Airborne Campaign Schedule
Updated Mar 20, 2025
This is an experimental campaign map. We are looking to make this useful to the airborne community for planning and piggyback purposes. Click here to view full-screen. Please send any feedback or ideas to Susan Bell.
The campaign schedule table is available in JSON format here.
Non-NASA Platforms in salmon. Currently flying in green. Recently completed campaigns in blue.
Category column: N = NASA Aircraft, C = CAS, J = JPL mission, S = Stratospheric Balloon (Wallops), T = Transport, U = UAS, Bal - Balloon
Campaign | Instrument | Aircraft | PI or POC | Flight Dates | Location | Science/Tech Goals | Sponsor | SOFRS | Category |
C-FIRST Engineering | C-FIRST | B200 (N801NA) | S. Gunapala | Jan 13 and Feb 20, 2025 | CONUS | High dynamic range remote sensing fire detection; Precise locations of fires | IIP | 24B009 | N |
AVUELO | AVIRIS-3 | DA B200 (N53W) | M. Eastwood | Feb 5 - Mar 28, 2025 | Panama & Costa Rica | SBG science objectives; Airborne Validation Unified Experiment Land to Ocean | SBG | 25M023 | C |
Local UAVSAR | UAVSAR-P | C-20 (N802NA) | Y. Lou | Week Feb 20 to May | Edwards | Various science - earthquakes, landslides, snow | ESD | 24G017 | N |
GHG MIssions 1,2,3 | AVIRIS-5 | DA B200 (N53W) | A. Thorpe | 2025 - when instrument avail | CONUS | Spectral, radiometric, spatial, and uniformity cal | NASA | 25M003 | C |
EMIT Cal/Val | AVIRIS-5 | DA B200 (N53W) | A. Thorpe | 2025 - when instrument avail | Western U.S., Permian Basin | Locate, quantify methane emission targets | EMIT | 25M021 | C |
FireSense | AVIRIS-3 | DA B200 (N53W) | M. Eastwood | Mar 20 - Apr 22, 2025 | Alabama, Florida | Monitoring areas before, during and after prescribed burns | SMD | 25M006 | C |
MAIA Science | AirMSPI-2 | ER2 | D. Diner | Mar 31 - Apr 11, 2025 | Edwards, CA | Aerosols, MAIA support | AITT | 242014 | N |
A-SMLS Tests | A-SMLS | ER2 | N. Livesey | Mar 31 - Apr 11, 2025 | Edwards, CA | UTLS chemistry, NG MLS support | AITT | 242006 | N |
HIGS piggyback | HIGS (High Altitude IR Sounder) | Wallops Strat Balloon | S. Krishnamoothy | Apr 2025 | Wanaka, NZ | IR sounding in New Zealand | N, Bal | ||
GEMx | AVIRIS-C and/or AVIRIS-5 | ER-2 | I. McCubbin | Apr 15 - Sep 15, 2025 | Western US | Mineralogy mapping | USGS | 242006 | N |
SPARTA Zero-G | SPARTA | Zero-G | R. Anderson | Apr - May 2025 | Florida | In situ planetary surface properties | Flt Ops | C | |
ORCAA | Biological sampling instruments | Coastal helicopters | S. Howell | Jun 6, 2025 | Juneau Icefield, AK | P-STAR: Ocean Worlds Reconnaissance and Characterization of Astrobiologial Analogs | SMD PSD | n/a | C |
QUAKES-I Test | QUAKES-I | B200 (N801NA) | A. Donnellan | Summer 2025 | SoCal | Surface topology | ESD | 25B008 | N |
German Bi-static Experiment | UAVSAR-L | C-20 | Y. Lou | Summer 2025 | Germany | Develop benefits of bi-static SAR | SMD ESD | n/a | N |
GHG - AIRMAPS | AVIRIS-5 | DA B200 (N53W) | A. Thorpe | Summer 2025 | OH, PA, MD | GHGs | GHG Center | 25M003 | C |
