The University of Alaska Fairbanks is partnering with Sandia National Laboratory to conduct science in the Arctic. UAF recently signed an agreement with the Albuquerque, New Mexico based government owned lab, which also has research facilities on Alaska’s North Slope.
UAF Geophysical Institute Director Robert McCoy says the agreement centers on some distinct areas of study, including disaster response, space weather, and a long running atmospheric radiation measurement program.
”We’ve been collaborating there,” McCoy said. “But also, they’ve been flying unmanned aircraft, and we’ve been flying unmanned aircraft. So we’re trying to partner to do more of that kinda work.”
McCoy says UAF and Sandia officials are discussing the possibility of building a base for unmanned aerial vehicles west of Prudhoe Bay near Oliktok Point, where UAF, Sandia and NASA have launched flights in recent years.
”It’d be nice to have a more elaborate facility that we can carry out more science,” McCoy said.
McCoy says the UAV base is in the early discussion phase, and there’s no funding yet. He says the base would allow flights to the North Pole, and be open to other universities and agencies to contract out for research. He says the agreement signed by UAF and Sandia allows fund sharing between the two entities to forward research projects.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
