Aircraft List

The NASA Airborne Science Program provides a unique set of NASA supported aircraft that benefit the earth science community. These manned and unmanned aircraft carry the sensors that provide data to support and augment NASA spaceborne missions.

Reminder: All investigators with approved or pending proposals from the Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) announcements that have a requirement for a NASA Airborne Science platform/instrument, must submit a Flight Request. The Flight Request is also the method to acquire an estimate if your proposal requires a cost estimate for Airborne Science support. However, for investigators proposing to participate on large, multi-aircraft experiments, a single Flight Request will be submitted for each mission by the Project Manager or Project Scientist. The Science Operations Flight Request System (SOFRS) can be reached directly at https://airbornescience.nasa.gov/sofrs.

Non-NASA Aircraft
NASA instrumentation may fly on non-NASA Federal aircraft as well as academic and commercial platforms for which agreements for access by SMD investigators are in place, in process, or have recently been approved by NASA Aviation Management as airworthy and safe to operate. For more information, please review the current ASP Call Letter for further requirements and guidance. Please note that in addition to filing the required Flight Request, investigators are responsible for contacting vendors to determine if the platform meets the requirements of the proposed scientific investigation. It is also the responsibility of the investigator to ensure that before any preliminary test flights or actual data collection flights utilizing NASA personnel, instruments or funds occur, all vendors successfully complete a NASA airworthiness/flight safety review in accordance with NASA Aviation Safety Policy for Non-NASA Aircraft.

Global Hawk - AFRC

See the calendar for Global Hawk 872 (AV-6) availability. Global Hawk 871 (AV-1) has been retired and is no longer available for use.

Owner/Operator: 
NASA Armstrong (Dryden) Flight Research Center
Type: 
UAS
Duration: 
30.0 hours (payload and weather dependent)
Useful Payload: 
1,900 lbs
Gross Take-off Weight: 
25,600 lbs
Onboard Operators: 
0
Max Altitude: 
65,000 ft
Air Speed: 
345 knots
Range: 
11,000 Nmi
Power: 
Rolls-Royce AE3007H turbofan
NASA SMD User Fee per Hour: 
$60K/week or $250K/month for access $1800/Flt hour up to 150hrs/month
Point(s) of Contact: 

Frank Cutler

Mobile: (661) 810-6944
Work: (661) 276-3998
Fax: (661) 276-5332

David Fratello