The US Navy donated several Global Hawk surveillance drones to NASA to aid in the further research of hurricanes; some of the 'spy' systems needed to be converted or replaced into scientific instruments to suit the needs of NASA in the endeavor.

CBS Local reports that one of those drones took off from NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Virginia this past Wednesday.

“Which will have a permanent ground station here. So Global Hawks will be a permanent part of our future here,” said Shane Dover, Wallops Aircraft Office.

And the future is what these flights are about. Able to stay airborne for up to 30 hours, drones can travel further out into the Atlantic and stay longer than conventional aircraft.



This is what it saw in the middle of Hurricane Humberto: heat towers, cloud formations and rain–days before a manned aircraft could get inside the storm.

“The purpose is to give people warning of what’s going to be happening. How strong is it going to be? Do I need to board up the house or not?” said Chris Naftel, Global Hawk Project.

And maybe solve a nagging problem. Science is good at predicting a hurricane’s track, but not its intensity.

The drones flying out of the Eastern Shore will chase bad weather from Maine to the Caribbean.