The ER-2 aircraft is parked in a hangar at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, in March 2025. The plane is prepared for takeoff to support the airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance, or air-LUSI, mission.

Dr. John Woodward, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and co-investigator on the airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance (air-LUSI) mission, prepares the instrument for upload onto the ER-2 aircraft in March 2025 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

NASA’s ER-2 high-altitude aircraft prepares for a night flight with the Airborne Lunar Spectral Irradiance (air-LUSI) instrument on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026. The instrument measures Moonlight to improve accuracy of space-based sensors that forecast the weather, monitor agriculture, and study Earth’s ecosystem.