I Can See My House From Up Here! The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is quite an impressive piece of hardware. It can stay in the air for more than a day, has a range of 3,400 miles, and at very high altitude (its record is 19,928 meters (65,380.6 ft)). Usually it's the military that would have control over these UAVs, but two Global Hawks have been turned over to NASA for environmental research flights .
The problem with this BIG a** UAV is the turbine engine, is not efficient (but faster). That's why military prefer the predator B (36 hours of endurance). I'm lucky to see one closely, i also saw a predator flying once:
Don’t forget the costs for spectrum and range time. It’s a partnership between NASA and NG, they both fly and I believe NASA does the maintenance. I was at a meeting a few weeks ago with the test pilot. Interesting how manned pilots feel uneasy about the lack of feedback from the aircraft. I found it interesting and added, RPA pilots for the most part, never took them into consideration in the first place. I did suggest that NASA throw in a hat and a bottle of Space Station Spring water for those who book range time at the Dryden facility. ;-)
Yeah, a bit pricey, was wondering myself how Nasa acquired them, Seems like they wouldn't have a budget for that type of aircraft and why would the Airforce or Northrop Grumman donate or loan them out? Looks like they are down at Dryden from the pics at wired
They're certainly not in Mountain View & they're super over priced. Not sure what future it has at $35,000,000. Suspect the Air Force will be down to ardupilot telemasters in a few more years.
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Would love to catch a glimpse of one flying, wow.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/10/x-plane/
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