NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Remotely-piloted Altair unmanned aerial vehicle. As part of the ERAST program (Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology), General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. supplied a Predator A aircraft as a platform for high altitude science. Flown remotely, and named Altair, the vehicle was part of the larger NASA initiative to develop and test technology for long endurance, high altitude unmanned science platforms under ERAST. One of the parallel goals of the program was the ultimate incorporation of UAVs into the national air space, something which ERAST laid the ground work for but did not achieve.