In the August issue of Defense Tech Briefs, we highlighted NASA’s Altair/Predator B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for Earth science missions. A lot has happened in the past two months, so we’re providing an update on the latest aircraft and applications in NASA’s growing UAV program.

New Science and Technology Capabilities

The inventory of research aircraft at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, CA, has grown by one with the acquisition of a new Predator B unmanned aircraft system called Ikhana, built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) of San Diego. The goals for the aircraft include collecting data that allow scientists to better understand and model environmental conditions and climate, increasing the intelligence of unmanned aircraft to perform advanced missions, and demonstrating technologies that enable new manned and unmanned aircraft capabilities.

NASA’s remotely piloted Ikhana unmanned aircraft flies over California during the Western States Fire Mission. (Photo by Jim Ross/NASA Dryden)

“The FAA has been very cooperative in helping to define ways to achieve our mission objectives while protecting the safety of the national airspace system,” said Greg Buoni, lead operations engineer for Ikhana. “Because unmanned aircraft currently have limited ability to see and avoid other aircraft and, in some cases, have lower reliability than a manned aircraft, unmanned flights within the national airspace require a COA and are subject to significant restrictions in their operation.”