Friday, January 25, 2013 Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk UAS
Studying Climate Change NASA's Global Hawk unmanned aircraft
system (UAS) is conducting missions to study the impact of
atmospheric change on the Earth’s climate, the manufacturer
said. The missions are part of the Airborne Tropical Tropopause
Experiment (ATTREX) campaign, studying the region of the upper
atmosphere where pollutants and other gases enter the
stratosphere and potentially influence climate, the company
said. NASA is sponsoring the ATTREX campaign, which launched on
Jan. 16 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "Global Hawk is able
to fly as high as 65,000 feet for periods up to 31 hours,
providing the unique combination of high altitude and long
endurance performance capabilities that allow the science
community to study and deepen our understanding of climate
change," said Fred Ricker, vice president of advanced
development programs for Northrop Grumman's aerospace systems
unit. "Global Hawk is the only aircraft able to repeatedly
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