatory to study rare astronomical events that most ground-based telescopes can- not observe.
Researchers aboard SOFIA discov- ered that magnetic fields are trapping dust and sending it into a supermas- sive black hole near the center of the Cygnus A galaxy. Magnetic fields may explain why some black holes appear to be gobbling up material
from their surroundings and eject- ing ultra-high-speed jets while oth- ers, like the at the heart of our Milky Way Galaxy, are not. Observations from SOFIA found evidence that star clusters form through collisions between giant molecular clouds. This contradicts traditional models sug- gesting that gravitational forces alone were responsible for the formation of stars and star clusters. Research- ers also found that powerful, magne- tized winds flow outward from above and below swirling disks of gas dur- ing the formation of massive stars. These winds blow cavities through the dense clouds of interstellar dust, giving researchers a clear view into the stellar nursery and allowing them to learn about the structure of pro- tostars and test different theoretical models of star formation.
Spaceflight Technology
Flight Opportunities Program
Armstrong manages NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program un- der the agency’s Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program
provides opportunities for large and small businesses and universities to demonstrate technologies of inter- est to NASA in a space-like environ- ment by testing them on board com- mercial suborbital launch vehicles, reduced-gravity parabolic aircraft flights, and high-altitude balloons. Building a flight heritage enables these technologies to be more readily included in future NASA projects and to stimulate the growth of the U.S. commercial spaceflight industry.
In January, high-altitude balloon flights by World View Enterprises helped advance technology to deter- mine how and why the Earth evolved to be suitable for life, while other planets in the solar system did not. A second balloon flight in May evalu- ated two technologies for monitor- ing radiation exposure during space- based missions.
Zero Gravity Corporation flew parabolic flights in a modified Boe- ing 727-200 to simulate micrograv- ity conditions. These missions were flown for a variety of purposes, from
testing proposed new space suits to cryogenic propellant research. One flight in November carried an ex- periment on the behavior of dust on surfaces in space. Another set of par- abolic flights in June advanced space technologies for a Mars sample return mission.
Masten Space Systems flight-test- ed a rocket carrying technology that may one day be used to bring back a sample of surface soil from a celes- tial body such as an asteroid. Such samples provide clues to the early history of the solar system.
In April, Blue Origin launched the company’s New Shepard rocket for a company vying to be the first Internet service provider in space, as well as a NASA monitoring system for testing technologies on suborbital vehicles.
A small rocket launched by UP Aerospace carried an experimental thermal protection system as well as an flight termination system and a device for monitoring the internal environment of a spacecraft, includ- ing acceleration forces on payloads.
Deborah Jackson, Al Bowers, and Abbigail Waddell launch the subscale Prandtl-D 3C glider at Rosamond Dry Lake.
NASA photograph by Lauren Hughes
While deployed to Gainsville, Fla., NASA’s C-20A carried a UAVSAR pod to collect data on hurricane damage in the region.
NASA photograph by Lauren Hughes
Masten Space Systems’ Xodiac rocket flight-tested a pneumatic sampler collection system at Mojave Air and Space Port.
NASA photograph by Samuel Choi
NASA photograph by Carla Thomas NASA’s Ikhana UAV was flown into the National Airspace System for the first time without a chase plane.
6 Aerotech News and Review February 1, 2019 www.aerotechnews.com ........ facebook.com/aerotechnewsandreview