NASA Earth Missions Begin Science Flights

NASA is preparing to launch six new Earth Venture missions that will use aircraft-mounted sensors to study wildfires, air quality, agricultural emissions, and Arctic changes. The projects, which involve hundreds of scientists and pilots from NASA, the U.S. Navy, universities, and other institutions, are set to begin science flights over the next several years. Airborne remote sensing serves as a bridge between ground instruments and satellites, filling gaps in computer models used by weather forecasters and city planners.

The first mission, INSPYRE, will chase pyrocumulonimbus clouds—fire-generated thunderstorms—starting this summer from Colorado. These storms can create hazards for aviators and spark new fires. Aircraft including NASA's ER-2 will carry instruments such as infrared wildfire trackers developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The FarmFlux mission, launching this year, will measure pollutants like ozone, methane, and ammonia from agricultural lands in the Midwest and California's Central Valley. These emissions affect human health and climate. The HAMAQ mission will study air quality in Atlanta and Mexico City using two aircraft: NASA's P-3B flying low to measure pollutants directly and the 777 science jet mapping pollution from above.

In the Arctic, the Snow4Flow campaign will measure glacier retreat across Alaska, the Yukon, Arctic Canada, Greenland, and Svalbard using a WWII-era aircraft with laser altimeters and radars. The FORTE project will study how rivers and lagoons on Alaska's North Slope interact with the Arctic Ocean, combining satellite, aircraft, and underwater measurements.

These missions aim to provide data that can improve forecasting and guide communities facing environmental changes. The first flights begin in summer 2026, with others following over the next several years.