NASA Develops Mission
In Costa Rica
(InfoWeb Press) From January 25 until
February 14, 2010, the National Aeronautical
Space Administration (NASA) has conducting a
mission to test flight the Gulfstream III
(G-III) jet in Central America, with Costa
Rica as the base of operations.
The area of analysis includes Guatemala, El
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The mission has three principal scientific
targets, to know and study the structure of
the forest, the habitat and the biomass
(entire matter of the beings that live in a
certain place, expressed in weight per unit
of area or of volume); to monitor the
volcanic distortion and the volcanic
processes and to examine sites of Mayan
archaeology.
The information that is gathered will be
vital in the monitoring and preservation of
local resources such as tropical rain forest
and protected archaeological sites. The
volcanic information gathered will allow for
the future use of radar technology utilizing
remote sensors in the study of local
volcanic processes and the development of a
methodology of response in case of an
emergency.
The Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic
Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) project will realize
a series of air observations of the
volcanoes of Guatemala, Honduras, El
Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The constant flights from beginning to the
end of the mission will allow to record and
measure the distortions of the land´s
surface and aid in establishing a control
line of observation that will be utilized
for comparisons by future investigations.
The gathered information will be used for
short and long term studies on volcanic
processes.
NASA also aims to gather information for an
ecological terrestrial experiment. For this,
the UAVSAR will fly over areas of dense
forest such as the experimental station La
Selva, the Corcovado National Park in Costa
Rica, La Amistad located on the border
between Costa Rica and Panama and the
mangrove forests of the swamps of the Golf
of Fonseca that spread between Honduras and
El Salvador. This information will allow
scientists to create maps of the forests to
estimate the biomass and the structure of
the habitat.
This UAVSAR experiment is designed to
understand the impact of the temporary
changes caused by the climate (precipitation
and winds, for example) in the ecological
measurements done by the radar.
They will fly over La Selva four times with
a predetermined interval of repetition. The
Corocvado National Park and La Amistad will
be observed in two occasions.
A Gulfstream III (G-III) business jet was
modified and equipped at NASA´s Center of
Aerial Investigation Dryden, in order to
serves as a cooperative platform of
investigation for a variety of experiments
related to air investigation. The two
turbine aircraft offers long term capacity
for experiments to test subsonic flights for
NASA, the Air Force of the United States,
other government agencies, the academy and
private industry. NASA acquired the plane
from the Air Force of the United States in
2003.
The G-III is equipped with a system for
compiling and processing information. This
system allows for automated configurations
to take place to reduce the need of
engineering support in every mission. It
includes primary systems and backups for
support, in order to assure the reliability
of the mission, with a system of support
available to be used simultaneously as a
parallel system when it is needed. This
system is designed to allow improved
versions to be implemented in simple ways
and to add systems for its expansion, and it
can also be operated automatically and
manually.
This system was developed to allow for the
processing, distribution, deployment and
archiving of information gathered during the
flights carried out by the plane and the
experimental information of the users in
real-time. It also boasts a collection of
video and distribution system, a satellite
phone and an improved electrical power
system. Its satellite communication
capabilities include a Global Position
System (GPS), iridium and a satellite
tracking system.
The advanced capabilities of the instruments
inside of the G-III have been used in a
quantity of experiments, including UAVSAR,
in which a synthetic aperture radar is
placed in the fuselage of the G-III. The
plane offered a platform for the tests and
evaluation of the new radar, plus it was
also used to gather scientific information
for geologic studies on earthquake
prediction, studies on the ice caps in order
to analyze the climatic change and
biological studies to analyze the scientific
cycle of the ecology and carbon.
This project initiated in 2004 is financed
by NASA. Its principal objectives are to
develop a poli-metric, miniature synthetic
aperture radar to be used in none piloted or
piloted air vehicles; to develop the
algorithms of prosecution associated with
taking repeat interferometric measurements
utilizing only one antenna to record
measurements of geophysical interest, in
particular surface changes that deform
rapidity such as is the case with volcanos
or earthquakes. |
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