NASA Using Va. Launch Site for Hurricane Mission - WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 -

NASA Using Va. Launch Site for Hurricane Mission

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This image shows the flight path (red line) of a Global Hawk that departed from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base and flew around Hurricane Leslie on Sept. 7, before landing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. (Photo: NASA) This image shows the flight path (red line) of a Global Hawk that departed from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base and flew around Hurricane Leslie on Sept. 7, before landing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. (Photo: NASA)
The Global Hawk unmanned aircraft coming in for a landing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., on Sept. 7, 2012. (Photo: NASA Wallops) The Global Hawk unmanned aircraft coming in for a landing at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., on Sept. 7, 2012. (Photo: NASA Wallops)
This visible image of Hurricane Leslie was captured by the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 5 at 1:15 p.m. EDT as the storm was approaching Bermuda. (Photo: NASA Goddard) This visible image of Hurricane Leslie was captured by the MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite on Sept. 5 at 1:15 p.m. EDT as the storm was approaching Bermuda. (Photo: NASA Goddard)

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. (WBOC/AP)- Virginia's Eastern Shore is being used as a launch site for a NASA mission to study tropical cyclones.

The federal space agency is sending unmanned scientific Global Hawk aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean to study the cyclones and what causes them to intensify into hurricanes.

Flights are set to begin in early September and continue into early October at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County. The flights will be repeated from Wallops during the 2013 and 2014 hurricane seasons.

An aircraft that flew over Hurricane Leslie in the Atlantic Ocean took off from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Thursday, and landed Friday at Wallops.

Officials say the 5-year Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) mission will use aerial vehicles equipped with instruments to survey the overall environment of the storms. The aircraft also will look into the inner core of hurricanes to study their structure and processes.

HS3 is an Earth Venture mission funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Earth Venture missions are managed by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The HS3 mission is managed by the Earth Science Project Office at NASA's Ames Research Center.

For more information about NASA's Airborne Science Program, visit:
http://airbornescience.nasa.gov

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