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NASA test provides pilots with better weather forecasts NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: January 30, 2006 Weather forecasters in the middle of the United States are making better local predictions for pilots and others thanks to an airborne sensor being tested by NASA's Aviation Safety Program. Researchers at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., led the team that designed, built and equipped dozens of Mesaba Airlines aircraft with the Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Report instrument. Mesaba is a Northwest Airlink affiliate, headquartered in Minneapolis. The airline mainly flies shorter commuter routes. The instrument allows aircraft to automatically sense and report atmospheric conditions. Observations are sent by satellite to a ground data center that processes and distributes up-to-date weather information to forecasters and pilots. "Initial research shows the airborne sensor makes a 10 to 20 percent improvement in forecast error in numerical models and that's just with temperature," said Taumi Daniels, NASA project leader. The sensor also measures humidity, pressure, winds, icing and turbulence with the help of location, time and altitude provided by built-in Global Positioning System technology. Large airliners fly above most weather and collect limited atmospheric data. When equipped with the weather sensor, regional aircraft, which typically fly below 25,000 feet, can provide more information. The information the team collects can also benefit weather models and forecasts, because it increases the number of observations in the lower atmosphere. There are only 70 weather balloon sites in the continental United States that collect temperature, wind and moisture data from twice-daily atmospheric soundings. The experiment added 800 more daily atmospheric soundings. "Meteorologists at the National Weather Service have found the Tropospheric Airborne Meteorological Data Report to be useful in forecasting severe thunderstorms, dense fog, precipitation types of winter storms and low-level wind shear," said Richard Mamrosh, National Weather Service meteorologist in Green Bay, Wis. "In summertime its best use is in determining if and when thunderstorms might develop. In wintertime it really helps in determining whether a storm will bring sleet, freezing rain or snow," he added. Industry, meteorologists, researchers and scientists are part of the partnership analyzing data. The partners include: AirDat L.L.C., Morrisville, N.C.; Federal Aviation Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Washington; National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo.; Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, Mass.; Meteorological Service of Canada, Montreal; UK MET Office, London; and Meteorological Network of Europe, Toulouse, France. The program is part of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. The focus of the program is on the way vehicles are designed, built, operated, and maintained. The program is developing principles, guidelines, concepts, tools, methods, and technologies to address four areas: aircraft aging and durability; integrated intelligent flight deck technologies; integrated vehicle health management; and integrated resilient aircraft control. |
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On the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, a memorial service was held at the Kennedy Space Center's Space Mirror. Speakers at the tribute to honor the lost Challenger, Columbia and Apollo 1 astronauts included the widow and son of Challenger commander Francis "Dick" Scobee, officials with the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, two local U.S. Representatives, commander of the first shuttle flight after Challenger and the Kennedy Space Center director.
NASA's next mobile rover that will be sent to the Red Planet is Mars Science Laboratory. Roughly the size of a Mini Cooper car and designed to operate on the Martian surface for two Earth years, this large rover is scheduled for launch in 2009. Project manager Richard Cook unveils a model of the rover and talks about the mission in this video clip.
The remarkable rovers Spirit and Opportunity remain alive and well on the surface of the Red Planet, far outlasting their planned 90-day missions. On Jan. 24, the second anniversary of Opportunity's landing, project officials and scientists held this celebration event at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The New Horizons spacecraft begins a voyage across the solar system to explore Pluto and beyond with its successful launch January 19 aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft returns samples of cometary dust to Earth with its safe landing in Utah on January 15.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and his deputy Shana Dale hold a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in the final hours of the countdown to the New Horizons launch. Questions from reporters ranged from the Pluto-bound mission, the agency's budget and the space shuttle program.
This film looks at the highlights in NASA's history from its creation in the 1950s, through the glory days of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, birth of the space shuttle and the loss of Challenger, launch of Hubble and much more.