AFRC2017-0068-123

ER-2 flyover at L.A. County Airshow, March 25, 2017. NASA will be working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) on their newest weather satellite, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R-series, or GOES-R, that launched into orbit Nov. 19. Now that it has reached its final designated orbit, GOES-R will be known operationally as GOES-16. The ER-2 will help NOAA calibrate sensors and validate data transmitted down from the satellite. The formal ER-2 science flights will take place between March and Mary of 2017 in two phases; during phase one, flights will be operated from the aircraft's normal base of operations at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Building 703. Phase two flights will be based out of Warner Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia, where thunderstorm conditions can be more easily found and observed.