14 DAY TRIAL // Officials from NASA recently released a new image of a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), one of the two such aircraft that the space agency operates. This particular one was imaged on September 7, in Virginia.
Usually based at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, in California, the UAV is seen here inside an aircraft hangar at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, on Wallops Island, Virginia. It is currently taking part in the Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3).
The 30-day study uses a variety of scientific tools to investigate the formation and development of tropical storms and hurricanes, with the ultimate goal of determining what makes these atmospheric events increase in intensity by so much, over such short periods of time.
Both Global Hawk UAV were created especially for NASA by the Northrop Grumman Corporation, and were heavily modified to support a wide range of scientific instruments, all while maintaining a good ceiling and flight time.