January 25, 2023. Under a Phase I SBIR contract with NOAA, Dragoon has pursued development of a low cost, long endurance, optionally disposable weather research platform. The project utilized the internally developed AT-1 technology demonstrator with an integrated iMet-XF PTH sensor, along with an Iridium transceiver to downlink meteorological data in real time.
The culmination of the effort was a long endurance demonstration flight. On January 25th, 2023, Dragoon's AT-1 demonstrator aircraft touched down from a 26-hour, 39-minute endurance flight. The aircraft was hand launched and weighed 21 lbs. It utilized Dragoon's novel hybrid electric power system and integrated Aircraft Management Unit (AMU). Dragoon plans to propose a Phase II effort where the aircraft will be specifically tailored to fit weather sensing missions and used for in-situ data collection.
