NASA Langley Airspace Surveillance Radar System Baseline

Recent increases of incursions of aircraft into restricted airspace have significantly impacted NASA rocket launches and military flight operations and created public safety concerns.

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD) identified the operational airspace surveillance capabilities at NASA Langley Research Center (“NASA Langley” or the “Center” in this report) to be a useful and desirable model that may be leveraged for other NASA Centers and other government organizations, particularly for non-cooperative air traffic.

This report focuses primarily upon airspace surveillance radar capabilities at NASA Langley, and includes relevant information about information systems, procedures, and facilities (in the context of Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) Flight Operations infrastructure) required to operate radar systems. The report also provides essential information about procurement, commissioning, operations, and future expansion of radar systems at the Center. These radar capabilities are part of, and integrated across several facilities and organizations which have much broader utility beyond airspace surveillance