Tropical storm Frank rages off the coast of Baja California, Mexico, on August 28 in a picture from NASA's unmanned Global Hawk hurricane-monitoring airplane. (Also see video of Hurricane Earl captured by astronauts.)
Global Hawk, which completed its first science flight earlier this year, can fly by itself for up to 30 hours, reaching altitudes of 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) and traveling as far as 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 kilometers). The robotic plane's mission is to study the atmosphere over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with unprecedented range and endurance. (Explore a Global Hawk interactive.)
"We can go to regions we couldn't reach or go to previously explored regions and study them for extended periods that are impossible with conventional [piloted] planes," mission scientist David Fahey, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said in a statement. |
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