The U-2 spy plane carries such an effective camera
that pilots believe it can read a newspaper’s headlines from the air. Even 60 years after its
first flight, the aircraft still carries a giant wet-film camera with nearly two-miles of film.
This picture shows the cockpit viewfinder in an ER-2 plane, operated by NASA.
The airplane, a version of the U-2 used for scientific research, was capable of
looking at a controlled fire burning near Flagstaff, Arizona, from nearly 70,000 feet.
Such a powerful camera has not only come handy for military missions.
It has also been useful for researching climate change and flying over hurricanes...
70,000 Feet Of Distance
After World War II, the United States was looking for an aircraft that could improve their aerial
reconnaissance and couldn’t be reached by Soviet air defenses. The Lockheed U-2 was first proposed
in 1953 as a spy plane that could fly day or night, through any weather conditions, at a
high altitude of almost 70,000 feet. The aircraft flew for the first time in 1955, and ever since,
it has been part of some of the major conflicts involving the United States.
It has been 60 years since its first flight, and the updated U-2 remains in front-line service.
It has endured the test of time thanks to the modern infrared and electro-optical devices
it carries and its ability to change surveillance targets on short notice. But its wet-film cameras
are even more astounding. Located at the belly of the airplane and as big as a film projector,
they can distinguish objects as close as 8 inches to as far as 70,000 feet apart. They also provide
high-resolution images that allow the pilot to see anything 250 miles in any direction.
Major Travis “Lefty” Patterson, a U-2 pilot, has said the fidelity of the camera is so good that
[QUOTE]: “If somebody is holding a newspaper out, you can probably read the headlines.”
The cameras and satellite sensors on the plane have also come in handy for humanitarian missions.
U-2 aircraft provided imagery of floodwaters after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.
It also documented the aftermath of the massive 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
To this day, a 30-plane fleet is flown by U.S Air Force pilots for combat missions over Afghanistan,
Syria, and Iraq. There, it has been used to hunt improvised explosive devices hiding in roadsides
and helicopter landing areas. This allowed the Marines to detonate nearly 150 mines in
Afghanistan. Thanks to the U-2’s high-resolution photographs, they were also able to track
insurgent footpaths and identify the spots where they are most vulnerable.
An Aircraft For Science
The U-2 has been very valuable for scientific research. A version of the plane, the ER-2,
has been operated by NASA’s Airborne Science Program since 1971.
In 1998, it set a world record for reaching an altitude of 67,190 feet in horizontal flight.
Currently, two ER-2’s are used by NASA as mobile laboratories thanks to their ability
to fly into the lower stratosphere at subsonic speeds. They have notably contributed to science
with digital multi-spectral imagery for global climate change research and aerial photography.
Through its missions with NASA, the ER-2 helped discover that human-made chemical
compounds provoked ozone depletion over the Antarctic region. The aircraft has also been
invaluable for studying hurricanes, tracking their intensification, and landfall impacts.
The ER-2’s have flown over violent storms like Category 5 Hurricane Emily. From those missions,
it has collected data that allows NASA to better understand the formation of powerful storms.
The ER-2’s are also used to test airborne versions of satellite sensors. Such sensors are used for
studying the effects that aerosols, which are fine particles suspended in the atmosphere on
the Earth, have on weather and air quality. At nearly 70,000 feet, the ER-2’s allow scientists
to determine whether the instruments are working correctly before they are launched into space.
This footage was taken on November 7, 2017. NASA scientists were testing the polarimeter and lidar
instruments on the aircraft for their aerosol study program. The picture shows the cockpit
viewfinder inside an ER-2, as it focuses on a small controlled fire near Flagstaff, Arizona.
The instruments in the aircraft are handy for observing wildfires and volcanic eruptions.
From those observations, scientists can study aerosols in different conditions.
In Search Of An Algorithm
In only one flight, the U-2 can generate a two-mile-long roll of film. But there’s not
enough time for the analysts at the Beale Air Force Base to read all the images captured.
In fact, analysts can only go through 5% of all the imagery collected by the plane,
which is used for military planning.
Since 2018, Air Force experts have been working with students from Stanford University to
develop an algorithm that helps analysts go through all the images taken by the aircraft.
With the help of artificial intelligence, they would be able to count the exact amount
of vehicles, buildings, and people in a specific location. With the help of an algorithm, the crisp
images taken by the U-2’s could help analysts have more time for planning military strategies.