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HomeMissionsHumans in SpaceEarth & ClimateThe Solar SystemThe UniverseScienceAeronauticsTechnologyLearning ResourcesAbout NASAEspañol			News & Events
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 Featured Earth as seen by Apollo 17 in 19722 min readJoin NASA in Celebrating Earth Day 2024 by Sharing a #GlobalSelfiearticle6 hours ago NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change6 min readNASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Changearticle6 hours ago This 2024 Earth Day poster is an ocean themed vertical 15x30 illustration created from NASA satellite cloud imagery overlaid on ocean data. The white cloud imagery wraps around shapes, defining three whales and a school of fish. Swirly cloud patterns, called Von Kármán Vortices, create the feeling of movement in the composition. The focal point is a cyclone in the upper third of the poster. At the center flies the recently launched PACE satellite. The ocean imagery – composed of blues, aquas, and greens – is filled with subtle color changes and undulating patterns created by churning sediment, organic matter and phytoplankton.4 min readThe Ocean Touches Everything: Celebrate Earth Day with NASAarticle1 week ago
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 Highlights Most mountains on the Earth are formed as plates collide and the crust buckles. Not so for the Moon, where mountains are formed as a result of impacts as seen by NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

	3 min read

		Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions

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			33 mins ago Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

	3 min read

		Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

		article

			5 hours ago NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

	6 min read

		NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

		article

			6 hours ago
 Highlights Most mountains on the Earth are formed as plates collide and the crust buckles. Not so for the Moon, where mountains are formed as a result of impacts as seen by NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

	3 min read

		Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions

		article

			33 mins ago 2 min read

		NASA Open Science Initiative Expands OpenET Across Amazon Basin

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		NASA Motion Sickness Study Volunteers Needed!

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			4 days ago
 Highlights NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

	6 min read

		NASA Selects New Aircraft-Driven Studies of Earth and Climate Change

		article

			6 hours ago 4 min read

		Students Celebrate Rockets, Environment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

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			8 hours ago AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change

	4 min read

		AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change

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 Highlights Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

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		Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover

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			5 hours ago Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol

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		Sols 4159-4160: A Fully Loaded First Sol

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		NASA’s Juno Gives Aerial Views of Mountain, Lava Lake on Io

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			1 day ago
 Featured Hubble Captures a Bright Galactic and Stellar Duo

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		Hubble Captures a Bright Galactic and Stellar Duo

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			7 hours ago NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations

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		NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations

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			2 days ago Astronauts To Patch Up NASA’s NICER Telescope

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		Astronauts To Patch Up NASA’s NICER Telescope

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 Highlights Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids

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		Hubble Goes Hunting for Small Main Belt Asteroids

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			1 day ago NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations

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		NASA’s TESS Returns to Science Operations

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			2 days ago The PACE spacecraft sending data down over radio frequency links to an antenna on Earth. The science images shown are real photos from the PACE mission.

	4 min read

		NASA’s Near Space Network Enables PACE Climate Mission to ‘Phone Home’

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			2 days ago
 Highlights Inside of an aircraft cockpit is shown from the upside down perspective with two men in tan flight suits sitting inside. The side of one helmet, oxygen mask and visor is seen for one of the two men as well as controls inside the aircraft. The second helmet is seen from the back as the man sitting in the front is piloting the aircraft. You can see land below through the window of the aircraft.

	2 min read

		NASA Photographer Honored for Thrilling Inverted In-Flight Image

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			2 days ago Jake Revesz, an electronic systems engineer at NASA Langley Research Center, is pictured here prepping a UAS for flight. Jake is kneeling on pavement working with the drone. He is wearing a t-shirt, khakis, and a hard hat.

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		NASA Langley Team to Study Weather During Eclipse Using Uncrewed Vehicles

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			2 weeks ago Illustration showing several future aircraft concepts flying over a mid-sized city with a handful of skyscrapers.

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 Highlights The PACE spacecraft sending data down over radio frequency links to an antenna on Earth. The science images shown are real photos from the PACE mission.

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			2 days ago A natural-color image of mountains in central Pennsylvania taken by Landsat 8

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		Tech Today: Taking Earth’s Pulse with NASA Satellites

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 Featured 4 min read

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			8 hours ago Earth Day 2024: Posters and Virtual Backgrounds

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		Earth Day 2024: Posters and Virtual Backgrounds

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			1 week ago The 2024 Power to Explore logo celebrates the total eclipse with an illustration of the Sun disappearing behind an atomic symbol.

