When you talk of planes such as the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk, which stay in the sky for a whole day without needing to refuel, have a range of over 3400 miles and can hit altitudes of up to 20,000 meters, you would think they would be used to spy on enemy nations, drop a couple of missiles and help build structures such as International Space Station. But the nice folk at the military have been kind enough to lend a couple of these aerial emperors for environmental research and those concerned about the planet’s health are really happy at this sudden ‘lift’.

Officially handed over to NASA for environment research and collecting data from the global skies, the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) now opens up new avenues for scientists across the globe. These UAVs are a lot better for high-altitude data collection compared to the U2s that were earlier at NASA’s disposal as they do not require a pilot, which keeps men safely on ground and even reduces fuel consumption that tad bit more.

With the first scientific flight of the Global Hawks scheduled to take place in January, NASA is all excited about its latest venture into climate study… Let’s just hope this does not end up like the moon landing tapes!

Discovery