Pathfinder-Plus Solar Wing Readied to Fly Again at NASA Dryden

File image of The Pathfinder-Plus Solar Aircraft

Edwards AFB (SPX) Oct 05, 2004
NASA and AeroVironment are joining forces again to conduct a new series of research flights by the solar-electric Pathfinder-Plus flying wing this fall at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.

The lightweight solar craft has been instrumented with a sophisticated atmospheric turbulence measurement system on seven long booms mounted across the leading edge of the wing.

About three or four low-altitude flights over the edge of Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to NASA Dryden are intended gather data to help engineers characterize and model the effects of turbulence on the aerodynamics of lightweight, flexible-structure aircraft.

SPACE TRAVEL

NASA Technology Means No More Flying Blind

Hampton VA (SPX) Oct 01, 2004
Imagine a world where pilots see clear skies all the time. It's not some weather fantasyland, but a revolutionary cockpit display technology called Synthetic Vision. NASA is developing it to make flying safer. NASA aeronautics researchers from Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., tested the Synthetic Vision Systems technology this summer. They tested the system aboard a Gulfstream GV business jet in air space around Reno, Nev., and NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.