NASA Hurricane Hunter
NASA Preps Drone Hurricane Hunters, But Misses Sandy, Wired
“Hurricane Sandy has slammed onto the eastern seaboard. There’s been widespread damage and flooding across more than six states. There’s been loss of life. But at NASA, researchers are developing a pair of experimental unmanned drones to track future storms in the hope of being better prepared for when they strike.”
Wow,talk about being caught with your “pants down”. Just when a drone was actually needed, both were unavailable for different reasons. NASA should’ve held the one destined for California to overfly the hurricane but they let it go.
I believe it would’ve aided in diagnosing the potentially dangerous storm in warning citizens, in its path, of an actual dangerous situation. The results might’ve been different if it had been used.
I respectfully submit that more technical data about this specific storm, in the form of fly-through or fly-over missions, would not decreased the number of lives lost.