Lawrence, KS. The purpose of this blog is to document the Meridian Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) testing that will be performed this Season (December 2009 - January 2010) in Antarctica. The Meridian UAS (pictured right) is an 1,100 lbs, 26 ft wingspan unmanned aircraft designed to support remote sensing science missions in the Cryosphere. The Meridian was developed at the University of Kansas under the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS), an NSF funded science and technology center.
The Meridian has been designed to carry multiple payloads to include radar systems, magnetometers, gravimeters, cameras, etc., but the primary payload for this season will be an ice penetrating radar developed at the University of Kansas. The purpose of this seasons trip are twofold: First, we will be testing the aircraft system in the field. The Meridian is a newly
designed UAS and, therefore, must undergo systematic field testing to prove out its capabilities. The second part of this trip is to verify radar system functionality on the UAS. Again, the goal of this testing is to prove the capabilities of the system such that it can be deployed operationally in the coming seasons in both Greenland and Antarctica.
The flight test team (Shown to the right) consists of, from left to right, Andy Pritchard, Nick
Brown, Dr. Shah Keshmiri, Dr. Rick Hale, Lance Holly, Bill Donovan, Jon Tom, and Dave Royer.
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