Many potential science missions are being considered for the demonstration flights. These missions may take place over a wide variety of geographic locations, capitalizing on the aircraft’s extreme range and duration. Volcanic observation over Hawaii, forest fire monitoring over the Western United States, and atmospheric sampling over Alaska are among the science demonstration mission possibilities — missions that are often too dangerous, difficult, or too lengthy for manned aircraft to perform. UAVs are uniquely positioned to perform long missions that have repetitive routines.

The long, narrow wings of NASA’s Altair are designed to allow the UAV to maintain long-duration flight at high altitudes.

GA-ASI is no stranger to the ERAST project. Its Altus II had been involved in ERAST as a technology demonstrator of aerodynamic, propulsion, and control system technologies for future high-altitude, longendurance UAVs designed for civil scientific and commercial uses. The Altus II also has been utilized for several Earth resource missions, most notably a high-altitude atmospheric cloud radiation study conducted over Hawaii in the spring of 1999.

A milestone in the development of high-altitude, long-endurance, remotely operated aircraft occurred on June 9, 2003 with the first flight of NASA’s Altair. The slender-wing aircraft lifted off the runway at GA-ASI’s flight test facility for a checkout flight that evaluated the aircraft’s basic airworthiness and flight controls. The rear-engine Altair glided to a landing on the remote desert runway 24 minutes later. The entire flight was conducted at low altitude within a comparatively short range of the El Mirage airstrip.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Glenn Hamilton, Altair project manager at NASA Dryden, after witnessing the first flight. “Now we can move forward with getting UAVs into the national airspace and conducting research.”

Hamilton’s comments were echoed by Thomas J. Cassidy, president and chief executive officer of GA-ASI. “Altair’s first flight is a culmination of 10 years of experience in building reliable unmanned aircraft based on a common design philosophy,” Cassidy added. “I am very proud of our design, manufacturing, and flightreadiness teams for their dedication to a high-performance level of excellence.”

For more information on the Altair/Predator B UAV program, visit http://info.hotims.com/10974-522