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About

JPL's Earth Science Airborne Suborbital Instruments and Measurements consist of missions utilizing remote sensing instruments for suborbital studies which are flown on a variety of airborne systems.

These systems include, but are not limited to, inflatable devices, both tethered and untethered (balloons, blimps), manned aircraft which range from small propeller craft (Cessna©) to large jet engine craft (DC8©) as well as unmanned aircraft which range in size from small model airplanes to large military surveillance class craft (Global Hawk©).

These craft and the installed instruments provide measurement information from altitudes which reach from 60,000 ft. to less than 100 ft. above the surface of the earth.

The missions range from uniquely defined science experiments for research such as atmospheric chemistry and volcanology to remote sensing instrument validation for instruments on the A-Train such as Aqua, Aura, etc.