Unmanned Science Research Aircraft

该合同为概念验证型无人研究飞机的最终组装和初始飞行测试准备提供资金。该合同是设计、建造、测试和飞行无人研究飞机的五个项目中的第四个项目。先前完成的项目要素（飞机部件的设计和建造）由极光飞行科学公司、NASA和NSF资助。美国宇航局预计将为该计划的第五部分（飞行测试）提供资金。无人驾驶、高空、长航程、低雷诺数、轻型飞机的显著能力增强的前景在科学界受到了热烈欢迎。已经提出了这种飞机的各种任务。一份不完整的清单包括：平流层臭氧化学研究；探索海温排放对平流层的影响；测量地球的辐射收支；确定CO2和CH4的源和汇；研究平流层-对流层交换；还有飓风研究。其中一些任务需要极高的高度能力（高达30公里），而其他任务则需要比平流层臭氧任务所需的高度能力较低但持续时间较长的平台。单架飞机的设计并不打算完成上述所有任务。但是，执行这些任务所需的飞机设计将来自一个共同的技术基础，该技术基础将部分由本项目供资。设计策略的核心是一架基本飞机，有人驾驶的珀尔修斯，它将作为科学无人飞机的概念验证。这是一个高风险的项目，具有巨大的潜力，可以大大扩大未来可收集的现场大气观测的时间和空间范围

This award provides funds for final assembly of a proof-of- concept demonstrator unmanned research aircraft and preparation for initial flight testing. The award is the fourth program element in a five program element in a five program element project to design, build, test and fly an unmanned research aircraft. The previously completed program elements (the design and construction of the aircraft components) were funded by Aurora Flight Science, NASA and NSF. NASA anticipates it will fund the fifth element (flight testing) of the program. The promise of significant capability enhancements associated with an unmanned, high altitude, long duration, low Reynolds number, lightweight aircraft has been enthusiastically received within the scientific community. A variety of missions for such an aircraft have been proposed. An incomplete list includes: stratospheric ozone chemistry research; exploring the impact of SST emissions on the stratosphere; measuring the earth's radiation budget; determining sources and sinks of CO2 and CH4; studying stratosphere-troposphere exchange; and hurricane research. Some of these missions require extremely high altitude capability (up to 30km), while others require platforms with less altitude capability but longer durations than required for the stratospheric ozone mission. A single aircraft designs is not planned to accomplish all the missions mentioned above. However, aircraft designs necessary to carry out these missions will be derived from a common technology base that is to be funded, in part, under this project. At the center of the design strategy is a basic aircraft, manned Perseus, that will serve as a proof-of-concept for the scientific unmanned aircraft. This is a high risk project with a tremendous potential for significantly expanding the time and space domain of in situ atmospheric observations that could be collected in the future.***//