One of NASA's unmanned, remotely controlled aircraft, the Perseus B, is seen here before its first flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The unique Perseus aircraft, designed and flown by Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., have operated at Dryden since late 1993 for a program that came to be known as ERAST, or the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology program. Perseus is one of several remotely-piloted aircraft designed for high-altitude, long-endurance scientific sampling missions being evaluated under the ERAST program. The Perseus aircraft were designed to carry scientific payloads to high altitudes to study atmospheric conditions. The data collected will bridge a gap between measurements from NASA research aircraft and space based science experiments. At this time, four different vehicles have flown for the Perseus program. The first, a proof-of-concept vehicle to test basic design concepts, flew beginning in 1991. The Perseus A then made its maiden voyage Dec. 21, 1993. Two Perseus A aircraft were flown; AU002 and AU003. AUOO3 later suffered irrepairable damage in a crash on 22 November 1994. The Perseus B, designed for slightly lower altitude flight, and built with a different, relatively more conventional engine and landing gear system, first flew October 7, 1994.
