A proposal to fly small drones to explore for oil and gas in the Arctic has the NASA Jet Propulsals Laboratory (JPL) looking at a contract to buy two planes.
The JPL, the Jet Propulsive Laboratory, and NASA are all working to develop technology for using unmanned aerial vehicles in the marine environment.
The plan, known as the DRC program, has a wide range of applications for drones, including remote sensing, remote sensing data collection, mapping, and environmental science.
A team from the JPL will take a look at a request from the Department of Defense to use drones in remote sensing and geospatial applications to provide real-time data on surface conditions and terrain.
The request has not been approved, but the Jet Prosels has expressed interest in it, according to a NASA document.
The Jet Propels Lab has been a long-time advocate for drones in marine applications.
JPL has been flying the drones in waters around the world for decades, with a handful of incidents in the last five years.JPL has two other unmanned aircraft programs: its Advanced Airborne Systems, or AAS, and its Advanced Remote Sensing program, which is also a part of the DSC.
Both AAS and RSR have been funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for decades.JSPL is one of only a few programs that have actually flown in a remote sensing environment, with its current unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) being the UAS-21A, which flew for the first time in November 2016.
A JPL statement on the DRS request said the Drc program would be a “highly specialized and challenging program to design and implement.”JPL’s proposal will not have a cost estimate.
