NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

For Airborne Science, Earth Day is Everyday:

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 around the world. It is special day for the human family all over the planet. It is a national day of observance of environmental problems and a day where people of every creed and culture focus on a common cause: Seeking a sustainable future for life on Earth.

Earth Day becomes an international forum to express concern about what is happening to our oceans, land, rivers, and air. It is an opportunity to reunite and rededicate our efforts and accepting the responsibility of being trustees of the Earth.

Who would ever have thought that in the middle of the Mojave Desert, in an aeronautical flight facility, there is a unique group of individuals studying the effects of natural and human-induced changes on the global environment. This small group of men and women travel all over the globe to make the measurements of our planet that will fit with the satellite, and ground-based measurements and models that support the environmental decisions of the future.

The multidisciplinary study of the Earth as a system is known as Earth System Science. This science defines the Earth as a synergistic physical system of interrelated phenomena, governed by complex processes involving a number of subsystems or spheres (such as, the Geosphere/Lithosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Heliosphere, Biosphere/Ecosphere, and Cryosphere).

Dryden's Airborne Science Directorate is an integral part of Earth Science, supporting the NASA Headquarters Earth Science Enterprise Suborbital Program. We enable the study of Earth's subsystems and phenomena from the vantage point of aerial platforms. For NASA Dryden Airborne Science, Earth Day is every day. We support earth and space science research by utilizing our unique expertise in mission management and aircraft operations to use innovative aviation technologies to improve Earth monitoring systems. Located at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Edwards Air Force Base, California, Airborne Science operates three aerial vehicles: two ER-2 jets (high-altitude vehicles that can simulate satellites) and one DC-8 aircraft (used as a flying laboratory). These aircraft are scientific platforms for:

(1) Sensor technology development, test and demonstration. Suborbital platforms provide the means to reliably mature and transition instruments from the laboratory to space. Potentially, the first transition is to integrate the instrument into a flying laboratory and conduct scientist-attended missions. This is followed by further development of algorithms and hardware that permit integration and untended flight on a virtual satellite. Once mature, instruments and algorithms are ready for the more severe environment of space-based systems.

(2) Calibration/validation of space-based observations. Similar measurements taken simultaneously from orbital and suborbital platforms can be used to correct the satellite observations to NIST-calibrated suborbital measurements to assure the quality of quantitative retrievals over time. Measurements of the same parameter taken simultaneously from orbit and with multiple sensors using a variety of measurement concepts, including simulators of the spaceborne sensors, are used to develop and validate retrieval algorithms, and ensure the quality of the space-based data products.

(3) Atmosphere-based observations. Suborbital assets provide measurements that can presently only be made from platforms operating at multiple levels in the atmosphere. These include atmospheric in situ sampling, remote sensing observations at multiple temporal and spatial scales, and observations of phenomena that are too ephemeral or too small for observation from current orbiting platforms. These measurements are critical to process science and model improvements.

The product of our work has provided vital scientific information for the development of practical tools for public and private sector decision-makers; ultimately improving the quality of life for individuals all over the world.