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			8 hours ago AI for Earth: How NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Open Science Efforts Combat Climate Change

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			1 day ago A natural-color image of mountains in central Pennsylvania taken by Landsat 8

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		Tech Today: Taking Earth’s Pulse with NASA Satellites

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3 min read NASA Flies Drones Autonomously for Air Taxi Research


David Meade Langley Research Center
 Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight with no visual observer. The drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, along a planned route, and upon landing, all autonomously without a pilot controlling the flight.
 A small, black drone with multiple helicopter-like blades hovers over some trees during a bright, partly cloudy day in Virginia. An Alta-8 small Unmanned Aircraft System testbed vehicle flies above NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Flying beyond visual line of sight from observers on the ground required special approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA.
NASA / Bowman
 Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia recently flew multiple drones beyond visual line of sight with no visual observer. The drones successfully flew around obstacles and each other during takeoff, along a planned route, and upon landing, all autonomously without a pilot controlling the flight. This test marks an important step towards advancing self-flying capabilities for air taxis. “Flying the vehicles beyond visual line of sight, where neither the vehicle nor the airspace is monitored using direct human observation, demonstrates years of research into automation and safety systems, and required specific approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA to complete,” said Lou Glaab, branch head for the aeronautics systems engineering branch at NASA Langley. It is safer and more cost effective to test self-flying technology meant for larger, passenger carrying air taxis on smaller drones to observe how they avoid each other and other obstacles. NASA also is testing elements of automation technology using helicopters. These stand-in aircraft help NASA mature the autonomy well before self-flying air taxis are integrated into the skies. “When you have multiple vehicles, all coming and going from a vertiport that is located adjacent to an airport or deep within a community, we have to ensure the automation technologies of these vehicles are capable of safely handling a high volume of air traffic in a busy area,” said Glaab. Building upon past tests, the team successfully performed multiple flights using purchased ALTA 8 Uncrewed Aircraft Systems, also known as drones, with no visual observer and flew the drones beyond visual line of sight, referred to as “NOVO-BVLOS” flights. The software loaded onto the small drones performed airspace communications, flight path management, avoidance with other vehicles, and more skills needed to operate in a busy airspace. This is imperative for what is envisioned with Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), where drones and air taxis will be operating at the same time on a routine basis. The flight tests were observed from NASA Langley’s Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions control center while the drones took off and landed at the City Environment Range Testing for Autonomous Integrated Navigation test range. A room full of computer screens on tables and a far wall are watched by researchers monitoring the flight of small drones. NASA researchers monitor the flight of an autonomous vehicle from the Remote Operations for Autonomous Missions UAS Operations Center at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The center facilitates “beyond visual line of sight” flight operations of small uncrewed aircraft system vehicles, also known as drones.
NASA / David Bowman
 NASA will transfer the new technology created during this project to the public to ensure industry manufacturers can access the software while designing their vehicles. “NASA’s ability to transfer these technologies will significantly benefit the industry,” said Jake Schaefer, flight operations lead for the project. “By conducting flight tests within the national airspace, in close proximity to airports and an urban environment, we are table to test technologies and procedures in a controlled but relevant environment for future AAM vehicles.” One of these technologies was ICAROUS, which stands for NASA’s Integrated Configurable Architecture for Reliable Operations of Unmanned Systems. This software provides an autonomous detect-and-avoid function and is part of the overall system to maintain “well clear” from other air traffic. Another technology used was NASA’s Safe2Ditch system, which allows the vehicle to observe the ground below and make an autonomous decision on the safest place to land in the event of an in-flight emergency. NASA’s AAM mission has multiple projects contributing to various research areas. This project, called the High Density Vertiplex, was specifically focused on testing and evaluating where these future vehicles will take off and land at high frequency, called vertiports, or vertiplexes, for multiple vertiports near each other, and the technology advancements needed to make this successful. @NASA @NASAaero @NASA_es
 @NASA @NASAaero @NASA_es
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				Last Updated
					Jan 03, 2024
			EditorJim BankeContactDavid Meadedavidlee.t.meade@nasa.govLocationLangley Research Center
	Related TermsAeronauticsAdvanced Air MobilityAeronautics Research Mission DirectorateAeronautics TechnologyDrones & YouLangley Research Center




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 Page Last Updated:
								Jan 03, 2024
							Page Editor:
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												Responsible NASA Official:
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