NASA's highly modified NF-15B research aircraft is hoisted high in the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards AFB for antenna radiation pattern tests.

NASA Dryden's highly modified NF-15B research aircraft served as the testbed for this project. NASA research pilot Jim Smolka and flight test engineer Mike Thomson flew a series of 13 flights over a four-month period from November 2006 through February 2007. The first half-dozen of these flights checked out new Ku-band phased array antennas and associated transceivers for the Range Safety and Range User Systems, while the remaining flights validated the Range Safety System. Both systems were linked between the aircraft, the NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), and test ranges at Dryden and White Sands in New Mexico, with data transmitted to Goddard Space Flight Center, Md. and Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

The range safety antennas installed on the aircraft also underwent antenna radiation pattern testing in the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards Air Force Base to validate the actual flight data.

A space-based communications system using current satellite technologies could reduce operational costs of ground-based test range assets, and is applicable to a variety of manned and unmanned research aircraft and expendable space launch vehicles. The multi-center project was led by the Kennedy Space Center.