Scientists at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, have a speedy, high-flying new tool at their disposal. Langley acquired this C-20B Gulfstream III in 2017 for the purpose of conducting airborne science missions. Before it could fulfill its new duties, the former U.S. Air Force aircraft, which was previously used to transport high level government officials, needed modifications to accommodate scientific instrumentation. Langley’s Research Services Directorate awarded a contract to Avenger Aerospace Solutions in Greenville, South Carolina, to design, fabricate and install two research portals and their associated shutter doors in the belly of the aircraft. Avenger subcontractor Phoenix Air Group in Cartersville, Georgia, fabricated and installed the modifications. The Gulfstream returned to Langley from Georgia on May 31. It still must undergo additional maintenance before it can conduct science missions, but is currently scheduled to host its first atmospheric-science instrument, the Compact Midwave Imaging System, or CMIS, later this year. CMIS is a NASA-funded instrument being designed and built at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.
