A NASA plane is conducting field research by flying above I-95 between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. The research starts July 6 and continues for 12 days.
Drivers on Interstate 95 could see a NASA airplane flying over the highway in July. The aircraft will be conducting atmospheric research between Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Hampton, Virginia for 12 days, NASA said in a release.
The aircraft will fly five days during the 12-day period at altitudes from 1,000 to 10,000 feet. The research is part of an atmospheric study in the Mid-Atlantic region, NASA said.
“Each flight during the campaign will include one low-level pass at 1,000 feet over I-95, two spiral tracks, ascending and descending, over Baltimore, and one spiral track over Greenbelt, Maryland,” NASA wrote in the release.
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These flights are run by the Students Airborne Science Activation (SaSa) program which gives students hands-on experience in scientific research. The program also seeks to diversify researchers in Earth science and is working with undergraduate students from minority-serving institutions like Howard University and University of Maryland Baltimore County.
According to NASA's Student Airborne Research program website, students will be researching “atmospheric gases, and/or to image land and water surfaces in multiple spectral bands.”
The study will use the P-3 aircraft based at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The P-3 aircraft carries instruments that collect date over urban, rural, vegetation and water surfaces.
The P-3 aircraft can be tracked in real time at the NASA Airborne Science Program Tracker and flight updates are available on the Wallops social media.