MC2 | MC2 | LACoFD Helicopter | K. Oudrhihi | Mid 2025 | San Gabriel Mts, CA | Measure soil, vegetation moisture with passive L-band | ESD, JPL | n/a | C |
SMICES-IIP | SMICES radar / radiometer | TBD - likely P3 | P. Kangaslahti | Mid 2025 | CONUS | Sensing of ice clouds | IIP | n/a | N |
HyTES Eng. Flight | HyTES | KBA | B. Eng | Mid-June 2025 | Western US | Engineering fit, battery | SMD | C | |
NGC-II | YTHP, JLH probe | NGC Hawker | P. Kangaslahti, R. Herman | Mid 2025 | Palmdale, CA | Water vapor & temperature profiles | DOE ARPA-E | n/a | J |
NASA Glenn Project | JLH probe | Williams Jet | R. Herman | Mid 2025 | Glenn | Water vapor and temperature profiles | NASA - AAVP | n/a | C |
Sac - San Joaquin River Delta Exp. | AVIRIS-3 | DA B200 (N53W) | M. Eastwood | Aug - Sep 2025 | CA | Aquatic studies for the Sacramento - San Joaquin River Delta | 25M017 | C | |
Stratospheric Balloon Flt | Mark-IV; WISTLS piggyback | Wallops Strat Balloon | A. Kleinboehl | Aug - Sep 2025 | Ft. Sumer, NM | Stratospheric, UTLS chemical profiles – water vapor, piggyback - planetary Sci TRL instrument advancement | SMD | - | N, Bal |
HYMS Balloon Flight | HAMMR-HD | Strat balloon | S. Brown | Aug - Sep 2025 | Arizona | Next Gen Radiometer measurements 30+ days over CONUS | NOAA | n/a | C, Bal |
SWOT | AirSWOT | B200 (N801NA) | R. Chao PI: M. Simard |
Fall 2025, Spring 2026 | Miss Delta | SWOT validation / DSI Radar piggyback | SWOT | N | |
India Phase 2B | AVIRIS-3 | ISRO NRSC B200 | M. Eastwood | Sep 2025 - Feb 2026 | India | Ecosystem and agriculture, coastal waters and coral, dust and black carbon on ice | India | O | |
PIRS Test | PIRS | B200 801 or DA | A. Soibel | Dec 2025 | CONUS | CO, CO2, humidity & temperature sounding | FireTech | n/a | N |
ASTHROS | ASTHROS | Stratospheric balloon | J. Siles | No earlier than Dec 2025 | APL observatory I&T, Int: Palestine MRR; Dep: Antarctica | Do stars accelerate or decelerate the formation of new stars in their galaxy | NASA | N | |
NISAR S.A. Cal/Val | UAVSAR-L | C-20 | Y. Lou | Jan 2026 | Peru | NISAR validation | NISAR | N | |
CARBO-Air Test | CARBO-A | B200 801 | G. Sellar | Jun 2026 | CONUS | Quantify methane and CO2 emissions | ESTO | n/a | TBD |
ASCENT Costa Rica (STV) | QUAKES-I UAVSAR | TBD | A. Donnellan | Jan - Feb 2026 | Costa Rica, Panama | surface topography, vegetation | DSI | 26M006 | N, C |
ASCENT East Coast (STV) | QUAKES-I UAVSAR | TBD | A. Donnellan | Summer 2026 | East Coast | surface topography, vegetation | DSI | 26M005 | N, C |
UAVSAR simplified L-band (nadir) | TBD | TBD | Y. Lou | 2026 | Palmdale | ||||
RAID Test Flt | RAID | TBD | D. Arumugam | Nov 2026 | TBD | Rydberg Airborne Inst. Demo.: First Rydberg receiver. SoOP. Soil moisture and STV | IIP | n/a | |
ASCENT West Coast (STV) | QUAKES-I UAVSAR | TBD | A. Donnellan | Summer 2027 | West Coast, Alaska | surface topography, vegetation | DSI | 27M004 | N, C |
NIMBUS Test Flt | NIMBUS | TBD | R. Rodriquez Monje | Feb 2028 | TBD | Next Gen Intelligent Meteorological Radar with Built-in Understanding of Scenery (Ka, W, G) – ACCP, PBL | IIP | n/a |