Altus II

Volume 40 Issue 23 Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California December 15,1998

Altus II

The ALTUS II remotely piloted aircraft has resumed altitude-expansion flights over the Edwards test range, after project engineers and technicians resolved a variety of technical issues with the aircraft's propulsion system. The aircraft reached 35,000 feet during a flight the first week in December and is scheduled to attempt a flight to 45,000 feet later this month.

ALTUS II is one of several remotely piloted aircraft being developed and evaluated as a performance and propulsion testbed under NASA's Environmental

Photo Courtesy of General Atomics
Altus II flies during a test mission.

Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) program, which is managed at Dryden. It is built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. of SanDiego, Calif., and the current flight series is being flown from the firm's flight test center at El Mirage Airport about 15 miles south of the southeast boundary of Edwards Air Force Base.

Project engineers hope to fly the ALTUS II to a maximum altitude of at least 60,000 feet and to stay at that altitude for five to eight hours during the current series to meet a level I milestone set for the aircraft by the ERAST program. Now equipped with a two-stage turbocharger, the aircraft had reached over 37,000 feet altitude when equipped with a single-stage turbocharger during test flights at Dryden in 1996. A sister ship, the Altus I, flew to 43,500 feet during fight tests at Dryden in the summer of 1997.

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November 30, 1998 X-Press

Responsible NASA Official: John Childress
For questions, contact: Dryden Web Group
Page Curator:Mel Garcia
Modified:December 18, 1998