Test Readiness Program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:44, 10 December 2011

Revision as of 16:56, 14 August 2012

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==Ancillary missions==

===Airborne astronomy missions===

While flying simulations for the Test Readiness Program, the science teams assigned to the NC-135 aircraft realized that their flying laboratories could be effectively used to study [[solar eclipse]]s, [[cosmic ray]]s entering the atmosphere and the effects of magnetic fields in the [[ionosphere]]. Program scientists petitioned the AEC to allow for a program-with-inwithin-a-program to use the aircraft for such scientific research. The petition was approved, and research continued through 1975.<ref name="inflight">{{cite web |url=http://library.lanl.gov/cgi-bin/getfile?00285812.pdf |title=In Flight: The Story of Los Alamos Eclipse Missions |accessdate=2007-03-22 |last=Mulkin |first=Barb |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year= |month= |format=PDF |work=Los Alamos Science |publisher=Los Alamos National Laboriatories |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sofia.usra.edu/Edu/docs/97-Whiting_AeroHistory.pdf |title=Milestones in Airbornce Astronomy: From the 1920s to the Present |accessdate=2007-03-22 |last=Dolci |first=Wendy |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |year=1997 |month= |format=PDF |work= |publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |pages= |language= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= }}</ref>

The first eclipse mission took place from [[Pago Pago]] in 1965, and flying in conjunction with several other science aircraft, one of the NC-135s managed to fly within eclipse totality for 160 seconds, providing valuable science data. Eclipse missions were also flown in 1970, 1972, 1973, 1979 and 1980.<ref name="inflight"/>