The newest addition to the ARM Climate Research Facility’s unmanned aerial system (UAS) fleet debuted in front of media March 8 in Pendleton, Oregon.
The ArcticShark, a UAS with a 22-foot wingspan and gross takeoff weight of 650 pounds, is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by the ARM Aerial Facility. Its flight testing took place at the Pendleton UAS Test Range at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport.
The ArcticShark landed on the front pages of the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Washington—about an hour north of the testing site—and the East Oregonian in Pendleton. The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington, published the Herald story.
Regional TV outlets KNDU and KVEW-TV covered the media event, along with radio station 610 KONA. KVEW-TV’s story went nationwide to more than 12 other TV stations, including WALB News 10 in Albany, Georgia, and Fox 19 Now in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and My Columbia Basin also posted articles about the ArcticShark flight testing.
Pendleton Mayor John Turner and City Council members attended the media event along with students from Pendleton High School.
The pilots have just completed their checkrides, which are tests that must be taken for certification or flight privileges. Meanwhile, the ArcticShark will undergo additional testing and make trial flights for a year before the ARM Facility begins accepting proposals. The new UAS is expected to start gathering atmospheric measurements on the North Slope of Alaska in 2018.
“The Arctic is a bellwether of climate change,” Beat Schmid, manager of the ARM Aerial Facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, told the Tri-City Herald. “It is where it happens the fastest.”
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The ARM Climate Research Facility is a national scientific user facility funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The ARM Facility is operated by nine Department of Energy national laboratories, including Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which manages the ARM Aerial Facility.