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238:. Although similar in appearance, the Altus has a slightly longer wingspan and is designed to carry atmospheric sampling and other instruments for civilian scientific research missions in place of the military reconnaissance equipment carried by the Predators. It can carry up to 330 lb of sensors and other scientific instruments in a nose-mounted payload compartment, a location designed to allow air being sampled by the sensors to be undisturbed by heat or pollutants from engine exhaust. Power is provided by a four-cylinder Rotax 912 gasoline engine with additional airflow provided by a turbocharger built by Thermo-Mechanical Systems., Inc., of Canoga Park, CA.
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such missions. The Altus II vehicle was used to verify technologies that will lead to a long-duration (12 to 72 hours), high altitude vehicle capable of carrying a 330-pound science payload. The efforts include work on engine integration, flight operations techniques and procedures, lightweight structures, science payload integration and science mission demonstration.
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reach one of the major Level 2 performance milestones within NASA's ERAST program: to fly a gasoline-fueled, piston-engine remotely piloted aircraft for several hours at an altitude at or near 60,000 feet. On March 5, 1999, The Altus II maintained flight at or above 55,000 feet for three hours, reaching a maximum density altitude of 57,300 feet during the mission.
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359:. The ACES experiment focused on the collection of electrical, magnetic and optical measurements of thunderstorms. Data collected will help scientists understand the development and life cycles of thunderstorms, which in turn may allow meteorologists to more accurately predict when destructive storms may hit.
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After major modifications and upgrades, including installation of a two-stage turbocharger in place of its original single-stage unit, a larger fuel tank and additional intercooling capacity, the Altus II returned to flight status in the summer of 1998. The goal of its development test flights was to
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The Altus II, the first of the two craft to be completed, made its first flight on May 1, 1996. With its engine at first augmented by a single-stage turbocharger, the Altus II reached an altitude of 37,000 ft during its first series of development flights at Dryden in August, 1996. In
October of
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There were two primary goals for the Altus II development: to be a testbed for performance and propulsion concepts leading to development of future remotely piloted or autonomous aircraft designed for high-altitude science missions, and to evaluate its practicality for use as an airborne platform for
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in August 1997. Those test flights were designed to demonstrate the ability of the experimental craft to cruise at altitudes above 40,000 feet for sustained durations. On its final flight August 15, the Altus I reached an altitude of 43,500 feet, a record for a remotely operated aircraft powered by a
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for the
Department of Energy. During the course of those flights, the Altus II set a single-flight endurance record for remotely operated aircraft of more than 26 hours. In October 1996, Altus II set an endurance record for UAVs carrying science payloads. The vehicle spent more than 24 hours at the
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September, 2001, Altus II served as the UAV platform for a flight demonstration of remote sensoring and imaging capabilities that could detect hot spots in wildfires and relay that data in near-real time via the Internet to firefighting commanders below. The demonstration, led by NASA
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were recorded using specially designed instruments while the Altus flew at 50,000 feet altitude off the
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Later that spring, the Altus II flew another series of ARM-UAV missions. Hard-to-measure properties of high-level
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September 5, 1996 Altus reached a personal best by attaining 37,000 feet for more than 2 hours.
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March 1999: Altus flew for 3 hours above 55,000 feet and 8 hours at 50,000 feet altitude.
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The Altus I, completed in early 1997, flew a series of development flights at
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In the summer of 2002, The Altus II served as the airborne platform for the
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The Altus (the name is Latin for "high") is a civil variant of the
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Summer 1997: Altus reached 43,500 feet during development flights.
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July 23, 1999: Altus flew to 55,000 feet over 4 hours.
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355:(ACES), led by Dr. Richard J. Blakeslee of NASA
645:GA press release on Altus's Hawaiian deployment
783:Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States
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385:Spring 1998: Altus returns to flight test
312:(ARM-UAV) study in Oklahoma conducted by
106:Learn how and when to remove this message
308:that year, the Altus II was flown in an
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551:General Atomics official Altus web site
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493:400 nmi (460 mi, 740 km)
487:70 kn (81 mph, 130 km/h)
511:16.3 lb/sq ft (80 kg/m)
573:"NASA Armstrong Fact Sheet: Altus II"
499:Approx. 24 hrs, depending on altitude
317:required altitude during an ARM-UAV.
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608:"Altus II Remotely Piloted Aircraft"
220:General Atomics Aeronautical Systems
44:adding citations to reliable sources
353:Altus Cumulus Electrification Study
423:54 ft 2 in (16.5 m)
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429:131 sq ft (12.2 m)
417:23 ft 7 in (7.2 m)
310:Atmospheric Radiation Measurement
620:from the original on 2020-09-22.
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450:92 US gal (348 L)
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396:Specifications (Altus II)
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135:General information
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143:Research UAV
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96:October 2023
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38:Please help
33:verification
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689:Designation
472:Performance
464:Propellers:
454:Powerplant:
226:Development
777:Categories
538:References
497:Endurance:
427:Wing area:
253:under the
245:, for the
222:(GA-ASI).
66:newspapers
696:RQ-1/MQ-1
458:Rotax 912
421:Wingspan:
409:Capacity:
278:Altus II
757:Predator
683:aircraft
618:Archived
583:Archived
554:Archived
527:GNAT-750
516:See also
232:GNAT-750
752:Prowler
415:Length:
261:Altus I
186:History
80:scholar
747:Mojave
491:Range:
334:Kaua'i
326:cirrus
214:is an
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711:MQ-20
701:MQ-1C
121:Altus
87:JSTOR
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720:Name
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613:NASA
578:NASA
456:1 ×
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